Café Bohemia

Overview

Arizona Theatre Company announces Café Bohemia, a season of play readings, jams and ideas, featuring diverse new works from bold and inventive playwrights. Café Bohemia invites audiences to The Temple Lounge at The Temple of Music and Art in downtown Tucson, a comfortable and intimate space, to participate in the new play process and to hear works read aloud by the best local and national actors.

The playwrights of these exciting new works will be present at the readings as they continue to develop their scripts. Tucson audiences are invited to enter the dramatic process at its inception, being among the first people in the world to hear these stories come to life, investing in the future of the American theatre by starting relationships with new playwrights and new audiences. Café Bohemia is sponsored by Providence Service Corporation. Admission is only $5!

“Café Bohemia is a space for new voices, sharing ideas and asking questions,” said ATC Associate Artistic Director Stephen Wrentmore. “It partners and reflects our main stage season, but also offers an opportunity for us to spotlight a new generation of artists with our audiences. In the relaxed environment of The Temple Lounge, we get to hear readings of six new plays and share our response. What I love is the transparency of process and the excitement of creating a play-jam. It offers a rough and ready authentic response to a play by a group of talented actors who are responding, like a jam session, to the play as they read it. And with the continued commitment of ATC in supporting the Latino Playwriting Award and the Arizona Playwriting Award these works could become nationally significant over time.”

Contains mature themes and language.

The plays presented during the 2011-2012 season were:

 

La Bella Familia
by Edwin Sanchez

Winner of ATC’s 2011 National Latino Playwriting Award, La Bella Familia by Edwin Sanchez asks the age-old question, does the end justify the means? Do “bad” people fall in love and do “good” people do terrible things? The play centers on Bella, a Puerto Rican hit woman, her family and the neighbors from hell. As the two families try to use each other to rescue them from a life of loneliness, Bella decides to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to guarantee her son a peaceful future. But things aren’t always as they appear. As these characters weave in and out of each other’s lives, the questions of “Who’s good?” and “Who’s bad?” take on a new relevance. The National Latino Playwriting Award was established by Arizona Theatre Company to create a greater awareness of the work being done by Latino playwrights. Recent recipients of the Award are Raul Garza, Carlos Murrillo, and Karen Zacarias. Felix Pire's winning play, The Origins of Happiness in Latin, was produced by ATC. Previous winner Kristoffer Diaz’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010.

 

The Last Red Book
by Michael Fenlason

2011 Arizona Playwriting Award winner The Last Red Book by Michael Fenlason is set in 1913 New York, where John Beverley publishes little books to improve people’s lives until the night his wayward brother is murdered in the Bowery. Beverley becomes unhappy and suspicious of the plodding police investigation that pins the murder on a battered woman of the streets. In deciding to investigate, he must descend to New York’s underworld of criminals and poets, artists and prostitutes, to discover the shocking truth of his brother’s death and life. The Arizona Playwriting Award was established by ATC to honor the quality of work created by Arizona playwrights. The award is meant to identify a play or musical of the highest caliber submitted by a current resident of Arizona.

 

Used To Was (Maybe Did)
by Brian Dykstra 

Used To Was (Maybe Did) is a Hip Hop play that uses the language of Hip Hop Poetry to argue age-old questions within the form. Style v. Substance, Ethics v. Selling Out, The Spirit of Hip Hop v. The Money of Hip Hop. Is it a language of love and inclusion, or is it all about the green? Used To Was (Maybe Did) will be presented in conjunction with the Tucson Museum of Art as part of TUCSON ROCKS!

 

Wetback
by Elaine Romero

The Minuteman Militia hold political rallies in the park, heightening the tension on the U.S./Mexican border. Wetback charts the intertwined fates of a privileged Latina high school principal, a Chicana activist journalist, and a Mexican undocumented worker. As the irrevocable consequences of the actions of the two women spin out of control, they find themselves grappling with their relationship to their cultural heritage for very different reasons.

 

Hunka
by Larissa FastHorse

After a lifetime of struggling with drugs and alcohol, Laura suddenly reconnects with the baby she gave up for adoption over twenty years ago, Nicole. However, the reunion was not as innocent as it seemed and opened up more questions than answers between Laura, Nicole and Rex, the child Laura kept.

They are brought together by Kit, Rex's teenage, homeless girlfriend, on the day she is going to have Rex's baby. Laura sees this baby as a chance to redeem herself as a mother, while Nicole didn't know anything about it, causing her to further question why she is in this "family". Kit is keeping the secret that Rex has split and orchestrates this night in a desperate attempt to find an ally to help her keep her child in a world where she is out of support and time.

As the night wears on, more secrets are revealed as Nicole and Kit realize that family is a choice. Sometimes a crazy choice, but one they are ready to make. 
 

The Color of Stars
by Dwayne Hartford

Presented in partnership with Childsplay

When Eddie is sent to live with his grandparents in rural Maine while his father is at war, a mysterious stranger arrives and a disastrous event soon follows. Only Eddie can solve the mystery that's tearing the town apart. A touching story about life in America during World War II, family, and the importance of telling the truth. A Childsplay world premiere read as part of Café Bohemia!

 

Tucson | Phoenix

Photos

Interactive

Artists

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Creative Team
Playwright (La Bella Familia)	EDWIN SÀNCHEZ
Director (La Bella Familia)	JENNIFER BAZZELL
Playwright (The Last Red Book)	MICHAEL FENLASON
Director (The Last Red Book)	DAVID MORDEN
Playwright (Used to Was (Maybe Did))	BRIAN DYKSTRA
Director (Used to Was (Maybe Did)) and (Hunka)	STEPHEN WRENTMORE
Playwright (Wetback)	ELAINE ROMERO
Director (Wetback)	SAMANTHA K. WYER
Playwright (Hunka)	LARISSA FASTHORSE
Playwright (The Color of Stars)	DWAYNE HARTFORD
Director (The Color of Stars)	GRAHAM WHITEHEAD
Cast
Kit (Hunka)	GABRIELA URIAS
Nicole (Hunka)	ERIKA STONE
Laura (Hunka)	LEANNÈ WHITEWOLF-CHARLTON
Rex (Hunka)	MAXTON SCOTT
Man (Hunka) Gustavo (Wetback)	ROBERT ENCILA*
Amalia Portillo (Wetback)	MARIA AMOROCHO*
César Marroquin (Wetback)	ISRAEL JIMENEZ
Richard Beverley (The Last Red Book) Benny (La Bella Familia) Bud Harris (Wetback)	CALE EPPS*
Bella (La Bella Familia) Samantha Ortiz (Wetback)	ALIDA HOLGUÍN GUNN
Laurie Harris (Wetback)	CAIT KILEY
Guy (La Bella Familia) Mike Harris (Wetback)	CHRIS KARL
Big Papa B (Used to Was (Maybe Did))	BRIAN DYKSTRA*
Little White Gurl (Used to Was (Maybe Did))	MICHELLE LUZ
Double D (Used to Was (Maybe Did))	CALION MASTON
MuddKat (Used to Was (Maybe Did))	MIKE TRAYLOR
John Beverley (The Last Red Book)	KEVIN BLACK*
Emelyn (The Last Red Book)	DALLAS THOMAS
Inspector (The Last Red Book)	BRENT GIBBS*
Jacoby (The Last Red Book)	MATTHEW WALLEY
Guilietta (The Last Red Book)	JENNIFER E. RIO (RUDDLE)
Hale Connaught (The Last Red Book)	BRENDAN MURPHY
Emily (The Last Red Book)	MARISSA GARCIA
Prosper (The Last Red Book)	VICTOR BOWLEG
Bebe (La Bella Familia)	GEORGIA HARRISON
Linda (La Bella Familia)	BROOKE DAVIS*
Joey (La Bella Familia)	BRIAN LEVARIO