Cast members include Sabrina Fest as daughter Angel and Cheryl Umaña as mother Alma. Bianca Ruiz Brockl and Marilyn Camacho are set as understudies for Angel and Alma. The creative team for the world premiere includes Tanya Orellana (scenic design), Carolyn Mazuca (costume design), Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (lighting design), Daniel Corral (sound design and original music), Edgar Landa (fight director). Casting is by Morales/O’con Casting and Miriam Mendoza is the production stage manager.

Carrillo is a recipient of The National Endowment of the Arts / Theatre Communications Group Directing Fellowship and the Princess Grace Award. She returns to Center Theatre Group where she previously directed Octavio Solis’ Lydia at the Mark Taper Forum and most recently the CTG Digital Stage production of Luis Alfaro’s Mojada. Benne is a David Geffen / Yale School of Drama M.F.A. Candidate in Playwriting and is the recipient of Portland Stage’s Clauder Competition Gold Prize (2020), Arizona Theatre Company’s National Latinx Playwriting Award (2019), Kennedy Center/KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award (2019), and numeous other playwriting awards. Alma marks Benne’s Center Theatre Group debut.

The story revolves around Alma (Umaña) and her daughter, Angel (Fest), who have built a lifetime of wishes, one for each of Angel’s 17 years — health, love, carne asada every day and a spot at UC Davis. Now, on the eve of the SAT test, Alma comes home to discover her daughter is out drinking rather than studying her flashcards. As Alma goes into her parenting toolbox, drawing on guilt, nostalgia and an expertly wielded chancla (sandal), we learn that there is more than one person’s future at stake and the mother and daughter’s hopes and goals for each other may not be in as close alignment as they once were.

Tickets are available through CenterTheatreGroup.org, Audience Services at (213) 972-4400 or in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Offices (at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012 or at the Kirk Douglas Theatre at 9820 Washington Blvd. in Culver City 90232).

This production is made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Culver City Arts Foundation. 

The post ‘Alma’ Cast Set for March 13 Opening first appeared on .

Los Angeles, CA — Rehearsals have begun for Center Theatre Group’s production of Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes. Directed by Shishir Kurup, the production will begin previews January 27, open February 3 and continue through February 25, 2018, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue “Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue” includes, in alphabetical order, Rubén Garfias, Peter Mendoza, Jason Manuel Olazábal and Caro Zeller. The creative team includes set design by Sibyl Wickersheimer, costume design by Raquel Barreto, lighting design by Geoff Korf and sound design by John Nobori. The production stage manager is Maggie Swing.

A soldier, like his father and his father’s father, 19-year-old Elliot is back from Iraq with a Purple Heart. As he recovers from his injuries and decides whether to return to Iraq, he yearns for a truer connection with his father and considers his own limited options outside the military.

Phoebe Hoban of The New York Times said “Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue is that rare and rewarding thing: a theater work that succeeds on every level, while creating something new. The playwright, Quiara Alegría Hudes, who has degrees in music (a bachelor’s from Yale) and playwriting (a master’s from Brown), combines a lyrical ear with a sophisticated sense of structure to trace the legacy of war through three generations of a Puerto Rican family.”

Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, the first in a trilogy of plays, is being produced at the Douglas at the same time as Center Theatre Group is presenting the second play in that trilogy, Hudes’ Pulitzer-winning Water by the Spoonful at the Mark Taper Forum. The Latino Theater Company will present the final installment of the trilogy with their production of The Happiest Song Plays Last at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC). Presented all together, the full trilogy gives Los Angeles theatre audiences a rare opportunity to immerse themselves in this exciting playwright’s work.

The post Alegría Hudes’ “Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue” Opens Feb. 3rd first appeared on .