1. Maritza Cisneros
TA 120
10/15/11
Play Analysis; 26 Miles
26 Mile is a full length play written by Quiara Alegria Hudes. She was born in west
Philadelphia were she started writing plays. Her first play ever produced was written while she
was in the tenth grade. She then, went away to school at Yale were she earned her
B.A.(wikipedia,2011). Quiara's also wrote a book called, In The Heights which received many
awards. 26 Miles is one of her newer plays, written right after she wrote In the Heights. While
Hudes was working with In the Heights she felt rushed and pressured to fit her characters
personas on to two pages. When she moved on to writing 26 miles she felt like she was able to
get deep into her character's personas. She was a lot more relaxed about writing 26 miles even
though it was her encore to In the heights. She said, "It’s a fiercely intimate play, so I had the
time to go so deeply into each character’s psyche. With ‘In the Heights,’ I was writing a huge
Broadway musical with 11 protagonists. I got only about two pages with which to tell an entire
character’s story and psychology — and I had to do that 11 times."(Filichia,2009)
Quiara Alegria Hudes grew up in West Philadelphia where 26 miles takes place. This
play shows the audience what it was like to be raised in a household in Philadelphia, have parent
of different ethnicity who are divorced, have a constant battle over custody, and shows the role
of a young teenager struggling to find herself while dealing with all these problems. This play
was written based off of Hudes real life story. She shows the audience what it felt like to be
raised by her father. He did not know how to care for her and had troubles doing it because of his
new wife. She also shows the audience how her writing developed by journaling though it all.

2. Hudes expresses her life story though 26 miles. "Olivia’s conflict—whether to live with her
father, who has custody, but whose new live-in lady does not care for the girl, or to move in with
Beatriz and her man—draws on the custody war that Henry Hudes and Virginia Perez fought
over their daughter."( Tcg 50 Theatre,2011) 26 miles is Hudes life story written out with a couple
of twists.
26mile takes place in 1986. It takes place during this time because it is when Hudes was
growing up and dealing with all of her family issues. She closely relates the play to her life and
what she went though as a teenager. Her life was also completely different from what she
thought people's lives were like in the late 1900's. During this time the Crosby show was very
Famous. People use to watch it and see what it was like to have a happy "normal" life. Hudes
was very far form that happy picture. Many people did not have that "happy family" that was
portrayed in the late 1900's. Hudes story shows that not all families in the late 1900's were like
the Crosby's.
Family issues was Hudes's main topic. It showed the audience how Hudes and her family
dealt with their own issues. Many people during this time had the idea that things were getting
better in the world, especially in the United States. Because of this idea people who did not have
a happy life would see that as a huge problem. Society wanted to have families like the Crosby's
and the Brady Bunch but it was not reality for most people.
The target audience for 26 Miles is young teens, mothers, and fathers. This play
concentrates on family issues and is directed towards teenagers who are going through them. The
play shows how one girl got though many obstacles in her life. She, at one point, was so bad that
she wanted to end her life. Instead of taking her life she survived it all and found an outlet to her
pain by writing in her journal. I think many teens can relate to this. Mothers and fathers can

3. make life more difficult especially during their child's teenage years. This play shows it to the
extremes. It shows how parents relationships can affect their kids. It also shows that kids might
not always understand what is going on but it is important to tell them what is happening. This
play has a small target audience and the message it gets across is very powerful!
26 Miles is a Realistic dramatic comedy. This play is realistic because it was based off
Hudes real life and it can happen to anyone. It is dramatic because Hudes takes this play and
stretches it the extremes. Some of the things that happen in this play are not likely to happen to
people unless the person who is experiencing this type of situation exaggerate and acts
outrageous. It is a comedy because Hudes makes you laugh though out the play. Although the
issue at hand is very serious she tries to brighten the mood by all ways having jokes being
bounced around and by having a character like Beatriz.
This play consists of four main characters. The main character which is the protagonist is
Olivia(Hannah Rose Kornfeld). Then comes Beatriz who is Olivia's mother. She is played by
Cassie Benavidez. She is also a protagonist. She is always with Olivia making sure she is ok and
trying to please her. She does this to make up for the time that she was not in her life. The third
important character is Olivia's father Aaron. He is an antagonist. He is the reason why Olivia and
her mother have never been together and why she doesn't have custody of her. He's also the one
who does not care for Olivia because of his new wife.
The playwrights stereo types in this play are very bold. She has Beatriz who is a Puerto
Rican mother. Beatriz is an immigrant. She is scared of the police but yet is very loud. She
speaks her mind and is very funny when she does so. Beatriz is also a caring mother who loves
Olivia and would do anything for her. Then there is Olivia. She is a teenager who is struggling to
find herself while dealing with family issues at home. Olivia, being a teenager also tried to do

4. something stupid. She tried to end her life and while she was doing it she realized she wanted to
live. She plays the typical teenager who is loud and speaks her mind. Then comes her father
Aaron. Aaron is a typical white man. Her thinks he knows what's best for his daughter and thinks
he need to have custody. This comes back to bit him when he realizes how difficult it is to raise a
teenager. Soon after Olivia runs away, he then realizes it is better for her to go with her mother
because he's having problem in his own life. These are three very different characters who have
to fit together because they are a family.
Hudes did a great job at making them fit together and telling her story at the same time.
The reason why she chose to make these characters this way is because it reminds her of her own
family. She had parents like this and as a teenager she went though some of these thing. They are
very strong characters and relate a lot to her personal life.
26 Miles had many simile, metaphors and symbolism though out the play. For example
the character that Olivia plays is much like her mother and father mixed together. Olivia is like
her mother because she is loud and she speaks her mind. But she is like her father because she
likes to travel and see the world. Especially the buffalo. There was also many metaphors used in
the words that were said by the characters. They used them to describe their surroundings and
what they were seeing on the road. They also used them to describe Aarons new wife. Some
symbolism was show in the play also. The clothes that the actors were wearing showed their
social status and allowed us to relate to the situation they were in.
The stage type that the play took place on was a proscenium stage. The space was very
small and interactive. Some advantages to this type of theater space was the I was really close to
the actors and I felt like they were performing the play just for me. Some disadvantages was that

5. I was so close I would hear everything that was going on and when the characters yelled or made
loud noises it would be sort of too loud and would hurt my ears.
The setting design, lighting, sound, and costume design were all realistic. It was made to
look like this could all happen in real life. On the stage was two big block stair case like things.
They used these though out the play to separate rooms and to climb. Also at times they had a bed
that was rolled in and out. The lighting and sound was average. The lighting was normal and
dimed down at time to show that it was becoming late. They also did a spot light at times to have
the actor speak to the audience directly while the other characters would freeze. The sound was
minimal. They play a couple of songs at the begging and end of acts to get the audience in the
mood. They also had small sound affects to show a phone ringing or a car door slamming. The
costume design was done very nicely. Olivia was portrayed and a girl that her father did not care
about and she wore old raggedy clothes. While her mother wore a dress and night gown. Aaron
wore a tee shirt and jeans for the most part. The costume change was minimal but it still gave the
affect of reality.
26 Miles was a great play. I thought it was funny and sad and real at the same time. I
loved the story that the playwright had to tell. I thought it was very interesting. The actors did a
great job at playing the characters. Although the space was kind of small and their voices were
really loud I think everyone did a great job at making this play happen.

6. Works Cited
Filichia, Peter. "Playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes takes her time with the Two River Theater
Company's '26 Miles'." nj.com. N.p., 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2009/09/playwright_quiara_alegria_hude.h
tml>.
"Quiara Alegría Hudes." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiara_Alegr%C3%ADa_Hudes>.
"No Place Like Home." Tcg 50 Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/oct08/hudes.cfm>.