Student Productions

Learning by doing is a critical part of my approach as a theatre arts educator. I believe the best way for my students to learn how to make our creative work is the through the process of engaging in full productions. I greatly enjoy engaging them in the creative, collaborative process, especially when it is possible to lift their individual voices up, create new work, or explore classic works often underexplored in training environments due to their political and/or cultural content.

Below are three examples that highlight my approach and are some of my most memorable!

The eCarpa of La Victima

LaGuardia Community College - Fall 2019

The eCarpa of La Victima is a collectively created, devised theatre piece inspired by the Chicano Theatre classic La Victima, created by El Teatro de la Esperanza. Originally intended as a live production, The eCarpa of La Victima was adapted for the digital space during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than force students and the play into an environment that would not aesthetically work, we redesigned the show in the spirit of the play’s original creators, radical college students in the 1970s. By reinterpreting the show’s original story and theme, we shifted the focus from the dehumanizing impact of US immigration policy to the immigrant experience as filtered through the voices of LGCC students, many of whom are first-generation immigrants. Through this production, we were able to promote a worldview and experience rarely heard with authenticity in theatrical spaces.

After its initial release in Fall of 2019, the show went on to be an Invited Production to the Region I Festival for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, where it received the following honors:

  • Citizen Artist Award

  • Ensemble Merit Award- - Cast and Crew

  • Publicity Merit Award (Poster Artwork)- Deidre Appiah

  • Video Design Merit Award- Juan Zapata

  • Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Region I Nominee- Stephanie Vallejo

  • Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Region I Nominee- Andy Hawker

  • Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Region I Nominee- Jing Wan

You’re Not Alone (Anymore)

Stella Adler School for Acting - Fall 2016

Commissioned by the school during my time as their playwright-in-residence, this show was a part of a semester-long new play development class co-taught by myself and my longtime directing collaborator, Rebecca Martinez. 

You’re Not Alone (Anymore) was inspired by New York’s ongoing homelessness epidemic and reinterpreted through a speculative, futurist lens, attempting to discover the meaning of homes, homelessness, and collective action. Set in the not-so-distant future, the show focuses on a group of archaeologists desperately trying to uncover the truth behind the last undeveloped piece of property in New York City, the real estate mogul intent on building condos on top of it, and the community and history surrounding it. Who knows what will happen if either were to succeed?

This class and this new play development process culminated in four public presentations in December 2016. The script went on to be presented as a part of my 2050 Playwriting Residency at New York Theatre Workshop and received a short workshop and public stage reading in April 2017. 

BorderWorks

Bard College - Fall 2022

“‘Borderwork’ is the name given to the ways in which ordinary people can make and unmake borders. Borderwork is no longer only the business of nation-states, it is also the business of citizens (and indeed non-citizens).” — Christopher Rumford

Through my company Radical Evolution, I engaged students at Bard College in developing a new, collaboratively created, participatory work that digs into big questions about national borders. This process included significant training and education on “Border Abolition.” This is an ideology that proposes state borders and the systems that uphold them are some of the most oppressive systems in modern society and seeks to dismantle all physical borders and related laws. 

To do this, we engaged the students in deep investigation and education around border laws, state-sanctioned systems of control, and more. We asked them to answer questions such as:

  • What if we didn’t take borders as a given? 

  • What if we saw borders as a system of control and oppression? 

  • Is it possible to live in a world with no borders? If so, how? And how can we, as theatremakers, be a part of that conversation?”

This process culminated in Radical Evolution’s first of hopefully many BorderWorks. It was created via devised process with Bard students and culminated in an open rehearsal in November 2022 at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Bard Campus. Based on the experience and success of the performance, many students expressed they were walking away with a significantly broader understanding of international relations, the complexity of border policies, and an interest in creating socially and politically engaged art.