Latinx New Play Festival 2023 Program

MANNING | THE JERSEY DEVIL IS A PAPI CHULO | THE INVOCATION OF SELENA | APPLE BOTTOM | Panels

MANNING

Benjamin Benne (he/him), Playwright
Plays include Alma (world premiere ’22: CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in L.A. & American Blues Theater in Chicago; ArtsWest in Seattle ’22; Curious Theatre in Denver ’23; Central Square in Cambridge ’23), In His Hands (World Premiere ’22: Mosaic Theater of DC) and What/Washed Ashore/Astray (world premiere ’23: Pillsbury House in Minneapolis). His play Manning is scheduled to have its World Premiere at Portland Stage in 2024. He has been the recipient of Portland Stage’s Clauder Competition Grand Prize, Arizona Theatre Company’s National Latinx Playwriting Award, the Kennedy Center’s KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, American Blues’ Blue Ink Playwriting Award, and the Playwrights’ Center’s McKnight and Many Voices Fellowships, among others. The L.A. Times named him part of “LA Vanguardia: The Latino innovators, investigators, and power players breaking through barriers.” He has been commissioned by South Coast Rep and Seattle Rep. MFA: Playwriting, David Geffen/Yale School of Drama ’22. benjaminbenne.com

Cat Rodríguez (she/ella), Director
Cat Rodríguez (she/ella) werqs in theater + new media, serving collaboration, community, and lqqks. Cat wears many wigs: she acts, directs, and dramaturgs. A co-foundress of the queer collective Fake Friends, Cat recently performed in the company’s co-created Off-Broadway production of Circle Jerk, for which she and her colleagues received Obie Awards (2022) and that was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2021. A “people person” with a politic and a love for the Ridiculous, she’s all about bringing discernment, critical rigor, playfulness, specificity, and laughter to process. Black / Latinx feminisms as well as collectivist organizing experiences fundamentally inform her artmaking and pathtaking. Cat lives and labors in english y español, talks with her hands, and also anda con ganas. Formally trained at Yale School of Drama and Carnegie Mellon (where she’s taught, too), Cat stays undomesticated and un-disciplined; she’s a feral force. A freelancing femme, Cat considers herself a nomad but always names New Orleans and Nicaragua home. Cat is currently a Sundance Institute Latine Fellow. 2022 CultureHub Resident Artist (Fake Friends). 2022 Mercury Store Resident Artist (Fake Friends). 2021-22 Art of Practice Fellow + Community Leader, Sundance Interdisciplinary Program. catlikemeow.com

Rose Figueroa (she/her), Stage Manager
Rose Figueroa is an accomplished Stage Manager and Arts Administrator with a passion for developing and supporting new work. As a new play advocate, she uses her skills to amplify the voices of emerging artists. Selected notable works include her role as Stage Manager for Theatre Lab’s production of “Refuge,” “Last Night in Inwood,” and “Overactive Letdown.” Rose served as the Assistant Stage Manager at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, for the following productions “Steel Magnolias,” “Mamma Mia!,” “West Side Story,” “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors,” “Chicago,” and “How To Succeed.” Rose’s talents have also graced the stage of Triad Stage for their original production of “Beautiful Star” as their Assistant Stage Manager. Rose also stage managed San Diego Rep’s Latinx New Play Festival’s reading of “The Cucuy Will Find You.” She is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association. In addition to her work as a stage manager, Rose is an emerging force in arts administration. She proudly holds the position of Administrative Manager for the renowned National New Play Network, a testament to her commitment to supporting new work in the theatrical play field. She would love to thank her friends and family for the love and support.

Jazmine Logan (she/her), Dramaturg
Jazmine Logan is a third-year Ph.D. student in Theatre and Drama at UC San Diego from San Diego, California. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and a B.A. in Politics from University of California, Santa Cruz, and a M.A. in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University. Her UC San Diego credits includes In the Red and Brown Water (Dramaturg), Dance Nation (Dramaturg) and Thicker Than (Dramaturg). Her additional credits include Spring Awakening: The Musical (Assistant Director/Dramaturg) at San Francisco State University; Crowns (Mabel/Assistant Director), The Children’s Hour (Peggy Rogers), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testimonies (Co-Director), A Raisin in the Sun (Ruth Younger), Zoot Suit (Guera/Ensemble), Detroit ’67 (Bunny “Bonita”), The Odyssey (Trojan/Hecuba/Suitor), A Dream Play (Victoria/Ensemble) and The Waiting Room (Brenda) at UC Santa Cruz.

Jose Febus (he/him), Julio
Jose is a NYC based Puerto Rican actor with over 50 years of experience in the theatre, movies and television. Jose’s latest role was in Azazel Jacobs’ His Three Daughters, which just had its world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival 2023. Jose will be participating in the reading of Miss America Pretty by Iraisa Ann Reilly in NYC. Jose has worked for the SolProject, INTAR, Public Theater and many others. TV credits include Law & Order, The Path, Manifest and others. Jose is thrilled to be partaking in Manning.

Germainne Lebrón (he/him), Sebastian
Germainne is a proud Boricua from the Bronx. He is an incoming UC San Diego M.F.A. Actor class of ‘26. Theatre credits includes: LA GRINGA at American Stage; NATIVE GARDENS at The Warehouse Theatre; THE INHERITANCE PART 1 at Trinity Rep; IMOGEN(A Cymbeline Adaptation) at Brown/Trinity Rep; EIGHT TALES OF PEDRO at The Secret Theatre; O’s CONFEDERADOS and LUCHA LIBRE at Columbia University’s Schapiro Theater; RIVER ROUGE at The Lenfest performing Arts center; ELVIRA: THE IMMIGRATION PLAY at Collaboraction Theater Company; KING LEAR at The Brick Theatre. Upcoming: THE PROMISE by Jose Rivera at UC San Diego. He is also an Actors Theatre of Louisville PTC 2019/20 Alum where he wrote and performed a solo show: MADRE TIERRA which premiered in The Actors Theatre of Louisville. He also performed in LOUISVILLE//KENTUCKY//USA in their new play project festival, Fifth Third Banks DRACULA; A CHRISTMAS CAROL and ARE YOU THERE? in the Humana Festival of New American Plays ’20. Instagram: Germainne_lebron Website: germainnelebron.com

Sam Gonzalez (he/him), Freddy
Sam Gonzalez is an actor and native New Yorker based in NYC. He’s an alum of the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School where he also served on the faculty for 6 years. He is a member of the resident acting company at Mercury Store in Gowanus. Credits include Invasive Species (The Tank), Cuck, Cuck, Bull; Vile Isle (Columbia), Big Green Theater (The Bushwick Starr), Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn (Joe’s Pub), Lulu is Hungry, Blue Plate Special (Ars Nova) and The Velveteen Rabbit (Atlantic Theater Company). thesamgonzalez.com

Catalina Maynard (she/her), Ana
Catalina Maynard – Catalina has performed in numerous productions with more than fifteen world premiere credits. She has worked at numerous regional theatre companies in the country, such as the Mark Taper Forum, Yale REP, The Denver Center, the Peter J. Shaw NYC, The Children’s Theatre Minneapolis, TheatreWorks, PCPA, Teatro Campesino, and the Arizona Theatre Co. Locally, Catalina has worked at Cygnet, Moxie, North Coast REP, Moonlight Theatre, the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego REP and ION Theatre, where she was a company member for more than five years. In addition, Catalina has had the distinct privilege of working with many celebrated playwrights; Luís Valdez, Lisa Loomer, Octavo Solis, Allan Havis, Elaine Romero, Melinda Lopez, Luís Alfaro, Josefina Lopez, José Cruz Gonzales, Caridad Svich and Karen Zacarías, to name a few. Catalina is also a Learning Specialist in Narrative Medicine at the University of California San Diego for the UniversityLink Medical Science Program under the direction of Dr. Ramón Hernandez.

THE JERSEY DEVIL IS A PAPI CHULO

Iraisa Ann Reilly (she/ella), Playwright
Iraisa Ann Reilly is a writer, performer, and educator who is half-Cuban, half-Irish, and whole New Jersey. Select full-length plays include Good Cuban Girls (Teatro del Sol, at The Arden Theatre), The Jersey Devil is a Papi Chulo (Sol Fest 2022, Yale Drama Series Shortlist 2022, Finalist Leah Ryan Prize, KCACTF), Saturday Mourning Cartoons (Winner, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival 2022, Arkansas New Play Festival 2023, Finalist Goldberg Playwriting Prize 2022, Semifinalist Blue Ink Award 2023, Semifinalist Premiere Stages). Her work has been developed with Theatre Exile, The New Harmony Project, The Chain Theatre, The Workshop Theatre, ARTHouse INKubator, NYU Production Lab’s Development Studio and the Latinx Playwright’s Circle. Her play House Bill 3979: Amendment #10: The Life and Works of Dr. Hector P. Garcia was commissioned and produced by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2022. Iraisa Ann is currently under commission with the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia and Michigan State University. She is a recipient of the 2023 Latinx Playwright’s Circle Mentorship, working with mentor Migdalia Cruz. Her screenplay La Reina del Bronx won best screenplay at Fusion Film Festival and was a semifinalist for the Vail Screenwriting Competition. As a performer, Iraisa Ann recently appeared off-Broadway in Arlene Hutton’s According to the Chorus. She’s taught students of all ages and is an adjunct professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch. M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from NYU, B.A. in Theatre and English from the University of Notre Dame. iraisaannreilly.com.

Patrice Amon (she/her), Director
Dr. Maria Patrice Amon is a director, producer, scholar and leader. Directing credits include: Hoops (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre), A Skeptic and a Bruja (Urbanite Theatre), Group! The Musical (Passage Theatre), Hoopla! (La Jolla Playhouse POP Tour), Azul (Diversionary Theatre), Mojada (UC San Diego), A Zoom of One’s Own (CSUSM), Ich Bin Ein Berliner (Theatre Lab), DREAM HOU$E (CSUSM/TuYo Theatre), Fade (Moxie Theatre), The Madres (Moxie Theatre), Lydia (Brown Bag Theatre Company). Dramaturg: Manifest Destinitis and Beachtown (San Diego Rep). Patrice was a 2020 National Directing Fellow and an Associate Artistic Director at San Diego Repertory Theatre. She is also a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of TuYo Theatre, a professional Latinx Theatre Company in San Diego, with whom the Playhouse collaborated for On Her Shoulders We Stand at the 2022 Without Walls (WOW) Festival. Currently an LTC Steering Committee member and a board member for NNPN, Patrice is an assistant professor at CSUSM. JD: California Western School of Law. Ph.D.: UC Irvine. mariapatriceamon.com

Stephanie Diana Carrizales (she/her), Stage Manager
Stephanie Diana is a Stage Manager and a M.F.A. candidate at UC San Diego, originally from Fresno, CA. Credits: The Old Globe: Crime and Punishment, A Comedy (PA, 2023), What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank (Script PA, 2022). UC San Diego Credits: UCSD MFA Acting Showcase (PSM, 2023), A Flea in Her Rear (PSM, 2023), Fall Dance: Outside In (PSM, 2022) Fifty Boxes of Earth (PSM), Everybody (ASM, 2022), Men on Boats (ASM, 2021).

Lynde Rosario (she/her), Dramaturg
Lynde Rosario is a Dramaturg and the Director of Fellowship Programs at Playwrights’ Center. She is also the President of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and on the Board of the National New Play Network. Current and former affiliations include: The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, The Playwrights Realm, Working Theater Company, Unicorn Theatre, TheatreLab, Curious Theatre Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, The Catamounts, Local Theater Company, Creede Repertory Theater, Athena Project, Letter of Marque Theater Company and The Anthropologists. She holds a B.A. in Drama from Hofstra University and an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from The American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.

Adriana Gaviria (she/her), Sophia
Adriana Gaviria is an actress, voice-over artist, writer, director and creative producer. New York: The Public Theater, Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Repertorio Español, The 52nd Street Project, IATI Theater, New York Stage and Film. Regional: Yale Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center, Arizona Theatre Company, Pasadena Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Miami New Drama. Television/Film: “Law & Order: CI,” “Person of Interest,” “Sueños,” “Crabs in a Barrel,” an HBO Latinx Short Film Competition winner. Current Projects: Adriana is Co-Artistic Director/Founding Member of The Sol Project, Producer of SolFest, and Executive Team Member/Director of Technology and Innovation at Parent Artist Advocacy League. She serves on the national advisory boards of 50 Playwrights Project and FIU Theatre Alumni, and on the national steering committees of DRAMA and Latinx Theatre Commons. Training: NALAC Advocacy Leadership Institute, NALAC Leadership Institute. B.F.A.: Florida International University, M.F.A.: The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. Member of The Actors Center, SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Adriana embraces the human spirit and aims to empower, inspire and build community through her work. Her arts initiative North Star Projects hopes to create a better world, one project at a time. adrianagaviria.com

Olivia Espinosa (she/her), Maria
Olivia Espinosa is a bilingual actor, playwright, director and educator. Acting credits include Azul (Diversionary Theatre); American Mariachi (Denver Center New Play Summit); Kita y Fernanda (Mo’olelo Performing Arts Co.); The Astronaut Farmworker, A Lonely Boy’s Guide to Survival… (La Jolla Playhouse POP Tour). In 2017, she was honored as the recipient of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s most prestigious award, The Phil Killian Directing Fellowship, where she was assistant director to Bill Rauch on Off the Rails by Randy Reinholz, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure highlighting the haunting and resilient stories of Native Americans during the U.S. Indian Boarding School movement. She has also assistant directed alongside prominent directors like Tony Taccone and Tina Landau on the stages of La Jolla Playhouse. Olivia is a proud member of Native Voices at the Autry’s Artist Ensemble, and LJP’s Leadership Council. She is the co-founder and Education Director of Haus of Improv where she teaches effective communication and storytelling skills to attorneys. hausimprov.com

Maribel Martinez (she/her), Celia
Maribel Martinez is a multi-hyphenate artist, proudly Black-Latina, with Dominican and Puerto Rican roots. She is an Artistic Producer for the Dominican Artists Collective; she wrote and performed in DAC’s “The Cooking Project,” presented by New York Theatre Workshop’s Artistic Instigators virtual series in 2021. She’s part of The Latin Playwrights Circle community and considers it one of her favorite artistic homes. Credits include Off-Broadway: Bees & Honey (MCC Theater); Will You Come With Me? (PlayCo); Julius Cesar (New York Shakespeare in the Park). Select Regional Theatre: Mushroom (People’s Light); Vanity Fair (Shakespeare Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater); Christmas at Pemberley (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Henry V P 1 (Folger); Black Joy Project (JAG). Film / Television: Evil (CBS), New Amsterdam (ABC), The Watcher (Netflix), Sacrifice (BET+), Dr. Death (Peacock). M.F.A., UC Irvine. maribel-martinez.com

Ashley Alvarez (she/her), Gloria
Ashley Alvarez is a Cuban-American actress, writer and producer. Recent theater credits include The Cubans (world premiere at Miami New Drama), Anna in the Tropics (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), Peter and the Starcatcher (original workshop at Williamstown Theater Festival) and the virtual immersive experience Carla’s Quince (Drama League Nomination). TV/film credits include Search Party, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and the upcoming feature film Crabs in a Barrel. She co-wrote and stars in the short film Crabs in a Barrel, which won the HBO Latinx Short Film Competition, and is now streaming on HBOMax. She’s a 2022 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and recipient of the Sundance Comedy and Latine Fellowship. She received her B.F.A. in Theater from Florida International University and graduated from The Atlantic Theater School.

Kat Peña (she/her), Jenni
Kat Peña is a third-year M.F.A. acting student. She’s a Dominican plant-mom from the Bronx. UC San Diego Credits: The Promise, Dance Nation, Nonna Kills The President, Flea in Her Rear, Everybody. Other credits: Sabrina in Sharon (Cygnet Theatre), Yaz in Water by the Spoonful (Cahill Theater/Regional), Sullivan in Dracula (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Escolastica in Eight Tales of Pedro (The Secret Theater) and Michelle in the award-winning short comedy, Reina. For more info visit katpena.com.

Ricky Lozano (he/him), Tony
Ricardo Lozano is a UC San Diego M.F.A. actor based in Southern California whose life is encompassed by food and building relationships. Some regional credits of his include Tomas!, SNOW, BLPC readings, and 25th annual…. He is very grateful to share these experiences that provoke conversation and cultivate more art.

Oscar Emmanuel Fabela (he/him), Brad
Oscar Emmanuel Fabela is an award-winning Mexican-American actor, writer and producer raised in South Texas, and a proud Scholar and Legacy Artist of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. A graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television, and The British American Drama Academy at University of Oxford, he was most recently awarded the Golden Globes Acting Fellowship. After working with Francis Ford Coppola on his latest project Distant Vision, Oscar has served as an Actor and/or Writer for theater companies like The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, A Noise Within Theater in Pasadena and the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland. Most recently, Oscar’s original play Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias had its World Premiere at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row as part of the United Solo Festival in New York City, as well as serving as a resident acting company artist for PCPA: The Pacific Conservatory Theatre. You can now hear Oscar’s voiceover work on platforms like Cartoon Network, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Audible. Currently, Oscar serves as a producer of voiceover and dubbing for Netflix international features and series with Roundabout Entertainment.

Fabricio Apuy Novella (he/him), Stage Directions
Fabricio Apuy Novella is a fifth-year undergraduate theatre major who transferred from Antelope Valley College. Fabricio comes from Palmdale, California and sends out his gratitude to all the mentors and artists that he has learned from. UC San Diego credits include: Napoli (Ciappa), Late – a Cowboy Song (Crick), Hope (Playwright, LAB Series), Dracula – A House of Lies (Playwright, Company 157), A Flea in Her Rear (ASD), Limp Wrist on the Lever (AD) and 900 Years (SPA). Fabricio is grateful to have had the opportunity to work on this production and wants to thank the amazing cast and crew!

THE INVOCATION OF SELENA

Tus Tías Productions: Marilet Martinez (she/they) and Jessi Realz (she/her), Playwrights
Jessi Realz and Marilet Martinez are the artistic creative force known as Tus Tías Productions. Their show The Invocation of Selena was featured at the Latinx Theatre Commons Comedy Carnaval in 2022. They have been homegirls and collaborators since 2017 and are Co-Artistic Directors of the award winning, nationally renowned, Chicago-based Latine comedy collective Ratas de Dos Patas (RDDP). Together, Jessi and Marilet have created fan favorite programming like RDDP’s annual Día de Los Muertos show, Ratas Gigante, and the first inception of The Invocation of Selena. With puro amor, Tus Tías conceive shows that celebrate and explore the joys and complexities of Latine cultura through a contemporary lens. Fueled by ancestral honoring and a belief that there is laughter in the revolution, Tus Tías are advocates for radical self-acceptance, visibility of marginalized stories and busting the barriers of oppression with jajas. Con cafecito, palo santo y chistes, Tus Tías will lift you up, party down and have you living la buena vida! Quien los quiere? Tus Tías!

Cambria Herrera (she/they), Director
Cambria Herrera is a Xicanx theatre director and educator based in San Diego, California All of their work rises from their core inspiration: queer and female artists of color from the past and present. They have a passion for using theatre to empower young people in building empathy for themselves and the world around them. At UC San Diego they completed an M.F.A. in directing and created The Stars Through the Smog Showcase for a collective of diverse undergraduate students to incubate original works on themes of identity and reclamation. They co-founded and facilitated The AGE Theatre Collective and mentorship program in Portland, Oregon to empower the resiliency of female and non-binary theatre artists of color. Recent credits include 900 Years at UC San Diego’s Wagner New Play Festival (Director), Blu at UC San Diego (Director), (Un)Documents at Diversionary Theatre (Touring Production Director), Fandango for Butterflies (And Coyotes) at La Jolla Playhouse (Associate Director), Fifty Boxes of Earth at UC San Diego (Director), In The Red and Brown Water at UC San Diego (Director), a queer adaptation of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare at UC San Diego (Director), World Premiere Adaptation of King Arthur at Long Beach Opera (Assistant Director).

Karina Ortega (she/her), Stage Manager
Karina Ortega is a third-year M.F.A. stage management candidate from Anthony, New Mexico. She received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. She interned at The Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville, Florida as an Assistant Stage Manager in 2019. She is previous worked on Is It Thursday Yet? at La Jolla Playhouse for her summer residency. UC San Diego credits: blu, Pia’s Wonderous Adventures in Tlaxlandia, Hells Canyon (PSM), Men on Boats, Napoli (ASM).

Miranda Gonzalez (she/her), Script Developer
Miranda Gonzalez (Co-Director-Adapter/UTC Artistic Director) is the Artistic Director of UrbanTheater Company. She also was a founding ensemble member of Chicago’s only all-Latina Theater company Teatro Luna and has devised and developed plays since 2000. After performing as an actress for 10 years she decided to turn her artistic endeavors towards directing.

Yan-Carlos Diaz (he/she/they), Actor #3
Yan Is a Puerto Rican actor based out of NYC who loves prioritizing new works and celebrating Latinx voices on stage. A graduate from AMDA NY. Some favorite regional credits: Carla – In The Heights (Rubicon Theatre CA), Performer – Broadway Easter Bonnet (Minskoff Theatre NY), Houdini – Ragtime (Axelrod Theatre NJ), Carla – In The Heights (Colorado Springs PAC), Hedwig – Hedwig And the Angry Inch (Henegar Center). As a genderqueer artist, Yan promises to keep in their work, no matter where on the spectrum they lie, is to make each character beautifully complex and as simply human as they are.

Ulises Aguirre, Stage Directions
Ulises is a 4 year theatre and dance double major studying at the University of California San Diego. During his time there, his primary focus in theatre is acting and the dance form that he has the most experience with is latin: salsa, merengue, bachata and reggaeton. He has been in both theatre and dance works, such as Bunny Bunny, written, directed and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly as well as ¡Azúcar! by the dance company Contra-Tiempo. The arts has allowed for his complete self expression and has helped him discover who he is as an individual and what he wants to contribute to the world: community, inclusion, and pure, unbridled joy.

APPLE BOTTOM

Karina Billini (she/her), Playwright
Karina Billini is a Dominican-American playwright, poet, and educator from Brooklyn. Karina completed her undergraduate degree in playwriting at Marymount Manhattan College (2011) and received her M.F.A. in Playwriting from The New School for Drama (2018.) She is a proud alum of the New Harmony Project Conference, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood, Pipeline PlayLab, Gingold Theatrical Group’s Speaker’s Corner, among others. Her plays have been workshopped and/or produced at Alliance Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New Harmony Project, Fault Line Theatre, Teatro Vivo, among others. Apple Bottom is a recipient of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation commission. Her other plays include: 2144 South St (Barrington Stage’s Bonnie and Terry Berman’s New Play Award Finalist), Faded (Williamstown/Alliance/Kendeda Finalist), BECOMING LUCY (EST/Teatro Vivo) and All the Helium Hearts over Belt Parkway (Est.). She is a Lila Acheson Wallace American playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School.

Amelia Acosta Powell (she/her), Director
Amelia Acosta Powell (she/her) is the Impact Producer & Co-Director of Artistic Programming at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Previously she has been honored to serve as Associate Artistic Director at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Line Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Artistic Associate & Casting Director at Arena Stage. Most recent directing work includes La Egoista world premiere, Every Brilliant Thing, The Gradient world premiere and The Thanksgiving Play (nominated for Outstanding Director of a Comedy, St. Louis Theatre Circle Awards). She is a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons, a member of the Casting Society of America, an inaugural grantee of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color, and a proud alumna of the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship. Her teaching credits include serving as adjunct faculty at Webster University Conservatory of Theatre Arts. She is originally from Denver and holds her bachelor’s and her master’s degrees from Georgetown University. Read about her passion for Latine comedy on Howlround.

Karla Stacey Garcia (she/her), Stage Manager
Karla Stacey Garcia is a Stage Manager based in San Diego. She holds her M.A. in Theatre Arts from University of California, Santa Cruz. She had previously worked with the festival when it took place online and is excited to be back live and in person! Some of her Stage Management credits include The Goddess of Lost Things (Bocón Arts), American Night: The Ballad of Juan José (UCSC), The Frankenstein Project (UCSC). The Old Globe: (as Stage Manager) Penumbra, The Frontera Project, (as Production Assistant) Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play, Mala, (as Script Assistant) Dial M for Murder, El Borracho.

Jade Power-Sotomayor (she/her), Dramaturg
Dr. Jade Power-Sotomayor is a Cali-Rican educator, scholar and performer who works as Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego. She researches and writes about Latinx theatre and performance, Dance Studies, nightlife, epistemologies of the body, feminist of color critique, bilingualism, race and language, and intercultural performance in the Caribbean diaspora. Dr. Power-Sotomayor is currently working on a monograph called ¡Habla!:Speaking Bodies in Latinx Dance and Performance in which she theorizes her concept of “embodied code-switching” across distinct “Latinx” social dance spaces. Publications can be found in TDR, Performance Matters, CENTRO Journal, Latino Studies Journal, Latin American Theatre Review, The Oxford Handbook of Theatre and Dance and Theatre Journal. Her essays on the Fandango Fronterizo and on bomba dancing have been recognized with awards from the Dance Studies Association, American Society for Theatre Research and the American Studies Association’s Sound Studies caucus. She also works as a dramaturg and co-directs and performs with the San Diego group Bomba Liberté. She is grateful to her many teachers and students for gifting her a lifelong experience of learning.

Celia Mandela Rivera (she/her), Krissy
Celia is a Black Latinx/Caribbean actress. In her work, she seeks to center and amplify Black & Brown voices and experiences. Select Acting Credits: HOOPS (World Premiere) at Milwaukee Chamber Rep, Rogue Artists Ensemble’s LOVE NOTE, TIME OUT LA recommended, LOVE IS ANOTHER COUNTRY at Coin & Ghost, Illyrian Players’ FUCKING A. Select Directing Credits: MEASURE FOR MEASURE at Art of Acting Studio, Project Nongenue’s A TEMPEST, Associate Director for RADICAL (World Premiere) at IAMA Theatre Company. She’s also worked with Antaeus Theatre, Echo Theatre, Ensemble Studio LA, Geffen Playhouse, The Vagrancy and Skylight Theatre. She was a National Finalist in the Acting Category at KCACTF. The Creator & Co-Founder of BLKLST and a Co-Author of the L.A. Anti-Racist Theatre Standards (LA ARTS). Both aim to hold Los Angeles-based theatre companies accountable to the larger BIPOC theatre community and aim to create a systemic shift that centers equitable practices and norms. IAMA’s Theatre Company’s Literary Manager and is a company member. B.A. USC’s School of Dramatic Arts. IG: @CeliaMandela @BLKLST_LA

Camila Moreno (she/her), Winnie
A fresh new face in the entertainment industry, actress Camila Moreno has quickly positioned herself as a one-to-watch. Moreno was seen in her first professional role as a series regular in Ava DuVernay’s superhero series Naomi for The CW. Moreno is a native of Puerto Rico. She went to the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Rio Piedras where she majored in acting under their Drama department. There she won the Victoria Espinosa Award, for best actress of her graduating class. She received her M.F.A. from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, where she had the opportunity to play characters such as Irina in The Three Sisters, Mayannah in Brainpeople, Cordelia in King Lear and Ophelia in Hamlet. This year she played Medea in Luis Alfaro’s adaptation of the Greek Myth by Euripides, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles at Yale Repertory Theater directed by Laurie Woolery where she was nominated for Best Actress at the Conneticut Critics Circle Awards. Moreno currently splits her time between New York and Puerto Rico.

Dezi Bing (she/her), Caro
Dezi is an actress, writer, voiceover artist and keynote speaker whose recent work includes acting in Wig Out, written by Academy Award™ Winner for Best Picture: Tarell Alvin McCraney and working with Jackbox Games to voice ‘the host’ of one of their newest videos games. Dezi was recently published in “The Root Magazine,” a digital news publication with over half a million followers on Instagram. And she also completed a year long playwriting fellowship at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing arts where she workshopped her first play, The Peculiar Awakening of Riley Parker. She’s thrilled to be here and can’t wait to see the work this amazing festival produces!

Andrea Agosto (they/she, elle/ella), Andrea
Andréa Agosto is an award winning filmmaker (Kansas City Film Fest) and actor (International Model & Talent Association). Their credits include: High Table, A Kind of Weather, Bull in a China Shop, Cardboard Piano, Homos, or Everyone in America (Diversionary), Mud Row (Cygnet), Dance Nation (MOXIE), The Magic in This Soul (Blindspot Collective), Avenue Q (Ocean Beach Playhouse), You Can’t Take it With You (Lamb’s Players), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (FUSION) and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (The Coterie). For more information, please visit andreaagosto.com

Kate Morgan Chadwick (she/her), Belinda
Kate Morgan Chadwick grew up right here in San Diego. B.A. Fordham University @ Lincoln Center. Theatre: Playwrights Horizons, The Old Globe, Circle X, The Echo Theatre Company and Broadway national tours. TV: Shameless, The Minx, Happy Endings, Major Crimes. Film: Hail Caesar!, Oh, Baby! Happy to be here working on such an incredible piece for the Latinx New Play Festival at the amazing La Jolla Playhouse!

Mayra Carillo (she/her), Stage Direction
Mayra Carrillo, originally from Fresno, CA, is currently pursuing her B.A. in Theatre from UC San Diego as a first-generation college student. Raised by immigrant parents, her work centers around Latinx studies and is deeply committed to anti-racism and the production of culturally accurate storytelling. She hopes to continue to use theater as a tool for activism of all kinds and to be able to inspire the creative minds of today’s youth.

PANELS

Artistic and Literary Panel

Gabe Greene, Moderator
Gabriel Greene is the author (with Alex Levy) of Safe at Home, a site-specific show that premiered at Mixed Blood Theatre in March 2017 (winner, Ivey Award), and (with Tom Salamon) the immersive theatrical event Goosebumps Alive, based on R.L. Stine’s bestselling series of novels; the show premiered at The Vaults (London) in April 2016. His latest play, created with Mia Fiorella, is Reindeer Games, a site-specific holiday show that is not – he repeats, NOT – an adaptation of the Ben Affleck movie. He currently serves as the Director of Artistic Development at La Jolla Playhouse, where he has overseen the development of more than two dozen new plays and musicals, including world premieres by Ayad Akhtar, Robert Askins, Jeff Augustin, Rachel Bonds, Joe DiPietro & David Bryan, Lindsey Ferrentino, Kirsten Greenidge, Darrell Hammond, former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, Ike Holter, Quiara Algeria Hudes & Erin McKeown, Hansol Jung, Kristen Anderson Lopez & Robert Lopez, Des McAnuff & The Flaming Lips, Melissa Ross, Claudia Shear, Herbert Siguenza, Michael Benjamin Washington and Sheri Wilner.

Amelia Acosta Powell (she/her), Panelist
See bio under APPLE BOTTOM

Kristianne Kurner, Panelist
Kristianne founded New Village Arts in 2001. Trained as an actor and director, she has worked on every mainstage production at NVA, with her favorite acting role being John Wesley Powell in Men on Boats. Directing credits include: American Hero, Awake & Sing!, The Weir, The Nutcracker, Wait Until Dark, The Trip to Bountiful, Much Ado About Nothing, Summer and Smoke, True West, Sailor’s Song, The Waverly Gallery and A Lie of the Mind. Her work has received numerous awards, including San Diego Theatre Critics Circle and Patté Awards for Theatre Excellence. She is the recent recipient of the Clare Rose Sabbatical Award from Fieldstone Leadership Network. Education: B.F.A. Theatre, The College of William & Mary; M.F.A. Acting, the Actors Studio/New School.

Fidel Gomez, Panelist
Regional credits include Destiny of Desire (Arena Stage and South Coast Repertory), Just Like Us (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), Solitude (The Los Angeles Theatre Center, national tour), PLACAS (national tour), Romeo and Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor (The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles) and Macbeth (The Pasadena Shakespeare Company). Film and television credits include NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, Walkout, Undercovers, 7th Heaven, Small Time and Waterborne (SXSW winner for Best Ensemble Cast). He received his training at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, the L.A. County High School for the Arts (currently on staff), the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Stella Adler Conservatory (New York), Stone-street Studios and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Adrian Centeno, Panelist
Adrian Centeno (he/him) is a dramaturg and arts educator based in Los Angeles. He’s developed new works at South Coast Repertory, San Diego Repertory Theatre, New York Stage & Film, Teatro Bravo, Childsplay Theatre Company, foolsFURY Theater Company and Playwrights’ Arena, among others. A fierce advocate for new plays, Adrian has proudly served on new play development grant panels and selection committees for the National Endowment for the Arts, Page 73 and Signature Theatre. He is a member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and has presented work in progress at their international conferences. He’s also an Affiliate Dramaturg with Beehive Dramaturgy Studio. Adrian is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, where he recently received the 2021 Graduate Division Distinguished Alumni Award. He is the current literary manager of Boston Court Pasadena.

Dramaturgy Panel

Lynde Rosario, Moderator
See bio under THE JERSEY DEVIL IS A PAPI CHULO

Miranda Gonzalez (she/her), Panelist
See bio under THE INVOCATION OF SELENA

Jasmine Logan, Panelist
Jazmine Logan is a third-year Ph.D. student in Theatre and Drama at UC San Diego from San Diego, California. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and a B.A. in Politics from University of California, Santa Cruz and an M.A. in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University. Her UC San Diego credits include In the Red and Brown Water (Dramaturg), Dance Nation (Dramaturg) and Thicker Than (Dramaturg). Her additional credits include Spring Awakening: The Musical (Assistant Director/Dramaturg) at San Francisco State University; Crowns (Mabel/Assistant Director), The Children’s Hour (Peggy Rogers), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testimonies (Co-Director), A Raisin in the Sun (Ruth Younger), Zoot Suit (Guera/Ensemble), Detroit ’67 (Bunny “Bonita”), The Odyssey (Trojan/Hecuba/Suitor), A Dream Play (Victoria/Ensemble) and The Waiting Room (Brenda) at UC Santa Cruz.

Maddie Williams (she/her), Panelist
Madison Mae Williams is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate. Born and raised on Cape Cod, she received her B.A. concentrating in musical theatre, poetry, and Africana studies from Hampshire College. Maddie’s dissertation project focuses on alienation in countercultural performances of the Long Sixties. Her other research areas include American musical theatre, the Black Power/Arts movements, horror and the uncanny, performance for children, and the films of Stanley Kubrick and John Cassavetes. Maddie has worked with La Jolla Playhouse, the Old Globe, Cygnet Theatre, the New Cosmopolitans, the Playwrights Realm and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. She is passionate about theatre work that is accessible, radical and increases visibility and representation for people of marginalized identities. Maddie is a proud member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and the Black Theatre Network. UC San Diego credits: BAAL (Director), Elektra (Music Director), Man In Love (Dramaturg), Incendiary (WNPF ‘19 staged reading), Everybody Black (Assistant/Music Director, Dramaturg).

Bernardo Mazón, Panelist
Bernardo Mazón Daher is a border-bred brat boy, born of loving Mexican parents and brave Arab grandparents, grown from Chula Vista, California. He just graduated from San Diego State University in double-honors for Literature and Theater Performance. While in school, Bernardo became a professional actor, director, dramaturg, educator, and producer, cutting his teeth at La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego REP. Afterwards, a residency with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival jump-started his journey towards leadership. Bernardo is an all-around storyteller driven to create spaces where different peoples can intersect to listen, learn, labor, love, and play together. Para mis papás.

Directors Panel

Vanessa Duron (she/her), Moderator
Vanessa Duron is a local San Diego actor, director, writer and producer. She is a strong advocate for POC theatre and mental illness awareness. Vanessa has experience working as an artist at MOXIE Theatre, Tuyo Theatre, Blindspot Collective, Trinity Theatre, Stagehouse Theatre, and as an Assistant Producer for the Latinx New Play Festival at the San Diego REP and Co-Producer for Recover-Me.

Cat Rodriguez (she/ella), Panelist
See bio under MANNING

Daniel Jaquez, Panelist
Jáquez is Co-Founder of TuYo Theatre, a San Diego company that creates and produces theatre from a diverse Latinx perspective. He is an Associate Artist with Bocón Arts, for which recently directed a dual language production of Mía by Award-wining Mexican playwright Amaranta Leyva in Barrio Logan.

Cambria Herrera (she/they), Panelist
See bio under THE INVOCATION OF SELENA

Carlos Mendoza, Panelist
Carlos was born in Davis, CA, but spent his early years in Colombia, South America. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Musical Theatre at the United States International University in San Diego, CA. Carlos is the founder of the Hispanic Arts Theatre, an innovative theatre company that promotes Hispanic cultural awareness. One of his main projects has been creator and producer of Latin Gems, a musical revue with a blend of Latin culture through voice, music, and dance. Carlos has an extensive resume as actor, director, choreographer and producer. He has won several awards: San Diego Critics Circle Awards for his productions of West Side Story, Ragtime and In the Heights; the 2014 BRAVO (San Diego) award for body of work, the 2015 National Youth Arts Award for his production of In the Heights at San Diego Junior Theatre and the Inland Theatre League Award for Choreography for his production of In the Heights at Performance Riverside. In addition, Carlos choreographed two full seasons of Dos Y Dos for the Latin American Multimedia Corporation, a groundbreaking educational TV/DVD Series.

Local Project Presentation

Playwright
Marielle Vizcarra

Presenters
Laura Jiménez
Paul Araujo
Maya Sofia Enciso
Enrique Arana
Adriana Cuba
Lourdes Arteaga
Lester Isariuz
Kayla Adorno

Scholar Panel

Dr. Jade Power-Sotomayor (she/her), Moderator
See bio under APPLE BOTTOM

Dr. Olga Sanchez-Saltveit, Panelist
Olga Sanchez Saltveit is Artistic Director Emerita for Milagro, the Pacific Northwest’s premier Latinx arts & culture organization, following her service as the company’s Artistic Director from 2003-2015. She is an actor, director, devisor, and arts activist, whose work has been seen throughout the US and in Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, and Cuba. Olga served as co-artistic director of the People’s Playhouse in New York City, artistic director of Seattle Teatro Latino and co-founder of La Casa de Artes, a Seattle-based non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the beauty of Latinx arts and cultural heritage. Her ¡O ROMEO! received a Portland Drama Critics’ DRAMMY award for Outstanding Achievement in Devised Work, and her Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) was nominated for several BroadwayWorld awards, including Best Direction. Olga served on the Executive Committee and the Diversity Task Force on the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) board of directors. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons, in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons, Emerson College. Associations and affiliations include: Actors Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. B.A., Theatre, Hunter College, C.U.N.Y.; M.A., Human / Bicultural Development, Pacific Oaks College; Ph.D., Theatre Arts, University of Oregon. Research interests include BIPOC theatre and activism, Latinx feminisms, and the commons.

Dr. Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez, Panelist
Guillermo Avilés-Rodríguez is an Assistant Professor of Theater and Cinema at Los Angeles Mission College and the Artistic Director of the Watts Village Theater Company. He holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Utah and a Masters of Fine Arts from UC San Diego. Guillermo grew up in Watts and holds the distinction of being the first Chicana/o ever to star in a main-stage production at the University of Utah. Some of Guillermo’s directorial and literary highlights include two commissions from Center Theatre Group to write Student Discovery Guides for En Un Sol Amarillo and Culture Clash’s Palestine, New Mexico.

Dr. Karina Gutierrez, Panelist
Karina Gutiérrez’s work concentrates on the intersection of politics and performance, more specifically how digital interventions, institutionalization efforts and historical narrative affect the development and sustainability of social and politically engaged performance companies and collectives in the Americas. She is a recent Doctoral graduate of Stanford University’s Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, where she served as the inaugural Artistic Director of The Nitery Experimental Theatre (NEXT), student director, and undergraduate mentor. Gutiérrez additionally served as a Scholar-in-Residence at El Centro Chicano y Latino, a Co-Graduate Coordinator at the Woman’s Community Center and a Diversifying Academia and Recruiting Excellence (DARE) Fellow. Upon graduation Dr. Gutiérrez was awarded the Carl Webber Prize for integration of Creative Practice and Scholarly Research. Gutiérrez’s canon of work centers on contemporary Chicanx and US Latinx theatre. She has published reviews in leading theatre journals such as Theatre Survey, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Modern Drama (forthcoming), and Theatre Annual (forthcoming). Her article on the legacy of El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworker’s Theatre) is due later this year in the Latino Literature Encyclopedia for Students. In addition to her scholarship, Gutiérrez is a Bay Area-based actor, director, and dramaturg. Karina is an advocate for Latinx/Chicanx representation in the arts and is a co-founder of BALTAN, the Bay Area Latino Theatre Alliance Network.

Dr. Daphnie Sicre (she/ella), Panelist
Daphnie Sicre, PhD. is a multi-hyphenated storyteller. She is a director/dramaturg/scholar/educator who shares a deep passion for Black and Latinx perspectives in theatre, especially AfroLatinidad. Engaging in anti-racist and culturally competent theatre practices, she helps bring stories from the page to the stage. She is has directed for Skylight Theatre, East West Players, Playwrights’ Arena, Greenway Court Theatre, Garry Marshall Theatre, The Road Theatre, San Diego Rep/Latinx New Play Festival, The Robey Theatre, The Fountain Theatre, Circle X, The Hollywood Fringe/New Musicals Inc, Austin Latinx New Play Festival, FringeNYC, First Foot Productions, the Blindspot Collective, BMCC, NYU and Columbia University. Her directing debut at LMU was In the Heights followed by Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. She also directed Stranger by Kendra Augustin (Stage Black) where she won Best Director and the AUDELCO nominated Not About Eve by Karl O’Brian Williams (Braata Productions). When not directing, she is the resident dramaturge at the Robey Theatre, where she runs the Playwright’s Lab. Selected dramaturgy credits include the musical, It Happened in Key West – Book, Music, & Lyrics by Jason Huza, Jeremiah James and Jill Santoriello (Bristol Riverside Theatre). She also worked with Launch Pad, Playwrights’ Arena Readings Series, The Fountain Theatre, TheaterWorks Harford, Hartbeat Ensemble, New Play Project, FringeNYC, Bratta Productions, First Foot Productions, Lehigh University, NYU and Columbia University as a dramaturge. Her latest publication is a book chapter in Stages of Reckoning – Anti Racist and Decolonial Actor Training. Other publications include, “Being Black and Latinx in Theatre Today” and the co-published “Training theatre students of colour in the United States”. Book chapters include The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance, Black Acting Methods, and Shakespeare & Latinidad. Upcoming book chapters for 2023 will appear in Contemporary Black Theatre & Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, & Solidarity. Currently she is working on two book chapters on AfroLatinidad for The Routledge Companion Latinx Theatre and Performance and Every Great Dream: Visioning African American Theatre for Young Audiences. She is also a culture consultant for Nickelodeon, having worked on the Emmy nominated Santiago of the Seas, The Face and the upcoming film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Conversation with Playwrights

Patrice Amon (she/her), Moderator
See bio under THE JERSEY DEVIL IS A PAPI CHULO

Karina Billini (she/her), Panelist
See bio under APPLE BOTTOM

Marilet Martinez (she/they), Panelist
See bio under THE INVOCATION OF SELENA

Jessi Realz (she/her), Panelist
See bio under THE INVOCATION OF SELENA

Iraisa Ann Reilly (she/ella), Panelist
See bio under THE JERSEY DEVIL IS A PAPI CHULO

Benjamin Benne (he/him), Panelist
See bio under MANNING