Friday, March 04, 2016

Play Time in the Rockies. Latino History. New Lit Journal. New Book. World Voices Festival. Celebration.



The play's the thing. Presenting three new dramas showing in Denver that should appeal to La Bloga's readers. Plus: a writing opportunity, community news, worthwhile notices, and a major lit festival.
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Fade




Fade is an excellent play - from the writing to the acting I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous and poignant look at Hollywood from the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in -- a Latina script writer trying to make it in the land of dreams and fantasy. And then there's a Chicano janitor.

[from the Ricketson web page]
In this sharp, true-to-life new comedy, Mexican- American Lucia is hired to write for a Latina TV character in a cutthroat Hollywood TV studio. She soon discovers that the Latino studio custodian, Abel, has a windfall of plot ideas. As their friendship grows, his stories start to blur with hers with unexpected consequences. Fade is a standout new play from Tanya Saracho, whose writing “lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama” (Chicago Tribune).
A Theatre Company Commission. Fade was developed at the 2015 Colorado New Play Summit. 

By Tanya Saracho, Directed by Jerry Ruiz
 
Feb 5 - Mar 13, 2016  
The Ricketson Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts




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Bless Me, Ultima Returns to Su Teatro



Rudolfo Anaya's classic was made into a good movie. In my opinion, the play he wrote based on his book is better than the movie, and the Su Teatro production perfectly captures the magical and spiritual essence of Anaya's writing.  I saw the first edition of this show.  I understand it's been reworked a bit.  Catch it soon.

[from Su Teatro publicity]
Adapted for the stage by Rudolfo Anaya
Directed by Anthony J Garcia
March 10th -26th

The first Chicano Novel comes to life on the stage!

“When Ultima came, the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth”

The story of Antonio Márez y Luna coming-of-age with the guidance of his curandera, mentor, and protector, Ultima.
  • Tickets: $20/General, $17/Students & Seniors
  • $12/Comadre Docena (Groups of 12 or more!)
  • Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
  • Sunday Matinee 3/20 at 2:00 p.m.
Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center
721 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204
(303)296-0219


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A Soldier's Fugue




The Elliot Plays: Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue
By Quiara Alegría Hudes
Directed by Chip Walton



A young boy, Elliot Ortiz, leaves his home and his family behind to fight the war in Iraq, and returns a hero and a man. But he has just begun his search to better understand his Puerto Rican heritage, his personal and familial history, and the meaning of heroism and war in this lyrical and moving new story of three generations of soldiers, musicians and activists in the Ortiz family.

Curious Theatre Company
1080 Acoma Street
Denver, CO 80204
Administration 303.623.2349
Box Office 303.623.0524
info@curioustheatre.org




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Latinos of Boulder County, Colorado, 1900-1980




[from the publisher]
Latinos of Boulder County, Colorado, 1900-1980, a two-volume set by Prof. Marjorie K. McIntosh
This book set describes the lives and contributions of Latinos in Boulder County, shedding light on people who have been largely invisible in local history books and school curricula. Starting with the arrival of Hispanics from Mexico, New Mexico, and southern Colorado between 1900 and 1940, the study traces the experiences of Latinos over the course of four generations. The study draws upon an exceptional collection of 1,600 sources gathered by 10 student interns and 80 community volunteers with the Boulder County Latino History Project in 2013-14. Those sources include oral history interviews, family biographies and photos, films, and newspapers.

Go here to order the books.
 

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La Revista Almagre

To our readers: Welcome to the Almagre Review / La Revista Almagre!  We are Colorado’s newest literary journal, with our first issue dedicated to the theme of Coming Home.

The Almagre Review is a quarterly journal devoted to short stories, novel excerpts, personal memoirs, essays, and the occasional poem.

We’re excited to announce our forthcoming and premier issue, Coming Home.  Please check out our submission guidelines to get a sense of what we’re looking for.  In “Coming Home,” we’ll feature writing that deals with any and all things about home’s enduring pull, its gravity that bends our current condition.                                       

The Almagre Review was conceived in the hallways of the local Y.  We are excited to provide a forum that features and promotes local talent, as well as a platform for emerging writers (authors and journalists) to broadcast their voices.

We are primarily interested in fiction, novel excerpts included, although a well written essay about local issues, or even national issues will be considered.  While we do not actively seek poetry, if it has just the right feel, flow, or message, it might make its way into an issue.


Submission Guidelines:  click here.  


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Tim Hernandez Reading of a New Manuscript

On March 7th, 2016 Colorado Book Award winner Tim Hernandez will present at the 5:47 Environmental Design Lecture Series at CU-Boulder drawing from his new book All They Will Call You.

January 28 marked the 68th Anniversary of the plane wreck at Los Gatos Canyon that claimed the lives of 32 people, 28 "Mexican Nationals" being deported from Central California to Mexico. It is the same crash made famous by Woody Guthrie and Martin Hoffman in the song, Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (The Deportee Song). The book is a carefully woven narrative of the incident, the song and the lives of the passengers who died told via transcribed interviews, documents, letters and photographs. For more information on the book and Tim visit:

http://timzhernandez.com/

Tim is a poet, novelist and performance artist. In 2011 the Poetry Society of America named him one of sixteen New American Poets. Tim will share work on a new collaboration with Growing Up Boulder titled "Intersections, Stories, Voice: Expressions of Young People's Resilience."


Tim will read from his new manuscript and talk about the Resilient Cities Project he's doing with Boulder High students.


Time: 5:47pm
-  Location: CU Boulder Campus/ Rm# ENVD 134
The programs are free and open to the public



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The 12th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature

New York City, April 25 - May 1, 2016

Meet the creative voices shaping Mexico’s literary culture, and rethink the stories of migration, the border, and national identity through the illuminating lens offered by writers and artists. In addition to the Mexico-themed programming, the festival offers a globally inspired array of conversations, readings, performances, and workshops, featuring rare New York appearances by leading and emerging authors from around the globe. Let the power of literature change you! Check out the story in the New York Times.

Detailed program and tickets available at www.penworldvoices.org

2016 FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS (Many more sessions on PEN website)

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 7PM 
Opening Night: The Drug Edition
The Great Hall at The Cooper Union, 7 E 7th St.
 
Leading international authors share their philosophical inquiries into the need for mind-altering drugs and the desire to escape reality. Featuring Boris Akunin, Marlon James, Anne Enright, and more.

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 7:30PM
Reckoning Mexico
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave.

Discover the prevailing narratives, questions, and characters of Mexico today as captured by its artists. Featuring Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Yuri Herrera, Valeria Luiselli, and more.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 8PM
In Conversation: Salman Rushdie and Barbara Goldsmith
NYU Law School Tishman Auditorium, 40 Washintgon Sq. S.

Born in India and living in the U.S., Rushdie blends two cultures into a single language without borders. The PEN World Voices Festival founder is interviewed by acclaimed author Barbara Goldsmith.

THURSDAY APRIL 28, 6PM
Boris Akunin and Walter Mosley: Fiction from Fact
The New School Alvin Johnson/J.M Kaplan Hall, 66 W 12th St.

How do these leading historical and crime fiction writers use contemporary political circumstances, and their own political activism, to inform their work? Moderated by Keith Gessen.

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 8PM
Women of Mexico
The New School Alvin Johnson/J.M Kaplan Hall, 66 W 12th St.

Celebrate the role that brave and uncompromising women writers play in Mexican fiction, poetry, journalism, and play writing. Featuring Carmen Boullosa, Alma Guillermoprieto, Valeria Luiselli, and more.

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 5PM
Cuba in Two Acts
Dixon Place Black Box, 161A Chrystie St.
 
Artists and writers provide insight into the “real” Cuba. The event opens with a short film by Coco Fusco. Featuring Miriam Celaya, Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, Coco Fusco, and Rafael Rojas.

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 9:30PM
¡Cabaret Mexicano!
The Cutting Room, 44 E 32nd St.

NYC’s iconic Joey Arias joins legendary Mexican political satirists for this outrageously hip night that will squash stereotypes. Featuring Joey Arias, Las Reinas Chulas, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and more.

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 4PM
Objective/Reality: Gabriel Orozco with Colm Tóibín
The Cooper Union Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Sq.

Artist Gabriel Orozco utilizes everyday objects to challenge notions of reality. Joined by Festival Chair Colm Tóibín, he discusses his work and its relationship to Mexico’s current cultural movements.
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Celebrate more than two decades of Camino del Sol 
 



Presented by the University of Arizona Press & La Plaza de Cultura y Artes
Join the University of Arizona Press and La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in celebrating two decades of Camino del Sol, UA Press's Latina and Latino Literary Series. Readings by Urayoán Noel, Lorraine M. López, & Odilia Galván Rodríguez. Our Master of Ceremonies will be Rigoberto González. The event is free and open to the public. 
  
April 1, 2016 - 7pm to 8:30pm

La Plaza de Cultura y Artes
501 N. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA

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That's it for this week. Later.

Manuel Ramos



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