Lie in State is a one act play I wrote in CASA 0101’s playwriting class with Juan Carlos Parrilla. It tells the story of a cop, a politician, and a fatally wounded activist all coming to terms with their lives, each other, and the existence of God. You can find it here on newplayexchange.org
The River of My Life
This poem was written as a part of Elvia Susana Rubalcava and Angela Estela’s Rio De Mi Vida writing workshop offered through Breath of Fire Latina Theater. I never dared to consider myself a poet or even much of a writer before this class but I’m proud to call myself both now and to have been welcomed into the Rio De Mi Vida writing community. Writing this poem and meeting these artists was a turning point in my journey as a performing artist and I’ll be forever grateful to Elvia, Angela, and Breath of Fire for coming into my life when they did. Watch my original poem The River of My Life by clicking here.
The One I've Been Waiting For
“What lesson have I slept through?”
The One I’ve Been Waiting For is a poem I adapted from my original play, Valiente which premiered virtually in May 2020 with Brown Bag Theater Company. This adapted poem performed with Breath of Fire’s Staged Story series. Click here to watch! If you want to hear more from Valiente, I’ll be uploading it to New Play Exchange in the next few of months so keep an eye out for that announcement!
Neofuturism and "Out of Body"
Performing Neofuturism has been a life-affirming experience. I started working with UCI’s Neofuturist collective, Schrodinger’s Cast: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes, in 2017 during my sophomore year of college. Shortly after I became a leader in the company and served as Co-Captain for my junior and senior year.
The rules of Neofuturism are as follows: We are who we are, we are where we are, we are doing what we are doing, the time is now. Essentially, Neofuturism is a form of theater doesn’t buy into the suspension of disbelief. This allows performers to interact directly with the audience as themselves. The fun part, of course, comes with breaking and bending those rules or using them to our advantage. And yes we do, in fact, perform 30 plays (ranging from 1-2 min on average but often shorter or longer) in 60 minutes. We try to, at least. All plays are written by and performed by collective members and the audience “orders” plays by yelling out a number corresponding with a play title on their “menus.”
During my time with Schrodinger’s Cast, I reclaimed my Latinidad, worshiped a $2 plastic skull, wrote love letters to and from my own voice, wore a handmade paper phallus, and shared some of my most private and intimate thoughts and experiences through movement, poetry, and monologue.
One of the last pieces I performed, simply titled Out of Body after the Gorillaz song used in the video was performed in September 2020 as a part of a virtual, “throwback” edition of 30 Plays in 60 Minutes with UCI alumni from years past. It’s a piece I wanted to write for a long time but was never able to conceptualize and surprisingly, the pandemic gave me the opportunity to create and perform it in a way that wouldn’t be possible in live theater. You can click this link to watch it.
