ARIZONA LATINO RESEARCH ENTERPRISE
SPRING 2009 LUNCHEON
May 12, 2009 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Rachel B. Rivera Speaker Series
ALRE, with support by Advocates for Latino Art & Culture, National Association of Latino Independent Producers and New Carpa Theatre Company, presents:
Lights, Action...Cultura:
Latino Film & Theater in Arizona
Moderated by Pamela Sterling, Playwright and professor Panelists Will Include:
Marcus De Leon, Screenwriter/Director
James E. Garcia, Journalist, Playwright & ASU Instructor
Guillermo Reyes, ASU MFA Playwriting Program
Elaine Romero, Playwright
Playhouse on the Park at Viad Corporate Center
1850 N. Central Avenue | Phoenix, Arizona
(Parking is adjacent to the theatre entrance and is only accessible from Palm Lane on the North side of the building.)
$25 per person or FREE with Friends of ALRE status
To reserve your place, please e-mail info@alre.org or call 602.448.5483
Bios of the panelists:
Moderator
Pamela Sterling is an associate professor of theatre at Arizona State University where she has taught classes in playwriting, theatre for youth, acting and theatre for social change since 1999. She has a BFA from the Professional Actor Training Program and an MFA in Child Drama from the University of Washington. She has served as Artistic Director for The Coterie in Kansas City, Mo., the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and the Idaho Theatre for Youth. Among her honors are awards for Best Director from the St. Louis Dispatch for her direction of To Kill a Mockingbird; the Po'okela Award for theatre excellence in Honolulu; and awards for Best Director and Production for her work with Romeo and Juliet, Spoon River Anthology, Tofa Samoa, and Paniolo Spurs. She earned an ariZoni Award for Excellence in Theatre Production for Anne of Green Gables.
An accomplished playwright, her published plays include; Friday's Child, The Secret Garden, and The Adventures of Nate the Great, published by Dramatic Publishing Company. Her play The Ugly Duckling is published by New Plays, Inc. The Secret Garden has won the American Alliance for Theatre Education's Distinguished Play award and is published by St. Martin's Press in the anthology of Twenty Great Plays for Children.
Sterling has worked extensively with new play development on a national scale directing workshop productions of plays at the Kennedy Center's New Visions New Voices program, the Bonderman New Play Festival with the Indiana Repertory Theatre, and the new play development workshop at the University of Texas-Austin. She served as dramaturg for the Cincinnati Playhouse's 2008 touring production of Little Medea by Melissa Cooper and has also directed several new plays by graduate student playwrights at ASU.
Additional professional directing credits include: The Grapes of Wrath for Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pa. The Miracle Worker for Okiboji Summer Theatre and All My Sons for Profile Theatre in Portland Oregon.. Locally Pamela has been proud to direct the English version of Women of Juarez for Teatro Bravo, A Mother's Will and Voices of Valor for New Carpa Theatre, and a staged reading of Elaine Romero's play Curanderas.
Marcus De Leon
Screenwriter-director Marcus De Leon earned an MFA in Film & Television Production at UCLA. As a student, Marcus produced the indie cult classic feature film Border Radio, recently rereleased on Criterion Collection. He later wrote and directed the critically-acclaimed Kiss Me A Killer, starring Julie Carmen and Robert Beltran, for legendary producer Roger Corman. Marcus went on to write indie and studio scripts such as Shooters for Sony Pictures, the Spanish drama Scent of Copal and an NBC pilot, The Morales of Maplewood, and wrote and directed the indie feature The Big Squeeze, released by First Look to worldwide success. Beginning his long association with HBO, Marcus wrote the true-crime screenplays Bakersfield, Memphis and the acclaimed Walkout, set amidst East L.A.'s 1968 high school student rebellion. Current writing projects include true-story feature scripts Beavers, a football movie; Boomtown, a Tucson-set crime drama; The Line, a TV pilot set on the U.S.-Mexico border; Antiques, an indie comedy set in South Philadelphia; The 7, a high-tech espionage thriller and Equis, a small town Arizona drama. Marcus has served as a visiting fellow at the University of Arizona in Tucson. A longtime New York City resident, he lives in Tucson and his hometown of Los Angeles.
James E. Garcia
James E. Garcia is a journalist, playwright and Arizona State University researcher and instructor. He has taught writing and ethnic studies at ASU. He also is the founder and producing artistic director of New Carpa Theater (newcarpa.org), a Phoenix-based theater company that focuses on multicultural and Latino-themed works. He is the author of more than a dozen plays. His recent works include A Boy Named Cesar (Herberger Theater Center, 2009); Voices of Valor (Playhouse on the Park, 2009), Operation Wetback (an improvisational play presented at the Border Justice Conference at ASU West, 2009), American Pastorela: The Road to the White House (Playhouse on the Park, 2009), Los Repatriados/The Repatriated (Barrios Unidos Park); Mr. Ambassador: The Life and Times of Raul H. Castro (Playhouse on the Park, 2008); Por Amor/For Love: An Operachi in One Act (Herberger Theater Center/Playhouse on the Park, 2008); and Dream Act (Playhouse on the Park, 2008). James' short play, The Crossing, won first place at the 2003 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. As a journalist, Mr. Garcia has appeared on National Public Radio, CNN, and MSNBC. His columns have been published by Cox New Service, New York Times New Service and dozens of newspapers nationwide. He is the co-author of the upcoming book, Raul Yzaguirre: A Life in Civil Rights.
Guillermo Reyes
GUILLERMO REYES heads the MFA playwriting program at Arizona State University. His plays have been performed across the country including the New York off-Broadway productions of Men on the Verge of a His-Panic Breakdown and Mother Lolita. Other plays include Chilean Holiday, Madison, Men on the Verge 2, Deporting the Divas, The Hispanick Zone, Sunrise at Monticello, and others. His plays have been seen in various theaters across the country including Playwrights Theater of New Jersey, the Guthrie Theater, Premiere Stages, Urban Stages, Actors Theater of Louisville, Celebration Theater, Theater Rhinoceros, Diversionary Theater and others. He's a member of the Dramatists Guild. He's published in the recent anthology, Borders on Stage: Plays Produced by Teatro Bravo (L&S Books, Phoenix, 2008). His memoir, Maria's Oscar, is being published by University of Wisconsin Press in 2010. (teatrobravo.org)
Elaine Romero
Elaine Romero has found grist for her plays in an uncharted life. Elaine saw Disneyland with the King of Zululand when he and his entourage stayed with her family during his honeymoon. She learned Transcendental Meditation from a guru who imparted her mantras from a make-shift altar fashioned from the family toilet. As a grad student in Paris, Elaine found herself with Mother Teresa, in the awkward position of handing out ham sandwiches to non-pork eating Muslims. Walk into the Sea was at the Goodman Theatre as part of their Latino Theatre Festival. Something Rare and Wonderful recently received its World Premiere at the Alley Theatre. Barrio Hollywood was performed at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. Other commissions include: Magic Theatre/Sloan Science & Technology Grant (Walk into the Sea), ONU (Undocumented), Curious Theatre Company (Rain of Ruin), and Zachary Scott Theatre (Alicia). She has participated in the Sundance Playwrights' Retreat at Ucross, the Playwrights' Center's New Plays on Campus Program (Like Heaven), the Texas State Black & Latino Playwrights Conference (Before Death Comes for the Archbishop, Kenny Leon, director), and Arkansas Repertory's Voices at the River. Elaine has taught at Linfield College and the University of Arizona. She has been a Guest Artist at the Mark Taper Forum, Denver Center Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, and CBS Television City. Elaine is ever grateful that she can stand on her head. Her 10-Minute play about the atomic bomb, Rain of Ruin, is a recent finalist for the prestigious Heideman Award at Actors' Theatre of Louisville. (http://www.facebook.com/people/Elaine-Romero/666701423) |
