As part of the 50th Anniversary of both the Stonewall Riots and the passing of icon, Judy Garland, and in celebration of National LGBTQ Pride Month
Casa 0101 Theater
2102 E. First Street (at St. Louis Street)
Boyle Heights, CA 90033
Five-Week Run:
June 7th to July 7th, 2019
8:00 PM — Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays
4:00 PM — Sunday
After a hugely successful soldout run last year, CASA 0101 Theater is proud to present the fifth season of Brown & Out Fest, a Festival of 11 world premiere short plays and one original short transgender film celebrating the LGBTQ LatinXperience.
“I first wrote my first gay-themed play, Food For The Dead, back in 1988, a satirical story of sexual liberation about a woman who is saying goodbye to her macho husband. The play was initially presented at Luis Valdez‘s El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista, CA in 1988; and later presented at Little CASA, our original home in October 2003.
“When I began teaching a playwriting class in 2008, there were two young gay Latino men in that class who told me about the double lives they led by day as hardworking immigrant sons, and by night, when they would go out to gay clubs, since their families weren’t openly accepting of their homosexual lifestyles. It was at that point, I realized there was a need for me to provide these young men with a comfortable space to be who they were, and to celebrate their authentic selves without shame as gay Latino men.”
In September 2011, Lopez presented the first Brown & Out Play Festival at Little CASA. Years later, “With our 50th Anniversary of Brown & Out, plays are selected for production at the conclusion of a collective writing workshop. Since 2008, LGBTQ themed plays and playwrights have graced our stages at Little CASA and CASA 0101 Theater. Over 80 Latinx LGBTQ short plays, one-act plays, and full-length plays have appeared either at this festival or as fully mounted productions at our theaters, some of which have gone on to further fame and recognition outside of Boye Heights at the New York International Fringe Festival and at the Dublin Fringe Festival,” Lopez stated.
“It’s really personally fulfilling to me to provide opportunities and for all human beings to be who they truly are, living their own authentic lives, while at the same time expressing their inner creativity freely.” — Josefina Lopez