Teatro Luna is Chicago’s first and only all-Latina theater company. We approach our work as artists from the perspective that stories matter, that our stories matter, and that our stories represent histories beyond our individual lives that are not often heard.
www.teatroluna.org
Machos. October 2006 @ Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
Women. Men. Women dressed as men. Machos is Teatro Luna’s first foray into “the other side.” Based on community interviews with men from diverse racial, ethnic, class, and regional backgrounds, Machos asks the question: What do men really think about Latina women? Machos is funded by a generous creation grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
Would you like to be interviewed? Please contact us at teatroluna@aol.com.
Quita Mitos. August 2006 @ The Goodman Latino Theater Festival, October 2006 @ Aguijon Theater
Written by Mexican born playwright Tanya Saracho, and directed by the lovely and talented Coya Paz (me), this solo show offers a moving snapshot of three very different Mexican women who find themselves culturally and geographically adrift in a cheap motel room.
S-e-x-Oh! at Chicago Dramatists. January 6-February 16, 2006
S-e-x-Oh! is Teatro Luna’s fourth original ensemble built show, taking up the complicated intersections between sex, gender, and nuestra latinidad. My friend Ana calls it a show about our corporeal geographies – sounds good, doesn’t it! Based on our true life stories, plus a few strategic reimaginings (so we can convince our parents we’re still virgins, never had an abortion, aren’t really lesbians, etc) S-e-x-Oh! covers a range of topics, from the serious (sexual violence) to the tragically hilarious (a condom stuck where????). Written by Teatro Luna, directed by Coya Paz and Tanya Saracho.
S-e-x-Oh! is AVAILABLE FOR TOURING!!!! See www.teatrolunaanda.com for details and rates.
Photo one: S-e-x-Oh!
Photo two:S-e-x-Oh!
The Maybe True Lives of Josefa Segovia
Josefa Segovia, sometimes called Juanita, was lynched in Downieville, California in 1851. Some said she was a Mexican prostitute, others said she was the Spanish wife of a miner; some said she was a devil eyed maniac, and others said she killed a man to defend her virtue. Either way, she holds the dubious honour of being the only woman lynched during the California Gold Rush. This is an ensemble-based performance that draws on primary source material and original archival research, and is being created as part of my artistís residency at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago.
Solo Latinas/Solo Tú. Ongoing.
Teatro Luna’s ongoing solo works project is in its second year, offering Latina writers and performers space to develop solo performances in a supportive and structured community. In 2004, 9 women wrote solo shows, four of which were produced in a full run by Teatro Luna. In 2005, over fifteen women are in the process of creating shows, touching on topics ranging from kidney transplants to dancing gay uncles to sexual abuse in the Catholic church. Look for a festival of one-woman shows in 2006.
White Girls. Ongoing.
“I’m not a racist, but…” This solo project starts with the “but” and moves from there, following the coded language of racial ideology. Based on private and bits of overheard conversations, every word of this piece is stolen from other people’s mouths. Now, I know, generally writers shouldn’t take pride in passing off something someone else said as their own, but when it comes to racism sometimes the only thing to do is to expose it verbatim.
The Drag King Rooftop Karaoke Hootchie Cootchie No Name Show and Musical Latin Extravaganza.. January 2004 @ Northwestern University
A campy reinvention of the musical I love to hate! This project is once a parodic critique and a loving homage to the 1961 filmic version of W[title] S[censured] S[on the advice of our lawyer], marking our attempts to reconcile the queer joy we take in WSS’s ballet dancing gangs, homoerotic male bonding, and fierce proto-dyke tomboys with the undeniably racist ways in which the film portrays the Puerto Rican characters and structures the Jets (the “white” gang) as the heroic protagonists in the play. Directed by Coya Paz and Michelle Campbell, musical direction by Tamara Roberts.
Photo: dana cruz, tamara roberts, rebekah albert.
Photo: jessica "chip starlight" hudson and tamara roberts.
The Maria Chronicles. Fall 2003 @ Teatro Luna; August 2004 @ Theater On The Lake
This is a show that launched a movement – Nalgonas Unidas Jamas Seran Vencidas. The Maria Chonicles is based on the real life stories of ten Latina actresses, and is a sharp and funny look at the casting industry from a Latina point of view.
Photo: The Maria Chronicles at Theater on the Lake.
Malleus Maleficarum. Spring 2002 @ Northwestern University
35 min solo performance based on the witch hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch’s Hammer), which gave instructions on how to torture suspected witches into confessing their “demonic alliances”. Also offered detailed instructions on what to do if a witch stole your penis and hid it in a bird’s nest – see, even witch hunts can be funny (in retrospect).
Dejame Contarte/Let Me Tell You. Spring 2001 @ INTAR NYC; Winter 2002 @ Storefront Theater
Teatro Luna’s second ensemble piece, based on true-life stories and the 2000 Census.
Generic Latina Spring 2001, Summer 2002
The play that started it all – Teatro Luna’s very first performance, drawing on real life stories to explore “Latina” as a coalitional term that accounts for a diverse diaspora.