CASA 0101 THEATER
The Los Angeles Premiere of
Mariela in the Desert
Five-Week Run:
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at5:00 p.m.
November 4 – December 11, 2016
Boyle Heights, CA – CASA 0101 Theater and Angel City Theater Ensemble (ACTE), a newly founded production company under the direction of Vance Valencia, will present the Los Angeles Premiere of the critically acclaimed play Mariela in the Desert, written by Karen Zacarías and directed by Robert Beltran (Star Trek: Voyager; Zoot Suit; Eating Raoul). The production will be presented for a five-week run on the theater’s Main Stage located at 2102 East First Street (at St. Louis Street), Boyle Heights, CA 90033 on Fridays and Saturdays at8:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 5:00 p.m., November 4 – December 11, 2016. There will be no performances on Thanksgiving Weekend, November 25th, 26th and 27th.
“When is Art a Lie?” Mariela and Jose were once the golden couple of the Mexican artists’ inner circle. Together they built a family and an artist colony to host friends Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo. But now their daughter has grown up and run away, their friends are too famous to call, and artistic inspiration has been strangled by isolation and lies. Set in the northern Mexican desert in 1950, Mariela in the Desert is a deadly mystery—a layered yet profoundly honest story of what happens to a family when creativity is forced to dry and wither away.
Josefina López, Artistic Director of CASA 0101 Theater says, “It is an honor and privilege to present the Los Angeles Premiere Mariela in the Desert, written by pre-eminent playwright Karen Zacarías, who was recently singled out by American Theater Magazine as one of the Top Ten Most Produced Playwrights in the USA. It is equally exciting to be collaborating on this production with the newly formed Angel City Theater Ensemble.” The cast is comprise of Rachel Gonzalez as Mariela Salvatierra; Vance Valencia as Jose Salvatierra;Vannessa Vasquez as Blanca Salvatierra; Randy Vasquez as Professor Adam Lovitz; Denise Blasor as Oliva Salvatierra and Kenneth Miles Ellington Lopez as Carlos Salvatierra. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to present the work of Karen Zacarías, who, along with playwright and screenwriter Josefina López, are among the most important Latina voices on the theatrical landscape today,” said Angel City Theater Ensemble (ACTE) founder Valencia.
This production of Mariela in the Desert marks the birth and first production of Angel City Theater Ensemble. ACTE is a group of professional actors pooling together their collective one hundred plus years of theater experience to serve the Latino community. “It is our dream to fill a severe void in Latin American communities in Boyle Heights and beyond, and to bring the Canon of Classic American and World Theater to them with the works of American, European and Latin American authors such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Eugene O’Neill, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Luis Valdez and José Rivera, among others,” Valencia continued.
Charter Members of ACTE include Valencia, Daniel E. Mora, Denise Blasor and Randy Vasquez, the latter two whom appear with in Mariela in the Desert.
On the creation of Mariela in the Desert, Zacarías said, “I wrote this story as an homage to my Grandmother….and all the women in our lives who have held back on a dream for their family. I wrote this for my Grandfather…because he too had blessings and burdens. I wrote this to come to terms with the pulls of being an artist and a mother. I wrote this to show a very real Mexican family that we usually do not see on TV. It’s a universal story of parents and children…full of humor and love and, yes, pain.” “Love, commitment, creativity, sacrifice and redemption. These are ideas that resonate throughout the play,” says director Beltran. “It is the story of one woman’s struggle to protect and nurture her children, and to stay true to her husband. In the end she finds redemption through her sacrifice, and frees herself to live a life in creativity.”
Opening Night is Friday, November 4, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. The play will be presented for a five-week run on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.and Sundays at 5:00 p.m. from November 4 – December 11, 2016 on the Main Stage at CASA 0101 Theater, 2012 East First Street (at St. Louis Street across the street from the Hollenbeck Police Station), Boyle Heights, CA 90033. There will be no performances on Thanksgiving Weekend,cNovember 25th, 26th and 27th.
The productions at CASA 0101 are made possible through the sponsorships of Bloomberg Philanthropies, The California Endowment, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and The Herb Alpert Foundation.
Tickets during the five-week run are $25 per person for General Admission; $20 per person for Students and Seniors; and $15 per person for Boyle Heights residents. This show is recommended for mature audiences. Advance reservations are highly encouraged.
Free Parking is available on several streets surrounding the theatre. Free Parking is also available on Fridays and Saturdays only at the Boyle Heights City Hall Parking Lot located at 2130 East First Street (at Chicago Street) by entering the lot from Chicago Street; the lot is closed on Sundays. For tickets, please call the CASA 0101 Theater Box Office at 323-263-7684, E-mail tickets@casa0101.org, or buy online at www.casa0101.org. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/casa0101theater.
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