“'Mala’ means ‘bad.’ Not that you have done something bad, but that you are, in your core, bad.”

Funny, brutally honest and ultimately cathartic, Mala puts a sharp focus on what it means to put our loved ones first, right to the very end, and what happens when we strive to be good but don't always succeed. A world premiere production by ArtsEmerson, this powerful one-woman show by and featuring Cuban-American Melinda Lopez transports us into a world which is uniquely first generation in its specifics, and universal in its power.



An utterly unsentimental journey towards the end of life, Mala is an irreverent exploration of how we live, cope and survive in the moment. Grounded in Lopez’s distinctive emotional language and sharp humor, Mala dances between doctors and urgent 911 calls, a mother’s growing frailty, and a daughter’s quest for grace— all set during an epic Boston winter. Rather than depict a “right way”, the play opens the door for conversation in our universal struggle to support those we love in dying, especially when all we’ve ever focused on is surviving.

“One of Boston’s most important writers” – WBUR