Empanada for a Dream, written and performed by Juan Francisco Villa, directed by Alex Levy
Empanada for a Dream is a poignant and entertaining portrait of family and neighborhood – set against the secret that destroys it all. It’s a haunting tale about growing up by getting out. And coming back – to one boy’s Lower East Side. Villa, a second generation Colombian immigrant, just finished performing Empanada for a Dream at the NYC soloNOVA Art Fest in June, following a sold out run in April at New York’s Barrow Street Theater that earned Villa an Outstanding Solo Show citation from the Independent Theatre Bloggers Association (ITBA).
In English with a touch of Spanish.
Antipoda, written and performed by Rey Andújar,directed by Marcela Muñoz
Antipoda takes the audience on a journey across the Americas’ landscape through the lens of racial identity, crime and sexuality through Corporeal Mime and bilingual Spoken Word. Andujar’s movement work and incendiary poetry and text from Federico Garcia Lorca and Charles Bukowski create a synergy between art, politics and language.
In English and Spanish.
Program C Schedule
Friday July 27 9pm
Saturday, July 28 4:30 pm
Sunday, July 29, 8 pm
Saturday, August 4 8 pm
Sunday, August 5, 4:30 pm
Monday, August 6, 7 pm
Saturday, August 4:30 pm
Sunday, August 12 8 pm
BIOS
Juan Villa (Writer/Performer Empanada for a Dream) Juan’s original stomping grounds was the Lower East Side of New York City. He’s a second generation Colombian immigrant and recovering Catholic. Like a good Native New Yorker he left for Chicago where he performed at Improv Olympic, Second City, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, with esteemed playwrights such as Jose Rivera, Laura Eason, Ifa Bayeza, Migdalia Cruz and Quiara Alegria-Hudes. His NYC credits include Rattlestick, Mabou Mines/SUITE, INTAR, Monarch, HERO Theater, Lark Play Development, Collaberation Town, BAX, Barrow Group Theater, New Ohio Theater, TerraNOVA, Rising Phoenix Rep and 59E59. He has worked as a Teaching Artist with Manhattan Theater Club, Pegasus Players, Salsation, Teatro Vista and currently with The Peoples Theater Project Harbor Heights 8th graders in Washington Heights. He has been an ensemble member of SALSATION, Chicago’s first Latino Sketch/Improv Group. He is a current ensemble member of Teatro Vista in Chicago and InViolet Theater Company in NYC. You most likely have heard him as the original voice of Miller Chill and in the international Spanish commercial for Hellmans Lite. He just completed a sold out April run of Empanada For A Dream in NYC and was then immediately invited to remount it for the NYC soloNOVA Art Fest in June. He is a proud member of AEA-SAG/AFTRA.
Alex Levy’s (Director Empanada for a Dream) work has been seen throughout the United States and around the world. He recently directed Empanada For a Dream in New York for Ballybeg and later for the soloNOVA Arts Festival. His directing credits include the national tour ofAmerica Amerique for Jena Productions. His production of My Soul is a Witness was featured in the Hindu Metro-Plus International Theatre Festival in Chennai, India and toured several cities throughout India. In Los Angeles, he has directed the world premiere of In the Red for the ARK Theatre. For UCLA, he directed Copenhagen, Dead Man’s Cell Phone and he conceived, adapted and directed A Dark Sun and Home Front. Before moving to Los Angeles, Alex served as Artistic Director of Pegasus Players where he directed Continental Divide, Golda’s Balcony (Jeff Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance),The Upper Room (Jeff Citation for “Best New Work”), Black Caesar (Three Black Excellence Nominations), Still Life, Broadway Bound (Jeff nominated for four citations including “Best Production” and winner of the After Dark Award for “Best Ensemble”) andThe One-Eyed Man is King as well as nine productions for the Chicago Young Playwrights Festival. Alex has an MFA from The University of California-Los Angeles.
Rey Andújar (Writer/Performer Antipoda) (Santo Domingo 1977) is the author of several works of fiction including Candela (Alfaguara – Puerto Rican Pen Club Award, Best Novel 2009); Amoricidio (Santo Domingo International Book Fair Fiction Award 2006); Saturnario/Saturnalia (7Vientos – Ultramar Short Fiction Literature Prize, New York 2010). For more than ten years Andújar has been researching the connection between body, language and writing. During this time he has collaborated with many artists in different disciplines, especially theater, film and music. He is a PhD Candidate in Caribbean Literature and Philosophy at Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.
Antipoda is part of a laboratory of research called The Dramaturgy of the Body of the Author. This performance has been on stage since February 2010 and has been performed in cities like San Juan, PR – Santo Domingo, DR – Miami, Paris, Mexico and Chicago. This is an interdisciplinary work that combines Corporeal Mime and bilingual Spoken Word, creating a synergy between art, politics and language.
“Audiences are seated close enough to view the sweat on Andújar’s body, and the spectacle is jarring as the performer vibrates with effort and recites selected poems from his extensive oeuvre on topics of racial identity, crime, and sexuality across the Americas, from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx. The Spanish poems are polished and elegant, and Andújar delivers them with rapid-fire lyricism, yielding an overall result that pays homage to Latin American and Caribbean literary traditions while striking unique chords.”
Katie Zien
Favorpill, Chicago, Dec 2011
Marcela Muñoz (Director Antipoda) is Co-Artistic Director of Aguijón Theater and is dedicated to its mission of producing works in Spanish. Besides regular gigs at Aguijon, her many acting credits include works with other Chicago companies such as Teatro Vista (of which she is an ensemble member), Teatro Luna, Victory Gardens Theatre and Goodman Theatre. Her directing credits include Yerma, The House of Bernarda Alba, Blood Wedding,Johnny Tenorio, Perversions, Even a Sparrow Leaves its Nest, Monday Falls on Leon Rodriguez, Antigona and Antigona Perez at Aguijón; Kita y Fernanda for Teatro Luna; Ferdinand the Bull for the Goodman Theatre; and La Posada Magica for Teatro Vista. As an actress and director she has participated in international theater festivals in Peru, Argentina and Colombia. She is a graduate of The School at Steppenwolf. Marcela is excited and proud to be directing Rey Andujar’s magical Antipoda for Collaboraction/Teatro Vista’s first Yo Solo Festival.