The Sol Project Announces Dates for Third Annual SOLFEST

The Sol Project, the national theater initiative dedicated to amplifying Latinx voices and building a body of work for the new American theater, and North Star Projects announced a virtual benefit reading of Vanessa Garcia and Jake Cline's play, JENNA & THE WHALE, which will be streamed on Broadway on Demand on Tuesday, June 30 at 5:30pm. Benefitting The Sol Project's annual SolFest, a festival of new works by Latinx playwrights, and North Star Projects, tickets are $8 and are available now at www.northstarprojects.org.

Sol Project artistic producer Adriana Gaviria stated, "I am grateful to have partnered with Jim and Willie from Broadway Virtual in executive producing the reading benefit for SolFest and North Star Projects. SolFest will be moving online this year, and the Sol Project will partner once again with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater for the festival's third year. We look forward to taking the spirit of SolFest to the digital space and to reimagining the festival to take advantage of the endless possibilities of connecting and working with artists across the country for our virtual edition this year."

Following a surfing accident off the coast of Dunes Beach, Florida, Jenna wakes to find herself in the company of a young man named Jonah. He tells her that they are inside the belly of a whale, that he has been here for three years and that there is no chance of escape. Jenna refuses to accept that, and she becomes determined to free them both. Meanwhile, as members of Jenna's hometown worry about her fate, an unexpected visitor arrives to challenge the bonds and beliefs of this already fractured community.

Written by Miami playwrights Vanessa Garcia (Amparo; Grace, Sponsored by Monteverde) and Jake Cline (Purple Hearts), JENNA & THE WHALE is about life, death and who we are in a community and as individuals. It's about the things we see and what we can't, the things we know and the things we grapple to understand.

The cast of JENNA & THE WHALE includes Gabriel Bonilla (Critical Thinking), Orlagh Cassidy (The Adult In the Room), Dianne Garriga (The Amparo Experience), Melissa Ann Hubicsak (The Amparo Experience), Rebecca Jimenez (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord), Orlando Mendez (Let the Right One In) and Rachel Pickup (Wonder Woman). Executive producers for JENNA & THE WHALE are Jim Kierstead, William Fernandez and Adriana Gaviria.

Following the presentation, there will be a post-show conversation with playwrights Vanessa Garcia and Jake Cline and director Conor Bagley moderated by North Star Projects producing artistic director and Sol Project artistic producer Adriana Gaviria. More information about the reading and the post-show conversation can be found at www.northstarprojects.org.

In addition, The Sol Project announced today that their third annual SolFest: A Latinx Theater Festival will go virtual in 2020 and will take place August 3rd, 4th and 5th. Further details about the format and projects for this year's festival will be announced at a later date. SolFest is produced in partnership with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (Pregones/PRTT).

Past festivals have featured new work from Cusi Cram, Guadalís Del Carmen, Evelina Fernández, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Paola Lázaro, and Karen Zacarías

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