The Plays

Studio Theatre, Theatre Center, All seats $3

Slashes of LIght

by Judy Tate

Directed by Melissa Maxwell

In 1967 in an all-black parochial middle school on Chicago's south side, precocious young Sunny befriends the new white history teacher, but her best friend, a budding young radical, doesn't approve, and the older boy she has a crush on, is mysteriously quiet.  In this coming-of-age story, the characters confront their deepest secrets in a thorny struggle to understand themselves, each other and the changing world around them.

September 18     7:30 p.m.
September 19     2:00 p.m.

Production Photos

The Bonobos

by Amparo Garcia Crow

Directed by Elizabeth Pena

Divorced couple Lorenzo and Antonia have been having an affair. When a cyber porn unit comes knocking on Lorenzo's door during a tryst, the couple discovers that Tiffany, their seventeen-year-old daughter has been starring in and selling internet "instructive videos" falsely implicating Lorenzo as a child pornographer.  In the process of defending his innocence, the hypocrisies of sex in one family illuminates the "missing link" that might just bring them all back together again.
  September 19     7:30 p.m.
September 20     12:00 p.m. (noon)

Production Photos

The Process

    The entire cast and crew for the conference                                    Brown Bag Discussion 

     Lunch

  The Playwrights

Judy Tate was a Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellow and winner of the New Professional Theatre’s Playwriting award. Her full-length play Fast Blood was developed and/or produced by the Lark Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Passage Theatre and Hartford Stage. Her short plays, The Point and, Mistaken for Genius were produced by The Women’s Project and the latter was published in their collection, Rowing to America and Other Short Plays. Her full length play Slashes of Light, was originally commissioned by the Manhattan Theatre Club and workshopped at the Ensemble Studio Theatre where she is a member. She’s written for daytime television on Another World, As the World Turns (for which she received a Writer’s Guild Award and four Emmys) and Days of Our Lives. A professional actor for many years, Judy has worked in theatres throughout the United States and Southern Africa. As a teaching artist she works with Lincoln Center Institute, Theatre Development Fund and the Manhattan Theatre Club, on whose board she serves. She is an alumna of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts conservatory program where she studied with Stella Adler and was an honors graduate receiving the Founder’s Day Award, Seidman Award and Beinecke Award for excellence in acting and academia.

Amparo Garcia-Crow is a multi-disciplinary artist who acts, sings, directs and writes plays, screenplays and songs. As a playwright, Garcia-Crow has been developed at South Coast Repertory Theatre and has had world premieres Off-Broadway, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Latino Chicago and various theatres and universities in the Southwest. She is presently developing the screenplay, “Appeal” for i25 Productions in Los Angeles and Unknown Soldier: The New American Musical of Mexican Descent which was recently featured in Hector Galen’s documentary: Visiones (Visions): Latino Art and Culture on PBS.   Her half hour film, “Loaves and Fishes” (which she also stars in) aired on the PBS series Territories, after premiering at SXSW Film Festival and the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. A  former James Michener Fellow, Amparo won the Larry King Playwriting Award for her play, Cocks Have Claws and Wings to Fly and most recently the national Mae West Festival’s “Best Female Protagonist” award for her play Esmeralda Blue: La Mujer Moderna. Her play, A Faraway Nearby workshopped at the Texas State Black and Latino Playwrights Conference in 2006 has been published by NoPassport Press in a collection entitled: The South Texas Plays by Amparo Garcia-Crow. As an actress Amparo has performed at the Kennedy Center and other regional theatres in the Southwest. Representative roles have included: Dolores Huerta (Cesar and Ruben), Marisol (Marisol); Luz (Unmerciful Good Fortune); Carla (In the West); she has also been a reoccurring character in the children’s PBS series WISHBONE as well as starring in various independent films, commercials and industrials. As a director, Amparo has received the prestigious NEA/TCG Director’s Fellowship and worked on new play development at various theaters including the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. She has also produced independent musical releases of her musical compositions and been a Master Acting teacher for the MFA Acting program at the University of Texas where she also taught directing and playwriting. Most recently, she served as the inaugural Program Manager and designed the grand opening for the City of Austin’s new sixteen million dollar Mexican American Cultural Center.

Melissa Maxwell (Director): Off-The-Page bare bones workshop of Women’s Work playwright, . Off-Broadway credits: Nathan the Wise (Pearl Theatre Company), Taboos (Soho Playhouse). Other credits include: East Village Chronicles, Vol.5 at the Metropolitan Playhouse, Ronald Wyche’s Love Don’t Love Nobody at NYC’s landmark National Black Theatre and Satan Never Sleeps at the Theatre at the Riverside Church, various productions at New Perspectives Theatre Company including most recently a workshop of Andrea Lepcio’s Sad Mad Bad Glad, productions for Sounding Theatre Company and the NY Int’l Fringe Festival. She’s staged a presentation of The Octoroon for The Pearl Theatre Company and several events for The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, including a presentation at the International Emmy Awards. In addition to directing, Melissa is an award-winning playwright and veteran actor of stage, film and television. For a full list of credits and accomplishment, visit her website: www.melissamaxwell.com

Elizabeth Pena (Director): Raised in NYC where her parents founded LATE (Latin American Theater Ensemble) in the ‘70’s. Directing credits : “Ugly / Duckling” at the HS of Performing Arts, NYC; “Celebrando La Diferencia”, Met Theater LA; “The Brothers Garcia”, Nickelodeon TV; “Resurrection Blvd”, Showtime. Acting Theater credits include the title roles of “Antigone” (American Conservatory Theater SF), “Sonia Flew” (LA Theater Works). The Bride in “Blood Wedding” (NY Public Theater) and “Assassins” (La Mamma Etc. NY). Feature Films: “Nothing Like the Holidays”, “Rush Hour”, “Transamerica”, “Tortilla Soup”, “La Bamba and Lonestar” (Independent Spirit Award, 8 Alma Awards, 2 Bravo awards). She has been a TV series regular in “Resurrection Blvd”, “LA Law”, “Shannon’s Deal”, and “I Married Dora.” You may have seen her in “CSI Miami”, “Without a Trace” and “NCIS”. Ms. Pena is recurring in ABC’s new series “Flash Forward,” and, has a voice over career that include Pixar’s animated feature film “The Incredibles.”

Guest Artists 

Ruben C. Gonzalez (Jessie) received his training at the London Academy for Performing Arts, Circle in the Square Theatre School (NYC) and holds an MFA from UC DAVIS. His directing credits include, Xago Juarez’s Aliso in Worker Land, Joe Quintero’s Pilgrimage, HeadRush’s The Throw Down! and Alienation and Monica Sanchez’s Odisia among others. As an actor, he’s performed at The Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep., El Teatro Campesino, Teatro Vision and The Pasadena Playhouse. On the east coast at INTAR, Lincoln Center Institute, HB Studios, Primary Stages and The Kennedy Center among others. Gonzalez has also performed his critically acclaimed one man show’s, Diary Of A Mad Mexican and The Messiah Complex all over the US and Poland. Recently he has completed his next piece, La Esquinita, USA which he is now rehearsing. His t.v. credits include Medium, Veronica Mars, The Minor Accomplishments Of Jackie Woodman and Air America and on the big screen, Selena, Suckers, It’s Pat, Perfect Game and The Master. In ‘08 He worked alongside Benjamin Bratt in La Mission (SUNDANCE ’09) and in Alfredo Ramos’ Foodstamps due out this year. You can also see his short film, The Fourth Corner on youtube.com which he wrote, directed and starred in. His screenplay, Boy Innocent is currently in negotiations.

E. Roger Mitchell (Conductor/Multiple Roles) is very excited to be apart of the Black & Latino Playwrights Conference.   A Miami Florida native, Roger was last seen on the stage in Horizon Theatre’s production of A Cool Drink of Water directed by Andrea Frye and written by Thomas H. Jones. He has also appeared in the following stage productions: True Colors’ Miss Evers Boys starring Jasmine Guy and TC Carson; Alliance Theatre’s Radio Golf (dir. Kent Gash) and Gem of the Ocean (dir. Kenny Leon); True Colors’ Ceremonies In Dark Old Men; and the Alliance Theatre’s Cuttin’Up (2007 Tony Award/Best Regional Theatre Company). His film credits include: Daddy’s Little Girls starring Lou Gossett Jr. (An Officer and A Gentleman and Lackawanna Blues), Gabrielle Union, and Idris Elba (The Wire); Diary of a Mad Black Woman starring Tyler Perry, Cicely Tyson, and Kimberly Elise; S.W.A.T. starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell; The Legend of Bagger Vance starring Will Smith (Ali, Seven Pounds) and Matt Damon (The Bourne Supremacy); HBO’s Boycott starring Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat and Cadillac Records), Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow, Iron Man) and CCH Pounder (The Shield); and Warm Springs (2005/Emmy Award Best Picture) starring Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) as well as numerous independent films. TV credits include: Past Life, The Shield, Navy NCIS, Threat Matrix, One Tree Hill, Surface, and House of Payne. Upcoming films in 2009: The Open Road starring Jeff Bridges and Justin Timberlake, Blood Done Sign My Name starring Ricky Schroder, and The Crazies, a remake of the 1972 cult classic. May God bless us all.

Dr. Melba Martinez (Antonia), an Interdisciplinary Doctorate (Film, Theatre and Performance Studies) from the University of Texas at Austin has produced, directed, and acted professionally for 23 years, including performing in three award-winning productions written by Garcia-Crow: Cocks Have Claws, Under a Western Sky, and Loaves and Fishes.    As the past Artistic Director of the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward’s University, Dr. Martinez served on the faculty for 22 years and developed a new paradigm for training artists and actors based on her doctoral work and forth coming publication: The Archeology of Acting: Understanding and Teaching Acting in the Age of the Camera.   Although an Associate tenured Theatre professor, Martinez left academia in 2004 to pursue a career as a visual artist and is currently working on publishing an art book of her 400+ paintings, entitled: Investigating Eternity:  Painting Roses.

Stephen Bornstein (Lorenzo) is a graduate of Pratt Institute (1972) and a recent transplant to Hays County.  He is a native New Yorker who spent the last thirty years in Miami developing a successful industrial & graphic design firm.  Fluent in five languages he has worked and lived throughout Latin America, Europe and North Africa.  He relocated to central Texas to focus on his art and sculpture and an innovative true 3-dimensional projection technology that interacts dynamically with music and live sounds.  He has exhibited his work at several venues in Austin including a major exhibit at the iconic Scarborough Building on Congress Avenue.  This is his second appearance in this play as part of an ongoing working relationship with the playwright.  Their collaboration is currently continuing on other projects.  His work can be viewed at his web site: www.BornsteinFineArt.com.