?The Roots and Wings Project

The Roots and Wings Project Founder/Creative Director Jesse Bliss and the California Arts Council Cultural Pathways Grant Present WOMEN AT WORK?, a transformative works-in-progress experience that brings forth new stories from powerhouse writers. WOMEN AT WORK is an innovative evening of truth-finding the way to light through tales being birthed and realized by women with an ear to the ground and a finger on the pulse of the universe.

WOMEN AT WORK is the third in a trilogy of shows, supported by the California Arts Council Cultural Pathways grant, shining light on matters of women’s oppression and the urgent need for justice. Each artist is in a different stage of development, thus calling on a variety of needs ranging from hearing the work to opening up audience feedback or questions. As we consistently overcome extreme obstacles in a misogynistic society, the evening is constructed to provide safe and creative space for writers to nurture and grow their work.

Originally set to take place in a multi-million dollar theatre, The Roots and Wings Project moved the show to the online platform of Facebook Live May 30, 2020 at 8 PM.

The Roots and Wings Project is a politically charged, socially transformative, project-based theatre company that brings attention to ?truth and provides stage and space for stories of the unnamed, unspoken and misunderstood.

For more info:
TheRootsandWingsProject.com

Follow on Social Media:
Facebook/TheRootsandWingsProject.com
Twitter.com/TheRootsNWings

Jesse Bliss (Director, Producer, Writer, Actress) ?Jesse Bliss is a Los Angeles based international playwright, director, producer, poet, and actress. Her works have been widely produced at world-class venues internationally including SPARC at the Old Jail at Venice, Lincoln Heights Jail, The Last Bookstore, The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts, Edinburgh, California Institute for Integral Studies, UC Santa Cruz, Occidental College, UCLA, and countless others. Ms. Bliss is a veteran arts educator and curriculum writer for some of the nation’s leading arts organizations including Skirball Cultural Center, Geffen, Center Theater Group and Inner-City Arts to name a few. She is author of the celebrated chapbook I LOVE MYSELF GOLDEN written for incarcerated women and loved on both sides of the walls. Most recently Jesse was featured in Julie Hebert’s documentary Look What She Did. Miss Bliss is Founder and Creative Director of The Roots and Wings Project. She produces segments on Think Outside The Cage 90.7 FM, a show voicing truth about mass incarceration.

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In collaboration with Ben DeJesus | Bencedor Presents

Flaco Navaja’s Evolution of a Sonero

Directed by Jorge B. Merced

January 9th to 19th

Following sold-out and standing ovation engagements at The Public Theater in NYC, Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, Ann Arbor Summer Festival in Ann Arbor, MI, and Cara Mía Theatre Company’s Latinidades Festival at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas, TX, Pregones/PRTT’s acclaimed production of Flaco Navaja’s Evolution of a Sonero returns to its home at Puerto Rican Traveling Theater for a strictly limited NYC encore run!

“I be the son of hardcore South Bronx Puerto Rican nationalists. An aguinaldo, bomba y plena, salsa, rumba singing actor-activist.” 

This self-declaration opens celebrated poet, actor, singer, all-around entertainer, and Pregones/PRTT ensemble member Flaco Navaja’s first full-length play. Part coming of age story, a part love letter to salsa and The Bronx, Evolution of A Sonero delivers a testament to human resilience in a spirited concert theater tribute. Backed by five world-class Latinx musicians in the role of The Razor Blades band, Flaco Navaja draws from Héctor Lavoe, The Doors, KRS-1, and many humorous friends and family that shaped him.

Cannily directed by Jorge B. Merced to showcase the artistry in its storytelling, the charisma of each of its characters, and the collective talents of its cast, Evolution of A Sonero is as much about Flaco Navaja’s creative evolution as it is about the cultural mix that makes our América great!

It’s a sizzling fusion of salsa, spoken word, and hip hop. A one-man show with an amazing band!

Encore run produced by Pregones/PRTT in collaboration with Ben DeJesus. Evolution of A Sonero was developed with support from Pregones/PRTT’s Step Up Artists in Residence initiative, funded by The New York Community Trust.

Evolution of a Sonero
Lighting: Lucrecia Briceno
Costumes: Emilio Sosa
Sound: Milton Ruiz

Performed in English and Spanish, for the first time with dual language supertitles.

Featuring: Flaco Navaja and The Razor Blades (Waldo Chavez, Carlos Cuevas, Gabo Lugo, Victor Pablo, Hommy Ramos)

The post Flaco Navaja Off-Broadway Show Back By Popular Demand first appeared on .

Center Theatre Group Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez announced that she will leave the organization on June 30, 2019, after 24 years on the artistic staff at the leading nonprofit theatre organization. Rodriguez has overseen new play production at Center Theatre Group since 2005, commissioning, developing and producing the new work of over 75 artists and was the director of a significant 10-year-long Andrew W. Mellon Foundation project devoted to collaborative new works.

“It has been my distinct honor to call Center Theatre Group my artistic home since 1995 – it provided me a platform to lead, develop and produce work,” Rodriguez said. “I arrived at Center Theatre Group as an artist and I depart as an artist. As a director, playwright and creative producer, I look forward to continuing my work with the stellar artistic community of Los Angeles, as well as national and international collaborators I have had the pleasure to work with over the years.”

Michael Richie, Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group, stated that after arriving at CTG, it was Rodriguez who urged him to further explore the evolving nature of their art form and, “to understand that the future of nonprofit theatre would rely on embracing our tradition of breaking boundaries and expanding the public’s perception of what ‘live theatre’ represented.”

In addition, Ritchie stated, “The organization and I were fortunate to have a boundless artist like Diane on staff. It has been with her continued sense of exploration that we’ve been able to create and present bold new works across the vast locales of Los Angeles and work with a diverse group of extraordinarily remarkable artists, both local and international. These values so championed by Diane are part of Center Theatre Group’s DNA and will continue with us as we move ahead into our next 50 years.”

Rodriguez Projects
A producer, director, actor and writer, Rodriguez will launch a new artistic company, Rodriguez Projects, helmed by Rodriguez in which she directs, writes and produces artistic endeavors and projects for and with other entities. Later this summer, she will be a Master Artist at the National Institute of Directing and Ensemble Creation in Minneapolis and, in the upcoming season, she will direct various works in Los
Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Providence, R.I. She will also serve as Resident Artist at The Rosenthal Theater in Los Angeles.

About Diane Rodriguez
For Center Theatre Group, Rodriguez has commissioned, developed and produced the new work of over 75 artists, both playwrights and companies, including recent productions of “How to Be a Rock Critic” by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, “Straight White Men” by Young Jean Lee, “The White Album” by Lars Jan and “Venice is Dead” by Roger Guenveur Smith and Richard Montoya. She curated and produced, with REDCAT, RADAR LA, An International Theatre Festival in 2011 and 2013. She has directed for East West Players, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Mixed Blood in Minneapolis, Actors Theatre of Phoenix (two Best Director nominations, ariZoni Theatre Awards), Borderlands Theater in Arizona, Victory Gardens in Chicago and Playwrights’ Arena/Los Angeles (Best Director nomination, LA Weekly Awards) among others. For 10 seasons, she was a leading actress for the seminal theatre company El Teatro Campesino, with whom she toured internationally. She was also a co-founder of the ground-breaking comedy troupe, Latins Anonymous.

Rodriguez served on the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Board for eight years (three as president) and was appointed to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts, by President Obama. Diane will continue with her appointed service with the NEA and provide service to the College of Fellows for the American Theatre. She has also written, directed and premiered two of her own full length works, “Living Large” at Teatro Luna in Chicago and “The Sweetheart Deal” at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. She worked for Mattel, Inc. as the book writer for the Broadway-style musical “Barbie Live!,” which toured Asia in 2013 and Latin America in 2010. She also worked as a creative and cultural consultant for the Disney Television Animation series “Elena of Avalor.”

About Center Theatre Group
Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under Artistic Director Michael Ritchie, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2100-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstance to serve Los Angeles. 

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