David Davila's AZTEC PIRATES Begins Frank Silvera Reading Series

The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop kicks off its forty-seventh annual reading series this Monday September 9th at 7pm with David Davila's immigration drama, Aztec Pirates And The Insignificance Of Life On Mars. The reading, directed by Nilsa Reyna, features Ollie Corchado, Cory Alexander, Lillian Andrea De Leon, Julia Botero, Selina Michelle Fonseca, Gerard Lucero, Alexandra Castro, and Jatnna Marte.

What makes someone a traitor to their race? Aztec Pirates and the Insignificance of Life on Mars tells the story of Johnny Montenegro, an I.C.E. agent trying to put back the pieces of his life after an ugly incident in the field got him suspended from duty. While arresting a man he had already deported two years earlier, he was called a traitor to his race and he beat the accuser half to death, but he couldn't shake the idea that had been planted within him: was he a traitor to his race? Equipped with only his commands Johnny embarks on an odyssey as he searches for the truth about his country, his culture, and his memory. However with every answer that he finds, there is something inside of him that becomes less clear. His quest to clear his conscience leads him from strip bars to courtrooms to hospitals to morgues, as he seeks the validation he needs to continue living complicitly. Across borders and allegiances this two part play takes you on a harrowing and disturbing adventure that examines life for Latinx people caught between embracing their roots and conforming to the mob mentality of a Trump-era USA.

Aztec Pirates and the Insignificance of Life on Mars has previously been developed with The PlayGround Experiment, FEAST Performance Series, Broadviews on Broadway Summer Fresh Festival, and the San Diego Rep LatinX New Play Festival.

David Davila is a writer, performer, and filmmaker from the border of South Texas where 45 wants to build his idiotic wall. He has way too much to say about almost everything which is why he writes plays, films, musicals, poetry, sketch, and does stand-up comedy. He's an alumnus of The Second City Training Center Chicago, a proud member of Musical Theatre Factory, the founding Artistic Director of Lone Star Theatre Company, and the son of a preacher man. He dedicates his life to telling the stories of Latinx and gay people living in the United States. His theatre works include Manuel Vs the Statue of Liberty: a musical comedy, Promesa: a mariachi musical, Animal Husbandry, Aztec Pirates & the Insignificance of Life on Mars, Vox Pop: a musical parable, Pyramid: a musical adventure, #52SONGS: a song cycle, Tales from Highway 281, Adan y Julio y la Frontera 2003, Men of God, Abuelas or the Poverty Cycle, Credo, Butt Babies Never Live: a poetry cycle, and many short plays and films. Follow him at @davidodavila

The Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop was founded in 1973 by playwright/director Garland Lee Thompson, along with Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie Allen Henderson and journalist Clayton Riley, as a living memorial to the late actor, director, teacher and producer, Frank Silvera. The workshop has built a considerable reputation as an internationally recognized playwrights' development opportunity for both upcoming and established artists to hone their work. Among the writers whose plays have benefitted from the workshop series are Ruby Dee, Ntozake Shange, Vinnette Carroll, Charles Fuller, Laurence Holder and Richard Wesley.

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre is devoted to the discovery of world-class storytelling with a focus on stories for, by and about people of African descent. The Billie presents, promotes and sustains art that reflects the definitive issues of our time in and through all of its forms of expression. The Billie Holiday Theatre has been a significant platform for many Black theater artists, including Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Dee, Omari Hardwick, Debbie Allen, Wendell Pierce, Roger Robinson, John Amos, Sonia Sanchez and more.

Aztec Pirates & the Insignificance of Life on Mars will be presented at the Billie Holiday Theatre on 1368 Fulton St, New York, New York 11216 at 7pm on Monday September 9th. The reading is free and open to the public.