Yale Rep Presents Octavio Solis' LYDIA, Runs 2/6 Thru 2/28

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the east coast premiere of LYDIA by Octavio Solis, directed by JULIETTE CARRILLO at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street) beginning February 6 through February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12.

LYDIA features music composed by Chris Webb; sets by Andrew Boyce; costumes by Amanda Seymour; lighting by Jesse Belsky; sound design, additional music, and arrangements by David Molina; voice and dialect by Beth McGuire; fight direction by Rick Sordelet; dramaturgy by Matt Cornish; and stage management by Donald E. Claxon.

The cast of LYDIA includes Carlo Albán, Christian Barillas, Stephanie Beatriz, Armando Durán, Catalina Maynard, Onahoua Rodriguez, and Tony Sancho.

Set in the 1970s on the Texas border separating the United States and Mexico, LYDIA is an intense, lyrical, and magical new play that marks the Yale Rep debut of award-winning playwright Octavio Solis.

The Flores family welcomes Lydia, an undocumented maid, into their El Paso home to care for their daughter Ceci, who was tragically disabled in a car accident on the eve of her quinceañera, her fifteenth birthday. Lydia's immediate and seemingly miraculous bond with the girl sets the entire family on a mysterious and shocking journey of discovery. LYDIA is an unflinching and deeply emotional portrait of a Mexican immigrant family caught in a web of dark secrets.

LYDIA, which was first produced last year at Denver Center Theatre Company, has been hailed as "an astonishing, expertly crafted tragedy that seduces and tempts you with its pulsing rhythms and evocative language until it has you fully under its spell" (Denver Post).

Contains strong language and nudity.

LYDIA plays February 6 through February 28 only at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel Street (at York Street), New Haven, Connecticut. Opening Night is Thursday, February 12.

A variety of ticket packages for Yale Rep's 2008-09 season are now available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone (203) 432-1234, and in person at the Yale Rep Box Office at 1120 Chapel Street (at York Street).

Tickets for LYDIA and all 2008-09 productions at Yale Rep are now on sale and range from $35-$65. Student, senior, and group rates are also available.

Octavio Solis (Playwright) is a playwright and director living in San Francisco. His works Man of the Flesh, Prospect, El Paso Blue, Santos & Santos, La Posada Mágica, El Otro, Dreamlandia, The 7 Visions of Encarnacion, Bethlehem, and Gibraltar have been produced at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, New York Summer Play Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Magic Theatre, Intersection for the Arts, South Coast Repertory, San Diego Repertory Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, ShadowLight, Venture Theatre, Latino Chicago Theater Company, La Compania de Albuquerque, Teatro Vista, El Teatro Campesino, Undermain Theatre, Thick Description, Su Teatro, Campo Santo and The Imua! Theatre Company. His collaborative works include Burning Dreams, co-written with Julie Hebert and Gina Leishman; Shiner, written with Erik Ehn; and Great Highway, written with Wendy Weiner. Solis is the recipient of the NEA 1995-97 Playwriting Fellowship, the Kennedy Center's Roger L. Stevens Award, the Will Glickman Playwright Award, a production grant from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, the 1998 TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, the 1998 McKnight Fellowship grant from the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, the 2003 National Latino Playwriting Award, and the 2000-2001 National Theatre Artists ResidenCy Grant from TCG, and the Pew Charitable Trust for Gibraltar at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Octavio is a member of the Dramatists Guild and New Dramatists. He is currently working on commissions for Yale Repertory Theatre and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

JULIETTE CARRILLO (Director) directed the world premiere of Lydia last year at Denver Center Theatre Company. Other collaborations with Octavio Solis include Lethe with Cornerstone Theater Company (of which she is an ensemble member) and El Paso Blue at Summer Play Festival in New York. She met Octavio when she was an Artistic Associate at South Coast Repertory, where she ran the Hispanic Playwrights Project for seven years. At South Coast Rep, she directed many plays by Latinos, including the west coast premiere of Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz and the world premiere of References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot by José Rivera. Other credits include the west coast premieres of Eduardo Machado's The Cook at Seattle Repertory Theatre and Sam Shepard's Eyes for Consuela at the Magic Theatre, as well as productions at Alliance Theatre, TheatreWorks, Laguna Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Mark Taper Forum's New Work Festival. In New York, she has developed plays at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, INTAR, and The Women's Project. A graduate of Yale School of Drama, she is a recipient of several awards, including the NEA/TCG Directing Fellowship. She will be directing a production of Lydia at the Mark Taper Forum this spring.

CHRIS WEBB (Composer) composed the music for the world premiere of Lydia at Denver Center Theatre Company last year. His other theatre credits included The Cook directed by Juliette Carrillo (Seattle Repertory Theatre); Sonia Flew (Laguna Beach Playhouse); Anna in the Tropics, Nostalgia, The Countess, Art (South Coast Repertory); As Vishnu Dreams (Cornerstone Theater Company); Sam Shepard's Eyes for Consuela (Magic Theatre); as well as productions at Intersection for the Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Exit Theatre, Currican Theatre, Bard College, Fordham University, and the Lincoln Center Director's Lab. His original scores for film include a New York Times web feature on Cuba, A litter-a-tion (Best Film of the 48 Hour Film Festival, Honolulu), Townsend (MBox), Africa@Play (National Geographic Channel, ResFest Best Short Film Award), the Gen Art Film Festival, and Spiral, a short film by Juliette Carrillo.

ANDREW BOYCE (Scenic Designer) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include The Three Sisters; Grace, or the Art of Climbing; and Peer Gynt. His other credits include The Who's Tommy, Recess (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Ones That Flutter (Summer Play Festival, New York); Crave (Yale Cabaret); I Was Tom Cruise (New York International Fringe Festival); Bloody Mary (Third Man Productions); The Melting Pot (Metropolitan Playhouse); Whose Life Is It Anyways (St. Bart's Players); Miss Julie, A Lie of the Mind, Twelfth Night (Williamstown Theatre Festival Workshop); The Pitchfork Disney and Anna Karenina (Middlebury College). Film credits include Whiskey School and Blackbird. He is the recipient of the Kennedy Center ACTF Award for Scenic Design (2003).

AMANDA SEYMOUR (Costume Designer) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Good Egg and Baal. Her other credits include See What I Want to See, Three Sisters or the Dormouse's Tale, Bondage (Yale Cabaret); 2 Rooms (Garage Theatre); L'incoronasione di Poppea, Gigantes Y Cabezudos, La Canterina (California State University Los Angeles); Fire Eater, L.A. Weekly Award nomination, and Betty's Summer Vacation (Workshop 360); Tosca Jumps (Edgefest); and The Picture of Dorian Gray, Backstage Garland Award (Theatre at Boston Court). Amanda has also worked as a design assistant at Los Angeles Opera, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, and Santa Fe Opera.

Jesse Belsky (Lighting Designer) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include the 2008 Carlotta Festival of New Plays, Baal, and Venus. He made his Yale Rep debut earlier this season on Rough Crossing. His other credits include Bone Songs, Bill Clinton Goes to the Bathroom, The Illusion, A Number, In the Cypher, An Evening of Cabaret, In the Meantime (Yale Cabaret); Plane Crazy (2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival); Dear Maudie (78th St. Theater Lab); and Clocks & Whistles (Origin Theater Company); as well as work on various projects in the commercial theatre, architectural lighting, and television. A graduate of Duke University, his work with THE BEST has been seen at numerous venues around New York City and in Brisbane, Australia.

DAVID MOLINA (Sound Designer, Additional Music, Arrangements) is honored to have spent the last 15 years working, playing, and laughing with Chris Webb. Theatre credits include productions for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, A Traveling Jewish Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Brava! Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, Thick House, Encore, Soap Stone, Teatro Jornalero, Sonoma State University, and University of San Francisco. Installation, performance, and multimedia: productions for Drum Machine Museum (featuring Joan Jeanrenaud, Kronos Quartet, and Mark Pistel), and international showings and tours with Violeta Luna, Victor Cartagena, and Secos Y Mojados (2009 Creative Capital recipients). Film: Barry Gifford's Ball Lightning; The Narc and Prospect by Octavio Solis; The Cause Collective's Along the Way (Sundance Film Festival); and the films of Anna Geyer. Radio and television: 94.1 KPFA and KQED. His bands-Ghosts and Strings; Transient-can be heard on the Resting Bell, Dorog Records, Mun Discos, Black Note, and NKR labels. www.restingbell.net

CARLO ALBÁN (Misha) appeared in the world premiere of Lydia last year at Denver Center Theatre Company. His other theatre credits include References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (The Public Theater), Dreamlandia (Dallas Theater Center), A Small Melodramatic Story (Labyrinth Theater Company/The Public Theater), All About Us (Westport Country Playhouse), Night of the Iguana (Guthrie Theater), and Ice Glen (Florida Stage). His autobiographical solo show Intríngulis, about his experiences growing up as an illegal immigrant, was produced by the Labyrinth Theater Company (of which he is a member) at The Public Theater. His film and television credits include Hurricane Streets, Hi Life, The Tavern, Strangers With Candy, Life Support, 21 Grams, Margaret, House of Buggin', Law & Order, Touched by an Angel, Oz, the TNT original film Thicker than Blood (ALMA Award nomination), Prison Break (recurring), and Sesame Street (series regular, 1992-97). Later this year he will appear opposite Alia Shawkat and Ellen Page in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It!.

CHRISTIAN BARILLAS (Alvaro) is making his Yale Repertory Theatre debut in the role he originated in the world premiere of Lydia at Denver Center Theatre Company. Most recently, he appeared in A Christmas Carol at South Coast Repertory. Other theatre credits include the west coast premiere of Sonia Flew (Laguna Playhouse); Cornerstone Theater Company's As You Like It (Pasadena Playhouse); the west coast premiere of A VERY OLD Man with Enormous Wings (Center Theatre Group); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello (Theatricum Botanicum); Vieux Carré (Ivy Substation); the title role in Anatol (Pacific Resident Theater Company, of which he is a member); The Tempest (Ark Theater Company); and The Beaux Stratagem. Film and television credits include The Appointment, Sabotage, Incitement, 'Til Parole Do Us Part, Without a Trace, Passions, The Playbook, and as a series regular for the pilot episode of I See You. He attended the University of North Carolina and received his MFA from UCLA where he received the George Burns Fellowship in Comedy and the Jack Nicholson Prize in Acting. Proud member of Actors' Equity.

Stephanie Beatriz (Lydia) appeared in this role in the world premiere of Lydia at Denver Center Theatre Company in 2008. Her other theatre roles include Catherine in A View from the Bridge directed by Libby Appel, Bianca in Othello directed by Lisa Peterson (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Rosa in Summer and Smoke directed by Michael Wilson (Paper Mill Playhouse, Hartford Stage); Erica in Hold Please (The Old Globe); Amazing Voice in The Adventures of Barrio Grrrl! (Summer Play Festival, New York); Matilde in The Clean House directed by Juliette Carrillo (TheatreWorks); Marela in Anna in The Tropics (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Maya and Yemaya in Yemaya's Belly (Portland Stage Company); The Bitch in Misterioso-119 (Berkshire Theatre Festival); and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Theatreworks USA National Tour). Stephanie received her BFA from Stephens College.

ARMANDO DURÁN (Claudio) has been a member of the acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for ten years, where his roles have included Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, Lorca in Lorca in a Green Dress, Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard, and Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge. At Oregon Shakespeare, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Rep, and other theatres, his work has included world premieres by Howard Korder, Frank Galati, Louis Alfaro, and Pulitzer Prize winners Nilo Cruz and Robert Schenkkan. This spring, he will return to Oregon Shakespeare to play the title role in Octavio Solis's new adaptation of Cervantes's Don Quixote. He is delighted to be making his Yale Rep debut.

CATALINA MAYNARD (Rosa) is making her Yale Rep debut. Her stage credits include the world premiere of Lydia directed by Juliette Carrillo (Denver Center Theatre Company); Electricidad directed by Lisa Peterson (Mark Taper Forum); Living Out directed by Armando Molina (TheatreWorks, Mixed Blood Theatre); Romeo and Juliet directed by Tony Plana (East LA Classic Theatre); La Gaviota directed by Glenn Paris (Ion Theatre LAB); Esperanza Rising directed by Rebecca Brown (Children's Theatre Company); The Heart's Desire directed by Patricia Troxel and The Imaginary Invalid directed by Rodger De Laurier (Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts). A native of San Diego, Ms. Maynard has also appeared in numerous productions at San Diego Repertory Theatre, including Hamlet, A Quiet Love, A Streetcar Named Desire, Burning Dreams, and Mummified Deer.

ONAHOUA RODRIGUEZ (Ceci) is thrilled to reprise the role of Ceci in Yale Rep's production of Lydia, which she originated in the play's world premiere at Denver Center Theatre Company. Other theatre credits include The Bride in Blood Wedding directed by Mark Wing-Davey at La Jolla Playhouse; the role of Marela in Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Anna in the Tropics directed by Juliette Carrillo at South Coast Repertory and directed by Nilo Cruz at the Coconut Grove Playhouse; followed by the world premiere of Mr. Cruz's Beauty of the Father at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Various venues in New York City include INTAR, Repertorio Espanol, Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre, and MCC Theater. Film work includes Rhythm of the Saints (Official Sundance Selection) and Love Song by Lucy Rodriguez. She has guest starred/recurred in various television shows including Cold Case, CSI, and Saving Grace; she is best known for playing Emolia on The Shield and most recently Mermex on Weeds.

TONY SANCHO (Rene) is making his Yale Rep debut. Tony is a proud ensemble member of Teatro Vista, the only Equity Latino theatre company in the Midwest. Based in Chicago, his previous theatre credits there include playing Ritchie Valens in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Drury Lane Theater Oakbrook Terrace and Water Tower Place), Lazado in the Teatro Vista production of Octavio Solis's Dreamlandia (Victory Gardens Theater), Cheche in Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics (Goodman Theatre), as well as productions at Remy Bumppo, The Journeymen Theater Company, and Pegasus Players. His film and television credits include the award-winning On the Downlow and the 300th episode of ER.

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www.yalerep.org