Where Did We Sit on the Bus? at Denver Center Theatre Company

CHICAGO – Teatro Vista, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and Victory Gardens Theater, presents the world premiere of Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, created and performed by Brian Quijada and directed by Victory Gardens’ Artistic Director, Chay Yew. The production will take place at the Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St. Chicago. Opening/Press night is Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 pm. Regular performances are from Friday, March 18 through Sunday, April 10. Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Preview performances run from Thursday, March 10 through Wednesday, March 16. All tickets are $15. Students and seniors (65+) with valid I.D. are $12. Discounts are also available for groups of 20 or more. Tickets may be purchased at all HotTix locations or by visiting www.teatrovista.org.

During a third grade lesson on the Civil Rights movement and Rosa Parks, a Latino boy raises his hand to ask “Where did we sit on the bus?” and his teacher can’t answer the question. Told through rap, hip-hop, spoken word and live looping, Brian Quijada’s autobiographical “Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” is an electric one-man show that examines what it means to be Latino in America. The show began as a compilation of songs and poems recited by Quijada at the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City and has been developed in stages such as Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago and The Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It now comes to Chicago for its world premiere in a production by Teatro Vista directed by the expert hands of Chay Yew, Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater.


ABOUT BRIAN QUIJADA, playwright

Brian Quijada is a multi-faceted Chicago born performer and playwright. Most recently Quijada was seen acting in Playwright’s Realm’s production of My Mañana Comes in New York City (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Nominated). Some of Quijada acting credits include: How We Got On by Idris Goodwin (Actor’s Theater of Louisville’s Humana Festival), Beat Generation by Jack Kerouac (Merrimack Rep), The Solid Sand Below by Martin Zimmerman (The Eugene O’Neill’s National Playwright’s Conference), No More Sad Things by Hansol Jung (Seven Devil’s Playwright’s Conference), and Informed Consent by Deborah Laufer (The Baltic Playwright’s Conference in Estonia). Quijada has worked with numerous theater companies including Ensemble Studio Theatre, Repertorio Español, The Lark, The Brick, Page 73, Atlantic Theatre Company, Up Theatre, Astoria Performing Arts Center, TerraNOVA Collective and LAByrinth in New York and Victory Gardens, Silent Theatre and Metro Theater in Chicago. His television credits include “Blue Bloods” and “Manhattan Love Story.”


ABOUT CHAY YEW, director

Chay Yew’s productions have been cited by the Los Angeles Times and New York Times as one of the “Ten Best Productions of the Year;” Seattle Times and Strangers’ Best Achievement in theatre; and was named “Best Director” by Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He has directed world premieres by playwrights José Rivera, Naomi Iizuka, Kia Corthron, Julia Cho, David Adjmi and Jessica Goldberg; and performance artists Rha Goddess, Universes, Alec Mapa, Sandra Tsing Loh and Brian Freeman. He is the recipient of the London Fringe Award for Best Playwright and Best Play, George and Elisabeth Marton Playwriting Award, GLAAD Media Award, Asian Pacific Gays and Friends’ Community Visibility Award, Made in America Award, AEA/SAG/AFTRA 2004 Diversity Honor and Robert Chesley Award; he has received grants from the McKnight Foundation, Rockefeller MAP Fund and the TCG/Pew National Residency Program. Yew is also an accomplished and widely respected playwright, and his two plays, The Hyphenated American Plays and Porcelain and A Language of Their Own, are published by Grove Press; the latter was nominated for a Lamda Literary Award. He is presently editing a new anthology Version 3.0: Contemporary Asian American Plays for TCG Publications. An alumnus of New Dramatists, he has held residencies at Mu Lan Theatre Company, Northwest Asian American Theatre Company and East West Players. He serves on the National Advisory Board at the Playwrights Center and the Artistic Advisory Board of Partial Comfort Theatre. He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and Vineyard Theatre Community of Artists. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group and is presently on the Executive Board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.


ABOUT TEATRO VISTA

Teatro Vista (Ricardo Gutiérrez, executive artistic director; José Antonio Cruz, managing director), is firmly committed to sharing and celebrating the riches of Latino culture with Chicago theater audiences and beyond.

This commitment stems from the belief that there are as many similarities between people as there are differences, and perhaps the answer to breaking down the walls of prejudice and stereotypes lies in understanding these similarities and differences. Ultimately, it is through this “view” that Teatro Vista intends to bridge the gap between Latino and non-Latino cultures in Chicago.

The company believes in the transformative power of theater, inclusiveness through the idea that everyone is intricately connected to each other and that sharing stories through performance is an exceptionally potent way to bring people together.

Teatro Vista is the vanguard of Latino theatre in the United States, a place where Latino and non-Latino artists can expressively flourish and excel to the highest level of theatrical professionalism. It is dedicated to sharing new work by new playwrights in cutting-edge productions and presenting classic plays featuring artists of color.

ABOUT CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is dedicated to enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago’s non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the City’s future cultural and economic growth, via the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City’s cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors.

For more information about DCASE Theater & Dance programming, visit www.cityofchicago.org/dcase.


ABOUT VICTORY GARDENS THEATER

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Christopher Mannelli, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Za?ek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders. Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org


Teatro Vista, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and Victory Gardens Theater, presents the world premiere of Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, created and performed by Brian Quijada and directed by Victory Gardens’ Artistic Director, Chay Yew. The production will take place at the Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St. Chicago. Opening/Press night is Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 pm. Regular performances are from Friday, March 18 through Sunday, April 10. Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Preview performances run from Thursday, March 10 through Wednesday, March 16. All tickets are $15. Students and seniors (65+) with valid I.D. are $12. Discounts are also available for groups of 20 or more. Tickets may be purchased at all HotTix locations or by visiting www.teatrovista.org. For more information on Where Did We Sit on the Bus? and Teatro Vista, please visit www.teatrovista.org.

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