Real Women Have Curves - A Conversation With Josefina López

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, Real Women Have Curves - A Conversation With Josefina López. A talkback, signing, and live podcast recording.

About the Play

Set in a tiny sewing factory in East L.A., this is the outrageously funny story of five full-figured Mexican-American women who are racing to meet nearly impossible production deadlines in order to keep their tiny factory from going under. And while they work, hiding from the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), they talk... about their husbands and lovers, their children and their dreams for the future. The story is told from the point of view of Ana, the youngest among them. Just graduated from high school, Ana dreams of getting out of the barrio and going off to college and becoming a famous writer. Although she needs money, Ana doesn't like working at the factory, and has little respect for the co-workers, who make fun of her ambitions and what they consider her idealistic feminist philosophies. However, Ana keeps coming to her job and chronicling here experiences in a journal. As the summer unfolds, she slowly gains an understanding and appreciation of the work and the women, eventually writing an essay that wins her a journalism fellowship which will take her to New York City. This play, a microcosm of the Latina immigrant experience, celebrates real women's bodies, the power of women, and the incredible bond that happens when women work together.

About the Author

Josefina López, the Founding Artistic Director of CASA 0101 Theater, is best known for her play Real Women Have Curves and its 2002 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award-winning film of the same name produced by HBO. A prolific writer, López has had over 130 productions of her plays staged nationwide and has worked as a Hollywood screenwriter for over 30 years, collaborating with industry figures like Norman Lear and Michael McDonald. Born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, she immigrated to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, at five and later became a U.S. citizen. She holds an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA and holds a Grand Diplome in Cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Committed to uplifting Latino and female voices, she teaches playwriting and producing at CASA 0101 Theater. Her accolades include a Screenwriting Fellowship from the California Arts Council, the HUMANITAS Prize, and the 2023 Your Voice Carries Weight Award. In addition to her plays, she has authored several books, including Hungry Woman in Paris and Shine, Shine, Shine Bright. Josefina López’s original play, Real Women Have Curves, and the HBO film, Real Women Have Curves written by Josefina López and George LaVoo, are the source materials for an adaptation of the new Broadway show, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical, which will debut in New York at the James Earl Jones Theatre on Sunday, April 27, 2025.

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