A Turtle Takes the Stage

Theatre arts professor and a group of university students turn Mexican folklore into a play to teach children the basic lessons of life

At a remote location on campus, a large room with black painted walls and ceiling, stripped bare but for a few rows of chairs, contains a small stage burgeoning with energy.

Watching intently, six actors glance past pages of lines while the words in front of them come to life on stage.

But this world can’t be explained with theories about the big bang; its creation was born from the mind of Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, an associate professor of theatre arts at Fresno State.

Only in her second semester here, Schroeder-Arce wasted no time moving into the spotlight.

When packing her bags for the move to Fresno, she brought with her Senora Tortuga, a bilingual play for young people based upon Mexican folktales.

In December 2003, Schroeder-Arce began the process of bringing her play to life. Before the end of the fall semester, a cast of theatre majors and first time actors from the business, education, and mass communication and journalism department were selected.

Eager to debut Senora Tortuga to elementary schools around the valley, rehearsals started at the beginning of the spring semester.

Now, less than three months later, this small group of actors is taking their work on the road…