Exciting Things Are Happening at Off The Tracks Performance Space & Art Gallery

By Fanny Garcia

It’s been hard to track down the members of Off The Tracks but it’s been for a very good reason. They have been busy getting ready for their first production since opening their doors last month. Since their opening, they have hosted a video shoot, a gallery exhibit, the screening of the webisode “Police Chicks” and now a two week production of new works by local writers.

But just who are the members of Off The Tracks and why are they working so hard to create art in El Sereno?

The founders of Off The Tracks include Angela Imperial, Carmelita Maldonado, Juan Parada, Gerardo Davolo, Karen Fernandez, and Ashley Santizo. They are a group of talented actors, writers, painters, & photographers who have been working on their craft for years both on stage and in film.

One of the members of the collective had been keeping an eye on a space that was on the first floor of her apartment. It had been a furniture store for many years and when the tenants closed the store, her vision of seeing a performance and gallery space in it’s place became a reality. It could not have come at a better time, the group had been discussing opening their own space and finally enjoying the creative freedom that would come with it. The collective feels that with their combined talents, they can provide quality art & culture to the City Terrace community.

The goal for the space is to provide a creative “playground” of sorts for artists as well as the community. The space welcomes all artists to use the space but they also have specific events in mind. An art walk in June geared towards children and adults, and in the month of July, the collective wants to promote the art of writing, and is planning a low cost, six-week playwriting workshop for the youth in the area.

However, Off The Tracks’ most talked about production opens today. The show, called “Mothers & Mijas,” is comprised of new work commissioned from L.A. area writers including Ramona Pilar Gonzales, Selene Santiago de Nasseri, Fanny Garcia, Gabriela Lopez de Dennis, Rosalva Reza, Feliz Umana and Gerardo Davolo. It is a special mother’s day production to celebrate women, love, life and families.

If you haven’t been to an event or production at Off The Tracks, then Mothers & Mijas should be your first opportunity. The writing that has come out of this project is inspired and wise and it highlights all aspects of womanhood. Don’t miss it!

The set for "Mothers & Mijas" under construction

The cast

Celebrating womanhood at Off The Tracks with "Mothers & Mijas"

Mothers & Mijas: A Special Mother’s Day show celebrating women, life, love, & family! April 29th & 30th and May 6th & 7th.  All performances at 8 p.m. (Doors open @ 7:30 p.m.) $10 donation/ Moms $5

OFF THE TRACKS 5068 Valley Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90032.  RSVP at angimperial@gmail.com or 323-383-3291

SPOTLIGHT: The writers of Mothers & Mijas at Off The Tracks – Fanny Garcia

I Honor Her Now By Fanny Garcia

My mother is charming and beautiful. She loves to dance and she smiles a lot. She dances like a chicken but she doesn’t care, she just loves music. I’ve inherited my love of ballads by Jose Jose and Roberto Carlos from her. She used to listen to them all the time when I was a kid. Even now she keeps a small radio in the kitchen and listens to music while she cooks and cleans.

She loves looking pretty. She never leaves the house without make-up. Her outfits are garishly bright and colorful and she never wears black because it’s boring.  Her heels are sky high and she likes them in shiny gold and silver.

She’s been brave and cowardly. She’s been loving and mean. She is complex and ordinary. She has a story to tell that is painful to hear. She carries shame like most women carry a purse; close to her body and never, ever lets it go.

She jokes and makes me laugh when I’m trying very hard to stay mad at her. But for years, she allowed me to be mad. She let me feel the vibrating emotion and waited patiently for it to dissipate. I think she knew that someday I would forgive her. Or maybe, she just hoped I would.

The two pieces I wrote for Mothers & Mijas are about the journey she and I have had together, often angry, and painful and coated with shame. She has made many choices in her life that she is not proud of but she made them because she wanted a better life for her daughters. I didn’t always see her completely. The anger and resentment clouded my vision. Only time allowed us the opportunity to understand each other and I can honor her now because I can finally see all of her.

Fanny Garcia is the editor of pLAywriting in the city and is co-founder of East LA Rep, a nonprofit theater organization. She contributed a monologue called, “My Mother’s Hot Pink Pants” and the poem, “Aguas Negras” for Mothers & Mijas at Off The Tracks. Ms. Garcia’s Mom lives in Las Vegas. Mother and daughter speak on the phone regularly and laugh about the silly things in life.

Mothers & Mijas: A Special Mother’s Day show celebrating women, life, love, & family! April 29th & 30th and May 6th & 7th. With original works written by Gerardo Davolo, Fanny Garcia, Ramona Gonzales, Gabriela Lopez de Dennis, Carmelita Maldonado, Rosalva Reza, Selene Santiago de Nasseri, Felix Umana and directed by Carmelita Maldonado. All performances at 8 p.m.(Doors open @ 7:30 p.m.) $10 donation/ Moms $5

OFF THE TRACKS 5068 Valley Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90032.  RSVP at angimperial@gmail.com or 323-383-3291

SPOTLIGHT: The writers of Mothers & Mijas at Off The Tracks – Ramona Pilar Gonzales

My Crone, My Self By Ramona Pilar Gonzales

I was addicted to The Joy Luck Club for a brief period in 1999.  I had seen the movie when it was released theatrically and loved it.  It has everything you could want in a woman’s melodrama: tradition versus self-determination; cheating, abusive husbands; mother-daughter conflict; gorgeous, soft cinematography; epic, moody string based music; and crying, lots and lots of cathartic crying.  Beyond being an excellent cry-fest trigger, The Joy Luck Club is special to me because it was one of the first movies I noticed that showcased grandmothers’ stories and honored the full lives those women had as daughters, women, mothers and grandmothers.  Both the book and the film made the point of showing the entire scope of a Woman’s life – starting with a death and ending with a rebirth.

Contemporary Popular Culture is littered with stories featuring the ingénue trope – hot young thing bursting at her fruitful seams with burgeoning womanhood. For better and worse, the culture American society creates has an affect on our understanding of life.  As it is right now, American Culture is focused on maintaining youth, which does us a great disservice.

Because I am a staunch observer of my American culture, I know it is customary for me to being worrying about aging.  It is customary for me to lament the transmogrification of my body as it begins to show the signs of age, to bemoan every infinitesimal crease that lingers on my skin no matter how much water I drink or sleep I get.  I am virtually required to continue feeling bad about my body, but now it is for losing elasticity, something I cannot prevent, something that was hard wired into my DNA by powers and forces that are older than stardust.

I turn 35 this year and I’m only going to get older after that.  As a good friend pointed out, we are effectively in the 35-80 bracket which means pre-menopause can start at any time from this point on. There’s a high probability that on this road to death I will develop Rheumatoid Arthritis like my mother, and like her mother before her. I’m not interested in hating myself for getting old or fearing the deterioration of my body or brain. I don’t want to spend my life fearing death or trying to wish aging out of existence.

There has to be another way to age.

I created the character of Nana Reina for that reason.  I wanted to see a woman who looked into the twilight of her life head on, who was proud of the decisions she made.  She is ageless, as in she would never admit to her age.  She is full of a boisterous energy that invades the room.  She loves to dance, even though her arthritis makes her once fluid movements stiff. She is the stuff gay icons are made of, a combination of La Lupe, Celia Cruz and the powerful Amazonian women in my family.

The stories I heard from my matriarchs echoed the stories from The Joy Luck Club in a lot of ways in that some of them include cheating husbands, abuse-induced miscarriages, desertion and a whole lot of sad tragedy.  But the stories I treasure are the ones where they stand up for themselves, where they are the ones who leave, where they defy convention and embrace Life rather than be victims of it.  Nana Reina is an amalgam of the stories of their strength and the kind of mature woman I would like to be.

There are so many years between the ingénue and the crone.  Those years can go to waste if spent desperately trying to hold on to youth out of fear of age.  The bulk of a lifetime exists in those in between years when women are at their absolute best and most beautiful. If fruit does not age, it cannot get riper or sweeter.  It will never reach the pinnacle of its beauty without maturity.

Ramona Pilar Gonzales is a writer/performer and native Californian.  Her prose (essays, review, columns) has been published in LatinoLA, CreepyLA, La Revista Magazine, the Highland Park News and more.  She has also written and produced several short plays and films.  Her dramatizad essay, Del Plato a la Boca, El Ritmo te Toca, received a grant from La Plaza de Cultura y Artes Foundation.  She is a founding memeber of the theater performance group Tongue in Chíc*ana.  She has performed with the Bilingual Foundation for the Arts, Casa 0101, Cornerstone Theater Company, the Denver Center Theater, and East Los Angeles Repertory Theater Company.  Ramona has a B.A. in Film and Cultural Representation from UC Davis and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.

Mothers & Mijas: A Special Mother’s Day show celebrating women, life, love, & family! April 29th & 30th and May 6th & 7th. With original works written by Gerardo Davolo, Fanny Garcia, Ramona Gonzales, Gabriela Lopez de Dennis, Carmelita Maldonado, Rosalva Reza, Selene Santiago de Nasseri, Felix Umana and directed by Carmelita Maldonado. All performances at 8 p.m.(Doors open @ 7:30 p.m.) $10 donation/ Moms $5

OFF THE TRACKS 5068 Valley Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90032.  RSVP at angimperial@gmail.com or 323-383-3291

SPOTLIGHT: The writers of Mothers & Mijas at Off The Tracks – selene santiago de nasseri

yellow is the color by selene santiago de nasseri

“yellow is the color” is a very personal piece that has been partially six and partially 15 years in the making…but i wrote it in a week. i guess one doesn’t need a lot of time to set something to paper when it’s collectively been stewing for 15 years, does one? regardless of all that time, it was still difficult to write—as unpacking the deep often is.

the story is set in April of 1996, when i’m a senior in high school and diagnosed with cancer. it’s about how those several months of fighting the disease informs my journey of motherhood (from being told i would not be able to get pregnant to getting pregnant to hoping for the absolute best for my baby’s health—despite the fact that she has my crappy genes). I filter the story through a yellow lens as yellow is a color that has tinted much of my life since cancer decided to enter as a main player.

the request for this creative contribution was a conversation in passing with one of the co-founders of off the tracks. now, i’m not exactly known in the theater scene as a writer—i’m a director and designer by trade and when i do write, it’s poetry—so i was a little taken aback when this opportunity was presented. i took the offer home with me and slept with it for a few nights and upon realizing the timeliness, i became elated at the opportunity.

fifteen years ago, to the month, i was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma; 6.5 years ago, to the month, i found out i was pregnant. i realize that this story has been a malignant in my soul and that now is the time to carve it out, place it on the examination room table and pick it apart…find the good…the bad…the humorous…and ultimately let it go.

so here it is: the beginning of letting go.

4/18/11
11:24am

selene santiago de nasseri is a native angeleno (just east of the river, boyle heights) who directs/designs/creates for the stage.  she is a graduate of uc berkeley in theatre/chicano studies (BA) and cal state la in theatre (MA); recipient of la opinion’s “mujeres destacadas” award in arts & culture for 2008; founding familia member of CASA 0101 and co-founding teatrista of the stage art group, tongue in chíc*ana (TIC).  selene is currently the general manager of cornerstone theater company and working on two pieces for the stage with TIC, Santa Chata and Her Fantastic Failures (working title) in Nov 2011 and Midnight Mariachi: A Puppet Musical in 2012.

Mothers & Mijas: A Special Mother’s Day show celebrating women, life, love, & family! April 29th & 30th and May 6th & 7th. With original works written by Gerardo Davolo, Fanny Garcia, Ramona Gonzales, Gabriela Lopez de Dennis, Carmelita Maldonado, Rosalva Reza, Selene Santiago de Nasseri, Felix Umana and directed by Carmelita Maldonado. All performances at 8 p.m.(Doors open @ 7:30 p.m.) $10 donation/ Moms $5

OFF THE TRACKS 5068 Valley Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90032.  RSVP at angimperial@gmail.com or 323-383-3291

SPOTLIGHT: The writers of Mothers & Mijas at Off The Tracks – Gabriela Lopez de Dennis

Off The Tracks is a new performance and art space in El Sereno. For their first show, the founders of the space commissioned new works by Los Angeles writers. The show is called Mothers & Mijas and will honor mothers in preparation for Mother’s Day. This week pLAywriting in the city hosts each of the writers who will have their pieces performed at Off The Tracks. A new blog entry spotlighting a different writer will be up every day leading up to the Mothers & Mijas opening on Friday, April 29th.

We start with Gabriela Lopez de Dennis talking about the piece she wrote titled, “Zod, I Am Your Mother.”

One of the collective artists, Angela Imperial, of the new performance space in Lincoln Heights, Off the Tracks, called me one afternoon and asked if I could write a monologue for their upcoming Mother’s Day show Mothers & Mijas. As a new mommy, I gladly and enthusiastically accepted. I then approached the piece like I do most of my writing, with a blank page and absolutely no clue what I was going to write about. The piece immediately became less about being a mother to my baby girl, and more about sci-fi. Man, this keeps happening. My experience with being pregnant for the first time last year, which I documented in a book of diary entries titled Baby Mama, right down to when I was in the hospital at five centimeters dilated, was very much a sci-fi experience, in my mind. An embryo grows in your pod from nothing into a person that comes out of your body. And when you’re pregnant, you feel kicks down there and see limbs and bones stretching out of your skin all “let me outta here!” You even see their face embossed in your skin and a tiny hand with moving fingers extending out of your bountiful belly…oh wait, that last part was just a dream I had. Never mind. So that’s what I wrote about, my fascination with sci-fi and how it relates to being pregnant, giving birth and learning how to be a new mommy using my animal instincts. Like I said, writing is very organic, I don’t like to think too much about it. I sit with pen in hand and just, go. Whatever the piece wants to be, I let it be. In this case, the piece wanted to be less about bottles and crying babies, and more about The Twilight Zone and alien abductions. I’d like to share a short excerpt here:

Poor thing. She must be just as exhausted. Babies feel the contractions too. I was so focused on what my body was doing, the pain of the contractions I was feeling, the pressure in my stomach, that I forgot that babies feel all of this too. She was getting pushed and turned and sucked through some dark and horrifying vortex in a silent scream begging, “When will this be over already! How hard is it to freakin’ push ma’!” The next morning, my mind is exhausted from the trauma I experience. That visual of the nurse reaching high up in the ceiling and pulling down this white, ginormous and bright hospital lamp flashing all up on my exposed body while saying “she’s ready to push,” keeps haunting me. I think of the bright light they keep flashing on Janet Tyler’s face in “Eye of the Beholder” when they’re about to take that “monster’s” bandages off. The way I feel the next day, I could easily interpret the disturbia of birthing and write a gruesome horror saga on how to torture someone painfully and slowly. With impeccable detail and haunting scenes of evil, macabre and gore. Stephen King would be so proud.

Excerpt from “Zod, I Am Your Mother”

Gabriela López de Dennis is a freelance writer and visual artist and her design firm, Soap Design Co, has specialized in the arts and entertainment industry for over 12 years. In 2007 Gabriela was one of the screenwriting fellows of Film Independent’s “Project: Involve,” a mentoring and training program designed to promote cultural diversity in the film industry. Her play Hoop Girls, originally developed through TeAda Productions and Center Theatre Group, was part of the 2007 [Inside] the Ford summer readings at the Ford Theatre. It had a full production directed by Corky Dominguez and co-produced by Gabriela in July of 2008 at CASA 0101 Theatre in Los Angeles, and a workshop production at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Gabriela co-developed/co-wrote, directed and dramaturged the very talented performer Miriam Peniche’s first solo show for the stage, Faking It. It had a workshop production this past September at CASA 0101 Theatre, and will have a full run next summer. She is also co-writing/co-developing children’s books and products with her husband Terry Dennis for their company Scuddlebut (Scuddlebut.com). She and her husband are proud new parents of a nine-month-old baby girl.

Mothers & Mijas: A Special Mother’s Day show celebrating women, life, love, & family! April 29th & 30th and May 6th & 7th. With original works written by Gerardo Davolo, Fanny Garcia, Ramona Gonzales, Gabriela Lopez de Dennis, Carmelita Maldonado, Rosalva Reza, Selene Santiago de Nasseri, Felix Umana and directed by Carmelita Maldonado. All performances at 8 p.m.(Doors open @ 7:30 p.m.) $10 donation/ Moms $5

OFF THE TRACKS 5068 Valley Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90032.  RSVP at angimperial@gmail.com or 323-383-3291

Loving Adele

A conversation with playwright Luis Alfaro prompted my purchase of Adele’s new album, “21.” I’m glad I did. The woman knows how to write AND sing!

The album is about all the emotions that run the gamut of a relationship. Anger, grief, defiance, sadness and ultimately forgiveness and healing. Below are some of my favorite lyrics.

Rolling in the Deep  (The epic song you’re probably hearing all over the radio. This is the angry song.)

“There’s a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it’s bring me out the dark,
The scars of your love remind me of us,
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all.”

Rumor Has It (How many times have we not thought or said these very words to a past love?)

“She, she ain’t real,
She ain’t gonna be able to love you like I will,
She is a stranger,
You and I have history,
Or don’t you remember?
Sure, she’s got it all,
But, baby, is that really what you want?”

Turning Tables (The defiant goodbye)

“Next time I’ll be braver,
I’ll be my own savior,
When the thunder calls for me,
Next time I’ll be braver,
I’ll be my own savior,
Standing on my own two feet”

I Found A Boy (The sweet revenge)

“I found a boy who loves me more
Than you ever did before
So stand beside the river you cry
And let yourself down
Look how you want me now that I don’t need you”

SPOTLIGHT: Raquel Sanchez Talks About Her Chicano Studies Thesis Project

Raquel Sanchez (Rocky) earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Cal State Northridge in 1998 and is currently completing a Master’s Degree in Chicano/a Studies. Raquel has been performing on stage since she was 13 years old and is excited to be venturing into the world of writing for performance. Her thesis project, “Sanity Is Relative: Sisters Schizophrenic Journey,” will be completed in May 2011.  She feels blessed to have mentors Luis Alfaro and Margarita Nieto, guiding her through her thesis project, a solo performance on schizophrenia.  Raquel is also blessed to have the help and support of East LA Rep, whom she has worked with on many productions since 2005. Raquel hopes her performance piece will shine a light on the effect a mentally ill family member has on the family unit and brings understanding to those who suffer from mental illness. “This project has been a learning process for me, healing old wounds and creating compassion where diassociation existed. I hope it does the same for others who are in similar situations.”

SPOTLIGHT: An interview with playwright, actor and painter Herbert Siguenza

Herbert Siguenza as Pablo Picasso in his play, "A Weekend with Pablo Picasso."

I have to admit that I’ve always been a little frightened by Pablo Picasso, maybe it was his intensity, but in 2009 I traveled to Spain, visited his museum and developed a respect for him. It seems that you discovered your admiration and respect for him at an early age. What was is it that fascinated you?  When I was seven years old I picked up a photo essay book by Douglas Duncan called The Private Life of Pablo Picasso and it made a huge impression on me. I’d never seen an old man with such a sense of joy and life. He was painting, eating, clowning and he had dogs and a goat! I thought from then on that I wanted to be an artist and live like that old man. He was a full time artist in every sense of the word. I respect that and try to live my life with that same wonder and curiosity.

How long have you been working on this piece? I have been working on this piece all my life! It took me 52 years to get to this point and be able to portray such a large iconic figure. Always thinking about it but waited until I was old enough to portray such a legend. It took two years to research and a year of many, many workshops to get it right. After the first live workshop production at San Diego Rep it got another re-write. I think it’s good now. I feel like I have earned it and what I talk about in the play I actually have lived it and endorse it fully!

You’ve always had an uncanny ability to truly become the characters in your plays, what do you do to prepare for such pieces?  During my acting career I have portrayed many legends: Che, Cantinflas, Teddy Roosevelt, Olmos, Prince, etc. One does not prepare for these characters, you just dress like them and do one or two somethings that are them. Remember, you are NOT them, you are YOU always. Do not act like them, BE them.

When do you stop being the writer and start being the actor?  Stop being the writer during previews and performances. Then sit back and think what could be better, clearer and cleaner. Go back and fix it. Don’t be afraid to cut what you think is gold. Less is always more.

You are a writer, actor and in the case of “A Weekend with Pablo Picasso” you have an extra task that is rarely seen on stage…you have to paint live! How hard was that? I was an artist way before I was an actor. So painting and drawing are very comfortable and easy for me. This is the first time I have been able to combine my two passions. I am now going to exhibit much more!

Pablo Picasso had a rather tumultuous relationship with the women in his life, why do you think this is so? And how did you incorporate that into the play? Picasso loved his women truly but he loved his art and his lifestyle more. Of course his women thought of him as selfish and self-centered but look what he shared with the world! He gave us thousands of beautiful art pieces that enriched the world and humanity. He could not be a good husband and a gray artist at the same time! He chose the latter and I’m glad he did. I have chosen my art over my relationships and I have been divorced twice!

 You’ve talked about the “tug and pull” between art and politics that manifested itself in Picasso’s life and artwork. Have you experienced the same struggle? At a certain point an individual has to decide if they want to be an artist or an activist. You can’t be both when you’re coming up. If I went to every meeting and manifestation activists want me to go I would not be successful as an artist. A successful artist can be more effective as an activist later, look at Zack de la Rocha.

Picasso left behind a tremendous volume of work in many different types of art forms from paintings, sculpture, vases, print, and even photography. Why was he so driven to create so much art? Is this something that you have strived to do as well? If you decide to be an artist your only obligation and responsibility is to produce art. People go to work everyday and make whatever. An artist should try to produce everyday. Something. It’s your legacy, your footsteps that say, “I was here and this is what I did while I was alive. Ultimately, death should be a motivator to produce as much as you can while you have health. Even in her deathbed Frida Kahlo painted! What more can we do?

How would you and Pablo Picasso spend a weekend? I would love to just have a glass of wine with him and ask him about his early years in Paris when he was hustling and painting for a living. Then watch him paint for hours.

Herbert Siguenza is founding member of Culture Clash, who recently marked their 26^th anniversary as the most prominent Chicano/Latino performance troupe in the country. Herbert has a BFA in printmaking from the California College of Arts, Oakland. He has exhibited nationally and internationally. He is a mayor-appointed Commissioner for the city of Los Angeles. Culture Clash is featured in the upcoming Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne.

“A Weekend With Pablo Picasso,” Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (dark April 17). Ends May 1. $10 and $35. (866) 811-4111 or www.thelatc.org. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Play Reading: References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

"Two Pieces of Bread Expressing the Sentiment of Love" by Salvador Dali (One of the paintings mentioned in the play)

East LA Rep’s play reading group took on References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot by Jose Rivera yesterday. The play is about a husband and wife who have grown apart due to the husband’s involvement in the army. The script has a surreal and dream-like quality to it. The poetic language in the play is beautiful though at times confusing. One of our group members mentioned that it was like reading Shakespeare. One has to analyze each word to understand each line’s meaning and rhythm.

In Rivera’s play, a full moon cynically watches the happenings in the Mojave Desert below, like a peeping tom. Gabriela (the wife) lives in Barstow, California and in her husband’s absence grows increasingly lonely, socially isolated and is subject to strange dreams. She awaits his return from a mission with emotional needs not sexual desire.

A randy coyote and pampered house cat parallels the couple’s behavior. The coyote wants to make the cat moan, “so loud, your ancestors will hear”. But the cat coyly deflects his advances, wanting no part in fulfilling the coyote’s desires but basking in the attention.

Benito (the husband) finally arrives from the Persian Gulf and all he wants is sex. She, on the other hand, wants to talk. She wants confirmation that he is the same man she married years ago before he went to war. She wants passion and romance. He wants to work his way to retirement at thirty-eight and be set for life with an army pension. He wants to forget the nightmares of war. She’s taking classes at school and studying the Koran. He wants to forget about the “ragheads”. She’s all Venus, he’s all Mars.

Most of the group agreed that the play sheds light on the difficulty that men and women have in understanding each other. After being away at war, all Benito wants to do is come home and be with his woman. But Gabriela does not give him a moment’s peace from the minute he walks in through the door. She wants acknowledgement at an inopportune time and if the answer she gets is not the one she is looking for, she may very well walk out of the marriage.

One of our group members is a Vietnam War vet. He read the part of Benito and during the break mentioned how realistic the script was to what he had experienced when returning home from the war. “You are different,” he said, “but everyone else is the same.” He explained how difficult it is to explain to your loved ones how the things you have seen have changed who you are without going into details. And that fear is in the details and avoided at all costs.

Sometimes the play’s poetry seems excessive, Gabriela and Benito’s fights go a bit long but the language Rivera used is necessary for the story. It creates images that reference Salvador Dali’s paintings. Many of which depict isolation, strange dreams and sexual desire.

SPOTLIGHT: Donald Jolly

Donald Jolly

After spending months reading and writing with only the company of my studio apartment’s four walls, I headed out for a much needed break. My destination? A performance of bonded by Donald Jolly at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Playwright Donald Jolly has written a play that is set in the past but is so relevant today. It is an Ovation recommended, extended for two weeks, and sold out performances tour de force and you will regret not seeing it if you don’t get your butts to the theater for it’s closing performances this coming weekend. Check out this link for more info: http://thelatc.org/2011/shows/bonded/

Below are playwright Donald Jolly’s questions for Playwriting in the City’s SPOTLIGHT Series:

Where did you grow up? I grew up in Washington D.C. I went to public schools in D.C., and I was fortunate to attend schools with very dedicated teachers who expected nothing less than success from me.

Where did you go to school? What was it like? For undergrad, I went to Dartmouth College. I was the first in my family to go to college. Being a first-generation student who was both Black and gay at a conservative Ivy League school in a small-town in New Hampshire was eye-opening (to say the least), but I learned a lot about myself and a lot about people from diverse backgrounds. For graduate school I went to USC, where I learned to make bold choices in my writing.

Whose plays would you recommend for emerging playwrights to study? I recommend young playwrights to read as many plays as humanly possible (and then read some more)! Young writers should read (and see!) plays from a myriad of different writers, styles, and time periods. Young writers should familiarize themselves with the ancients, with their contemporaries, with the classically revered, with the classically panned, with the well-known, and not so well-known. It is important to know what came before, and it is just as important to know what our peers are writing. Theatre is always evolving; it is our responsibility to contribute to that evolution my realizing that there is not just one way to write a GOOD play.

What about playwriting do you like the most? What is it that you like the least? I love that playwriting allows both the writer and the audience to ask questions, to challenge assumptions, to escape into fantasy, to face the facts … to connect with other people. Writing is scary. And it is not easy, but I can’t imagine living without it.

Your play “bonded” is currently playing at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, how long have you been working on this piece and what has the process been like? I wrote the first draft of “bonded” in a graduate playwriting course over 4 years ago. The process from page to stage has been … dramatic to say the least. But it has been exciting and scary and something I can’t wait to do again!

In a story that you wrote for LA Stage about the play, you mention that you are “passionate, if not obsessed” with history and myth, how do these two play a role in “bonded?” “bonded” started out as project where I was looking for affirmation through history. It is a play that uses history as a way to dispel myths, particularly the myths that say: gay people of color did not exist in, or contribute anything to, history; that being gay is unnatural; or that homosexuality was something imposed on people of African descent.

What is most helpful to you as you sit down to write a play? Confidence.

Are you a morning, middle of day, nighttime or anytime is good type of writer? Some days I am a morning writer. Writing is my favorite way to start off the day. But, I have found that often I am a middle of the day, or anytime type of writer.

If you could interview one person who is no longer living but has inspired you, who would it be and why? Just one person to interview? Hmm ..Maybe Harriet Tubman just to see just how badass she really was compared to how history portrays her. I would try to ask about where she found the resolve to not just escape from slavery, but to go back and forth several times to help others escape.

What advice would you give to emerging playwrights living in Los Angeles? Write. Read. See shows. And, as Glinda the Good Witch told Dorothy, “Believe in yourself!” At least, that’s what I tell myself, all the time.