INGENIO 2020

INGENIO 2020

in association with
Teatros Unidos

Milagro in association with

 Teatros Unidos- A Newly Formed National Latinx Theatre Collective Announce:

The INGENIO 2020 Live Virtual Theatre Festival, streamed September 25th – October 4th. Two weekends of readings of 6 new plays by Latinx playwrights as a celebration of resilience. 

Ingenio /ēn ‘he nē oh/: Spanish for wit, ingenuity; the inventive and creative capacity to create; a sugar cane refinery.

Who: Milagro, Baktun12 & Borderlands Theater, Cara Mía Theatre & Teatro Vivo, Teatro Luna West, TuYo Theatre, and In The Margin Theatre

What: INGENIO 2020

When: September 25 – October 4

Where: Online, links to come

Tickets: Free and open to the public

In 2017 Milagro, Portland’s historic Latino theatre dedicated to new play production since 1985, launched INGENIO, a space where Latino/a/x playwrights of all races can develop their plays in a safe, supportive environment with mentors and artists to whom they can relate and support their script being driven to the next stage of production.

INGENIO solves one of the biggest and inequitable gaps in the American Theatre New Play Development Pipeline–the lack of access non-white playwrights have to space, time, and pay for leading artists to gather around new plays and offer them a professional development process. The INGENIO process provides an intrinsic step in the growth and development of several new full-length theatrical works each year. A long term changemaker, INGENIO interrupts many of the given reasons gatekeeping structures of predominantly white theatrical institutions give for not accepting more plays by Latina/o/x writers. 

It felt really wonderful to have support for a piece still in progress, to be recognized by a Latinx theatre company, and to get to be a part of what feels like a really loving and unique community of artists. (…) The company’s willingness to support emerging writers (all of us writing very risky, «out there») plays was really wonderful to experience. It’s incredibly rare that a company will take a chance on unknown writers and give us space/time to experiment. I felt really, really lucky to be included this year and hope to continue a relationship with the company.” — Adrienne Dawes, Playwright _ Ingenio 2018

Rehearsals and workshops culminate in readings and feedback sessions with audiences of theatre professionals and members of the public. But in 2020, INGENIO goes national!

Due to the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic, INGENIO 2020 moves to the digital realm, with rehearsals, workshops, and readings shifting online. INGENIO 2020 offers the opportunity for collaboration beyond geographical limitations, being produced this year in association with Teatros Unidos, an emerging collective of Latinx theatre organizations. 

“In a time of darkness and isolation, Teatros Unidos has been a beacon for all of the good that can come out of this terribly confusing moment. Theatre is being challenged to figure out how it will translate itself into the next chapter. This has been a reminder that collaboration is central, that no one knows everything, but that together we have all the wisdom necessary to thrive no matter the circumstance. To now expand that circle out to include these playwrights and the artists that will bring their pieces to life, is extraordinary”, says Alexandra Meda of Teatro Luna West. 

In addition to Milagro, readings will be presented by Baktun12 & Borderlands Theater, Cara Mía Theatre & Teatro Vivo, In The Margin Theatre, Teatro Luna West, and  TuYo Theatre. These organizations came together after a call from Milagro Executive Director, Jose Gonzalez to other Teatro Artistic Directors around the US: How are you surviving, and how can we work together through this crisis? The result has been twice-monthly meetings that range in conversation and resulted in this first joint producing effort. All participating organizations will broadcast the full schedule to their audiences expanding each play’s reach. 

INGENIO 2020  is supported by the National New Play Network’s Collaboration Fund

In 2010, in an effort to encourage innovative, pioneering, project-based partnerships among theaters in support of playwrights and new plays, National New Play Network established its Collaboration Fund.

The Collaboration Fund supports innovative partnerships that explore the many different ways theater companies can work, both together and with playwrights, on the development of a new work. 

INGENIO 2020 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Friday, September 25th

5:00pm PDT Milagro Presents: The Play You Want by Bernardo Cubrîa

Saturday, September 26th

5:00pm PDT Baktun12 & Borderlands Theater Presents: Sancocho by Christin Eve Cato

Sunday, September 27th 

5:00pm PDT Cara Mía Theatre & Teatro Vivo Presents: spayce boys by Mateo Hernandez

Friday, October 2nd 

5:00pm PDT In The Margin Theatre Presents: Sabor by AnaSofîa Villanueva

Saturday, October 3rd 

5:00pm PDT TuYo Theatre Presents: Saints Go Marching by Matt Barbot

Sunday, October 4th 

5:00pm PDT Teatro Luna West Presents: City Without Altar by Jasminne Mendez

PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS 

The Play You Want

Fed-up by the theatre world’s desires to box him in, Mexican playwright Lucas Cubría sarcastically pitches “Nar-Cocos” a play about drug dealers on Día de los Muertos. Much to his surprise, the Public Theatre picks it up. With financial pressures mounting and a newborn at home, this is his chance at commercial success. But when Scott Rudin offers him a Broadway run on the condition he further exploits his identity and the headlines, he must decide just how much he’s willing to compromise in order to finally be accepted.

Bernardo Cubrîa (Playwright) was recently nominated for best playwright at The Ovation Awards, Stage Raw Awards and The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for his play The Giant Void In My Soul. The play is receiving its Regional Premiere at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, Texas in 2021 and its International Premiere at Foro Shakespeare in Mexico City in 2021. The play received a reading at Circle in the Square on Broadway in 2019. He was the co-writer of the short Spanish Class that won Best Comedy at The NBC Universal Shorts Awards in 2018.  He is currently working on a screenplay with Gina Rodriguez for her production company «I Can and I Will.»

 

Sancocho

Caridad and Renata get together to discuss their sick father’s will. They are 25 years apart from each other so talking business and family matters is not something that these sisters are accustomed to doing. To relieve some of the tension, Renata visits Caridad while she is making sancocho. The preparation of the sancocho leads the sisters through a journey of their culture womanhood, inheritance, transgenerational trauma, family history, and untold stories. All is well until Caridad’s drinking causes her to spill some beans about their father’s past, revealing a huge secret that will ultimately change the conditions of their father’s will. Sancocho is a story about legacy, what we inherit, and what we leave behind. It testifies that everything in life is Consequential.

Christin Eve Cato (Playwright) is a playwright and performer. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at Indiana University. Having a Puerto Rican and Jamaican background, Cato’s artistic style is heavily influenced by Caribbean culture and the Afrolatino diaspora. Her plays include: Stoop Pigeons (2020 O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist); jelly beans (Indiana University); What’s Up With Marjorie? (Teatro Vivo); From Hunts Point To Whitlock (Pregones Theater/Harlem9); Smacked-Up Love (Indiana University); and Just A Visit (“More Than Maria” Festival @ Play Your Part Seattle).

 

spayce boys

spayce boys is the tale of two queer, brown boys who embark on an Odyssey-esque adventure into outerspace to heal, discover their true selves, lean into community and so much more along the way. Iggy and Oñio have never spoken to each other at school but Oñio takes matters into his own hands when he sees how “small” and “squished” Iggy looks. After sneaking into Iggy’s room late at night, Oñio convinces Iggy to follow him onto the roof where the greater Queer forces take control. Once in outer space, Oñio has an itinerary to stick to in order to ensure Iggy makes it out anew by the time the sun rises. But when unspoken tensions between the boys bubble up and mix with the cataclysmic atmosphere of the adventure, both boys find new parts of themselves and a renewed purpose in their life on earth.

 

Mateo Hernandez (Playwright) (they/he/them/him) is a queer, Chicanx actor, writer, teaching artist based in Chicago, IL. spayce boys is their first full length play and they are so excited to continue its development. As a teaching artist he has worked with companies such as Goodman Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, and Creative Action. Mateo is a company member of FYI (For Youth Inquiry), a performance company making participatory experiences around reproductive justice for young people. They hold a BFA in Theatre Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.

 

Sabor

Sabor is a mixed-race story of a young woman, Clara, in search of her place of belonging in the elite culinary world, and among the men in her life. After the passing of her abuelo, she makes drastic life changes; quitting the French Michelin-star restaurant in Manhattan and borrowing money from her Nuyorican father, a wealthy and emotionally detached restauranteur, to start her own catering business in Queens. With the business on the brink of failure and the deadline to pay her father back approaching, she becomes immersed in romance, sex, whiskey, and a desperate need to find her palate profile. After several visits from her abuelo’s spirit, consisting of music, home videos, historical images, and reliving the moment when he first taught Clara how to cook arroz con gandules, she and her father begin to create their own language with food.

 

AnaSofîa Villanueva (Playwright) AnaSofía Villanueva is a writer-producer-director-activist.

AnaSofía is the author of the Power Dynamics Series for MinnesotaPlaylist, a member of The Performance Collective with the Center for Performing Arts, and creative producer for ALMA-Alliance of Latinx Minnesota Artists. AnaSofía has had a reading of her play, Sabor, with ALMA and, TENGO VOZ, at Mixed Blood Theatre. While in residency at the University of Idaho, three of her plays were produced: Amor del Alma, EXOTIC, and POLLUX, to which she received a certificate of merit in playwrighting from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for EXOTIC.

 

Saints Go Marching

Jo’s grandfather—a decorated veteran—has died, leaving emotional wreckage and unpaid debts in his wake. As she prepares for the funeral, Jo’s heart is set on keeping grandpa’s burial flag; to get it, she’ll have to deal with her despondent mother, an attempted exorcism, and competition from a secret aunt young enough to be her little sister. It won’t be easy, but nothing an aspiring saint like Jo can’t handle.

 

Matt Barbot (Playwright) is a writer from Brooklyn, NY. His play EL COQUÍ ESPECTACULAR AND THE BOTTLE OF DOOM received its world premiere at Two River Theater in January of 2018. PRINCESS CLARA OF LOISAIDA and SAINTS GO MARCHING were selected to feature on Steppenwolf’s The Mix list. THE VENETIANS was a winner of Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2019 Columbia@Roundabout New Play Series. Matt’s first play for young audiences, STOO’S FAMOUS MARTIAN AMERICAN GUMBO, was commissioned by Peppercorn Theatre and produced in Summer 2019. Matt received his MFA from Columbia University, and was a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow and a member of The Civilians’ R&D Group.

 

City Without Altar

City Without Altar is a two-act play in verse which seeks to amplify the voices and experiences of victims, survivors and living ancestors of the 1937 Haitian Massacre that occurred along the northwest Dominican/Haitian border during the Trujillo Era. The play follows the chronological timeline of events that occurred before, during and after the massacre. Using monologues, montages and vignettes, the chorus of voices, created and imagined from interview transcripts, news articles, and scholarly books, tell the stories regularly omitted and erased from this often ignored history. The role/voice of the Machete acts as a very complex antagonist we are not sure whether to hate or feel sorry for. Maria’s journal entries seek to represent the voice of innocence and those left behind who though not physically harmed are left to grieve their losses and make sense of the scars that endure.

 

Jasminne Mendez (Playwright) is a Dominican-American award-winning author, poet, playwright, and actress. She’s an MFA creative writing graduate from the Rainier Writing Workshop. Mendez’s plays include the one-act Chronic Brevity which received a staged reading at The Globe Theatre’s New Playwrights Festival in Odessa, TX and the choreo-poem play City Without Altar which was selected as part of the Stages Theatre Sin Muros Latinx Theatre Festival. She recently directed a staged reading of Adrienne Dawe’s new play Teen Dad and is currently the Program Coordinator for the Young Artists Conservatory at Stages Theatre.

 

ABOUT TEATROS UNIDOS

Teatros Unidos is an emerging and growing collective of Teatros and BIPOC Theatre organizations that uplift and give voice to their historically silenced communities by producing plays, multicultural and multigenerational community programs.

The coronavirus pandemic has shed light on prevailing inequities in all facets of American life. Facing uncertainty and loss of earned income, Milagro reached out to Latinx theatres from across the country to come together to share their experiences and challenges and promote each other’s work. Through this initiative, Teatros Unidos was born. The group includes 14 Latinx theatre ensembles who share resources, information, and creative work. Since May 2020, Teatros Unidos has been meeting bi-weekly and is committed to expanding the circle through and beyond the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. Although there are resources for individual Latinx artists to come together, this is the only National Teatro collaboration that exists. The group includes Baktun12 (Salinas, CA), Borderlands Theater (Tucson, AZ), Cara Mía Theatre Company (Dallas, TX), In The Margin Theatre (Sacramento, CA), Milagro (Portland, OR), Teatro Alebrijes (San Jose, CA), Teatro Bravo (Phoenix, AZ), Teatro Luna West (Los Angeles, CA), Teatro Nagual (Sacramento, CA), Teatro Visión (San Jose, CA), Teatro Vivo (Austin, TX),  TuYo Theatre (San Diego, CA), and UrbanTheater Company (Chicago, IL). 

Baktun 12 is an East Salinas theater and media arts organization committed to the cultivation of oral histories and community actions that empower working families throughout the Salinas Valley and beyond. In the spirit of El Teatro Campesino, they use live street Teatro activations to engage farmworker communities in dialogue that leads to civic action. Baktun12 stays current with local and national social justice movements by documenting local stories of struggle and producing protest media that is released on social media and through its podcast B12 Live.

www.baktun12.com 

Borderlands Theater is a professional theater ensemble recognized nationally and internationally for the development and production of theater and creative placemaking programs that reflect the Mexican/Chicanx/Indigenous heritage and border culture of the Sonora Desert region.  The “border,” both as physical and social landscape, is a metaphor for Borderlands’ work. The metaphor allows, invites and even demands, both a regional and an international understanding of what it represents. Border people, in the best sense of the word, are citizens of the world. http://www.borderlandstheater.or

Cara Mía Theatre inspires and engages people to uplift their communities through transformative Latinx theatre, multicultural youth arts experiences and community action. CMT is a cultural resource in Dallas and North Texas as the largest Latinx theatre company in the state primarily serving the Dallas population which is over 43% Latinx. caramiatheatre.org

In The Margin (ITM) Theatre is a collective of artists dedicated to creating new and engaging works that cater to and authentically represent marginalized communities. ITM works in collaboration with partnering companies and ensemble members to curate projects in pursuit of their mission to provide productions that bolster and enrich the presence of marginalized artists. It is ITM’s hope that the intersectional narratives they present will foster proggresive dialogue and incite the change needed to secure the future our descendants deserve and our ancestors would be proud of. For more information please visit www.inthemargintheatre.org 

Follow ITM on social media. IG: @inthemargintheatre | FB: @inthemargintheatreproductions | Twitter: @in_the_margin | Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/inthemargin

Milagro merges the highest aesthetic ideals with social responsibility, continuing a long tradition of innovative programming to meet the needs of the nation’s diverse artists and audiences. Through a rich variety of creative programs, Milagro has given voice to issues affecting the local and national Latino community. Since its founding in 1985, Milagro has filled a unique program niche while building a solid reputation. The organization works in three distinct areas: Milagro MainStage, fully mounted productions in English, Spanish and bilingual; Teatro Milagro, an international educational bilingual touring program; and Community Artes, creative engagement programming at El Centro Milagro and in the field. The organization’s mission is to provide extraordinary Latino theatre, culture, and arts education experiences for the enrichment of all communities. Milagro’s vision is to be a Latino arts epicenter inspiring a new generation of art, artists, and patrons from around the world. To learn more about Milagro please visit https://milagro.org/ .

Teatro Luna West Teatro Luna (Chicago) and Teatro Luna West (Los Angeles) are virtual and physical centers that specialize in creative collaboration. Founded in 2000, we continue to create award-winning original performances, digital media, and cultural disruptions that empower Women of Color and change the world for good. Check out our latest collaboration, where we partnered with Audible Originals to create TALKING WHILE FEMALE & OTHER DANGEROUS ACTS – a collection of stories on risk and resilience by Latinas across the United States which was released April  2019. For more info please visit www.teatrolunawest.org follow us on facebook, instagram, or twitter.

Teatro Vivo, based in Austin, TX,  is dedicated to producing quality bilingual theater accessible to all theater audiences and artists. Teatro Vivo reflects the heart and soul of the Latino reality by opening a unique window for all to share in this experience. teatrovivo.org

TuYo Theatre’s mission is to create and produce theatre in the San Diego area that tells stories from and by diverse Latinx perspectives. TuYo is committed to professional artistic rigor, forging authentic connections, and furthering the discourses that affect the Latinx community.