SOLFEST 2023
A LATINÉ THEATER FESTIVAL
The Sol Project in partnership with Pregones/Puerto Rican Theater and North Star Projects welcomes you to the sixth annual SolFest: A Latiné Theatre Festival with PlayPenn as our community partner for 2023! The five-day program runs August 27-31 with both online and in-person events including four evenings of live programming at the historic Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (304 W 47th Street, New York, NY 10036). Admission is free!
SOLFEST LINEUP
We kick off the festival with our second SolFest Picnic in Central Park, NYC. Join us in community to celebrate our 6th year of the summer’s brightest theater fest.
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 27
SOLFEST PICNIC IN THE PARK (RSVP OPEN) SolFest Picnic in Central Park at 3 p.m.. RSVP required. SolFest kicks off the festival with our second SolFest Picnic in the Park. Come join us in community and celebration in Central Park for our sixth year of SolFest, and meet some of the artists participating in this year's festival. |
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MONDAY, AUGUST 28
MONOLOGUE AND SHORT WORKS (RSVP OPEN) North Star Projects: Art Share Evening In person at PRTT (Manhattan) at 7 p.m. Watch on northstarprojects.org MONOLOGUES AND SHORT WORKS Written by the 2023 LPC Summer Jam Playwright Fellows: Peggy Robles-Alavarado, Phillip Gregory Burke, Adrian Costa, Diego Lanao, Tanya Perez, Nilsa Reyna, Jaymes Sanchez, Daniela Thome, Rebbekah Vega-Romero and Andrew Aaron Valdez. Directed by: Karina Batchelor, Kathleen Capdesuñer, Adriana Gaviria, Katherine George, and Mino Lora. |
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MONDAY, AUGUST 28
NSPSF SHORtFESt Presented by North Star Projects Curated By Andrés Nicolás Chaves and Adriana Gaviria In person at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th Street, New York, NY 10011) at 8:30 p.m. RSVP required. Join us for our inaugural NSP Latiné ShortsFest during SolFest! The evening will include seven short films featuring Latiné filmmakers Andrés Nicolás Chaves, Emma Cuba, Andrew Garcia, Eunis Levis, Juan Pablo Palacios Zuñiga, Emilio Subía, and Melina Valdez followed by a short conversation with the artists. |
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 29
READING (RSVP OPEN) In person at PRTT (Manhattan) at 7 p.m. READING: Publik Private Written by eppchez yo-sí yes Directed by Santiago Iacinti Some private things have to be made public if we want to live—in the way that our bodies become public when we go outside, where we will be perceived. Publik Private grapples with the past, as the protagonist attempts to reconcile their ancestors’ own gender expansiveness with the roles those same ancestors played in erasing queerness through colonization and genocide. |
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30
READINGS (RSVP OPEN) In person at PRTT (Manhattan) at 7 p.m. READING: Excerpt of bala.fruta./bullet.fruit. Written and performed by Jesús I. Valles My first bullet burrowed through the head of a would-be Mexican president, a seed, stretched root-systems of street blocks, through a school hallway, a dance club, a Wal-Mart, killing grounds made sapling’s feast, made soil of my head and bloomed there, into these words, into my living.” A harvest of bullets and the fruits they yield, bala.fruta./bullet.fruit. is a meditation on what it means to make life possible in the shadow of the gun, to ask, “What is the opposite of a bullet?” READING: Red Eyes Written by Michael León Directed by Estefanía Fadul For Carlos, sexual desires come with terrifying results—the visions of a haunting Red-Eyed figure. After a surprising blowout at the grocery store prompts his fiance to put their wedding on hold, Carlos unwillingly seeks help for his volatile outburst. As he takes a journey backward, Carlos unlocks repressed memories of toxic masculinity, childhood trauma, and insurmountable grief. SPECIAL EVENT: Post-Show Aftercare Discussion With Poet and Facilitator Paul LaTorre in collaboration with Robleswrites Productions Inc. Paul LaTorre, known on stages as Paul con Queso, is a professor, publisher, performing poet, host, facilitator of workshops and healing spaces, activist and advocate from Newark, NJ. His work as a poet and facilitator centers healing, especially for masculine identities. He believes in trauma-informed teaching and much of his work centers around the intersection of survivorship and mental health. Robleswrites Productions Inc. is a 501c3 organization that creates literary events that foster intergenerational communal healing, literacy, creativity, and equity for the Bronx and beyond by supporting and publishing writers of color with a special focus on women writers. Learn more at robleswritesproductions.com. |
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 31
READINGS (RSVP OPEN) In person at PRTT at 7 p.m. READING: Excerpt of Picked Up Written by Alexis Elisa Macedo Directed by Adriana Gaviria As a mom too young and taken too soon, Maricela’s been twisted by her mother-in-law into a blueprint of what mistakes not to make for her daughter Cynthia. But, when their not-so-little girl returns home from her first semester away at college, and with her boyfriend, “Jorge,” on her arm...her father Juan is worried that Cynthia is paying the price of his unwillingness to stand up to his mother, and defend the love of his life. READING: Excerpt of Lottery Boy Written by Edwin Sanchez Directed by Jorge B. Merced To quote Cyndi Lauper Money changes everything I said money, money changes everything We think we know what we're doin' We don't know a thing It's all in the past now Money changes everything You're a 15-year old boy living in a trailer. Overnight you become a multimillionaire, but you have to keep it a secret or risk losing it. What do you do? |
JULY EVENTS
SolFest 2023 will include an independent reading of Publik Private by eppchez yo-sí yes in collaboration with our partners at PlayPenn!
When: July 23, 2023 at 2 p.m. EST
Where: The Proscenium Theatre at The Drake located at 302 S. Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
This bilingual work grapples with the past, bearing witness to gender-non-conforming historical figures, La Monja Alferéz and The Publik Universal Friend.
The play’s first of two readings will be in Philadelphia, and the second in New York during SolFest 2023 in late August.
The Playwright: eppchez yo-sí yes (they/them) is a Quaker, gender-expansive, Cuban & Jewish theater maker. In 2016, eppchez started up Alma's Engine; a process-focused production company/creative ministry developing their playful and profound new work across a variety of mediums. eppchez has collaborated as a writer, performer, and deviser with Philly companies such as Pig Iron, Simpatico, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Swimpony, and Applied Mechanics, among others. eppchez has institutional connections to Wesleyan University (BA in theater & creative writing), Headlong Performance Institute, Play Penn (where ey is currently a member of The Foundry an emerging Philly playwright’s group), Azuka Theatre’s New Pages writer’s group.
Where: The Proscenium Theatre at The Drake located at 302 S. Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
This bilingual work grapples with the past, bearing witness to gender-non-conforming historical figures, La Monja Alferéz and The Publik Universal Friend.
The play’s first of two readings will be in Philadelphia, and the second in New York during SolFest 2023 in late August.
The Playwright: eppchez yo-sí yes (they/them) is a Quaker, gender-expansive, Cuban & Jewish theater maker. In 2016, eppchez started up Alma's Engine; a process-focused production company/creative ministry developing their playful and profound new work across a variety of mediums. eppchez has collaborated as a writer, performer, and deviser with Philly companies such as Pig Iron, Simpatico, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Swimpony, and Applied Mechanics, among others. eppchez has institutional connections to Wesleyan University (BA in theater & creative writing), Headlong Performance Institute, Play Penn (where ey is currently a member of The Foundry an emerging Philly playwright’s group), Azuka Theatre’s New Pages writer’s group.