the San Diego rep continues its tradition of presenting plays by Latino artists in this week's second annual Latino x new play festival. This year the festival received 112 submissions from writers across the United States. Only four plays were selected. They will each be given a staged reading during the festival. In addition there will be a performance of a one man show called wet a documented journey. Joining me with more about the Lotti next new play festival is Patrice Amun San Diego reps producer in residence and Patrice welcome. Hi. Thank you. Also joining us is Alex 040 who performs the one man show he joins us by Skype. And Alex welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. Now Patrice as I said the San Diego rep has a long history of presenting the Latino experience on stage. How do you think this festival fits in with that tradition. This festival is part of the San Diego reps commitment to telling Latino stories over the past 40 years the reps has done over 50 Latino plays on their main stage. This festival is a way to develop new Latino x talent and new Lotti next playwrights. We address both designers playwrights directors and audiences to help to build that community as a theater going community. The 112 submissions you received must have explored a range of issues. Can you give us a sample of the various themes they hit on. Oh it was so broad. We covered family issues traditional education some crime and violence. The Fourplay selected for the festival each have a different genre that they represent and a different theme including LGBT family. There's a traditional romance there's kind of a comedy a farcical style comedy. It's a really broad range that we've selected for the festival this year. And what were the winning entries. So we have four plays in the festival including Herbertson ones as bad embrace good wives a farce an adaptation of Moliere school for wives Augusto Ahmed orse the book of Leo Nita's which is this very interesting father son struggle between a man who is living in the shadow of a father who is very brutal and has to decide whether he's going to follow that path or strike out on his own. Gardley still Carmines bees and honey is a traditional romance between two Dominican characters. And you get to see them fall in love with each other and sort of the distance that creeps in over time. And Cristina Quintanas a soul is a memory play about a mother and her daughters and the struggle between being in one country and being in another and how we connect over generations and over continents. Alex your one man show West a documented journey is the festival showcase production. Does this play tell your own story. It does it does very much so. It talks about you know my journey as living as an undocumented American. Since I was three months old and the very risky dangerous decisions that I've had to make in order to remain in the country and attempt to apply for adjustment of status under this administration. What is it like to tell your own personal story in the form of theater is it is it difficult do you find it risky. It's a lot more difficult than say stepping onto the shoes of a character that you know that somebody else wrote. Because at the end of the day I can take off the shoes and the costumes and and and be able to just be myself but because I am playing a stylized version of myself. I don't get to do that I don't have the luxury of taking off the costume and then being somebody completely different I mean the person that you see on stage to some degree or another is who I am as a person on my day to day life. We have a clip of a little bit of your show where a documentary Journey let's hear that. Now I have to go. You only face a no go. I have no recollection except for what happened to be. Effective. How was my departure constructive in my whole life can be relocated just to me. This is massive the stroke of a pen. Should not have to depend on good terms. I hope the press association and the mayor of this broken nation are the that is just a little piece of Alex Alfonso's one man show where a documentary Journey which will be performed during the latter next new play festival at the San Diego rip trees. Why did the festival choose this one man show as the featured performance. We were very excited to bring in Alex Alvaro's piece because it is such a compelling story. It is such a brave story and it really connects to what's going on in our world today. Part of the goal with the festival is to expand the breadth of leathernecks stories that are being told on the stage and to harness the power of art to connect with people in a very real and human way. We feel that wet a documented journey is really a strong way to make that connection. So Alex his performance obviously will be a performance during the festival. The other four plays the four plays that are winners are going to be staged readings is the hope that the Latino festival plays will eventually become a full stage productions. That is the goal. We select four of the strongest submissions and then hopefully one of those will become a piece that is featured in our mainstage season. So Alex how do you think festivals like this one like the Latin next new play festival help get playwrights get their stories in front of audiences. There's such an integral and important part of the developmental process especially for playwrights of color and individuals that identify like myself that in previous times we had a real hard time at least I had a real hard time and I struggled and finding forums and platforms for which to present my work. And so you know festivals like these are even festivals like the one where I developed an Ensemble Studio Theatre in Los Angeles which is my home theater. If if if those opportunities were not presented to us then you know the world would be missing out on this important work. And so I think that that the work the San Diego rep is doing is vital to the tour not just the development of Latin acts. Art is just theater in general because we need to hear these new voices we need to hear these new perspectives that will create an opportunity for dialogue that will stay with the audience long after the show has closed. The second annual San Diego reps lotting next new play festival runs Friday through Sunday and I've been speaking with producer in residence Patrice Amun and actor Alex Alfaro. Thank you both very much. Thank you. Maureen thank you very much.
San Diego Repertory Theatre continues its tradition of presenting plays by Latino artists in the second annual Latinx New Play Festival.
This year festival organizers received 112-submissions from both emerging and veteran writers across the United States. Only four plays were selected.
Each play will be given a staged reading during the festival which runs Friday, August 3-5 at the Lyceum space located at 79 Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego.
Los Angeles-based playwright Alex Alpharaoh will also perform his one-man show, "WET: A DACAmented Journey," about his experience growing up undocumented in southern California.
Patrice Amon, a producer in resident at San Diego Repertory Theatre and Alpharaoh, discuss Wednesday on Midday Edition the significance behind the Latinx New Play Festival.
