Cast Announced For Sound Theatre's CLOUD TECTONICS

A celestial and timeless love story enters Seattle's orbit on September 24. Sound Theatre has announced that tickets are now live for CLOUD TECTONICS, its latest season offering in co-production with Earthseed. Jéhan Òsanyìn will direct.

It starts on a dark and stormy night. When an LAX baggage handler, Aníbal, meets a pregnant Celestina, earthy and ethereal worlds collide. Bawdy, macho GI brother, Nelson, interlopes. Under the trance of magical realism, the tale upends space and time in a Los Angeles home.

In an ongoing bid to amplify oft-unheard stories, Sound Theatre set a 2022 season intention to increase Latinx voices. The result: programming CLOUD TECTONICS by José Rivera, the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to receive an Academy Award nomination.

"Trauma often asks systematically marginalized communities to make magic in order to survive." said Jéhan Òsanyìn, who recently directed Jamie Jarrett's radio play WONDER BOY (The 5th Avenue Theatre). "While sheltering in place during a heavy storm, we watch Celestina and those around her maneuver a world where connection to one's ancestral culture, their right to human intimacy, and a sense of belonging elude them. The play tugs at my curiosity around how trauma catalyzes magic."

CLOUD TECTONICS world premiered at Humana Festival in 1995. Three years later, Sound Theatre artistic director Teresa Thuman viewed it live, describing a "profoundly impactful experience with a beauty, a vision, characters and relationships unlike anything I'd experienced in contemporary theater."

A Californian at the time, Thuman had a close view of the LA race riots and geological chaos: fires, landslides, earthquakes, paired with the turmoil of a failed justice system and growing attacks on multiculturalism: "All of that informed my experience watching CLOUD TECTONICS, which uses magical realism to dance with love, life, time, against an apocalyptic foreboding. So when my then-co-artistic director Jay Woods reminded me of this play, I immediately felt the time was ripe for a return to this text."

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

Sound Theatre is proud to introduce a cast trifecta, all making their Sound Theatre acting debuts: Myles Romo (Aníbal de la Luna), an actor, director, playwright, and a core member of Young Hot Thespian. Recent acting credits include ANNA IN THE TROPICS (Tacoma Arts Live), TIN CAT SHOES (Washington Ensemble Theatre), and SHOE (Ese Teatro). Terrence Mejos (Nelson de la Luna) is a vocal performance graduate from Western Washington University, who performed in operas including "L'enfant et les Sortileges," "The Marriage of Poppea," and "I Pagliacci." Recently, he was in "The Happiest Song Plays Last" (Tacoma Little Theatre).

Longtime Sound Theatre fans know Jay Woods' (Celestina del Sol) directorial work in REPARATIONS (2020) and CITIZEN: AN AMERICAN LYRIC (2019), as well as tenures serving as Sound Theatre's associate and co-artistic director (2020 - 2022). "My exiting duty of artistic leadership was season planning. I felt so strongly about CLOUD TECTONICS that it inspired me to explore the text as a resident artist (actor) instead of as a director. I also asked specifically for Jéhan to direct," said Woods.

The production team includes many from the previous Sound Theatre shows: Parmida Ziaei (Scenic Design), Taya Pyne (Costume Design), Erin Bednarz (Sound Design), Josh Valdez (Sound Board Operator), Jessamyn Bateman-lino (Props Designer), Robin Wheeler (Assoc. Stage Manager), Rosemary Jones (Stage Manager), Annie Duffiance (Scenic Charge Artist), Justin Duffiance (Technical Director), and Joanna Aponte (Ass't Technical Director). New to Sound Theatre are Adem Hayyu (Lighting Design), Emma Jane Murphy (Light Board Operator), and Cecelia "Mousy DeVilla" DeLeon (Cultural Consultant and Market Coordinator).

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: BUY ART AT "GRIEF MARKET"

Midway through CLOUD TECTONICS' run, Sound Theatre and Earthseed will host a pop-up "Grief Market." It features 8-10 vendors, including Earthseed. Pre-pandemic, Earthseed's pottery and jewelry, made in Beacon Hill by Jéhan, helped fund scholarships to workshops.

The Grief Market is a partial path back to this COVID-interrupted practice, said Òsanyìn: "We want this market to honor the Latinx community as José Rivera honors their stories in the play. With Earthseed so deeply rooted in the community, it was important that we brought some of that to this co-production. It is intended to financially contribute to small, mostly queer- and women-owned businesses, to connect Sound Theatre with communities, and offer a public expression of grief."

Held in the lobby before and after select CLOUD TECTONICS shows, the event is open to the public. Updated details and vendor list will be added here: Cloud Tectonics | Sound Theatre Company

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