Theatre Cultura’s Debut!

Theatre Cultura, a new theater company dedicated to providing opportunities for local and national Latina theater artists and one of six companies selected for the inaugural PlayGround Innovator Incubator, will officially launch with the premiere of its first production, ¡CHEER! Story of a Dreamer, written and directed by Theatre Cultura Artistic Director, Linda Amayo – Hassan, as part of the PlayGround Innovators Showcase at Potrero Stage, August 1-11, 2019 (Thu-Sat at 8pm, Sun at 7pm). For tickets and more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/theatrecultura.

¡CHEER! Story of a Dreamer is a two-act play that follows the life a young woman named Erica Chavez, head cheerleader and all-star student at her high school. In Act One, which takes place during the Obama years, Erica discovers she is undocumented while applying for college. Eventually, she becomes a DACA recipient and in the second act the play picks up in the Trump era with Erica now a student at UC Berkeley.

While Erica has some assurance of safety because of her DACA status, her family does not. Her sister and mother share their stories and, ultimately, in a surprise ending that manages to deliver the shock and impact of what living under these conditions truly means, are arrested by ICE agents and deported.

The play is funny and entertaining, while at the same time being tragic and heart-breaking; with its over-all power being that of taking audiences into a place that most people don’t get to see in public spaces, and only hear about – homes where the stress of being undocumented and living in the shadows is real and terrifying.

The cast features local artists Carla Gallardo, April Ballesteros, Leticia Duarte,  Jose Avalos, Blake Weaver, Dov Hassan, Gillian Gillette, Sarah Dove, Amanda Bailey, Anya West, George Gill, and Connor Biondi, with choreography by Curtis Manning, costumes by Diana Osburn, sound design by Anne-Marie Pleau, lights and sets by Mike Walsh, and stage management by Elaina Medeiros.

Theatre Cultura is a new theater company started by theater artist, Linda Amayo–Hassan. An actor, director, playwright and educator, Linda has had a dream of developing a theater company that could give a platform for Latinx theater artists for many years. After completing her play CHEER and having it developed at Chabot College in Hayward where she teaches, she felt the time was right to take this next step. CHEER originated as a 15-minute piece as part of group of original plays at Chabot College. The inspiration for the play came from the story of one of Linda’s students, who told her about having found out that she was undocumented while applying for college, and how this event completely changed how she viewed her life and her very identity.

Theatre Cultura is a participant in PlayGround’s inaugural Innovator Incubator, a year-long program dedicated to fostering the development and launch of innovative new theatre companies. Theatre Cultura is a fiscally-sponsored project of PlayGround.