CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF KRISTOFFER DIAZ’S WELCOME TO ARROYO’S
The 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist’s play is part of
the Globe’s Southeastern San Diego Residency Project
SAN DIEGO (Sept. 7, 2010)—Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the cast and creative team for the West Coast Premiere of Kristoffer Diaz’s Welcome to Arroyo’s. Directed by Jaime Castañeda,the hip hop-infused play will runin the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre Sept. 25 – Oct. 31. Previews run Sept. 25 – Sept. 29. Opening night is Thursday, Sept. 30 at 7:00 p.m. Welcome to Arroyo’s will also be performed at Lincoln High School Center for the Arts Nov. 6 and 7 as part of the Globe’s Southeastern San Diego Residency Project. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office.
In Welcome to Arroyo’s, a Greek chorus of two hip hop DJs spin the tale of a brother and sister’s search for their respective places in the world after the death of their mother. Alejandro is desperate to make Arroyo’s the hottest lounge in New York to honor the memory of his mother, while Molly’s desire to make her “mark” as a talented graffiti artist is at odds with her new infatuation with a rookie cop. Their struggle to move forward is made even more uncertain as they discover what might be a secret about their mother that could change the very foundation of their lives and, possibly, the history of hip hop music.
The cast of Welcome to Arroyo’s features Wade Allain-Marcus (Trip Goldstein), Tala Ashe (Lelly Santiago), Byron Bronson (Officer Derek), Andres Munar (Alejandro Arroyo), GQ (Nelson Cardenal) and Amirah Vann (Amalia Arroyo).
The creative team includes Takeshi Kata (Scenic Design), Charlotte Devaux (Costume Design), Matthew Richards (Lighting Design), Paul Peterson (Sound Design), Shammy Dee (Musical Direction), Aaron Rhyne (Projection Design) and Elizabeth Lohr (Stage Manager).
Welcome to Arroyo’s is part of the Globe’s second year of artistic programs in southeastern San Diego supported by a three-year grant from the James Irvine Foundation’s Artistic Innovation Fund. The grant enabled the Globe to initiate its Southeastern San Diego Residency Project in 2009 with a production of the hip-hop musical, Kingdom, presented at Lincoln High School Center for the Arts with a limited run at The Old Globe, in addition to a weeklong series of workshops in classrooms and in the community for students and hip-hop artists.
“Finding socially conscious writers with talent and a unique voice that will reach our community is central to the mission of our Southeastern San Diego Residency Project,” said Executive Producer Lou Spisto. “Kristoffer Diaz is an important new playwright who is achieving great success reaching audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
“This year, we have turned things around and will present Welcome to Arroyo’s at the Globe before the production travels to Lincoln High School. Between both venues, thousands of high school students will experience the show alongside our adult audiences. It is my greatest wish that our collective shared experience with this play will in some way connect us with each other.”
In addition to two free student matinees and two weekend public performances of Welcome to Arroyo’s at Lincoln High School Center for the Arts, specially trained Old Globe Teaching Artists will work in the classroom to explore the art and story of the play and its social history. Prior to seeing the performance, Lincoln High School students will explore elements of playwrighting, hip-hop poetry, monologues and scenes using activities and information found in The Old Globe’s Study Guide which is provided to all teachers. Playwright Kristoffer Diaz, director Jaime Castañeda and members of the cast and creative team will also visit the San Diego High School for the Performing Arts to discuss the play and its creation. Two performances of Welcome to Arroyo’s will also be performed at the Globe as part of the theater’s Free Student Matinee program.
The Old Globe has also received local support for its programming efforts in southeast San Diego through grants from The Legler Benbough Foundation, The City of San Diego Community Development Block Grant Program, and The San Diego Foundation through a grant made possible by the Colonel Frank C. Wood Memorial Fund, Ariel W. Coggeshall Fund, Kanot-Lebow-Stroud Memorial Fund, and Mary E. Hield and Robert R. Hield Endowment Fund.
Kristoffer Diaz’s full-length plays include The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Welcome to Arroyo’s. His plays have been produced and developed at Second Stage, Victory Gardens, InterAct, Mixed Blood, American Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Atlantic, Teatro Vista, The Orchard Project, the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, The Lark, the Summer Play Festival, the Donmar Warehouse (London), and South Coast Repertory. Diaz was one of the creators of Brink!, the apprentice anthology show at the 2009 Humana Festival of New American Plays. He is a playwright-in-residence at Teatro Vista, a recipient of the Jerome Fellowship, the Future Aesthetics Artist Regrant and the Van Lier Fellowship (New Dramatists), a co-founder of The Unit Collective, and a member of the Ars Nova Play Group. Diaz is currently working on commissions for Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Teatro Vista/The Goodman Theatre.
Jaime Castañeda directed the world premiere of Welcome to Arroyo's at Chicago’s American Theatre Company where he is also an ensemble member. His other credits include Red Light Winter (Perseverance Theatre), Biggest A**hole Ever Born (INTAR Theatre), Long Way Go Down (Hotink Festival, Harold Clurman Theatre Company), One for the Road (DirectorFest), Crave, Closer, Blue/Orange, Nocturne, Sonnets for an Old Century and Tapas (FireStarter Productions), Miracle Day (45 Bleecker Theatre), This is How it Goes (Amphibian Stage Productions), and Lincolnesque, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant and Art (Circle Theatre). He has also assistant directed productions at the Atlantic Theater Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Center Theatre Group and the recent revival of Speed the Plow on Broadway. Castañeda is the recipient of a Drama League fall fellowship, a Princess Grace Award, and a TCG New Generations grant.
TICKETS to Welcome to Arroyo’s can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the box office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances at the Old Globe Theatre begin on Sept. 25 and continue through Oct. 31. Ticket prices range from $29 to $67. Performance times: Previews: Saturday Sept 25 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 26 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There is a Wednesday matinee on Oct. 13 at 2:00 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.
Welcome to Arroyo’s will be performed atLincoln High School Center for the Arts on Saturday Nov. 6 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 7 at 6:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Admission for High School students is free with membership in the Globe’s 75 Years / 7,500 Tickets program.
Associated events taking place during the run of Welcome to Arroyo’s include:
POST-SHOW FORUMS: Welcome to Arroyo’s
Tuesdays, Sept. 12 & Sept. 19 and Wednesday, Sept. 27 FREE
Discuss the play with members of the Welcome to Arroyo’s cast and crew at post-show discussions led by the Globe’s creative staff after the performances.
INSIGHT SEMINAR: Welcome to Arroyo’s
Monday, Sept. 27 at 7:00 p.m. FREE
Insight Seminars are a Monday night series of informal presentations of ideas and insights to enhance the theater-going experience. The seminars feature a panel selected from the artistic company of each production and take place in the theater where the production is performed. Reception, 6:30 p.m. Seminar, 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and reservations are not required.
OUT AT THE GLOBE
Thursday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. $20
An evening for gay and lesbian theater lovers and the whole LGBT community, Out at the Globe includes a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and door prizes. $20 per person. RSVP at (619) 23-GLOBE. (Tickets to Welcome to Arroyo’s are sold separately.)
THANK GLOBE IT’S FRIDAY
Fridays, Oct. 1 and 8 at 6:30 p.m. $20
Kick off the weekend with the Globe’s Friday pre-show bash. TGIF includes a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and desserts. $20 per person. RSVP at (619) 23-GLOBE. (Tickets to Welcome to Arroyo’s are sold separately.)
LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. Lincoln High School Center for the Arts is located at 4777 Imperial Avenue in San Diego.
CALENDAR: King Lear (6/12-9/23), The Madness of George III (6/19-9/24), The Taming of the Shrew (6/16- 9/26), The Last Romance (7/30-9/12), Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound (9/14-11/7), Welcome to Arroyo’s (9/25-10/31), The Winter’s Tale (11/9-11/14), Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (11/20-12/26).
PHOTO EDITORS: Digital images of The Old Globe’s productions are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org/pressroom.
The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. The Foundation's grantmaking focuses on three program areas: Arts, California Democracy and Youth. Since 1937 the Foundation has provided over $1 billion in grants to more than 3,000 nonprofit organizations throughout California. With $1.4 billion in assets, the Foundation made grants of $67 million in 2009 for the people of California.
The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego’s flagship arts institution for 75 years. Under the direction of Executive Producer Louis G. Spisto, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre, the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre and the 612-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.
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CAST BIOGRAPHIES
WADE ALLAIN-MARCUS (Trip Goldstein) has landed roles in Friends with Money, Waist Deep and Young Americans. In 2006, he debuted with Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Freestyle Love Supreme at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and still performs regularly with them. He guest starred on “Gossip Girl” and “Burn Notice” and co-starred in the MTV musical, The American Mall. Most recently, he showcased his abilities as a singer/guitarist in the Off Broadway musical Post No Bills at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, where he originated the role of Eddie Harper. Most recently, he participated in the Sundance Theater Lab at Governor's Island in the New York International Fringe Festival hit When Last We Flew (best play, best performance), and costars alongside Ethan Hawke in Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn’s Finest.
TALA ASHE (Lelly Santiago) has been seen in Urge for Going (Ojai Playwright’s Conference and The Public Theater’s New Works Now), Aftermath (Guggenheim Works and Progress with New York Theatre Workshop), Again and Against (Labyrinth Theatre Intensive), Autophagy (The Drama League) and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Huntington Theatre Company). Her television and film credits include “Covert Affairs,” “30 Rock,” “Law & Order,” “As the World Turns,” “All My Children,” Circumstances (Sundance Institute Film Lab) and Waiting in Beijing.
BYRON BRONSON (Officer Derek) was in such plays as Romeo & Juliet, A Winter’s Tale, Stop Kiss and Exonerated at Rutgers University. He was recently a part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of Ruined. His television credits include “All My Children.”
ANDRES MUNAR (Alejandro Arroyo) recently completed a Fox Foundation/TCG Fellowship at Cornerstone Theater Company with his performance in Naomi Iizuka's Three Truths. He is a longtime collaborator of Michael John Garces both at Cornerstone Theatre Company (Los Illegals) as well as at INTAR Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, HERE Arts Center, The Shalimar, The 24 Hour Plays and Mile Square Theater. Also at INTAR Theatre, Eduardo Machado´s Kissing Fidel and Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas’ Tight Embrace. Other credits include American Jornalero by Ed Cardona (Working Theater), Rock, Paper, Scissors by Ben Snyder (Hip Hop Theater Festival), Decomposition by Alfonso Carcamo (Lark Play Development Center), translated by Mariana Carreno, Rajiv Joseph’s Huck and Holden (Cherry Lane Theatre), Kingdom (New York Music Theatre Festival), The Dispute (The National Asian-American Theatre Company) and Life is a Dream (Edge Theatre Company). He has guest starred on a couple of television shows and made his feature film debut in Steven Soderbergh´s Che. His second feature, Entre Nos, was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival.
GQ (Nelson Cardenal) co-created, co-directed and starred in the award-winning, internationally-acclaimed, Funk it Up About Nothin' – a musical, hip-hop “ad-rap-tation” of Shakespeare's classic, Much Ado About Nothing. The Off Broadway smash hit The Bomb-itty of Errors, which GQ co-created and starred in, has since toured around the world. Along with his brother and the other Bomb-itty guys, GQ wrote and starred in a hip-hop/sketch comedy TV show,“Scratch and Burn” (MTV). GQ´s screen credits include the movies Drumline, Taxi, I Think I Love My Wife and Werner Herzog´s Rescue Dawn. He wrote, directed and starred in the film Just Another Story (Showtime), has had prominent roles in “Boston Public” (Fox) and “Numb3rs” (CBS), and co-starred in the one hour drama “Johnny Zero” (Fox). He recently guest starred in John Herzfeld´s pilot, “S.I.S.” (Sony). Together with his brother JQ, he recorded The Feel Good Album of the Year.
AMIRAH VANN (Amalia Arroyo) Theater: The Arden Project (Old Vic New Voices), Follow Me To Nellie’s (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center), Pericles (Continuum Co., Florence, Italy), Dream a Little Dream based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Continuum Co., NYC Parks/Florence, Italy), Kingdom (The Old Globe), Kingdom workshop (The Public Theater/QTIP), Blueprint (Theatre Row Studios-SPF), The Brother/Sister Plays workshop (McCarter Theatre Center/The Public Theater), Laughing Pictures (Flea Theater) and The Making of Eugenie Doe (Ohio Theater). TV/film: the independent film Once More with Feeling and“Guiding Light.”
FACT SHEET
WELCOME TO ARROYO’S
By Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Jaime Castañeda
RUNS: September 25 – October 31, 2010
Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
November 6 and 7 – Lincoln High School Center for the Arts
TICKETS: $29-67 at The Old Globe
$15 Adults; $10 Students at Lincoln High School
SYNOPSIS: Welcome to Arroyo’s is a heartwarming story about a brother and sister finding their respective places in the world after the death of their mother. Their struggle to move forward is made even more uncertain as they discover what might be a secret about their mother that could change the very foundation of their lives and, possibly, the history of hip hop music.
CREATIVE TEAM: Takeshi Kata (Scenic Design), Charlotte Devaux (Costume Design), Matthew Richards (Lighting Design), Paul Peterson (Sound Design), Shammy Dee (Musical Direction), Aaron Rhyne (Projection Design) and Elizabeth Lohr (Stage Manager).
CAST: Wade Allain-Marcus (Trip Goldstein), Tala Ashe (Lelly Santiago), Byron Bronson (Officer Derek), Andres Munar (Alejandro Arroyo), GQ (Nelson Cardenal) and Amirah Vann (Amalia Arroyo).
THE OLD GLOBE
PREVIEWS:
Sept. 25 SAT 8pm
Sept. 26 SUN 7pm
Sept. 28 TUE 7pm
Sept. 29 WED 7pm
OPENING NIGHT: Sept. 30 THU 7pm
REGULAR PERFORMANCES:
Oct. 1 FRI 8pm
Oct. 2 SAT 2pm
Oct. 2 SAT 8pm
Oct. 3 SUN 2pm
Oct. 3 SUN 7pm
Oct. 5 TUE 7pm
Oct. 6 WED 7pm
Oct. 7 THU 8pm
Oct. 8 FRI 8pm
Oct. 9 SAT 2pm
Oct. 9 SAT 8pm
Oct. 10 SUN 2pm
Oct. 10 SUN 7pm
Oct. 12 TUE 7pm
Oct. 13 WED 2pm
Oct. 13 WED 7pm
Oct. 14 THU 8pm
Oct. 15 FRI 8pm
Oct. 16 SAT 8pm
Oct. 17 SUN 2pm
Oct. 17 SUN 7pm
Oct. 19 TUE 7pm
Oct. 20 WED 7pm
Oct. 21 THU 8pm
Oct. 22 FRI 8pm
Oct. 23 SAT 2pm
Oct. 23 SAT 8pm
Oct. 24 SUN 2pm
Oct. 24 SUN 7pm
Oct. 26 TUE 7pm
Oct. 27 WED 7pm
Oct. 28 THU 8pm
Oct. 29 FRI 8pm
Oct. 30 SAT 2pm
Oct. 30 SAT 8pm
Oct. 31 SUN 2pm
Oct. 31 SUN 7pm
LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL
Nov. 6 SAT 8pm
Nov. 7 SUN 6pm
INSIGHT SEMINAR
Monday, Sept. 27 at 7:00 p.m.
Seminar series features a panel of artists from the current show. Reception at 6:30 p.m. FREE
POST-SHOW FORUMS
Tuesdays, Sept. 12 & Sept. 19 and Wednesday, Sept. 27
Discuss the play with members of the cast following the performance. FREE
THANK GLOBE IT’S FRIDAY
Fridays, Oct. 1 and 8, 6:30–8:00 p.m. $20
Friday pre-show bash includes wine, martinis, appetizers, dessert and live music. (Show sold separately.)
OUT AT THE GLOBE
Thursday, Oct. 7, 6:30–8:00 p.m. $20
An evening for GLBT theater lovers with a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and door prizes. (Show sold separately.)
BOX OFFICE WINDOW HOURS: Noon to final curtain Tuesday through Sunday. American Express, Discover, MasterCard and VISA accepted. (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623]
LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. Free parking is available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. Lincoln High School Center for the Arts is located at 4777 Imperial Avenue in San Diego.
PHOTOS: Digital images of The Old Globe productions are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org/pressroom.
PRESS CONTACT: Jeffrey Weiser (619) 238-0043 x2352 jweiser@TheOldGlobe.org
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