The Festival kicks off on Friday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m. with Celebrating Community Voices, an evening of short works created by San Diego residents through the Globe’s arts engagement programs Community Voices and coLAB. These readings include Codeswitchin’ Is Conscious by Andréa Agosto, Pussycats by Thelma Virata de Castro, Tune Up by Tim Cole, The Mojave by Jaime Estepa, Transit Stop by Jordan Jacobo, When the Sun Dies by Melanie Taing,and Courtesan Way by Zakiyyah Saleem. All of the readings will be directed by Gerardo Flores Tonella and Katherine Harroff. The Community Voices and coLAB initiatives are play-development workshops that provide professional theatre-making skills to select San Diego communities. This evening is a curated collection of some of the best short scripts developed in these programs.

Press Release

CELEBRATING COMMUNITY VOICES:
Friday, January 10, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Codeswitchin’ Is Conscious
By Andréa Agosto

Pussycats
By Thelma Virata de Castro

Tune Up
By Tim Cole

The Mojave
By Jaime Estepa

Transit Stop
By Jordan Jacobo

Courtesan Way
By Zakiyyah Saleem

When the Sun Dies
By Melanie Taing


NEW AMERICAN PLAYS:
Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, 2020
Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.

El Borracho
By Tony Meneses
Directed by Edward Torres

Raul is sick. He drinks, because he always drinks, just like “el borracho” on the loteria card. In his final months, Raul is forced to move in with his ex-wife Alma, who now has to care for the man she thought she’d never have to see again, and his son David, who has secrets he’s longing to share. Tony Meneses’s compelling tragicomedy follows one family’s journey to come together so they can finally say goodbye.

Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
By Chad Beckim
Directed by Shelley Butler

Clay and Jess have big dreams: college, refuge from the cold Maine winters, and a permanent escape from the paycheck-to-paycheck, rent-a-center-furniture lifestyle of their parents. When Jess finds herself temporarily stuck behind and at odds with her stepfather, she moves in with Clay’s mom and begrudgingly takes a job at the local chicken farm. Meanwhile Clay heads off to college, counting down the days to his return, desperate to avoid the destiny of his geography. Nothing Gold Can Stay is a love story for the opioid era.

Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.  
Globe-commissioned
The Age of Innocence
By Karen Zacarías
Directed by James Vásquez

In 1870s New York City, handsome lawyer Newland Archer satisfies everyone's expectations when he becomes engaged to the sweet debutante May Welland. But when May's older cousin arrives, her determination to live life on her own terms will make Newland question everything he believes to be true. Based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book, Karen Zacarías’s fresh new adaptation uses lush language and dynamic theatricality to examine the ways desire must negotiate the complex rules of society.

Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Globe-commissioned
The Shutter Sisters
By Jiréh Breon Holder
Directed by Shelley Butler

Shutter Sisters tells the story of two women living parallel lives on the hardest days of their lives. A white woman named Michael attends her adopted mother’s funeral, while a black woman named Mykal kicks her adult daughter out of her home. A heartfelt and surprising journey through womanhood, identity, and what it means to belong.