The CalArts School of Theater will present blu, a new play by Virginia Grise, named runner up for the 2008 Latino/a Playwriting Award at the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival. The play tells the story of two Chicanas leading their family to unearth sacred rituals and restore balance despite barrio realities of gang violence. Blu was written by Virginia Grise and will be directed by Jon Rivera.
Virginia Grise is a Chicana cultural worker-writer, performer and teacher from San Antonio, Texas. She has worked as a curator, artist and activist facilitating organizing efforts among women, immigrant, Chicano, working class and queer youth. Virginia has taught writing as a public school teacher, in community centers and in the juvenile correction system. She is currently teaching playwriting to high school students in East Los Angeles, through the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP). As part of the Latino/a Playwriting Award Virginia was awarded a Kennedy Center summer fellow residency with Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center to further develop the script for this production of blu.
Dates:
Wednesday, December 3 through Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 2:00 p.m.
Monday, December 8 through Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Place:
Ensemble Theater II (E407) at CalArts (24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia).
Admission is free and by reservation only. For reservations, please visit the CalArts events site and click on blu.
Jon Lawrence Rivera most recently directed The Joy Luck Club by Susan Kim, adapted from the novel by Amy Tan (East West Players), Sea Change by Nick Salamone (Davidson/ Valentini Theater) and The Third From The Left by Jean Colonomos (2008 NY Fringe Festival). He is the recipient of two Ovation Award nominations for directing the musical Songs For A New World by Jason Robert Brown at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre (Santa Barbara Independent Award, best director) and for directing the Los Angeles premiere of Dogeaters at SIPA (Maddy Award, best director). He is the founding artistic director of Playwrights’ Arena and his productions have garnered over 80 local and international awards.