The Old Globe to Present David Israel Reynoso's Immersive WAKING LA LLORONA

The Old Globe today announced the culminating presentation of award-winning San Diego scenic and costume designer David Israel Reynoso's project for the The San Diego Foundation Creative Catalyst program. For the past year, the Globe has been happy to sponsor and help guide Reynoso as he created Waking La Llorona. The Creative Catalyst program was created to provide a springboard for local artists to create new works, collaborate with others, and share their ingenuity with the community.

Waking La Llorona is a unique immersive theatrical experience inspired by Mexican myths and folklore and their correlations to San Diego and other cultures throughout the globe. It was influenced by Reynoso's work on the Off Broadway hit Sleep No More-the groundbreaking, award-winning theatrical experience that tells Shakespeare's Macbeth through a film noir lens-for which he won a 2011 Obie Award.

Waking La Llorona is an individual experience, with each audience member being taken through the show alone to experience the immersive world Reynoso has created. It will be presented at Bread & Salt (1955 Julian Ave.) on Saturday, August 19; Sunday, August 20; Saturday, August 26; and Sunday, August 27. Due to the unique nature of the show, only 26 people can experience it per night. All presentations are currently sold out. To be placed on the waiting list or to be contacted about possible future performances, please visit www.optikamoderna.com.

The cast includes Isis Avalos (Marina, La Malinche), Kelly Barnik (Pinata), Robert Najarian (Antonio, Man in Cantina), Jennifer Paredes (Doctor E.S. Moctezuma), and Lorena Santana (Morada, Woman at Altar). The creative team includes David Israel Reynoso (Director; Scenic, Costume, and Sound Design), Careena Melia (Co-Director), Anthony Jannuzzi (Lighting Design), and Melissa Ballard (Stage Manager).

David Israel Reynoso is an award-winning scenic and costume designer living in San Diego. He is most widely recognized for his Obie Award-winning designs for Sleep No More (Punchdrunk/Emursive) and his Helen Hayes Award-nominated designs for Healing Wars (Arena Stage). His productions for the Globe include Red Velvet, The Blameless, tokyo fish story, Constellations, Twelfth Night, Arms and the Man, Water by the Spoonful, Time and the Conways, Double Indemnity, and Be a Good Little Widow. He also designed As You Like It for The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. He is recognized locally for his designs of Tiger Style!, Healing Wars, The Darrell Hammond Project, Kingdom City, and the DNA New Work Series presentation of Chasing the Song (La Jolla Playhouse). His other work includes Futurity, Cabaret, The Snow Queen, Alice vs. Wonderland, Trojan Barbie, Copenhagen, No Man's Land, Hamletmachine, Ajax in Iraq, and Abigail's Party (American Repertory Theater), The Comedy of Errors and Othello (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), The Woman in Black (Gloucester Stage Company), and Dead Man's Cell Phone (The Lyric Stage Company). Reynoso is also the recipient of the San Diego Foundation's Creative Catalyst Grant, an Elliot Norton Award, a Craig Noel Award nomination, and multiple IRNE and BroadwayWorld Award nominations.

Reynoso is one of five local artist fellows who received The San Diego Foundation grants to build San Diego's creative economy, advance artist careers, and encourage civic engagement by increasing opportunities for San Diegans region-wide to experience arts and culture. Through the Creative Catalyst Program, each artist received a 12-month, $20,000 grant to produce and showcase a work of art. Community-based arts-and-culture organizations are matched with the fellows to provide mentorship, build new partnerships, and engage community members through the arts.

In addition to the five fellowship awards, the Creative Catalyst program has benefited more than 170,000 San Diegans since 2011 through the work of 40 artist fellows and 30 community partners. The program aligns with findings from The San Diego Foundation's 2012 civic engagement campaign, Our Greater San Diego Vision, by leveraging the support of many donors who give together to maximize their philanthropic impact in the region, and by recognizing that supporting local artists has a positive and measurable impact on the vitality and vibrancy of our neighborhoods and our lives.

The San Diego Foundation maximizes the impact of your charitable giving. We mobilize philanthropic resources to advance quality of life, increase social impact and champion civic engagement. For more than 40 years, The Foundation and our donors have granted more than $1 billion to grow a vibrant San Diego region. Learn more on our website, and consider a donation to the Fund for the Future Endowment which supports San Diego community needs now and forever.

The Tony Award-winning The Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdooR Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre's artistic and arts engagement programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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