Latinx Playwrights Circle

ANNOUNCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK (Mar 18, 2024) – Oscar Cabrera, Alisha Espinosa and Latinx Playwrights Circle (LPC) are thrilled to announce the playwrights selected for this year’s Intensive Mentorship are David Davila, Antonia Bess Cruz-Kent, Vanessa Pereda, and SMJ.

The Intensive Mentorship gives four playwrights the space and support to develop a full-length play while being partnered with a mentor to help guide the process. Participants of this program will be partnered with one of our mentors, who this year are: Marco Antonio Rodriguez, Cusi Cram, CQ, and Ricardo Perez Gonzalez. The mentorship aspect of the program is designed to focus on the individual needs of the play. Along with an Artist Stipend and mentorship, participants will be able to take selective classes at The Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). Over the course of the intensive, there will be three private table reads as well as a public industry reading as a capstone to the program’s goal of introducing artists and their work to theaters across New York City. Public staged readings will take place in September through October of 2024. We are consistently monitoring and upholding federal and state Covid-19 guidelines to keep our artists safe. Given the ongoing pandemic, we will continue to find new and interesting ways to engage with our community safety as the need arises.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

David Davila - The Invisible Hand of God Touched Me in a Bad Place, a power play

David Davila is a multi-hyphenate theatre-maker from South Texas whose work questions systems of power and centers the experiences of Queer and Latinx people through plays, musicals, poetry, sketch, and stand-up comedy. Winner of the National New Play Network Smith Prize for Political Theatre and the New American Voices National Playwriting Award he is a Playwrights Horizons Artist Grant Recipient, a Roundabout Theatre Company SpaceJam Resident, a Primary Stages Rockwell Scholar, a Disney TV Fellowship Semi-Finalist, and the son of a preacher man. His produced theatrical works include Vox Pop! a Post-Democratic Musical (Indiana University 2024), Aztec Pirates, a Latinx Fantasia on National Themes (Lone Star Theatre NY 2023), 1970’s College Sex Comedy (Indiana University 2023), The Mesquite Tree, an American Tragedy (Teatro Audaz 2022), The Piñata (Indiana University 2022), Animal Husbandry (NYC Fringe 2019), Manuel Vs the Statue of Liberty (Dramatic Question Theatre 2015, Princeton Univ. 2017, Gallery Players 2018), Tales from Hwy 281 (Intar 2014), and #52songs (The Beachman, Triad, Underground 2013). His unproduced works include Hotel Puerto Vallarta: a legitimate work of dramatic theatre, The Invisible Hand of God Touched Me in a Bad Place, Scissors Under the House, Promesa: a Mariachi Musical, The Rattle of the Snake and Other Nightmares, Roman-a-Clef, Everything Is Not Going to be Okay, Adan y Julio y la Frontera 2003, Men of God, and more. In 2022 his streaming series Most Likely To premiered at the HBO Warner Bros Latinx Film Festival and won a Silver Telly award for excellence in film. In 2021 his song “Like a River” written with Jaime Lozano was recorded by Tejano superstar Bobby Pulido and released on Broadway Records. He recently finished his M.F.A. at Indiana University in 2024. Follow him at @davidodavila or visit his website at www.daviddavila.net.

Antonia Bess Cruz-Kent - Ivera

Antonia Cruz-Kent (she/her) is a Nuyorican-Jewish playwright and actor. She is a recent graduate of the Columbia University MFA Playwriting program (2024), and of the CalArts BFA Acting program (2021). She is a company member of Hero Theatre. During her time at CalArts, she was mentored by Charles McNulty, Marissa Chibas, and Andrea LeBlanc. At Columbia, she had the pleasure of being nurtured by David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, and Chuck Mee. She was mentored by the amazing Rebecca Taichman, and interned with trailblazer Larissa FastHorse on the Broadway debut of The Thanksgiving Play. Her playwriting credits include "Isolina and Hamburgerpillow in the Bronx" (INTAR), "esperaré" (Columbia University), "Eternity" (Columbia University) and "Sea and Sky" (Columbia University). Acting credits include "The Conduct of Life" (Hero Theatre), "An Atlas to 'The Night & Other Electric Flowers'” (CalArts CNP), "I’ve never planned to be on this earth long" (Columbia University), and "Richard II" (Hip to Hip Theatre Company). She wrote her first play at age 4. It involved a grocery store parking lot, murder, and a tenacious stuffed animal. She is inspired by the music of Elliott Smith, the poetry of Julia de Burgos, and the paintings of Vincent van Gogh. She’d like to thank her parents, Migdalia & Jim, for everything. @antoniacruzkent / antoniacruzkent.com

Vanessa Pereda - Fresno's Fire + Flood are in the pool again

Vanessa Pereda (she/they/ella(os))

is an indigiqueer chicana, spanglish speaking, able-bodied,

multidisciplinary theater artist + educator,

EDIA researcher, consultant, + student,

currently storytelling as a playwright + actor,

on lenapehoking (bklyn/nyc)

loving disrupter, + community nurturer

drawing from teachings + generosity

of many BIPOC elders + teachers,

her approach to collaboration is deeply rooted in

ancestral ethos + sharing

vanessa holds their BA in Theatre Arts from California State University Fresno,

+ has worked with several NY theater companies including The Bushwick Starr, ¡Oye Group!, Colt Coeur, The American Theater Wing, + the Latinx Playwright’s Circle.

they currently hold leadership roles in various broadway + off-broadway

theatrical institutions ranging from

arts/environmental justice education + EDIA efforts

to artistic administrative strategic planning,

is a Founder with the Harriet Tubman Effect,

+ consultant with the ny department of education

when not creating, writing, performing, wandering mountain ranges

attending PowWows, or bird watching

vanessa volunteers throughout NYC

dreams of cooking her way through a million TikTok recipes

+ adores a good anime binge weekend

they keep breakfast, second breakfast,

several snacks, lunch, + dinner

balanced with a good

sweat/weight lifting session

+ couldn't do it without the love

+ fire of the people in her life

SMJ - Yo Ho!

SMJ (they/them) is an NYC-based, mixed-Latiné, and non-binary playwright, musical theater writer, educator, & theatermaker originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They were a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Currently, SMJ is creating work with Ars Nova, The Road Theatre Company, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, The Orchard Project, Open Jar Studios, and American Theater Group. Their work has been seen and developed in various forms throughout the US including Ars Nova, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Lincoln Center, National Queer Theater, Carnegie Mellon University, NYU’s Tisch New Theatre, Otterbein University, Wright State University, Art House Productions, UTEP, Andy's Summer Playhouse, The Workshop Theater, The 24 Hour Plays, The Fled Collective, Live Arts, CRY HAVOC, The Tank, and DR2 Theatre. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (2022, 2023, & Current 2024), Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists, Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, and The Civilians R & D Group (2021 & 2022) as well as a Finalist for the 2023 Parity Development Award, Write Out Loud Contest, 5th Avenue Theater's First Draft Commission, and the Doric Wilson Playwright Award. They’re a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com

ABOUT THE PRODUCERS

The Latinx Playwrights Circle (LPC) is an artist-led development and production organization for Latinx(é) playwrights. Founded in 2018 by playwrights Guadalís Del Carmen and Oscar A. L. Cabrera with the mission to build a network of Latinx(é) and Caribbean playwrights nationwide in order to promote, develop and elevate their work while making their plays accessible to theater makers looking to find the next generation of American Storytellers. Its programs include Sunday Service, Fresh Draft Series, Next Draft Series, Intensive Mentorship Program, LPC Community Nights, and Page-to-Stage, whose inaugural production was Sancocho by Christin Eve Cato. Las Borinqueñas will be our second Page-to-Stage production. In 2020, LPC received a residency at Kabayitos Theater, located in the Clemente Soto Velez Center where it produces a portion of their programming. In 2022, LPC was awarded a Creatives Rebuild New York Grant (CRNY) as well as the HOLA Award for Excellence in Theater.  For more information on Latinx Playwright Circle and its many programs, please visit http://www.latinxplaywrights.com LPC embraces the ever evolving landscape of Latinidad and the names used to describe this community, including Latiné, Latinx, Hispanic, and the next generation of names to come. Like language itself, this is an ever-evolving name.

For interview and media inquiries, contact: nyclatinxcircle@gmail.com

The Latinx Playwrights Circle (LPC) is an artist-led development and production organization for Latinx(é) playwrights. Founded in 2018 by playwrights Guadalís Del Carmen and Oscar Cabrera with the mission to build a network of Latinx(é) and Caribbean playwrights nationwide in order to promote, develop and elevate their work while making their plays accessible to theater makers looking to find the next generation of American Storytellers. Its programs include Sunday Service, Fresh Draft Series, Next Draft Series, Intensive Mentorship Program, LPC Community Nights, and Page-to-Stage, whose inaugural production was Sancocho by Christin Eve Cato. Las Borinqueñas will be our second Page-to-Stage production. In 2020, LPC received a residency at Kabayitos Theater, located in the Clemente Soto Velez Center where it produces a portion of their programming. In 2022, LPC was awarded a Creatives Rebuild New York Grant (CRNY) as well as the HOLA Award for Excellence in Theater.  For more information on Latinx Playwright Circle and its many programs, please visit http://www.latinxplaywrights.com LPC embraces the ever evolving landscape of Latinidad and the names used to describe this community, including Latiné, Latinx, Hispanic, and the next generation of names to come. Like language itself, this is an ever-evolving name.