A BODEGA PRINCESS REMEMBERS to Make Florida Premiere in Tampa Bay

This November, Story Keepers will present the Florida premiere of A Bodega Princess Remembers La Fiesta de Los Reyes Magos, 1998, written and performed by Iraisa Ann Reilly and directed by José Avilés. Fresh from its Off-Broadway run at Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, the 90-minute solo autobiographical show plays November 12-22, 2026, in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church, 9025 49th Street N, Pinellas Park.

The production is the headline show of Pinellas County Theatre Week, and every performance is capped at roughly 35 seats. Tickets start at $30, and Theatre Week's buy-one-get-one offer means the second seat is free.

Staged in a single room with the audience a few feet away, the piece places theatergoers inside the banquet hall rather than across a proscenium - a natural fit for Story Keepers, which stages work in living rooms, backyards and community spaces instead of traditional theaters. Reilly performs the piece alone, leading the audience through a kaleidoscope of memories.

That is also why this production plays in a church. The play is set in the banquet hall of Reilly's childhood church, where her community gathered for La Fiesta de Los Reyes Magos - the January 6 feast that closes the Christmas season in many Latin American and Caribbean households. Story Keepers is staging it in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church in Pinellas Park, so audiences sit in the same kind of room where the story takes place.

TheaterMania said the show feels like a 'favorite Christmas movie, one you'll gladly watch again year after year.'

'The story takes place in the basement cafeteria of the church where I grew up, which makes First United Methodist Church of Pinellas Park the perfect place to tell the story. I'm excited to share my hometown with the community,' said Reilly. 'It's a show, but more like a party. Instead of the audience sitting and watching, they get to be part of the fun.'

'This is a play about how a community holds itself together, one small ritual at a time,' said director José Avilés. 'Iraisa makes you laugh, then makes you homesick for a place you may never have been.'

'We wanted the headline show of Theatre Week to be something you can't get anywhere else in Tampa Bay this year,' said Avery Anderson, founder of Story Keepers. 'An Off-Broadway premiere, in a church hall in Pinellas Park, with 35 people in the room. That's the kind of theater we exist to make.'

About the Artists

Iraisa Ann Reilly (Playwright & Performer) is a writer, actor and educator originally from New Jersey. Her work has been developed and recognized by the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Latinx Playwrights Circle, Soho Rep, Atlantic Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Two River Theatre, Repertorio Español and the Yale Drama Series, among others. She was part of Roundabout Theatre Company's Underground Residency and is a member of WP Theatre's Playwrights Lab. Reilly is an adjunct professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch and a teaching artist with Roundabout Theatre Company and Primary Stages ESPA. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and a BA in Theatre and English from the University of Notre Dame.

José Avilés (Director) hails from Philadelphia and has worked as an actor, director, producer, arts administrator and theatre arts educator for more than 30 years. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of All My Mothers Dream in Spanish, a co-production of Azuka Theatre and Teatro del Sol.

Performance and Ticket Information

What: A Bodega Princess Remembers La Fiesta de Los Reyes Magos, 1998, written and performed by Iraisa Ann Reilly, directed by José Avilés. Florida premiere.

Where: Fellowship hall, First United Methodist Church, 9025 49th Street N, Pinellas Park, FL 33782. Free on-site parking; ground-level accessible entry.

Run time: 90 minutes, no intermission. Contains mature themes and brief strong language; recommended for ages 14 and up.