Latino Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles 1st Inaugural Playwrights Nest Festival
Feb 7 2015
With:
Jennifer Parsons as Luisa
Diana Burbano as Slade
Preston Maybank as Nigel
Minerva Vier as Lulu
Anahi Bustillos as Sally
and
Julianna Stephanie Ojada as Kady
Monday, February 09, 2015
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Saturday, December 06, 2014
Auditions will be held Monday, December 8, 2014 at 7:00 pm in the Bronwyn Dodson Theatre at Fullerton College
Logline: “An old rock star must make peace with her past so that she can help kill the man who saved her.”
Synopsis
L.A. 1977. The punk rock scene is in full swing. Two young Latinas meet at a band audition.
Luisa is effortlessly sexy, and sings like an angel. Sally, though musically brilliant, is rough-edged, moody, and tortured by her fluctuating sexuality.
There's an undeniable symbiosis between them and they form their own band. Seemingly overnight they have fame and a following.
Enter Nigel, an older glam rocker. Seeking something new, he asks Sally to join his band. She's torn: the offer is intoxicating, but what about Luisa?
Sally accepts Nigel's offer. Luisa segues to a spectacular pop career strictly on her own. Sally feels a queasy mix of regret and contempt.
Thirty years pass. Drugs and hard-living have exacted a brutal toll on Sally and Nigel. Age and illness have dimmed Luisa's star and diminished her powers.
And Nigel is dying. To help him do so with dignity, Sally seeks Luisa's help. The gesture opens old wounds, but makes healing possible, too. They re-unite on stage and discover that two old broads can rock as hard as they ever did.
Characters:
Sally: 17. Punk rock girl. Androgynous. Not too attractive.Tendency to violence and self-destruction, but with style and a sense of irony. Latina
Slade: Sally at 50. Still angry. Still punk
Luisa: 17 Very pretty, sweet voice. Killer guitar chops. Ambitious. feminist. Latina
Lou: Luisa at 50. A rock icon. Steely.
Kady: Luisa’s pretty, complicated and conniving teenage daughter
Nigel: British. Working-class. Punk rocker. Dying of liver failure in the present.
Fabulous Monsters was written under the encouragement and auspices of The Latino Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles inaugural writers circle. It is a selection of Fullerton College's 26th Annual Playwrights Festival 2015 (1 of 3).
Diana Burbano, a Colombian immigrant, is an Equity actress and a respected teaching artist at South Coast Repertory. She began to write after she realized that there were no parts of substance available for someone of her gender, ethnicity and age.
Her play Silueta written with Tom and Chris Shelton, was a Playlab selection at the Great Plains Theater Conference, where it received a staged reading, and was chosen as one of 4 productions at the Cygnet Theatre’s Playwrights in Process Festival 2014. In each of these venues the play received a unanimously positive critique.
Diana is a member of the inaugural writers circle for Latino Theatre Association/ Los Angeles. She is also participating in 365 Women a Year, writing about Manuela Saénz.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Who was Ana Mendieta? See Silueta @CygnetTheatre Nov 9 at 2:00 pm! Congrats to @loladiana Tom Shelton, Chris Shelton
https://t.co/T8OJsYMXLD
— SD Playwrights (@SDPlaywrights) October 23, 2014
Sunday, October 05, 2014
Cygnet Theatre’s Playwrights in Process–An Interview with Diana Burbano
L to R Diana Burbano, Tom Shelton, Christopher Shelton
Tell us about yourself.
Tom and I are partners and have a 7-year-old son. We wanted a project we could work on together. We brought Chris in as a director and he shaped the story. I suppose it’s a devised piece, I write Ana usually, Tom writes Carl and Chris shapes and edits, although that’s not absolute, as all of us tackle any problems that come up. We get together, eat a lot, laugh a lot and edit a lot. It’s like writing for television.
Tell us about your play. What was your inspiration?
I started writing Silueta as a project for myself to perform. I was and am dismayed at the lack of interesting roles for women of my age and ethnicity. I also found the story of Ana Mendieta compelling and interesting and rich and couldn’t believe no one had really heard of her! In my mind she is as fascinating as Frida Kahlo, and SHOULD become a role model for Latinas. Her tragic and insane death shouldn’t overshadow her very real powers as an artist. I am also very interested in rich language and text. I hope this play has that.
What do you hope to get out of the Playwrights in Process experience?
Collaboration with talented actors and directors! It is invaluable to hear the work read and worked by people who are not as familiar with it as we are. We hope to learn a lot about our play from the actors and director.
What is your next step? Any advice for other playwrights?
Write. A lot. Overwrite. Most of it will be awful. Then edit. Be ruthless.
Thanks for talking with us Diana! Good luck with Silueta and Playwrights in Process!
View complete information on workshops and plays: http://www.cygnettheatre.com/connect/playwrights.php
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