Desde Otro 0/ From Another Zero: A PLACE CALLED HOME IS THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE ITS 3RD ANNUAL EL CENTRO DEL SUR LATINX THEATER FESTIVAL:

"TU HOGAR" AND FREE COMMUNITY BLOCK PARTY DURING LATINX HERITAGE MONTH: SEPTEMBER 14 TO SEPTEMBER 17

Press Release

LOS ANGELES – A Place Called Home (APCH), the transformative youth development and community center serving South Central Los Angeles, currently celebrating its 30^th anniversary, is thrilled to announce the return of its 3^rd annual El Centro Del Sur Latinx Theater Festival: Tu Hogar plus FREE Community Block Party in honor of Latinx Heritage Month.

Efrain Schunior, Festival Director and APCH Theater Program Manager stated, “We are beyond excited to present our 3rd annual Latinx Theater Festival as a kick-off to Latinx Heritage Month. Due to pandemic closures and considerations during the previous two festivals, we were unable to realize our original vision for the scope of the festival. This year, we are adding a block party element on Saturday, and presenting a full slate of seven wonderful Latinx theater pieces throughout the course of four days. Four of the plays featured are critically acclaimed encore presentations previously performed in Los Angeles this past season, and one production is an exclusive APCH premiere. We invite the entire community to join us for the shows as well as the free community block party on Saturday, September 16th from 10am to 5pm!"

El Centro Del Sur Latinx Theater Festival includes four Encore productions: La Egoista, presented by Skylight Theatre Company; (Un)Documents, written and performed by Jesús I. Valles; L.A. Real, presented by About…Productions; The Diary of Anne Frank (LatinX), presented by Pop-Up Playhouse, Burbank Human Relations Commission, Tracey Rooney, Wilson Cruz. Programming will also include an exclusive APCH premiere production of Mariposa presented by Company of Angels; a workshop staging of Bodalands: A Comedy in Four Weddings, presented by ACT@APCH; and a staged reading of Spread presented by The Sideway Society with Alumni Members of A Place Called Home.

“We are honored to bring together such a powerhouse and dynamic group of Latiné creators from Los Angeles and beyond, established partners and new friends, to celebrate our shared heritage in a big way through the arts. South Central has been relatively unknown by the greater LA arts community and we are shifting that narrative with this year’s El Centro del Sur,” said Schunior.

El Centro De Sur Latinx Theater Festival: Tu Hogar schedule is as follows: Thu. Sept. 14 @ 8 pm, Mariposa; Fri. Sept. 15 @ 8 pm, La Egosita; Sat. Sept. 16 @ 3 pm, Bodalands, A Comedy in Four Weddings; Sat. Sept. 16 @ 8 pm, (Un)Documents; Sun. Sept. 17 @ 12 pm, Spread; Sun. Sept. 17 @ 3 pm, L.A. Real; Sun. Sept. 17 @ 7 pm, The Diary of Anne Frank (LatinX).

FREE Community Block Party will be Sat, Sept. 16 from 10 am to 5 pm in conjunction with the festival. Come enjoy art vendors, food trucks, performances by A Place Called Home’s dance company and others yet to be announced.

All plays presented are family-friendly (PG / TV-14) and feature all Latinx casts, writers, directors, designers, and crew. The festival is produced in part by the teen members of APCH Theater Program’s Advanced Classes in Theater (ACT@APCH).

Tickets for all plays are only $10 each!

Get a 7-play festival pass for only $50.

There’s also a $100 VIP Festival Pass which includes 7 concessions items and VIP seating to all performances.

For more information and tickets, visit: www.apch.org/elcentrodelsur

ABOUT A PLACE CALLED HOME

A Place Called Home is a transformational youth development and community center based in South Central Los Angeles. Founded in 1993 as a safe space for young people facing poverty and systemic adversity, APCH’s mission is to inspire, encourage, and support the young people in South Los Angeles to achieve social, emotional, and economic success. APCH envisions a world where your zip code does not determine your future; where all children have the opportunity to find happiness and success in life. To learn more visit: apch.org

ABOUT THE BRIDGE THEATER

The opening of The Bridge Theater in 2017 ushered in a new era of opportunities for young people to engage in acting, playwriting, theatrical production, and theater management opportunities. The 90011-zip code where APCH is located, is one of the most impoverished and systemically under-resourced in the nation. This incredible space for learning also doubles as a cultural enrichment and artistic entertainment venue for the entire neighborhood. Since returning to in-person programming, the theater program at APCH has seen increased engagement and attendance, partly in response to the success of the inaugural El Centro del Sur.

ABOUT PARTICIPATING COMPANIES

ACT @ APCH (Advanced Classes in Theater) is the producing side of the A Place Called Home theater program. Through ACT, teenagers learn to produce professional quality work both as actors and technicians. ACT@APCH was conceived in 2019 and has since produced multiple teen actors' showcases as well as No Saco Nada de La Escuela (2019); Alice in Slasherland and 10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine (2020); Antigone 3021 (2021); She Kills Monsters and Los Vendidos (2022).

About...Productions creates original interdisciplinary theaterworks and educational programs that provoke new

perspectives on history, humanity, and culture. Now in its 35th year, the company is dedicated to generating new work through collaboration to create artistic and community dialogue. Since its inception, our company's innovative artistic work has been built in a collaborative process that represents a diversity of voices from Greater Los Angeles. Our critically acclaimed productions explore notions of cultural identity and authenticity, new historical perspectives, and the human condition through creative and experimental uses of music, media, and other artistic mediums within the theatrical form.

Company of Angels: Founded in 1959 by a group of television and film actors that included Richard Chamberlain, Leonard Nimoy, and Vic Morrow, Company of Angels is now the oldest professional theater in Los Angeles. As such it has a revised mission to provide a space for the voices and audiences neglected by the major regional theaters. Company of Angels now produces original work by professional theater artists who reflect the communities that make up the City of Los Angeles and engages residents from low-income communities including Boyle Heights and Skid Row to develop original theater pieces for performance. In this way CoA re-envisions theater to reflect and respond to the richness, diversity, and complexity that is Los Angeles, entertaining new audiences and serving the City of Angels.

Pop-Up Playhouse: Stan Zimmerman's theatrical company, received fifteen 2018 Broadway World nominations for their productions of Pledge, Knife to the Heart, and The Diary of Anne Frank (LatinX). The Diary of Anne Frank starring a predominantly Latinx cast, gained worldwide attention and has played engagements in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Burbank’s Colony Theatre, and a theatre festival in Vancouver. Pop-Up Playhouse, produced A Wendy Weekend for Playbill. The virtual reading celebrated three of Wendy Wasserstein's plays performed by a repertory company of thirty actors and raised money for TDF. In 2021, the company presented Have A Good One, Zimmerman, and Christian McLauglin’s latest comedy.

The Sideway Society is a community of artists dedicated to revealing human truth through moments of beautiful spectacle. Founded in 2015, TSS has produced a wide array of theater, films, music videos, and podcasts.

Skylight Theatre Company: For the past 40 years, Skylight Theatre Company has been dedicated to supporting theater artists in honing their skills and developing their careers. Skylight was recognized as “a leader in play development” by the LA Times in 2020 and a “powerhouse of new play development” by Dramatist Magazine in 2014. Theater companies across Los Angeles and the country have produced plays developed at Skylight. Since 2017, two Skylight world premieres have been produced Off-Broadway: The Wrong Man by Ross Golan and Church & State by Jason Odell Williams. We envision a future where storytellers from diverse backgrounds have access to the necessary resources and opportunities to produce plays within a state-of-the-art theater for an engaged audience representative of LA. Over the years, our productions have won awards such as the Ovation Award, LA Drama Critics Circle Award, Stage Raw Award, and the prestigious Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation.

Jesús I. Valles (they/them) is a queer Mexican immigrant, educator, and writer-performer from Cd. Juarez/El Paso. Valles is the winner of the 2023 Yale Drama Series, selected by Jeremy O. Harris (Bathhouse.pptx), the winner of the 2022 Kernodle Playwriting Prize (a river, its mouths), and the 2022 Emerging Theatre Professional, selected by the National Theatre Conference. As a playwright, Valles received support from The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, The Flea, The Kennedy Center, The Lortel, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, OUTsider Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Teatro Vivo, and The VORTEX. As a poet, Valles received fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, Idyllwild Arts, Lambda Literary, Tin House, and Undocupoets. Valles is a Core Apprentice of the Playwrights’ Center and received their MFA in writing for performance from Brown University.

ABOUT THE PLAYS

Mariposa by Chris Banda: The life of the Rodriguez’s, a Mexican American Family living in a small home in Baldwin Park California, twenty miles east of Los Angeles, is confronted by a changing neighborhood, illness, and family traditions which add to difficult decisions they must consider as life moves forward.

La Egoista by Erlina Ortiz: Josefina is a stand-up comic on the rise who takes nothing seriously. Her younger sister Betsaida, on the other hand, takes everything seriously. When a sudden diagnosis upends Betsaida's life, they're thrown together to rediscover all the affection, friction, and humor that still fuels their relationship.

Bodalands, A Comedy in Four Weddings by Leonard Madrid: Four cousins and four weddings over twenty years. An original Latinx comedy by playwright Leonard Madrid about the life-long bonds of cousins...and everyone gets kidnapped at least once. Bodalands held its first reading at Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Blackout Theatre Company this year.

(Un)Documents by Jesús I. Valles: In their first full-length solo show, (Un)Documents, award-winning actor and poet Jesús I. Valles journeys across both sides of a river with two names, moving between languages to find their place as a child, a lover, a teacher, and a sibling in a nation that demands sacrifice at the altar of citizenship.

Spread by Jesús I. Valles: Take some dry ramen and throw it in a plastic bag. Add Hot Cheetos, beef jerky bits, beans, Hot Fries, and hot water. Anything can be anything. Jeffrey, Andrew, Chris, and Jordan are 9th-grade boys and they’re trying their absolute best, and the thing about 9th grade is nobody knows what they’re doing.

L.A. Real by Theresa Chavez: Pondering its complicated layers, a Latina dives deep into her California ancestral history and how she should embrace it on a personal, political, and cultural level. How can she connect to a past that has been nearly lost in time and move forward with a deeper sense of her identity? Featuring Marlene Beltran in this solo performance piece.

The Diary Of Anne Frank (LatinX) by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly Adapted by Wendy Kesselman: A beloved and deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit of Anne Frank, the teen girl who went in hiding with her family during the German Nazi regime. Performed by a predominantly Latinx cast we witness that persecution of your beliefs, and who you are, impacts all cultures.

Details for Calendar Listings

EL Centro Del Sur Latinx Theater Festival: Tu Hogar

WHAT:

A Place Called Home’s 3rd Annual El Centro Del Sur Latinx Theater Festival: Tu Hogar & Free Community Block Party in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month.

WHO:

Mariposa presented by Company of Angels

La Egoista, presented by Skylight Theater

Bodalands, A Comedy in Four Weddings presented by ACT@APCH

(Un)Documents, performed by Jesús I. Valles

Spread, presented by The Sideway Society

L.A. Real, presented by About…Productions

The Diary of Anne Frank (Latinx), presented by Pop-Up Playhouse

WHEN:

Thursday, September 14, 2023 @ 8 pm: Mariposa

Friday, September 15, 2023 @ 8 pm: La Egoista

Saturday, September 16, 2023 @ 3 pm: Bodalands, A Comedy in Four Weddings