Dallas Children’s Theater presents one free public performance of the bilingual play, “Señora Tortuga,” part of DCT’s Student Matinee Performance Series, at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 8, in the El Centro College Theater.

The story tells of Pedro and his family, who make their home in a barn on the Mexican border. Pedro complains of having nothing, causing grief for his mother.

She invites a hungry woman to share the family dinner one night, but the señora returns time and again to eat and tell fantastical stories of the enchanted serpent and el cucuy, a boggieman of Mexican legend.

The tales fill Pedro’s nights with heroic, yet frightening dreams. Yet Pedro is learning from these wisdom tales, although his mother is suspicious of the señora until she and the family learn Señora Tortuga holds the thread that ties their past dreams to their future.

DCT welcomes the playwright and guest director Roxanne Schroeder-Arce who serves as assistant professor at Emerson College in Boston. She taught at California State University at Fresno and was artist and education director of Teatro Humanidad in Austin.