San Jose Repertory Theatre concludes the 2009-2010 season with the poetic Cuban American story, Sonia Flew, penned by Elliot Norton and Kennedy Center Charlotte Woolard Award-winner, Melinda Lopez. Directed by Richard Seer, Sonia Flew is a powerful portrayal of a Cuban family profoundly changed by political forces that brings to question: What is owed to one's children, parents and country. Performances begin May 8 and continue until June 6. Pay What You Will Tuesday performance is on Tuesday, May 11. Press Opening Night is on May 14 at 8:00pm. Tickets are available at the San Jose Rep Box Office at 101 Paseo de San Antonio or can be purchased online at www.SJRep.com or by calling 408.367.7255.
"Melinda Lopez's play asks many questions – about family, about honor, and about the nature of patriotism and self-sacrifice," states Artistic Director
Rick Lombardo. "It wraps these deep themes in humor and love, and takes us on a thrilling theatrical journey from the American Midwest just after 9-11, to Afghanistan, Havana, Cuba at the time of the Castro revolution, and finally to Arlington National Cemetery. I'm so pleased to be able to introduce Melinda's work to Bay Area audiences with this production."
How do we forgive the past? For Sonia, her son's decision to leave college and enlist in the military in the months following 9/11, conjures bitter memories from her childhood. As a child, Sonia was smuggled out of Cuba and into the United States during Operation Pedro Pan in the dawn of Fidel Castro's rise to political power. Her parents vowed to reunite the family as soon as they were able to escape – she never saw them again. Sonia combats grief and terrifying feelings of abandonment as political forces once again threaten to shatter her family. Sonia must come to terms with her past, her parents' decision, her children's choices and her duty to her adopted country. Set between post-revolutionary Cuba and post 9/11 America, Sonia Flew telescopes the large cultural and political forces of an historic moment to examine their impact on the intimate lives of ordinary men and women.
Melinda Lopez is a playwriting fellow at The Huntington Theatre, where Sonia Flew was developed and premiered in 2004. The play won the Elliott Norton Award for Best New Play and since then has been produced at regional theatres throughout the country, including
Steppenwolf Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival and
Laguna Playhouse. It was part of the New York Summer Play Festival in 2006 and is published by Dramatist Play Service. Gary, a play with music, was developed at the First Look Series at Steppenwolf and then produced at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. Her play, Alexandros was commissioned by and received its premiere at the
Laguna Playhouse in 2007. South Coast Repertory commissioned Caroline in New Jersey, which received its premiere at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival. Ms. Lopez was the first recipient of the Charlotte Woolard Award, given by the Kennedy Center to a "promising new voice in American Theatre." Her award-winning plays include Midnight Sandwich/Medianoche, The Order of Things (Kennedy Center Fund for New Plays) and How Do You Spell Hope? (Underground Railway Theater). She is also an actress and has appeared at the Huntington Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, and
Shakespeare & Company. Ms. Lopez teaches theater and performance at Suffolk University and Wellesley College.
Richard Seer is an award-winning actor and director, having directed or performed in over 70 productions at theatres in this country and Great Britain, including:
Goodman Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Stratford Shakespeare Festival,
Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Huntington Theatre Company, Studio Arena Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and the
Sybil Thorndike Repertory Theatre in England. On Broadway, he received a Theater World Award for his performance as Young Charlie in the 1978 Tony® Award-winning production of
Hugh Leonard's Da. On television, he starred with
Michelle Pfeiffer in the comedy series, "Delta House;" co-starred with
Lloyd Bridges in the miniseries, "Moviola;" and appeared in daytime dramas, "Ryan's Hope," "One Life to Live" and "All My Children." As
The Old Globe Theatre's resident director, his credits include Old Wicked Songs, Da, All My Sons, Blue/Orange, Fiction, Vincent in Brixton, Trying, Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?,
Romeo & Juliet and The Price. Mr. Seer has been Chair of the University of San Diego Graduate Theatre department since 1993.
Julian López-Morillas (SAM/ORFEO) and Michael Santo (DANIEL/TITO) return to the Rep's stage in Sonia Flew. Lopez-Morilla has appeared at the Rep in productions of Sons of Don Juan, The Sea Gull, Room Service, Death of a Salesman and The Miracle Worker. He has also directed Rep productions of The Servant of Two Masters and The School for Scandal. Most recently, he appeared in Rock 'n' Roll, The Seafarer and The Pillowman. Santo last appeared with San Jose Rep as Ira in Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Raul in Extremities. Most recently he played Sherlock Holmes in Holmes & Watson at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Award-winning performer of stage, film and television,
Ivonne Coll (SONIA/MARTA), makes her first appearance on San Jose Rep's stage. On Broadway, she appeared in Shakespeare on Broadway, directed by Estelle Parsons; Goodbye Fidel; and the Tony®-nominated show, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. West Coast audiences have seen Coll at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2006 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award Nomination for Mother Courage),
La Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, San Diego Repertory Theatre and
South Coast Repertory. Coll's television work includes more than 30 guest starring and recurring roles in major network shows, most recently "Cold Case," "ER," "HEROES" and "Nip/Tuck." She's very proud to have represented her native Puerto Rico in the 1967 Miss Universe Pageant.
Also debuting at San Jose Rep are Kw
Ana Martinez (NINA/PILAR), Tiffany Ellen Solano (JEN/YOUNG SONIA) and Miles Gaston Villanueva (ZAK/JOSE). Martinez has appeared in New York City with New York Theatre Workshop, La MaMa,
Irish Arts Center, Rude Mechanicals Theater Company and Target Margin Theater, and in Los Angeles with the
Mark Taper Forum, The Colony Theatre Company,
Laguna Playhouse and the Hayworth Theatre. She holds an M.F.A from Harvard and a B.A. from Vassar. Solano has appeared in La Posada Magica at
South Coast Repertory, as well as its Los Angeles premiere with the
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble; originating the role of Victoria in the world premiere of Plainsong at Denver Center Theatre Company and Nine Armenians at the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the Denver Center Theatre Company. Villanueva recently performed in Sunsets and Margaritas (Jojo) at TheatreWorks, and prior to that, he enjoyed a summer with Shakespeare Santa Cruz in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lysander) and Julius Caesar (Octavius).
Sonia Flew was collaborated on by a team of talented and creative designers including
Robin Sanford Roberts (SCENIC DESIGNER), Cathleen Edwards (COSTUME DESIGN), Trevor Norton (LIGHTING DESIGN) and Paul Peterson (SOUND DESIGNER).
Sonia Flew is sponsored by Marriott San Jose, C.J's Café and Catering and supported, in part, by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San Jose.
About the Rep:
San Jose Rep is the premier non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay, presenting six main stage productions each year. As a major contributor to South Bay's cultural community for 29 years, the Rep's mission is to engage, entertain and inspire people. The Rep produces innovative theatrical performances that offer fresh perspectives into the human condition, educational programs that promote life-long learning, and outreach initiatives that benefit our diverse community. For more information, visit
www.SJRep.com
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