When the San Diego Repertory Theater closed its doors last summer, many of its annual events were left without a home. But the Rep’s Latinx New Play Festival was saved by the La Jolla Playhouse, which will present the sixth edition of the festival October 27-29.
The Latinx New Play Festival celebrates new theater works by Latinx playwrights from across the country. Its goal is to expand the presence of Latinx stories and artists on the American scene and to highlight the broad spectrum of the Latinx experience today. The founding director of the festival, Maria Patrice Amon is now an artist in residence at the Playhouse for the 2023-24 season. She is a director, producer, professor and former associate artistic director at San Diego Rep. She is also co-founder and co-artistic director of TuYo Theater, a professional Latinx theater company in San Diego.
A reading at a former Latinx New Play Festival at the now-closed San Diego Repertory Theater. The festival will move to the La Jolla Playhouse next fall.
(Courtesy of La Jolla Theater)
More than 90 plays were submitted for this year’s festival, of which four scripts were selected for rehearsal and development at the Playhouse. Each of the plays will be preceded and followed by panel discussions and events hosted by directors, playwrights and scholars, as well as an opening reception on October 27 and a closing reception on October 29.
Entrance to the festival is free to the public and reservations are required. For more details, visit lajollaplayhouse.org/latinx-new-play-festival. Here is the festival program:
“Manning” by Benjamin Benne — 7 p.m., October 27. After his mother’s death, Freddy and his father, Julio, spread her ashes in the garden, and a giant zucchini (which appears to have a heartbeat) grows overnight. Freddy calls his older brother Sebastian home to witness the vegetable and also to help care for their father Julio, who seems to have lost the will to live. Sebastian brings his recently bonded red-tailed hawk and the two brothers do their best to convince their father to come out of his room. Will the three men manage to develop a common vocabulary to express their grief towards each other? The play is directed by Cat Rodriguez. (An artistic and literary panel will precede the show at 6 p.m. and an opening night of the festival will follow the show at 9 p.m.)
“The Jersey Devil is a Papi Chulo” by Iraisa Ann Reilly — 2:00 p.m. on October 28. Directed by festival founder Maria Patrice Amon, it is a comic, bilingual post-quarantine play. Five Latin American friends go camping in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey for a bachelorette party. There, they meet two white “papi chulos” (“hotties”) who do this camping thing well: with running water. The boys hatch a reality TV-inspired plan to determine which of the femme fatales they will save from deportation through marriage. But will the boys manage to save the women from the Jersey Devil? (The dramaturgy panel follows at 4 p.m.)
“The Summoning of Selena” by Jessi Realz and Marilet Martinez — 7 p.m. October 28. Cambria Herrera directs this sketch comedy and cabaret-style show that explores how cultural icon Selena Quintanilla Pérez continues to inspire and motivate Latinos, especially women, and the LGBTQIA community. Through character monologues, drag, choreographed dance numbers, audience participation, singing moments and more, the play celebrates cultural duality while examining when, why and how we call on Santa Selena in our daily lives. At the top of the series, Selena is literally summoned and, in this case, she is a larger-than-life drag queen who guides the cast on this journey to help them find their way in a society that wants to put them in a state of doom. different spirit. box. The show also uses biographical information about the artist as well as Gregory Nava’s 1997 film Selena as source material to create characters and scenes that highlight our diaspora as Mexicans, Americans, Mexican Americans, pochos , Latin and queer. (A panel of directors will precede the performance at 6 p.m.)
“Apple Bottom” by Karina Billini — 2 p.m., October 29. The plastic surgery procedure, Brazil Butt Lifts, is sweeping through Miami women’s wallets and the staff at post-BBL recovery house, Apple Bottom Spa, are hoping to ride that wave. When Andrea, a humble childhood neighbor, and Belinda, a high-strung black fishing social media influencer, arrive as new patients, Apple Bottom Spa struggles to keep the women and the house afloat. Amelia Acosta Powell runs the show. (“Apple Bottom” will be preceded at noon by a presentation of local projects at noon; a panel of experts at 1 p.m.; a conversation with the festival’s playwrights at 4 p.m.; and a closing reception at 5 p.m. ).
pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
