Repertorio Español Announces Finalists of the 2020 MIRANDA FAMILY VOCES LATINX PLAYWRITING COMPETITION

Repertorio Español has announced the finalists of The 2020 Miranda Family Voces Latinx Playwriting Competition, an initiative to develop and promote Latinx plays that resonate with and accurately depict the Latinx experience by playwrights of all racial and national backgrounds. The company will stream readings of the five finalists after having received 180 scripts written in English or Spanish by emerging playwrights from the entire United States and Puerto Rico. All readings will premiere on the Company's Facebook and YouTube sites which can be found using the social handle repertorionyc.

For more information visit repertorio.nyc.

The winners will be announced in the Fall and the prizes will consist of:
- Grand Prize Winner: $3,000
- 2nd Place: $2,000
- 3rd Place: $1,000
- 2 Runners up $500

ABOUT THE MIRANDA FAMILY FUND:

For over 40 years, The Miranda Family has championed community activism. They have created and supported institutions that have served underserved populations throughout New York City, across the country, and in Puerto Rico. They continue to foster the family's commitment to advocacy for education, the arts, and social justice - along with a sustained focus on relief and rebuilding efforts in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria.

THE 2020 MIRANDA FAMILY 'VOCES LATINX' PLAYWRITING COMPETITION FINALISTS:

ALEJANDRA RAMOS - MALAS MAÑAS

Directed by Fernando Then
Reading: Tuesday, June 23rd, 6 pm
Presented in Spanish

Playwright Bio: Alejandra Ramos is a Puerto Rican playwright, actress, director, and producer based in NYC. She holds a B.A in Dance and Theater, from The University of Puerto Rico, and an M.A. in Scenic Arts from the University of Murcia, Spain. Author of En la azotea, 10 piezas cortas de teatro (Ed. Callejón 2016). Her most recent work was her direction of the Equity Workshop Agua, vida y tierra produced by WWTNS? (MITU 580, 2019). Recent original plays include, Broken Words (Step-Up Artist in Residence at Pregones/PRTT, April 2019), A Taste of Loving Sea (Fuerza Fest, May 2019), and Paris (En Construcción, New Works Latin American Writers, February 2019).

About Malas Mañas: A 37-year-old ex-convict is released after serving a long sentence for a crime he committed in self-defense. Once he is paroled, he decides to reconnect with his father confronting the difficulties of adapting and re-integrating back into society by starting with his own family.

JUAN RAMÍREZ, JR. - CALLING PUERTO RICO

Directed by Cándido Tirado
Reading: Friday, June 26th, 6 pm
Presented in English

Playwright Bio: Juan Ramírez, Jr. is an internationally produced, award-winning dramatist, actor, and director. Calling Puerto Rico is a 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist and recipient of 2019 Bronx Recognize Its Own Award, part of NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. The first reading was at IATI and an excerpt was presented part of Infinite Stories with the NYC LatinX Playwriting Circle. He's developed and produced works with Downtown Urban Arts Festival, LaTea, Ingenio Milagro, Dixon Place, Raíces, HBMG, BBTF and The Bronx Repertory Company. He's a Dramatist Guild member with a B.A. from Lehman College and an MFA from Tisch. www.JuanRamirezJr.com

About Calling Puerto Rico: In New York City, Joel is an amateur radio operator who has not been out of his attic apartment for about a year. He gets news about Tropical Storm Maria and the potential it has to harm Puerto Rico. Worried, he decides to reach out over the radio to a man he hasn't spoken to in a long time, his grandfather, Aníbal.

lily gonzález - (trans)formada

Directed by Kathleen Capdesuñer
Reading: Saturday, June 27th, 6 pm
Bi-lingual

Playwright Bio: lily gonzález (they/them) is a playwright from Texas who graduated from UT Austin with a Bachelor's in Theatre & Dance / English. Their work has been developed with The John F. Kennedy Center and Austin Latinx New Play Festival. Their play (trans)formada was runner up for the Latinx, Rosa Parks, & National Undergraduate Playwriting Award from The John F. Kennedy Center in 2019. They're currently working on a play about queer community and ego death set in West Texas.

About (trans)formada: Sam is queer, a little trans, and a child of Mexican immigrants living in the Texas Hill Country. They're graduating high school and trying to figure out how to express their gender -- to themselves and to the world. Just as Sam is building the courage to present their gender to their mother, they go to a high school party. Everyone is way too into each other and drinking way too much. Amidst the debauchery, a brave and strange set of rituals ensues.

"(trans)formada" is a practice in healing. It is about redefining and coming back to family.

NOELLE VIÑAS - DERECHO

Directed by Gerardo Gudiño
Reading: Sunday, June 28th, 6 pm
Presented in English

Playwright Bio: Noelle Viñas is a Uruguayan-American playwright, educator, and theater-maker from Springfield, Virginia, and Montevideo, Uruguay. Her play Derecho won the 2019 John Gassner Playwriting Award, was a 2019 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship semi-finalist, and will be in the 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Her play La Profesora was produced by TheatreFirst and is in development for a podcast called Abuelito with We Rise Production. Other past favorite jobs include running Annandale High School's theater program alongside Theater Without Borders in Virginia and producing her play Apocalypse, Please with Kevin Vincenti in San Francisco. She is a resident playwright at Playwrights Foundation, currently attends Brooklyn College for her MFA in Playwriting, and is a proud member of the NYC Latinx Playwrights Circle.

About Derecho: In Northern Virginia, sisters Eugenia and Mercedes Silva are surrounded by old friends and lovers as Eugenia fights for endorsements on her primary campaign for a seat in the Virginia General Assembly, hoping to join the wave of women of color elected to public office. As a storm brews outside, the sisters must confront how traditional Latino family values conflict with an American definition of success that is always changing. An experimental play that explores how fragmented identity can tear you apart.

Matthew Paul Olmos - THAT DRIVE THRU MONTEREY

Directed by Carlos Armesto
Reading: Monday, June 29th, 6 pm
Presented in English

Playwright Bio: A three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency recipient, Humana Festival Commissioned Playwright, New Dramatists Resident, Center Theatre Group LA Writer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival BLACK SWAN Playwright, Princess Grace Awardee in Playwriting, Repertorio Español Met Life Nuestra Voces honoree, La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Playwright Awardee as selected by Sam Shepard. Mentored by Ruth Maleczech through Mabou Mines/SUITE; Taylor Mac through Cherry Lane's Mentor Project. Former fellow/resident at Baryshnikov Arts Center, INTAR, Latinx Theatre Commons, New York Theatre Workshop, Primary Stages; Ensemble Studio Theater lifetime member; and a proud Kilroys nominator. His work has been presented nationally and internationally, and has been published as well as taught at universities.
www.matthewpaulolmos.com.

About That Drive Thru Monterey: Inspired by the life of the playwright's mother. The story of a young Mexican-American woman growing up in Los Angeles. In the play, she experiences her first love and deals with what it means to assimilate into this country. Through mysterious premonitions, she also sees what lies ahead in her life.

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