Cast Announced for Jaime Lozano's New Musical DESAPARECIDAS at JACK

With an all female Mexican cast, Lozano's new Mexican musical DESAPARECIDAS will start rehearsals next week. Florencia Cuenca (Children of Salt, A Never-Ending Line) will lead this ensemble piece with her character of "La Jenni", our narrator who is a fictionalized memory-version of Jeni Rivera. Florencia's joined by Mayelah Barrera (El Otro Oz, Bodas De Sangre), Ana Cecilia Cantú (Mexican productions of Young Frankenstein, The Producers), Sara Ornelas (American Mariachi, Gorda), Indra Palomo (El Otro Oz, La Canción), and Larissa Reyes Arzate (Monsters We Create, Real Women Have Curves)

DESAPARECIDAS is a Mexican musical with music & lyrics by Jaime Lozano and lyrics by Florencia Cuenca, book by Georgina Escobar and originally conceived by Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca, and Rachel M. Stevens. Direction is by Cuenca, choreography by Gabriela García and music direction by Jhoely Garay.

DESAPARECIDAS celebrates the individual lives of women in México, illuminating the challenge of embracing cultural customs while fighting for autonomy in a dangerous world of machismo. Escobar's book uses Lozano and Cuenca's songs to weave the diverse stories of women from the borderlands; specifically, those who have disappeared. From the missing, to the socially invisible, to the forgotten, DESAPARECIDAS takes place in a classic and timeless Mexican state fair (a Palenque) where the audience will experience an "appearance" of the stories of the missing as their stories, along with some of the audiences', are picked out of a raffle drum by our narrator, a famous (and deceased) Mexican singer "La Jenni".

Performance Details:

New York City

Jack

20 Putnam Ave in Brooklyn

C or G train to Clinton-Washington. Shuttle to Franklin Ave

For tickets, please visit...

https://www.jackny.org/desaparecidas

Additional members of the creative team include Stefania Bulbarella (video design), Chris Haig (set), Edward Cardenales (prop master), Rodrigo Muñoz (costume), Tuce Yasak (lighting), Jeanne Montalvo (sound supervisor), Álvaro de la Mora (makeup design) and Jaime Lozano (arrangements and orchestrations). Chema Verduzco will produce with Angel Tavarez as stage manager.

DESAPARECIDAS was originally developed as part of The Civilians' R&D Group 2021 and was also developed as part of the JACK Artist Residencies running March-August 2021. A sold out concert version featuring Daphne Rubin-Vega, Aline Mayagoitia and Florencia Cuenca was presented at Joe's Pub last March.

DESAPARECIDAS will have a limited engagement run starting Dec 2nd through the 18th at JACK Brooklyn. Tickets are $20 dlls and can be purchased HERE!

Chema Verduzco

(Producer) After his 20+ award nominated Mexican version of the musical thePROM, producer and director Chema Verduzco decides to venture producing in New York. Starting his Producing and directing career at the young age of 18, his titles include: CATS (2011), Elton John & Tim Rice's: AIDA (2012), West Side Story (2013), Pippin (2018), Once On This Island (2019), and thePROM (2021-2022). His most current production, thePROM, received 25 nominations including two nominations for BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL and two nominations for BEST MUSICAL in their 2021 season with the winners being announced this upcoming fall 2022. Chema also works for the Disneyland Resort in California and has choreographed two films for NYFA, Cinderpumpkin (2014) and Film School Musical (2015, official selection of Indienight Film Festival 2016).

Jaime Lozano

(Music and Lyrics) Considered by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the "next big thing" on Broadway. Joe's Pub Working Group 2020-2022. The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. JACK Resident Artist 2021. Selected works: Tlatelolco (Mexican Premiere), Myths (Mexican Premiere), El Otro Oz - formerly The Yellow Brick Road (Off-Broadway & National Tour), Carmen La Cubana (European Tour), Children of Salt(NYMF 2016 "Best of Fest" Production), A Never-Ending Line (Comédie Nation in Paris, France & Off-Broadway), Savage (UAB atBirmingham), Present Perfect (Live & In Color). Albums: Tlatelolco, R.Evolución Latina's Dare to Go Beyond, Doreen Montalvo's American Soul/Latin Heart, A Never-Ending Line, Jaime Lozano & The Familia: Songs by an Immigrant with liner notes by Lin-Manuel Miranda; these last three released by Broadway Records. Film: In The Heights (orchestrations). Currently working on: Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2, Broadway in Spanglish and Desaparecidas. Jaime can be seen in Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial feature film debut Tick, Tick... Boom! alongside other celebrated Broadway composers. BFA: Music & Composition, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MFA: NYU/Tisch, Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program (Full Tuition Scholarship); part of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. Proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, AFM Local 802, BMI and GRAMMY and LatinGRAMMY voting member.

Florencia Cuenca

(Lyrics) Mexican actress, singer, writer and director based in New York City. She entered the artistic world at the age of three acting alongside her father in stadiums and theaters throughout Mexico and the USA. Back in Mexico she is known for telenovelas such as "De que te quiero te quiero," "Muchachitas como tú," "De Pocas, Pocas Pulgas," "Te Sigo Amando," "La Rosa de Guadalupe," "Como Dice el Dicho" and for being part of the successful Mexican musical Si Nos Dejan, the Mexican premiere of Shrek the Musical and Selena the Musical. Her first album Aquí - The New Standards, made her tour all around Mexico, Latin America and New York City, being awarded with the Hot House Jazz Award 2016 for Best New Jazz Artist. She has performed Off-Broadway in shows such as Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 Best of Fest) and A Never-Ending Line (album available at Broadway Records). Director selected credits: Estocolmo (Festival Alfonsino in Mexico), Tlatelolco (Teatro de los Héroes, Mexico), A Never-Ending Line (Mexico City). Currently she is working on her new album Broadway in Spanglish. She Is interested in developing projects that celebrate diversity and especially the Latinx and Hispanic community.

Georgina H. Escobar

(Book) Escobar is a queer Mexican playwright and maker of sci-femme narratives, ultra-humanistic mythos, and frontera-funk stories. She works textually and visually with plasticity, the impossible, and the Latin American perspective to create genre pieces with heart. Residencies include MacDowell, Djerassi, Fornés Workshop, and she is the recipient of the Darrell Ayers Playwriting and Outstanding Service to Women on the Border national awards. Her work has been featured in the Kilroy's List, 50PP, The Mix, and on print in The Texas Review, Lxs Bárbarxs, McSweeney's, and New Passport Press; appears in Scenes for Latinx Actors, Lighting The Way, and El Fuego: Fueling the American Theatre with Latinx Plays; and have been performed in México, US, UK, Sweden, Denmark and Italy. Her plays include Then they forgot about the Rest (Off-Broadway INTAR), Sweep (Lincoln Centers Director's Lab), StoneHeart (Kilroy's 2019), and Ash Tree (Darrel Ayers Award; ASSITEJ), and musicals including All Strings Considered (New York Children's Theatre), Firerock (LittleGlobe), and Little Duende (National Musical Theatre Conference at the O'Neill, NAMT). Artistic homes and presenters include INTAR, New York Children's Theatre, Dixon Place, Clubbed Thumb, Lincoln Center, Bushwick Starr, Two Rivers, Milagro, Aurora Theatre, and Marfa Live Arts. Escobar is represented by 3Arts Entertainment in Los Angeles and Bret Adams in NY.

DESAPARECIDAS Performance Dates & Times:

Friday, December 2 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, December 3 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 pm

Friday, December 9 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 11 at 2:00 pm

Friday, December 16 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, December 17 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 18 at 2:00 pm

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