East Valley Rep - 10 Minute Play Festival

There was a full house at Coachella Valley Art Center to watch the second and final performance of "Tacos, Teardrops and Tequila", East Valley Rep's 10-Minute Play Festival. According to the audience during the Q&A session after the performance, the plays were entertaining, humorous and sometimes touching. Some audience members were teary-eyed during a couple of the plays. Stand-outs were "It's Not Right" (about abortion), "Happy Anniversary"(dealing with Alzheimer's) and "Meet Your Meat" (about veganism). All pieces were definitely thought-provoking. It's a wonderful start for a new theatre company.

By Carlos Garcia - Artistic Director EAST VALLEY REP

“Tacos, Teardrops, and Tequila” NEW EAST VALLEY THEATRE LAUNCHES WITH A “TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL ON SEPTEMBER 25 AND 26

 by David Gonzalez

NEW EAST VALLEY THEATRE LAUNCHES WITH A “TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL" ON SEPTEMBER 25 AND 26 

at Coachella Valley Arts Center

Not long ago the idea for a local theatre company was a twinkling in the eye of Carlos Garcia, then there were active dreams, then brainstorming, planning, and last Spring the EVR launched with two new bi-lingual play readings.  And now the EVR is back with an exciting program of short new theatre pieces written by, directed, and acted largely by East Valley community members.

Playwright Laura Aranjo and EVR Artistic Director Carlos Garcia prepare scripts for auditions.

Hopefuls prepare their audition.

Carlos and David G - dueling, (actually collaborating) computers during a strategic planning session.

PRESS RELEASE

East Valley Rep, a new theatrical venture located in the eastern end of the Coachella Valley, will launch its first full production, “Tacos, Teardrops and Tequila,” a Ten-Minute Play Festival, on September 25 and 26 at 7pm at the Coachella Valley Art Center, 45140 Towne Street, Indio.

“Starting a new theatre company is a daunting adventure,” said artistic director Carlos Garcia. “So we recruited adventurous playwrights and actors seeking the challenge of staging a theatrical production of original works. The result is “Tacos, Teardrops and Tequila.”

Seven playwrights participated in playwrighting workshops in August creating seven ten-minute plays addressing issues such as abortion, mental illness, immigration, Alzheimer’s, funeral planning, veganism and homophobia. “Some are funny, some are sad, but all are entertaining and they demonstrate the talent of Coachella Valley residents,” said Garcia.

The writing workshops were supported in part by the Crisalida Arts Project, which is spearheaded by New York performer David Gonzalez in partnership with the McCallum Theatre and funded through a grant from the James Irvine Foundation. Mr. Gonzalez will be moderating a Questions and Answers session immediately following the performances. 

Tickets for the festival are $10 per person. It is recommended for mature audiences only. The material is not suitable for children. Please contact carlos@eastvalleyrep.com to make reservations or for more information about the program and/or the theatre company.

VISIT THE EVR @ https://www.facebook.com/evr.happenings

New video of Herrera event!

New video just published!

U.S. POET LAUREATE Juan Felipe Herrera comes to East Valley

Thank you Jorge Perezchica for doing a great job.

The Time Is Now for the 10-Minute Play Festival!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

for 10-Minute Play Festival:

“Tacos, Teardrops &  Tequila”

East Valley Rep is now accepting completed 10-minute plays, or synopses and well-developed ideas for plays. All participants must participate in Writing Workshops to be held in August. Auditions and rehearsals will be conducted in September. This is an exciting opportunity!

Performance dates: September 25 and 26, 2015

at Coachella Valley Arts Center, Indio.

      Please contact Carlos Garcia at carlos@eastvalleyrep.com for guidelines regarding play setting and number of characters.

Juan Felipe Herrera, We Love You!

 
Blog by Moises Huerta

Thanks David for the beautiful blog you entered previously on the celebration of Juan Felipe Herrera being selected as 2015 Poet Laureate. Well done. I was there and I witnessed a love fest. This gentle, childlike poet reached the many who attended this well-deserved tribute. Here is a list of some of his many accomplishments.

Juan Felipe Herrera was born in Fowler, California, on December 27, 1948. The son of migrant farm workers, Herrera moved often, living in trailers or tents along the roads of the San Joaquin Valley in Southern California. As a child, he attended school in a variety of small towns from San Francisco to San Diego. He began drawing cartoons while in middle school, and by high school was playing folk music by Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie.
Herrera graduated from San Diego High in 1967, and was one of the first wave of Chicanos to receive an Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) scholarship to attend UCLA. There, he became immersed in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, and began performing in experimental theater, influenced by Allen Ginsberg and Luis Valdez.
In 1972, Herrera received a BA in Social Anthropology from UCLA. He received a masters in Social Anthropology from Stanford in 1980, and went on to earn an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1990.
His interests in indigenous cultures inspired him to lead a formal Chicano trek to Mexican Indian villages, from the rain forest of Chiapas to the mountains of Nayarit. The experience greatly changed him as an artist. His work, which includes video, photography, theater, poetry, prose, and performance, has made Herrera a leading voice on the Mexican American and indigenous experience.
Herrera is the author of many collections of poetry, including Senegal Taxi (University of Arizona Press, 2013); Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press, 2008), a recipient of the PEN/Beyond Margins Award; 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross The Border: Undocuments 1971–2007 (City Lights, 2007); and Crashboomlove (University of New Mexico Press, 1999), a novel in verse, which received the Americas Award.
His books of prose for children include: Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes (Dial Books, 2014); SkateFate (Rayo, 2011) Calling The Doves (Children’s Book, 2001); Upside Down Boy (2006), which was adapted into a musical in New York City; and Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box (HarperCollins, 2005), which tells the tragedy of 9/11 through the eyes of a young Puerto Rican girl.
Ilan Stavans, the Mexican American essayist, has said: “There is one constant over the past three decades in Chicano literature and his name is Juan Felipe Herrera. Aesthetically, he leaps over so many canons that he winds up on the outer limits of urban song. And spiritually, he is deep into the quest that we all must begin before it is too late.”
In a profile of Herrera in The New York Times, Stephen Burt wrote: “Many poets since the 1960s have dreamed of a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too. Many poets have tried to create such an art: Herrera is one of the first to succeed.”
Herrera has received fellowships and grants from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Stanford Chicano Fellows Program, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Over the past three decades, he has founded a number of performance ensembles, and has taught poetry, art, and performance in community art galleries and correctional facilities. He has taught at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and served as chair of the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department at CSU-Fresno.
Herrera currently holds the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Creative Writing Department at UC Riverside. He is also director of the Art and Barbara Culver Center for the Arts, a new multimedia space in downtown Riverside, California. He was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2011. In 2015, Herrera was named Poet Laureate of the United States.
He is the father of five children, and lives in Fresno, California, with his partner, the poet and performance artist, Margarita Robles.

Some of the content of this blog was attained courtesy of poets.org.

Images from the Crisalida Tribute to Juan Felipe Herrera.

 ...more images from our tribute to Juan Felipe Herrera...all photographs here are by Jorge Perezchica.

The gang of East Valley Poets

Parked in front of Coachella Valley Art Center, Indio.

Poet Francisco Rodriguez

Mario was awesome last night.

Arturo getting ready to read one of Herrera's pieces.

Sofia Enriquez with a self-portrait in the Crisalida Van.

...another one  by Sofia Enriquez.

Looking in the mirror?

Arturo Castellanos delivered, big time.

Ms. Castellanos read one of her pieces and Mr. Herrera loved it!

Praise to the SKYPE gods.

Poet Jesse

Francisco was a student of Juan Felipe...can you tell!

Isidro Zepeda

Mariana Zepeda

Writers, Singers and the U.S. Poet Laureate!

Writers, Singers and the U.S. Poet Laureate!

It has been a remarkable week in Crisalida-Land.  Tuesday we were at the Crisalida Poetry Writing Workshop led by Maria Galaviz in the Mecca neighborhood of North Shore right on the Salton Sea.  Thursday we set up our mobile art studio/music venue at The Gallile Center in Mecca, and Friday we hosted the new Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, for a rousing two-hour Skype poetry reading/open mic.

The East Valley is sharing its voice, a lot!

Poetry Workshop - North Shore

Maria asked me to give a workshop to her dedicated students on effective techniques for reading poetry aloud.

Writers doing what writers do, and with team work.

Mano a mano, voice to voice.

The Salton Sea from the North Shore.

Gotta say the students were terrific.

See the class, see the sea...

Maria Galaviz brings home cooked meals to each of her classes, makes for a delicious time.

Tools of the trade...

The poet speaks...

The teacher reads...

Getting down...literally.

It was Mrs. Garza's last class (seated in center with white shirt), so we sent her off in style.

Galilee Center Performance

Another dream came true on Thursday.  Back in September I volunteered at the Galilee Center Food Bank in Mecca and had the thought that one day we would have a Crisalida Van packed with art, a sound stage, and offer music and joy to the weekly gathering of folks who wait for hours for their baskets of groceries.  Though the heat was 115 degrees, and the van didn't yet have A/C, our Crisalida Team of Moises Huerta and Oscar Guevara made magic happen.  The van looked great, Oscar's artwork drew a crowd, and our guest artist, Jesus Galaviz, sang his heart out. 

Delighted that Mitch Gershenfeld, the CEO and President of the McCallum Theatre came out to Mecca to see the project in action.

Jesus Galaviz sang original songs and some popular favorites.

Take note of the butterfly...and the eyes.

Take note of the butterfly...and the cheeks!

The scene...

Visitors inside the van with Oscar Guevara and his remarkable artwork.

Tribute to Juan Felipe Herrera at Coachella Valley Arts Center

Crisalida Community Arts Project raised the roof last night at the Coachella Valley Art Center in Indio in praise for our new U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera.  Thanks to local artist/photographer Jacklyn Garcia Lopez and East Valley Rep founder, Carlos Garcia we were able to bring Mr. Herrera to the community via Skype.  An enthusiastic crowd of poets, artists, musicians, readers and thinkers gathered to celebrate the first Latino poet laureate.  The deal was if you read an Herrera poem you can read one of your poems...and it worked beautifully, about a dozen poets brought Herrera's words to life, and then got to present their work the crowd.  Once again big thanks to the Crisalida team for making this happen!  Special thanks to Francisco Rodriguez, Mariana and Isidro Zepeda, Moises Huerta, Luis Fausto, Bill Shinksy, Edgar, and Oscar!  Also, big thanks to Sofia Enriquez who brought her stunning visual art to show in/out of the Crisalida van.  These are just a few images...more on the way.

The Giant, (aka Mario Garcia) rendered Mr. Herrera's poetry with a hiphop flavor.

Red sun over Indio.

Notice Mr. Herrera on the screen - he was wonderfully generous, genuine, and fun to hang with.