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| Elaine Romero photo by Carolyn Rae Maier |
from our friends at Arizona Theatre Company:
Theatre companies across the country, in Mexico City are preparing both live and prerecorded online presentations of Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) Playwright-in-Residence Elaine Romero’s diverse body of work during RomeroFest, a monthlong celebration of her creativity.
RomeroFest, presented by ATC and Tucson-based Winding Road Theatre Ensemble and The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre, will launch on March 1 with a 5 p.m. (Arizona time) LIVE event hosted by ATC featuring a town hall-type panel discussion about Elaine’s work and its impact. The launch event can be viewed at www.arizonatheatre.org and on YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo.
The monthlong celebration kicks off on March 3 with the first of 18 presentations which will originate from cities including Tucson; Phoenix; Mexico City; Colorado Springs; New York City; Portland, OR; Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C.; and South Bend, IND.
*When (ATC Artistic Director) Sean Daniels first uttered the word, RomeroFest, I thought he was joking. I think we all chuckled for a second,” said Romero, who has been the ATC Playwright-in-Residence for more than 20 years. “I never dreamed anyone in the American theatre would give such precise attention to my work, especially launched from here in Arizona where sometimes I have felt particularly anonymous.”
In addition to Arizona-based ATC, The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre and Winding Road Theater Ensemble, Childsplay of Tempe and The Bridge Initiative: Women+ In Theatre of Phoenix also are participating.
“I had often dreamed of seeing my plays next to each other—to better understand how they are in conversation with one another, but also to better understand each one individually more,” Romero said. “A playwright is not in a position to say, ‘Hey, I’ve written all these plays. It’s really my life’s work. Pay attention to me.’ A playwright can only keep doing the work and pray that people see the quality of what they have created—that folks have the curiosity to see their plays as part of a larger body of work—that theatres see their commitment to refining the work—that others will be excited about the voice of the writer and the voice of their plays.”
The schedule of presentations (all listed times are Arizona time, unless indicated otherwise):
March 1 – Launch event, 5 p.m., live
March 3 – Colorado College (Colorado Springs): Monologues from the Vault, 5:30 p.m., LIVE
March 10 – Arizona Theatre Company, Halsted, 5 p.m., prerecorded, streams March 10-14
March 11 – Theater Ariel (Philadelphia), Secret Things, 5:30 p.m., prerecorded
March 12 – ATC Teens Book Club, 3 p.m., LIVE with playwright Elaine Romero
March 15 – Winding Road Theater Ensemble (Tucson), Wetback, 7 p.m., LIVE with post-show talkback
March 16 – Teatro Travieso/Troublemaker Theatre Company with an international ensemble of artists from U.S. and Mexico, Elaine Romero Shorts (3/16-3/19), prerecorded
March 17 – University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film and Television (Tucson), Mother of Exiles, LIVE
March 19 – Justice Theater Project, (Raleigh, N.C.) A Sentiment, 24-hour free film streaming period, 12 a.m. EST
March 20 – Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre (Tucson), Title IX, 2 p.m., prerecorded and live post-show talkback, streams March 20-April 11
March 20 – InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia), Revolutions,5 p.m., LIVE stream
March 21 – Childsplay (Tempe), Alicia, 2 p.m., prerecorded
March 24 – Arizona Theatre Company, Ponzi, 5 p.m., prerecorded, streams March 24-28
March 25 – University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IND), ¡Curanderas! Serpents of the Clouds, 4:30 p.m., LIVE
March 26 – Seven Devils New Play Foundry (New York City/Idaho), When Reasons Sleep, 1 p.m.
March 27 – Bridge Initiative (Phoenix) The Dalai Lama is Not Welcome Here, 7 p.m., prerecorded, streams March 27-28
March 29 – Artists Repertory Theatre (Portland, Ore.), Walk into the Sea, 6 p.m., LIVE streaming via Facebook
“Love is the entry point for every story I tell,” Romero said. “I fall in love with a character, an act of justice, a turn in a story, a poetic expression or structure. I fall in love with characters who don’t see their flaws—that are so obvious to us—their audience. I fall in love with human frailty, with imperfection, with the glory and limits of human language. I fall in love with physical movements, design elements, and theatrical moments that transcend words.”
She added that she has “written these plays with no tunnel and no light. I’ve written them in faith that these were stories worth telling – that the endless drafts had a purpose – that the million plane trips to workshop them, away from loved ones, were moving these plays toward a glorious end. RomeroFest has shouted the worth of these plays to me.Thank you, ATC, Scoundrel & Scamp, Winding Road Theater Ensemble, and all our partners, scholars, and audience members.”
In addition to the plays being presented during the month of March, each episode of ATC’s live-streaming podcast Hang & Focuwill be dedicated to RomeroFest and feature guests associated with the productions.
RomeroFest founding members and theatres includes Daniels, ATC Associate Artistic Director Chanel Bragg, Winding Road Theater Ensemble Artistic Director Maria Caprile and Bryan Rafael Falcón, Artistic and Managing Director at The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre.
For more information about Winding Road Theater Ensemble, visit www.windingroadtheater.org. For more information about The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre, visit www.scoundrelandscamp.org. For more information about Arizona Theatre Company, visit www.arizonatheatre.org.
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