Unproduced Works
Fantasma
It’s Christmas Eve in Southern California and Rosie’s family gathers in her newly-renovated kitchen to make chuchitos. She has been preparing the traditional Guatemalan food her whole life. Her grandchildren are eager to learn the recipe and document each measurement. But Rosie’s daughters know their mother’s cooking has more to do with intuition than metrics—and that recording and remembering are entirely different things. This imaginative, bittersweet journey spans nearly two decades as it explores what we keep, what we lose and the cost of letting go.
Commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theatre.
Commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theatre.
and thou shalt be healed
Siblings Mary and Johnny were raised in the same Christian cult. Now in their 30s, the still religious Mary is having a crisis of faith and is in need of a miracle. Her now secular brother offers a controversial solution. When reunited on a remote mountain in New Mexico, surrounded by energy vortexes, rumors of aliens, and a golden eyelash palm pit viper named Daisy, they wonder: Did they ever know the same God?
Developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference and in Primary Stage's Dorothy Strelsin New American Group.
Developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference and in Primary Stage's Dorothy Strelsin New American Group.
Produced Works
Alma
Winner of Arizona Theatre Company's National Latinx Playwriting Award and Winner of American Blues Theater's Blue Ink Playwriting Award.
Working mom Alma has singlehandedly raised her daughter, Angel, on tough love, home-cooked comida, and lots of prayers. But on the eve of the all-important SAT, Alma discovers her daughter isn’t at home studying. A schooling and la chancla await Angel at home—but so does a creeping realization that more’s at stake than just a test score. A sacrifice from Alma’s past weighs heavy on their present; now, Alma fears that her worst nightmare may soon be their reality. Will the American Dream cost them a life together? [synopsis by Cat Rodríguez]
Developed during a residency at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference in 2018, and with support from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts 2020 Colorado New Play Summit, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and The Playwrights' Center's 2016-17 Many Voices Fellowship.
Working mom Alma has singlehandedly raised her daughter, Angel, on tough love, home-cooked comida, and lots of prayers. But on the eve of the all-important SAT, Alma discovers her daughter isn’t at home studying. A schooling and la chancla await Angel at home—but so does a creeping realization that more’s at stake than just a test score. A sacrifice from Alma’s past weighs heavy on their present; now, Alma fears that her worst nightmare may soon be their reality. Will the American Dream cost them a life together? [synopsis by Cat Rodríguez]
Developed during a residency at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference in 2018, and with support from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts 2020 Colorado New Play Summit, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and The Playwrights' Center's 2016-17 Many Voices Fellowship.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Academic Production: Yale Cabaret (New Haven, CT), 2019
World Premiere (in cooperation with American Blues Theater): Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), 2022
ArtsWest Playhouse (Seattle, WA), 2022
World Premiere: American Blues Theater (Chicago,IL), 2022
Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO), 2023
Central Square Theater (Cambridge, MA), 2023
Academic Production: Yale Cabaret (New Haven, CT), 2019
World Premiere (in cooperation with American Blues Theater): Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), 2022
ArtsWest Playhouse (Seattle, WA), 2022
World Premiere: American Blues Theater (Chicago,IL), 2022
Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO), 2023
Central Square Theater (Cambridge, MA), 2023
In His Hands
Recipient of a KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award and Portland Stage's Clauder Competition Gold Prize.
This is a list of things Christian believes in: logic, banana Laffy Taffy, video games, and Daniel. This is a list of things Christian doesn't believe in: caffeine, alcohol, monogamy, and God. Daniel, a Mario Kart wizard and aspiring Lutheran pastor, is falling for Christian. But as these men explore the potential of their new relationship, voices from Christian's past threaten to overpower the connection they share -- with one another, and something bigger than themselves. [synopsis by Sarah Lunnie]
Developed with support from Texas Tech University's 2019 WildWind Performance Lab in Lubbock, Texas and The Playwrights' Center's 2017-18 McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting.
This is a list of things Christian believes in: logic, banana Laffy Taffy, video games, and Daniel. This is a list of things Christian doesn't believe in: caffeine, alcohol, monogamy, and God. Daniel, a Mario Kart wizard and aspiring Lutheran pastor, is falling for Christian. But as these men explore the potential of their new relationship, voices from Christian's past threaten to overpower the connection they share -- with one another, and something bigger than themselves. [synopsis by Sarah Lunnie]
Developed with support from Texas Tech University's 2019 WildWind Performance Lab in Lubbock, Texas and The Playwrights' Center's 2017-18 McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Academic Production: Yale School of Drama (New Haven, CT), 2019
World Premiere: Mosaic Theater Company (Washington, DC), 2022
Academic Production: Yale School of Drama (New Haven, CT), 2019
World Premiere: Mosaic Theater Company (Washington, DC), 2022
What / Washed
Ashore / Astray
Twin sisters, Cat and Chris, are reunited in their beloved family cabin on the Pacific Northwest shoreline. But everything has aged: the cottage, their bodies. Then, dead things wash ashore, conch shells become uninhabited, ice caves melt, the water surrounding the cabin comes up higher and higher...and one of them will die within the year.
Developed with support from The Playwrights' Center's 2017-18 McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting and Pillsbury House Theatre (Minneapolis, MN).
Developed with support from The Playwrights' Center's 2017-18 McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting and Pillsbury House Theatre (Minneapolis, MN).
PRODUCTION HISTORY
World Premiere: Pillsbury House + Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), 2023
World Premiere: Pillsbury House + Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), 2023
Manning
Winner of Portland Stage's Clauder Competition Grand Prize.
A father and his sons spread the ashes of his wife/their mother in their backyard garden. When a giant zucchini manifests overnight, they each begin to develop language for their individual experiences of loss through their interactions with the supernatural vegetable. But can they also develop a communal vocabulary to express their grief with each other?
Developed with support from the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages (NYC).
A father and his sons spread the ashes of his wife/their mother in their backyard garden. When a giant zucchini manifests overnight, they each begin to develop language for their individual experiences of loss through their interactions with the supernatural vegetable. But can they also develop a communal vocabulary to express their grief with each other?
Developed with support from the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages (NYC).
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Academic Production: Yale School of Drama (New Haven, CT), 2021
Academic Production: Yale School of Drama (New Haven, CT), 2021