After touring and riling up audiences in some of the country’s most prestigious venues, beloved comedian Maria Costa will hit the I-House stage with all her famed charm and vivacity. The award-winning actress will give UChicago students a glimpse into her marriage in the acclaimed show “Macho Men and the Women Who Love Them” as part of a cross-college tour.
Costa may be considered a Latino comedian first, but her show focuses primarily on the career woman’s attempts to honor tradition while also assuming modern gender roles. The entertainer’s marriage to her Salvadorian husband comes to life in a production that chronicles her own struggles to embody the dual role of housewife and work-driven entertainer.
“When [my husband and I] first met, our views of how the relationship should work were quite opposite. My career was my first and primary priority,” explains Costa. “He also has a career in finance and real estate, but he could not understand why unlike his sister and mother I did not have dinner ready at six every evening or why I did not wash and iron all of his clothes regularly. His traditional upbringing required the women to take on these responsibilities in the house.”
“Macho Men” initially began as a monologue nestled in “AfroSpic,” another show written by Costa. After an entertainment industry professional approached Costa, convincing her that the material would resonate with audiences everywhere, Costa set herself to scrutinizing the cultural gender roles that both men and women felt pressured to live up to, particularly in Latino culture.
Costa’s main message promotes a notion that is frequently debated: the idea that a woman can, in fact, “have it all.” In Costa’s eyes, part of being a woman in this day and age involves striking a balance between her career and family life, should she choose to have both. As a result of her own personal experiences, Costa also strives to demonstrate the importance of moving forward while also honoring tradition.
“I love that I am half Cuban and half Hungarian. The values that my Hungarian grandmother instilled in me are priceless and I want to honor them and keep them in my life,” says Costa. “I want to pass on the language, tradition and culture of my heritage onto my children as does my husband. At the same time I, like many women have ambitious career goals which are demanding of my time and at the same time very fulfilling.”
“I knew that other women, not only Latinas, are dealing with this, especially those who come from families with strong cultural ties—say from an Italian family, Asian, or Middle Eastern family. ‘Macho Men’ explores the struggle of assimilating to modern American society while keeping the traditional aspects of one’s culture alive.”
While Costa acknowledges that there are many ways to achieve this balance, negotiation was key for her. It took several years for Costa and her husband to accommodate each other’s needs and let go of their own preconceived notions about marriage and relationships.
“I had to give up the idea that I would be weak and would be missing out on my career if I gave a part of myself to being a good wife and he, I believe, had to give up the cultural idea that he would be less of a man if he supported me in cooking, cleaning, and the such.”
Even for Costa, achieving the balance is still an ongoing process, as it is for many women who choose to excel as career woman, wife, and in many cases mother. But she stresses that the balance can be struck; it just requires some effort.
“That is the primary question that ‘Macho Men’ explores: Can we have it all?” says Costa. “It is going to be an ongoing struggle I think for any strong, independent women with ambitious career goals. For our own well-being, however, and to have healthy relationships and to build thriving families, it is a necessity. It does not take away from who we are as women; it makes us super women who can do it all.”
For Costa and the girls of the Chi Chapter of Lambda Pi Chi, this is a message they want to resonate with young women everywhere. The comedian’s show may center on the Latino community, but the same themes and ideas repeat for women in other cultures as well.
“Though Maria is marketed primarily to the Latino community, she has been able to reach out beyond it,” explains Lambda Pi Chi President Ashleigh Richelle. “I feel that she has embraced and used both sides of her heritage to create a cross-cultural bridge between all different kinds of people, which is something I admire and try to do myself as well. In her show, she plays many different characters from her life, so she offers many different perspectives that anyone can relate to.”
With that, the girls of Lambda Pi Chi and Costa will make an appearance at I-House on Wednesday to showcase “Macho Men” as part of the sorority’s Pi Chi Week of Empowerment. They hope to unite young women and men, both within and outside the Latino Community, through Costa’s performance.
Catch “Macho Men and the Women Who Love Them” on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at I-House! For more information, you can view the event’s Facebook page and get your tickets for an evening full of laughter.