The Project: A tale for the entire family, From the Abuelas’ Window is a story of the triumph of a small group of villagers in Chile, in 1973 when the Pinochet junta took over the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende to establish a fascist dictatorship.
Set in Chile, in 1973, a young girl, Maribel, joins the resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship when she learns her father is among the disappeared. Inspired by kind gifts from the three tricky abuelas next door, she and others first seek to gather the names of prisoners in the local detention center, then plot to help them to escape before the evil captain can move them to unknown places.
From the Abuelas’ Window is a musical with a message to encourage ordinary people to do small things to make their world a better place, particularly when confronted with political oppression and human rights violations. The musical is an adaptation of the young adult novel which aimed to bring understanding of the reasons people are forced to leave their homeland and emigrate to the United States. The musical is an entertaining multi-generational story for the whole family and the songs reflect traditional Chilean music.
The Origins: Since its publication in 2005, Abuelas’ has received countless waves of praise as a multicultural title for children as young as 9 and as old as 99. The encouragement to adapt this story for the screen or stage has been consistent and overwhelming. Finally, in December, 2023, Nancy enlisted the assistance and formed a collaborative partnership with Ed Levy, whose short musicals include the award winning The Bystander, Trifles and Strike (currently in development). Through the Society for Chilean Music, a small non-profit located in Vienna, Austria Nancy found Ignacio Valdivia, a classical guitarist, arranger and composer who resides in Santiago de Chile. Nancy and Ed welcomed him to the team in 2023. See his bio on the ABOUT page.
Watch an information Video about the project.
Download our Slide deck as a PDF
Visit our gofundme crowd sourcing campaign and help the team with a small donation?
For a look at the full libretto/book, please contact Nancy at email address below.
For short snippets of songs or to hear a full version of selected songs written by Ignacio Valdivia for this musical, click through the slide deck above. PDF Slide # 10 or click here.
A sampling of music in the Chilean tradition, the inspiration for the songs in this musical is available as a play list at Spotify and Apple Music. See these links to listen.
Seeking Opportunities to Workshop: Currently we are at the stage where we are seeking opportunities to workshop the play. We welcome college theatre programs, local professional theaters or community theatre groups who could step through the work onstage as a learning experience and as the next step in development.
Union Congregation Players in Upper Montclair, NJ staged a reading of the musical on Monday, November 17th at 7 PM, direction by Carlos Valdes DaPena and musical direction by Ignacio Valdivia. Thank you to the sixty plus friends and theatre lovers who attended this staged reading and provided their perspectives in the Q and A that followed. Revisions are currently underway.
Nutley Little Theatre’s Readers’ Theatre will host a staged reading in summer, 2026 to be determined..
If you’d like to hear more, please email Nancy (nancyburke2@gmail.com).