Francisco Jiménez’s La Mariposa and Breaking Through

Teatro Visión presents Francisco Jiménez’s La Mariposa and Breaking Through, adapted for the stage by Leo Cortez. Jiménez’s memoirs have resonated across generations, in their message of love, determination, and the importance of one’s mentors.

In La Mariposa, a young Panchito arrives in the U.S. with his family, and finds his way amid a life of constant moving and in a school where he doesn’t understand a word his teacher says. As he watches his classroom caterpillar transform into a butterfly, he too begins to learn to spread his wings.

Breaking Through follows him to his teenage years, where Panchito comes to love school and reading. A dream to become a teacher awakens in him. But when his responsibility to his family clashes against his own desires, he must navigate the competing priorities that face him.

The novels are presented as two one-act plays performed together—La Mariposa in Spanish and Breaking Through in English. Both plays include projected supertitles in English and in Spanish.