LADIES ONLY Recently, Ruby Nelda Perez, a locally popular San Antonio performance artist, tried to describe Rosita, the Latina restaurant owner who is the sole character in Perez’s one-woman show, Doña Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen. “I think she’s a combination of women I’d like to be, women I am, women I think I am,” Perez said. “I’m in your face most of the time, but she’s more in your face.” For the past five years Perez and a handful of Latina comedians from across the U.S. have come to the historic Guadalupe Theater in San Antonio to perform stand-up and skits at the annual comedy show Febrero Loco. The tradition continues this month on February 7 and 8, when Perez, Marilyn Martinez, Tracy Vilar, and Sheila Rivera take the stage in front of the Guadalupe’s reputably receptive crowd, which sits cabaret-style and interacts with the performers. (Perez says the mostly female audience responds particularly well to gossip and dirty stories—”the dirtier the better.”) As usual, the audience will hear plenty from Rosita, and Perez says she will probably update the show to comment on urban renewal and current events. “In one skit from Jalapeño Kitchen called ‘Are There Chiles in Heaven?’ I list all the things in hell. I’m considering putting the San Antonio City Council down there,” she says. (See San Antonio: Other Events)
