HOUSTON: Continuing with its mission to support Latinx playwrights, the 50 Playwrights Project (50PP) has released its second annual list of recommended unproduced Latinx plays. Dubbed the 50PP List, it comprises eight production-ready plays by Latinx playwrights.
Inspired by the Kilroys’ annual list of the most recommended unproduced new plays by cis female and trans playwrights in the American theatre, 50PP made a call in the fall of 2017 for unproduced plays by playwrights who identify as Latinx. The committee received 75 submissions, from which it chose the top 8 unproduced plays.
The 50PP List is a tool for producers committed to updating the narrative of the American theatre to include more Latinx voices, which are “are systematically underrepresented on U.S. stages despite the robust artistic production by Latinx writers,” according to a statement from 50PP.
Below is the full list. Click here for play descriptions, cast sizes, and directions for contacting the writers.
The Anatomy of Light by Juliany Taveras, a play about a young boy, a family, an island or two, and what it means to love and to lose, set in 21st-century Brooklyn but moving freely in time.
Penny Pinball Presents The Beacons by Georgina Escobar, an action-packed “retro-futura” story, loosely inspired by pinball and the 1970s cult classic The Warriors, that reimagines Manhattan as a debtor’s prison.
Brothers, Sisters, Santos: Stories from Familia Rojas by Briandaniel Oglesby, a trio of one-acts about a fictional family, with each play focusing on a different “missing” sibling.
Fado by Elaine Avila, about a woman who goes to Portugal to study fado, the music of her people, and uncovers more than she bargained for about her family and her heritage.
Nativity by Darrel Alejandro Holnes , a “ballet play” about a soldier returning from the U.S. war in Afghanistan who violently struggles to find solid ground between delusion and reality with his partner, Mariela.
Q u e r e n c i a: an imagined autobiography about forbidden fruits by Benjamin Benne, about a 13-year-old in Los Angeles County who’s grappling with his sexual identity while dealing with a formerly incarcerated aunt and a school bully.
Red Bike by Caridad Svich, about a child growing up in the contradictory, confusing terrain of today’s middle America.
Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally by Noah Diaz, is a play about a family facing change.
The 50PP List 2018 selection committee was made up of Adriana Gaviria, Brian Eugenio Herrera, Carlo Garcia, Gina Sandi-Diaz, Jorge Huerta, Karina Gutiérrez, Lucas Garcia, Michele Apriña Leavy, Michele Shaul, Michelle Lopez-Rio, Noe Montez, Rachael Logue, and Shaun Leisher.
*In an earlier version of this story, Darrel Alejandro Holnes’ name was misspelled. It has been fixed. Sorry Darrel!
