OUR DAD IS IN ATLANTIS Plays 16th Street Theater 4/14-5/21

16th Street Theater, a part of the North Berwyn Park District brings playwright JAVIER MALPICA's OUR DAD IS IN ATLANTIS directed by Ann Filmer to the Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street, Berwyn, April 14 - May 21, 2011 with a press opening of Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 PM. This is the fourth play in 16th Street's Season Four 2011: Season of Change.

Originally written in Spanish and translated into English by JORGE IGNACIO CORTINAS, JAVIER MALPICA's OUR DAD IS IN ATLANTIS weaves the story of an 11 year-old boy and his 8-year old brother who are dropped off in a rural Mexican village to live with their Grandmother whom they barely know when their widowed father goes to 'the promised land' to find work. We witness snapshots of their dreams (baseball) and fears (devil in the mirror!) while they take care of each other, imagine their future and navigate a journey well beyond their years. The play was presented last summer in a staged reading at Goodman's Latino Festival in conjunction with 16th Street Theater, in the hopes 16th Street would bring it to full production. Beginning April 14, Todd Garcia and Remy Ortiz will play the two brothers in a Chicago-area premiere directed by Ann Filmer.

JAVIER MALPICA Biography

JAVIER MALPICA was born in Mexico City in 1965. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in Physics, he completed the Diploma in Literary Creation at the Writers' School of SOGEM (The Society of Mexican Writers). He has written more than ten plays (many of them co-written with his brother Antonio), most of which have been produced. He has received various prizes and honors for his work, including the Victor Hugo Rascón Banda Prize for Our Dad is in Atlantis.

His other plays include: Letters in the Matter (winner, INBA National Prize for Theater), Seventh Round, Maria Frankenstein, Canon (winner, Theater Prize for Young Creators), Return to Midnight (finalist, New Theater), The Last Journey (second place, Tomás Urtusástegui Prize for Theater for Young Audiences), All the Voices (Honorable Mention, Manuel Herrera Prize), The End of History (winner, New Theater), Essay of a Coma (Program of Collaborations), Mujer on the Border and Five Shots in the City of Palaces. He has given courses and lectures in Mexico and abroad. He has also published and received prizes for his works of fiction for children.

In 2006 he earned a grant to go to New York (invited by the Lark Play Development Center) for a translation and a public reading of Our Dad is in Atlantis. Javier was invited by the TCG in Minneapolis for a public reading of Our Dad in representation of the Latin-American theatre and as part of the Global Tapas event. The play was selected for a public reading on the Wooly Mammoth Theatre) by the NNPN (National New Play Network), in Washington, D.C. It also won the Global Age Project Award given by the Aurora Theatre Company of Berkeley, California.

In 2008 Our Dad is in Atlantis was produced by the Working Theatre and Queens Theatre in the Park, and opened at the Theatres at 45 Becker Theater in NY City (dir. Debbie Savits). It opened in Indianapolis at Phoenix Theatre (dir. Sharin Gamble). On 2009 Our Dad was staged by the Borderlands Theatre in Tucson and several cities in Arizona (dir. Eva Zorrilla). In 2010, the Goodman Theatre staged a public reading of the play as part of the Latino Festival Theatre (dir. Ann Firmer). In Mexico Our Dad was staged in several productions: in Mexico City (dir. Sandra Felix), San Luis Potosí (dir. Jesús Coronado) and Monterrey (dir. Alberto Ontiveros).

The play was published in the July/August 2009 issue of American Theatre Magazine.

JORGE IGNACIO CORTINAS Biography

JORGE IGNACIO CORTINAS' awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York foundation for the Arts; as well as the Helen Merrill Award and the Robert Chesley Award. His first play Maleta Mulata was produced by Campo Santo Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. His second play Sleepwalkers was produced by the Area Stage and The ALLIANCE THEATRE, and was awarded a Carbonell Award for Best New Work. His play Blind Mouth Singing completed runs at Chicago's Teatro Vista and the New York-based National Asian American Theatre Company, productions that the Chicago Tribune praised as having "visionary wit" and The New York Times called "beautiful and strange." He has been commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum and South Coast Repertory. He is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and a member of New Dramatists.

16TH STREET THEATER
Recognized by the Chicago Reader as Chicago's Best Emerging Theater 2009, 16th Street Theater exists to tell the stories of ALL in our community and is located 17 minutes from downtown Chicago at the Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street, Berwyn, IL 60402. Just west of Ridgeland, the theater is one mile southwest of the Austin exit off the Eisenhower Expressway/290 and the Austin Blue line. There is free parking in the lot one block west at 16th and Gunderson. Go to www.16thstreettheater.org to subscribe to Season Four, purchase tickets or for more information.

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