It’s summer in Muskoka, and 7 Latina-Canadian teenagers are forced to attend a Spanish-only camp in an attempt to reconnect to their roots. The girls embark on a life-changing summer in this coming-of-age story that candidly explores complexities of identity, language, culture, sexuality, and girlhood with sharp writing and layered performances.

Unabashedly sexy and silly, poetic and grounded, bold and bilingual— this is the world of Gringas, a new play written by and starring Chilean-Canadian playwright Mercedes Isaza Clunie. 

You may recognize Mercedes from our social media pages, covering arts events around Toronto and writing clever captions as SheDoesTheCity’s Digital Content Producer. But at the same time, she’s been pouring her heart into Gringas, her first full-length play, which is on stage now at the Toronto Fringe Festival. 

The play was generating buzz even before its Toronto Fringe run, winning 3rd place in the festival’s New Play Contest, 1st place in Hamilton Fringe’s New Play Contest, and runner-up for the Wildfire playwriting award. It was also recently named a Critic’s Pick by the Toronto Star.

For a story bursting with life and colour, it may be surprising to hear that Gringas began in a dark room on the York University campus. Mercedes wrote the play while completing the final weeks of her BFA in Acting, feeling the pressure of entering an industry that wanted her to fit into a box.

“Gringas, for me, is a reclaiming of culture, of agency, and is a rebellion against what young Latinas are supposed to be. It was me coming into my skin and power after enduring a long and stressful acting program that set restrictive rules on how the industry, art, and young actors “should” be.”

Gringas is the first production from First Born Theatre, a queer, Latine company led by Mercedes, Zoe Marin (director of Gringas) and isi bhakhomen (who stars as Yari). First Born aims to bring the next generation of Canadian theatre to life — a mission that Gringas embodies as a bold and boundary-pushing work.

“We have the power to create work for women and queer folk that is full of rage, humour, and sex. We have the power. Gringas is me and our team, choosing a new world. And doing so joyfully, in kindness, and in pride.”

Gringas is a deeply personal project for Mercedes, with stories and snippets pulled from her own life. She stars as Javi, who has a powerful arc from an insecure lone wolf to a confident leader, but she says each of the characters have a piece of her heart. “All of the monologues (except maybe Alma’s) could’ve been pulled straight from my journal.” 

These fiercely passionate monologues provide space for beautiful moments of growth, introspection, and self-discovery as the seven characters each reckon with their relationship to the language, and by extension, their cultures and identities. 

In a series of enthralling moments that Mercedes describes as “the heartbeat of the play”, the characters come together, speaking in unison or quick succession. “The girls are sharing a moment in time, and are all dealing with the feeling of not being good enough in one way or another.”

These beautiful collective pieces are contrasted with witty exchanges between the girls in the cabin, and plenty of moments that will have you gasping and giggling. “A fast-paced and comedic show is the way for theatre to keep up with a TikTok generation…digesting ideas and visuals as fast as humanly possible,” Mercedes says.

Gringas captures so many universal experiences—feeling disconnected, insecure, alone, ashamed, but in a way that celebrates the complexities of the people feeling this way. “The play is everyone’s. It doesn’t belong to one person, and isn’t exclusive to one kind of Latina.”

This communal spirit extends beyond the story told on stage. Mercedes shares that working with an all-Latine cast was a freeing and joyful experience. “I’ve never ever been on a project where everyone in the room was Latine. We can actually be ourselves, living honestly in our intersections without the pressure of appearing ‘Latina enough’, ‘queer enough’, ‘woman enough’. We can be smart, we can be funny, we can be sexy, we can stupid, we can be different from one another, because we’re not the only ones in the room.” 

She shares that this was emotional for the cast, many of whom were not used to being in spaces where they could talk about their cultures and identities so openly. “I would often look around the room and get teary-eyed. ‘Holy shit, all these people are like me’ I would think, ‘there’s 8 of us (Zoe and the cast) here at the same time, and we all get it’. Wild.” 

After the thrill of back-to-back Fringe Festivals, what’s next for First Born Theatre? “We’d love to take Gringas pro (this is an invitation to all the Toronto theatre companies to email us!)”. First Born is also planning a second round of their Playwriting Roundtable, a program that brings together emerging playwrights and dramaturgs to develop thought-provoking theatrical work.

Limited tickets for Gringas at the Toronto Fringe Festival are available now. Gringas will also run at the Hamilton Fringe Festival from July 19-28.