THEATRE EVENTS

WORLD PREMIERE OPENS SAN DIEGO OPERA SEASON

San Diego Opera will present the world premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) on Saturday, October 29 at the San Diego Civic Theatre. Additional performances will be on November 1, 4 and 6.

El ultimó sueño de Frida y Diego is the first opera by Frank, the Grammy Award-winning composer. The libretto was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. These performances will star soprano Guadalupe Paz as Frida, last heard locally as Mercedes in 2019’s Carmen. She is joined by baritone Alfredo Daza as Diego, soprano Maria Katzarava as Catrina, and countertenor Key’mon Murrah as Leonardo, all making their San Diego Opera debuts.

The new opera is a fictional story exploring the lives of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who have inspired generations of artists. During the celebration of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), surrounded by candles and the fragrance of marigolds, the great muralist Diego Rivera longs to see his deceased wife once more. Catrina, the keeper of the souls, approaches Frida in the afterlife and explains that Diego desperately needs his beloved wife as the end of his life approaches. For only 24 hours, Frida and Diego will relive their tumultuous love through their paintings and will embrace the passion they shared.

“Frida Kahlo has been a hero since my girlhood,” Frank said. “Before I could read, I found her in the pages of an art book in my mother’s home library, the only woman in a multi-volume set of ‘great artists.’ My mother pointed out how Frida was small, brown and creative like us; moreover, of thick brow, disabled and a daughter of both Europe and Latin America like me. Images in her paintings danced in my dreams for years. Now with my first opera with librettist Nilo Cruz, it has been a privilege to lose myself in this fantastical story exploring Frida’s tumultuous love affair, even beyond life itself, with Mexican painter Diego Rivera against the vibrant backdrop of the Day of the Dead. I am grateful.” sdopera.org

JESÚS I. VALLES TAKES AUDIENCES ON A LYRICAL JOURNEY IN AWARD-WINNING (UN)DOCUMENTS

With a single phrase, you can give up your country. With a single signature, you can tear a family apart. With a single word, you can learn to transform. Latino Theater Company will present the West Coast premiere of (Un)Documents written and performed by Jesús I. Valles and directed by Rudy Ramirez. Performances will take place from Friday, October 14 through Sunday, November 20 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown L.A. (Un)Documents is the lyrical tale of Valles’s journey across both sides of a river with two names, moving between languages to find their place in a nation that demands sacrifice at the altar of citizenship. In doing so, they create a new kind of documentation written with anger, fierce love and the knowledge that what makes us human can never be captured on a government questionnaire.

Currently based in Providence, Rhode Island, Valles immigrated to the U.S with their family at age 9. Their multiple award-winning solo work was adapted from a series of 20 poems they wrote following their brother’s deportation in a workplace raid — poems about their brother, citizenship, identity and the LGBTQ community.

“I learned early on what some people are able to do or unable to do, all based on a few pieces of paper and, you know, some holograms on some plastic,” Valles said. “(Un)Documents asks the audience to rethink how they watch and talk about migrant communities, queer people of color, and systems of oppression. And to ask questions of themselves and those in positions of power.” (Un)Documents premiered at The Vortex in 2018 as part of FuturX: A New Festival of Latinx Performance, winning three B. Iden Payne awards, including for original script, lead actor and direction. It was presented as part of the 2019 OutsiderFest artists’ showcase and at the Latinx Theatre Common’s Sin Fronteras Festival. That spring, it returned to The Vortex for a two-week encore, receiving five nominations from the Austin Critics Table Association, including the Mark David Cohen “Best New Play” award. In 2021, it was a featured performance at the 2021 ATHE conference and also streamed live by Latino Theater Company as part of RE:Encuentro 2021, a virtual, national Latinx theater festival featuring 16 companies and performers from across the U.S. in digital residence at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. latinotheaterco.org

Pride Night on October 15 is an evening of live theatre, music and socializing, in honor of the legacy of Nina Simone. The event begins on SCR’s Terrace with a performance by Debbie Ebert.

CHRISTINA HAM’S DEEPLY PERSONAL NEW PLAY COMES TO ORANGE COUNTY

“An artist’s responsibility is to reflect the times.” Following the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Nina Simone shifted her talents to activism, creating some of our most powerful civil-rights anthems. Described as “riveting, relevant and oh so real” by Broadway World, this deeply personal play with music imagines how the iconic chanteuse forged her true calling. And gave voice to countless other Black women fighting to overcome stereotypes and racism. Nina Simone: Four Women includes her most impactful songs, “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” “Go Limp” and “Mississippi Goddam.” The play will run Sunday, October 2 through Sunday, October 23 at South Coast Repertory (SRC) in Costa Mesa.

Nina Simone: Four Women premiered in March 2016 at the Park Square Theatre. Earlier this year, it played at Arizona Theatre Company. And yet, playwright Christina Ham continues to revisit, revise and rewrite a work she called “the hardest play I’ve ever written.”

According to a recent interview with South Coast Repertory’s Brian Robin, Ham is rewriting the last 41 pages of her work going into this new production. Ham said it is the first time she’s undergone this level of rewriting on the fly and she said 90% of the context is different than it was five years ago. It remains labor of love.

“This play is an outlier in the realization of what it means to actually create a new play and bring it to life,” Ham said. “It’s really afforded me the opportunity in terms of production and seeing a play in my hometown, where I can attend rehearsals. This allows me to do the most revisions . . . I really cherish the process. I cherish rewriting. I cherish cutting. I’m not one of those people who is necessarily satisfied with what I have when I’m done.”

“Our goal is to restore the original goals of this story, so going forward, the SCR production and script is the gold standard in terms of what this show looks like and what it’s actually about.” scr.org

ROLLICKING COMEDY DADDY ISSUES ASKS, “HOW FAR WILL A GAY GUY GO TO PLEASE HIS JEWISH PARENTS?”

Charles Blondeau will present the West Coast premiere of an exuberant, offBroadway screwball comedy inspired by an actual event. Written and directed by David Goldyn, Daddy Issues will open on Friday, October 14, for a five-week run through Sunday, November 13 at the Complex in Hollywood.

Mr. and Mrs. Moscowitz are in denial about their son’s gay life, disapprove of his career choice, and question his flair for decoration. To get his family to stop kvetching, Donald needs a son. So with the help of his ballsy best friend Henrietta and rising drag queen Levi, Donald hires the 10-year-old kid from downstairs. What could go wrong?

“This play was inspired by a real-life incident I had with my own overbearing parents,” Goldyn said. “All the characters are based on real people. Although many of the most outrageous lines may sound like they belong in a sitcom, they actually came straight out of the mouths of my mother, father and grandma.”

Daddy Issues starts out slow, picks up steam, and then snowballs into hilarious farce. It enjoyed a sold-out run at off-Broadway’s Theatre at St Clements. In the West Coast premiere, James Seifert will star as Donald, a gay “everyman” who can only react to all the craziness going on around him. Donald’s homophobic father, Sid, will be played by Jonathan Fishman, while Pamela Shaw will perform as Marion, Donald’s funny, somewhat screwy mother who loves to quote Reader’s Digest. Noa Lev–Ari and Josh Nadler will play his best friends, zaftig Henrietta and drag queen-by-night Levi. Rounding out the cast will be Sherry Michaels as Grandma, Hannah Battersby as Donald’s downstairs neighbor, and Thomas Dominick DeBone and Solly Werner, who share the role of precocious 10-year-old Johnny Walker.

daddyissuestheplay.com