DIRECTOR
I create spaces of safety and recognition for Queer folx and members of the Global Majority so that we can dare audiences of all identities to accept wild invitations.
IN THE BLOOD
by Suzan-Lori Parks
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Creative Team: Shannon Zura (set and lights), Adiah Hicks (sound), Ilycia Buffaloe (costumes), Eliot Curtis (props), Quinton J. Alexander (fight direction) Danica Guydish (stage management), Mark Garvin (photos)
Cast: Yadioma Padilla, Nasir Kellman, Mel Petro, Mia Bompensa, Maggie Diaz, Kat Carey
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In this modern day riff on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester “La Negrita”, a homeless mother of five, lives with her kids on the tough streets of the inner city. Her eldest child is teaching her how to read and write, but the letter “A” is, so far, the only letter she knows. Her five kids are named Jabber, Bully, Trouble, Beauty and Baby. While Hester’s kids fill her life with joy, the adults with whom she comes into contact only hold her back.
A SERIES OF MEETINGS
by Savannah Reich
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Creative Team: Shannon Zura (lights and sound), Asaki Kuruma (costumes), JBean Schwab (props), Taj Rauch (set and projections), Sophia Bush (stage management) Mark Garvin (photos)
Cast: Calista Bechtold, Kat Carey, Tre Dunlap, Kaya Eller, Yadiomi Padilla, Spencer Toth, Sofia Wiedemann
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Why are there so many meetings? And why are they all terrible? Are we just not trying hard enough? Our facilitators have spent the past year meeting once a week to figure out what is wrong with all our meetings and now, they are ready to share their findings with you at a one-time only, very special meeting-so well planned, so thoughtful, so perfect that it will heal everything that divides us.
ALMA
by Benjamin Benne
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Creative Team: Calvin Anderson (lights), Adiah Hicks (sound), Melody Marshall (props), Grizele Gonzalez (set), Anna Sorrentino (costumes), Ben Simonetty (stage manager) Hibiyb (photos)
Cast: Jessy Gruver and Diana Maldonado
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Working mom Alma has singlehandedly raised her daughter, Angel, on tough love, home-cooked comida, and lots of prayers. But on the eve of the all-important SAT, Alma discovers her daughter isn’t at home studying. A schooling and la chancla await Angel at home—but so does a creeping realization that more’s at stake than just a test score. A sacrifice from Alma’s past weighs heavy on their present; now, Alma fears that her worst nightmare may soon be their reality. Will the American Dream cost them a life together?
[synopsis by Cat Rodríguez]
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MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
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Creative Team: Calvin Anderson (lights), Anna Sorrentino (costumes), Marie Laster (set), JBean Schwab (props),Michael Hahn (sound), Emanuel Chacon (choreography), Abby Toll (stage manager), Caroline Heins (asst. director) Alessandra Nicole (photos)
Cast: Mariah Ghant, Ciera Gardner, Katherine Perry, Rachel O’Hanlon-Rodriguez, CJ Higgins, Kimie Muroya, Tyler Elliot, Oliver Chase, Juptej Singh, Zach Valdez, Eliza Waterman, Jameka Monet Wilson
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“Something wicked this way comes.”
The supernatural Weird Sisters lead the Macbeths down a bloody path of ambition and lies in pursuit of power.
“Directing… with flair and spooky staging, AZ Espinoza has re-tooled this tale of the murderous Macbeths and their treachery to center around the play’s witches. That trio haunts most of the scenes, even taking over some of the principal characters mid-speech or delivering crucial news as messengers. Sometimes, directorial choices like this can seem filigreed over the plot, but Espinoza’s conception is an effective creative expansion and deepening of the familiar script.”
Broad Street Review
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WINE IN THE WILDERNESS
by Alice Childress
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Creative Team: Sara Outing (set and props), Bless Rudisil (lights), Adiah Hicks (sound), Taj Rauch (projection), Jihan Thomas (art), Autumn Blalock (stage management), Wide Eyed Studios (photos).
Cast: Ciera Gardner, Akeem Davis, Brian Anthony Wilson, Natajia Sconiers, Keith Livingston
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Wine in the Wilderness is a powerful examination of race, gender, and class set against the 1964 race riots in Harlem. The plot unfolds in the apartment of a painter creating a triptych to illustrate the phases of Black Womanhood. When his friends introduce him to a potential model for the final painting, assumptions unravel, and the true power of Black women is both acknowledged and celebrated.
BACKING TRACK
by R. Eric Thomas
AZ
IN
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MOVEMENT
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IN · MOVEMENT ·
RACHEL
by Angelina Weld Grimke
