15 5-Minute Plays / 15 Playwrights / 15 Directors / 35 Performers
Inspired by Marvin Gaye’s 1970’s hit song, these 5-Minute Plays are set during the uprising in Los Angeles and the world that’s followed the murder of George Floyd by Police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The unrest, like in 1992, has sparked widespread protests, looting, assault, and arson, all during a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 149,000 people in the United States alone. These plays address not just one aspect of what we’re going through, but rather speak to what happens when you add civil unrest to a pandemic, racism to a quarantine and a mask to social media.
CAST
IAN ALADA*
JOHANNA McKAY*
RICHARD AZURDIA*
LeSHAY TOMLINSON*
CHERYL UMANA BONILLA*
JEFF TORRES*
NIKETA CALAME*
*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
creative team
Evangeline Ordaz
Playwright
Becca Kessin
Sound Design
Tamadhur Al-Aqeel
Producer
Armando Molina
Director
Daniel Muñoz
Stage Manager
Susan Gordan
Publicist
Justin Huen
Scenic & Lighting Design
Heather McLane
Assistant Stage Manager
Diana Romo
Group Sales
Manee Leija
Costume Design
Benajmin Durham
Video Design
Anne Brashier
Video Promotion
photos
MEDIA
reviews
"What’s Going On, crafted in a season of unease, persists as a backdrop to another heated summer, half a century later, when the world feels upside down."
- Detroit Free Press
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT
Evangeline Ordaz is a native of East Los Angeles, Evangeline is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant father and Chicana mother. Evangeline is a UC Berkeley trained attorney who practiced public interest law before becoming a full time playwright and screenwriter. As an attorney she practiced immigration law, slum-housing litigation, criminal appeals, and human rights law both in the United States and Mexico. Evangeline’s play This Land was commissioned by The Center Theater Group (Mark Taper Forum/Kirk Douglas Theater/Ahmanson Theater) and further developed at the Hedgebrook Women's Playwrights Festival. Center Theater Group produced a public reading in February 2015. Her play Visitors’ Guide to Arivaca was featured at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ New Play Summit. Visitor’s Guide, also saw production by Teatro Vision in San Jose and Company of Angels Theater in Los Angeles. Company of Angels also produced Evangeline’s play Bordering on Love, which she wrote while a member of the Center Theater Group’s playwrights’ workshop. Borderlands Theater in Tucson produced Evangeline’s play Hippie Mexicana and commissioned Visitors’ Guide to Arivaca. Evangeline is currently a writer on the Starz dramedy Vida and the Netflix drama Seven Seconds. Other recent credits include writer on the BET drama In Contempt, writer/producer of the first season of East Los High (Hulu), and writer of the feature film Chiclets (Odd Lot Entertainment), which is set in East L.A.’s underground music scene. Evangeline was an ABC Disney Writing Fellow and a staff writer on the ABC television series EYES.
This Land was originally commissioned by Center Theatre Group
SPECIAL THANKS
Director Acknowledgements: Lindsay Albaugh, Tonantzin Carmelo, Liz Femi, Elizabeth Frances, Mika Gonda at Pico Playhouse, Rudy Marquez, Catalina Maynard, Xavi Moreno, Diane Rodriguez, Tony Sancho, Bernadette Sullivan, Pier Carlo Talenti, Sara Tomko, Watts Labor Community Action Committee, Watts Village Theater Company
Playwright Acknowledgements: Kiki and David Gindler, Hedgebrook, Anne Mahoney, Pier Carlo Talenti
This production is made possible by in part by the California Community Foundation, Eastside Arts Initiative, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the generous contributions of Company of Angels supporters and contributors.