Estela Portillo-Trambley (January 16, 1926 – December 1, 1998) was a

Chicana Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American iden ...

poet and playwright. She gained recognition through the publishing of her many plays, prose, and poetry depicting the lives and plight of Chicana women in male-dominated societies.

Biography

Portillo-Trambley was born to Mexican immigrant parents on January 16, 1926 in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. At a young age, she went to live with her grandparents in

El Segundo Barrio El Segundo Barrio (Spanish for "the Second Neighborhood", and also known as South El Paso) is a historic Hispanic neighborhood in El Paso, Texas. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in El Paso. It was one of the main ports of entry into the Un ...

of El Paso where her passion for literature was fostered. Growing up Estela had one younger sister named Alicia Portillo-Armendariz and two brothers, Frank Portillo and Robert Portillo. In 1947, she was married to Robert Trambley, and together they had six children - five daughters and one son. She earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from

the University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

and had a career as a high school teacher from 1957 to 1964, at the El Paso Technical Institute, before dedicating herself to writing. She is the first Chicana to publish a short story collection and the first to write a musical comedy. She was the resident dramatist at

El Paso Community College El Paso Community College (EPCC) is a community college district headquartered in El Paso, Texas, United States. EPCC operates five campuses in the Greater El Paso area, as well as courses offered at nearby Fort Bliss. As defined by the Texas Le ...

from 1970–75. While there she produced and directed the college's dramatic productions and served as a drama instructor. She died on December 1, 1999.

Career and major works

While many works of other authors were centered on the experience of Latin men, Portillo-Trambley focused her work on women, claiming their own voice. Her experiences living in Mexico and along the Texas-Mexico border inspired the evident themes in her works. Portillo-Trambley's work tends to focus on her feminist stance, contesting stoicism and submissiveness of women. The historical play Sor Juana reconsiders the double standards that the 17th century nun faced and reimagines her life from a feminist perspective. Additionally, her play The Day of the Swallows can be considered ahead of its time for featuring a lesbian relationship.

Poetry

* Impressions (haiku poetry), El Espejo Quinto Sol, 1971. * (Editor) Chicanas en literatura y Arte (title means Chicana Women in Literature and Art), Quinto Sol, 1974. * Rain of Scorpions and Other Writings (short stories), Tonatiuh International, 1976 * Trini, Bilingual Press, 1986

Plays

* The Day of the Swallows (also see below), El Espejo Quinto Sol, 1971. * Morality Play (three-act musical), first produced in El Paso, Tex., at Chamizal National Theatre, 1974. * (Contributor) We Are Chicano, Washington Square Press, 1974. * Black Light (three-act), first produced in El Paso at Chamizal National Theatre, 1975. * El Hombre Cosmico (title means The Cosmic Man), first produced at Chamizal National Theatre, 1975. * Sun Images (musical), first produced at Chamizal National Theatre, 1976. * (Contributor) Roberto Garza, editor, Chicano Theatre (includes The Day of the Swallows), Notre Dame University Press, 1976. * Isabel and the Dancing Bear (three-act), first produced at Chamizal National Theatre, 1977. * Sor Juana and Other Plays, Bilingual Press, 1983 * Autumn Gold (three-act comedy) * Broken Moon (three-act play) * Los amores de Don Estafa (three-act comedy in English).

Awards and achievements

Portillo-Trambley won the 1975 Quinto Sol Award, a literary award presented by Quinto Sol Publications for her short story collection ''Rain of Scorpions''. Such an award was given to Chicano and Chicana authors, promoting their genre of work. In 1968, Portillo-Trambley became one of the founders of the first Hispanic theater group, Los Pobres, in El Paso, TX. Later in her career, she attained second place in the 1985 New York Shakespeare Festival's Hispanic American playwright's competition for her play ''Black Light''. The playwright was named Author of the Pass by the El Paso Herald Post in 1990, and was inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1995, she held the position of Presidential Chair in Creative Writing at the University of California, Davis.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portillo-Trambley, Estela Chicana feminism American women novelists Chicano literature American women dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets Novelists from Texas