AMERICA ADJACENT Opens Feb. 16th At Skylight Theatre

Skylight Theatre Company Presents the World Premiere of "AMERICA ADJACENT" by Boni B. Alvarez Opening February 16, 2019

In pursuit of the American Dream, six pregnant Filipina women risk everything. Confined to a one-bedroom one-bath unit in East Hollywood, they do their best to overcome fears of jail and deportation so that their children can have a better life. Playwright Boni B. Alvarez examines the promise of U.S. Citizenship asking, "How far would you go to give your child a better future?"

"As the child of Filipino immigrants, I have always been fascinated by the American Dream," says playwright Alvarez. "In America Adjacent I wrestle with what the dream actually is, how it is packaged and marketed abroad, and what the reality is for anyone ever achieving it."

Boni B. Alvarez is a Los Angeles-based writer-actor, and resident member of Skylight's playwriting laboratory where he created and developed his plays Dusty De Los Santos and Bloodletting, the latter having it's World Premiere at Playwright's Arena with a subsequent run at CTG's 2018 Block Party at The Kirk Douglas Theatre. Additional works include Fixed, Dallas Non- Stop, Driven, Ruby and Tragically Rotund. Boni's work has been produced/developed at Playwrights' Arena, Center Theatre Group - Kirk Douglas Theatre, Echo Theater, Coeurage Theatre, Chalk Rep, Moving Arts, Artists At Play, 2g (NYC), Theatre Rhinoceros (San Francisco), PFP (Seattle), InterAct Theatre (Philadelphia), and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has been a Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award, Aurora Theatre's Global Age Project, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Clubbed Thumb's Biennial Commission. He is a Resident Playwright with New Dramatists.

"Is it an American dream or an American nightmare, setting a course for citizenship in today's divided atmosphere? It is thrilling for me to be working with this talented writer and an all-Filipino female cast to bring this humorous and heartbreaking play to life," adds director Jon Lawrence Rivera

Directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, the recipient of the Inaugural Career Achievement Award from Stage Raw. Jon is a five-time Ovation Award nominee. He returns to Skylight Theatre having previously directed The End Times by Jesse Shao and Obama-ology by Aurin Squire (This Is Us) for the company. Jon has collaborated with Mr. Alvarez on Bloodletting (Kirk Douglas Theatre and Playwrights' Arena), Dallas Non-Stop, and Ruby, Tragically Rotund. Recently, he has directed the following world premieres for Playwrights' Arena: Baby Eyes by Donald Jolly, I Go Somewhere Else by Inda Craig-Galván, Little Women by Velina Hasu Houston, Billy Boy by Nick Salamone, The Hotel Play, Circus Ugly by Gabe Rivas Gomez, Painting in Red by Luis Alfaro, and The Anatomy of Gazellas by Janine Salinas Schoenberg. Recipient of an LA Weekly Award, NY Fringe Festival Award, Rivera is the founding artistic director of Playwrights' Arena.

The cast includes Evie Abat, Angela T. Baesa, Toni Katano, Hazel Lozano, Samantha Valdellon, Sandy Velasco, and Arianne Villareal.

Creative team includes Gary Grossman and Tony Abatemarco (Producer), Giselle Töngi Walters (Associate Producer), Christopher Scott Murrillo (Scenic Design), Matt Richter (Lighting Design), Austin Quan (Sound Design), and Mylette Nora (Costume Design).

Skylight Theatre Company is honored to be presenting their multi-award winning production of Rotterdam at Center Theatre Group's Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre March/April 2019. The production won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award in 2018 for Best Production. Additional LADCC awards for Rotterdam include Writing and Lead Actress. It also received top honors at the 2018 Stage Raw Awards, winning Production of the Year and Leading Actress awards. Recognized as a powerhouse of new play development by Dramatist Magazine, many of Skylight's World Premieres have gone on to be performed nationally and internationally; Church & State opened Off Broadway in 2017, has had 44 Productions with 18 more scheduled in 2019; Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea (a co-production with Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble) received the prestigious Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association Citation. Skylight's resident writers PlayLAb, helmed by Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Tony Award nominee Lee Blessing, includes alumni that have enjoyed productions nationwide, the prestigious USA Ford Fellowship in Theater and Performance (Sigrid Gilmer, 2014), and a Humanitas/CTG Playwriting Prize (Louisa Hill, 2015 - Lord of the Underworld's Home for Unwed Mothers).

Skylight continues their popular series, "Beyond Conversation." The weekly post Sunday matinee discussion panels allow audiences to gain deeper insights into the themes of the play. Hosted by Filipino-American Giselle Töngi Walters (Kababayan LA), the five scheduled stage talks begin February 24. A full list of guest speakers, dates and topics will be posted on Skylight's website http://skylighttheatre.org/beyond-conversation/

America Adjacent opens at 8:30pm on Saturday, February 16 and runs at 8:30pm Fridays and Saturdays, 3:00pm Sundays, and 8:00pm Mondays March 4, 11, & 18, through March 24, 2019. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave, LA, 90027. Tickets are $15 - $41. Information and reservations: (213) 761-7061 or (866) 811-4111. Online ticketing: http://SkylightTix.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.