LINEUP SET FOR GLOBE’S POWERS NEW VOICES FEST
Four plays part of event’s 7th annual edition Jan. 10-12
SAN DIEGO
A quartet of new plays, some familiar faces and a big community celebration are all part of the Old Globe Theatre’s seventh annual Powers New Voices Festival, set for Jan. 10-12.
And by the way, the whole thing is free.
The Globe has announced the lineup of readings for the fest, which has proven fertile ground in the past for developing works that have gone on to full productions at the Balboa Park theater and elsewhere.
The happenings begin that Friday, Jan. 10, with “Celebrating Community Voices,” a play-reading event that will spotlight short works created by San Diego residents in the Globe’s Community Voices and COLAB arts-engagement programs.
The plays to be read include “Codeswitchin’ Is Conscious” by Andréa Agosto (who’s also a gifted local actor), “Pussycats” by Thelma Virata de Castro (founder of San Diego Playwrights and recent winner of a Creative Catalyst Program grant), “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.
Those readings are directed by Gerardo Flores Tonella and Katherine Harroff.
Readings of the works by professional playwrights begin that Saturday, Jan. 11. Here’s a look at the plays and schedule. (Descriptions in quotes were provided by the Globe.)
“El Borracho” by Tony Meneses, 4 p.m. Jan. 11. Director and Globe favorite Edward Torres (of Danai Gurira’s “Familiar,” 2020 Powers Festival returnee Karen Zacarías’ “Native Gardens,” Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes’ “Water by the Spoonful” and more) directs the piece by the playwright behind “Guadalupe in the Guest Room,” staged recently at New Village Arts in Carlsbad.
The plot blurb: “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’ compelling tragicomedy follows one family’s journey to come together so they can finally say goodbye.”
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Chad Beckim, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11: This piece, which takes its title from a Robert Frost poem, is by the writer of (among other works) “The Main(e) Play,” “That Men Do,” “Mercy” and “After.” Shelley Butler, whose credits include the world premiere of “A Doll’s House, Part 2” at South Coast Rep, directs.
The blurb: “Clay and Jess have big dreams: college, refuge from the cold Maine winters, and a permanent escape from the paycheck-topaycheck, 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.”
“The Age of Innocence” by Karen Zacarías, 4 p.m. Jan. 12: The Globe commissioned Zacarías to adapt Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1920 novel for the stage.
Zacarías’ much-produced, very topical comedy “Native Gardens” hit the Globe stage last year, and San Diego Rep produced her adaptation of Luis Alberto Urrea’s “Into the Beautiful North” in 2017. (A separate version of “Innocence” as adapted by Douglas Mcgrath ran on the East Coast last year in a co-production from Hartford Stage and the Mccarter Theatre Center; Martin Scorsese also turned the novel into a film in 1993.)
The go-to Globe director James Vásquez (of “American Mariachi,” the currently running “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” and many others) will helm the reading.
The plot blurb: “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.
“Karen Zacarías’ fresh new adaptation uses lush language and dynamic theatricality to examine the ways desire must negotiate the complex rules of society.”
“Shutter Sisters” by Jiréh Breon Holder, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 12: Holder was part of last year’s Powers fest with his play “Too Heavy for Your Pocket”; Shelley Butler doubles up by directing this new, Globe-commissioned work as well as Beckim’s play.
The plot blurb: “‘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.”
The Powers New Voices Festival 2020 takes place in the Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. While the readings are free, reservations are required.
Reservations were available for Globe donors and subscribers starting Dec. 20; they open up to the public at noon Jan. 7.
To reserve, call (619) 2345623.
jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com