Funtura.

Bonnie got up, smiled and went out.

The elegant woman stretched out her hand for me to shake.

We will notify your school in a few weeks.

It was very nice to meet you.

I shook hands all around and backed out of the room

in a fog, silent as if pantomime had taken my voice

and the urge to speak.

On the way home, mommy kept asking me,

what happened?

And I kept mumming, nothing, nothing, nothing happened.

A shame that after all those hours of practice

with Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Barone and Mr. Gatti,

after the expense of new clothes, shoes,

and after mommy had to take a day off from work

to take me to Manhattan, after all of that,

I had failed the audition and would never, ever get out of Brooklyn.

That was Tony Award-winning actress Priscilla Lopez

reading from Esberalda Santiago's book, When I Was Puerto Rican.

At our live event at the 92nd Street Y in 2018,

let the USA interview the iconic writer about her life and work.

And today, we're bringing that conversation back from our archives.

...