Wetback
by Elaine Romero Mar 15, 2021 Winding Road's On the Stage Page This Romeo and Juliet story is set in the pecan groves of Southern Arizona. As school principal Amalia writes her memoir, she peels away the layers of the onion of her own heart as she struggles to define her responsibility to her community, her undocumented field workers, and to her heritage, as well has her complicity in tragedy. |
Winding Road is thrilled to be a founding theater of Romerofest, a month-long celebration of the works of local playwright Elaine Romero. In the month of March, fifteen theaters, located throughout the United States and Mexico, are mounting productions or readings of one of Ms. Romero's scripts.
Our contribution, a live reading of her borderland romance Wetback, will play one night only, streaming live on March 15th, at 7:00p (MST). Tickets are $10.
This production of Wetback is a collaboration between Winding Road Theater Ensemble and Arizona Theatre Company, directed by ATC's Artistic Director, Sean Daniels. The long-term development of Wetback occurred at Voice & Vision Envision Retreat, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Cal State Dominguez Hills (LA), Chicago Dramatists, Arizona Theatre Company, and in New York at Urban Stages, Queens Theatre in the Park, Dramatic Question Theatre, and the Lark New Play Development Center. The play was developed in Chicago and NY by Jacob Padrón.
COLLECT THE WHOLE SET!
Wetback is the first play in Romero's Arizona/Mexico Border Trilogy. We encourage you to check out Arizona Repertory Theatre's production of Mother of Exiles and Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre's reading of Title IX.
Wetback is the first play in Romero's Arizona/Mexico Border Trilogy. We encourage you to check out Arizona Repertory Theatre's production of Mother of Exiles and Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre's reading of Title IX.
THE PLAYWRIGHT
Elaine Romero is an award-winning playwright who has had her plays presented across the U.S. and abroad; she is widely commissioned, published and anthologized (Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts, Simon and Schuster). Revolutions/Revoluciones was produced in Spanish translation at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, under the direction of Mexican director, Bruno Bichir, part of a tetralogy, including Graveyard of Empires (16th St. Theatre), A Work of Art (Good Man Theatre/Chicago Dramatists), and her play-in-progress, The Sleep of Reason (Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist-in-Residence). Her Arizona/Mexico border trilogy includes Wetback, Mother of Exiles (Cornell University commission), and Title IX (O'Neill National Playwright's Conference). Romero is an Associate Professor in the School of Theatre, Film, and Television at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, and the Playwright-in-Residence at Arizona Theatre Company. In March 2021, a national festival, RomeroFest, will feature her work at various theaters.
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PRODUCTION TEAM
Sean Daniels (Director) is the Artistic Director for Arizona Theatre Company. Sean has directed at Manhattan Theatre Club (The Lion, Drama Desk Award & Theatre World Award, nominated for Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle, 59e59(NYC, I and You, nominated for Outer Critics Circle), Lynn Redgrave (NYC, The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), St. James (West End, London – The Lion, winner of Best New Musical), Arena Stage, A.C.T. (San Francisco), Milwaukee Rep, Old Globe, Geffen (L.A.), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Center Stage, Geva Theatre, Playmakers Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, California Shakespeare, Dad's Garage Theatre Company, City Theatre, Swine Palace, Neo-Futurists, Aurora Theatre, Crowded Fire and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Sean was previously the Artistic Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre, where he received national attention for his multiple artistic engagement programs that brought the community inside the organization.
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Mike Saxon (Production Manager) is elated to join the Winding Road Theater Ensemble after stage managing The Little Foxes last season. Throughout his sordid career as an actor/stage manager/sound designer/director/teacher/enabler, Mike has been tossed around between Live Theatre Workshop, Roadrunner Theatre Company, Something Something Theatre Company, and more! His favorite personal theatrical experiences include, but are not limited to, Snoopy!, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Boeing Boeing, and Men on Boats. When Mike is not trying to teach Stella Adler to his theatre class at Tucson High School, you can find him waxing poetic about comic book history.
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Maria A. Caprile (Amalia Portillo) has served as Artistic Director since 2017. She appeared in Winding Road's main stage productions of Good People, United, and August: Osage County as well as several Winding Reads, including Monica Bauer's Christmas Break and Toni Press-Coffman's Consolation. Maria is a part-time resident of Spokane, Washington, where she was a resident artist at Interplayers Theatre. She was nominated for Arizona Star's MAC award for her direction of The Big Meal, Stupid F*!#ing Bird, and The Fantasticks, which also received a nomination for Best Musical of 2018. Maria was nominated for a Spokie for her direction of The Christmas Schooner for nationally acclaimed Spokane Civic Theatre. She is the author and director of the original play The Little Mermaid: A Tale of Aloha, produced by Spokane Children's Theatre.
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Tony Caprile (Bud Harris) has been a member of Winding Road Theater Ensemble since 2017. He has been seen in our productions of The Big Meal, Stupid F*!#ing Bird, Good People, The Fantasticks, United, Death of a Salesman, and August: Osage County. Tony is a part time resident of Spokane, Washington, where he was a resident artist of Interplayers Theatre. His appearance in Interplayers' production Rounding Third earned him a Best Actor in a drama nomination from the Spokane Inlander. Tony has conducted many a set build for Winding Road.
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Lena Quach (Laurie Harris) is an OMA Design Team Artist for Tucson Unified School District. Her recent/favorite roles include Sweeney Todd, Consolation, Carousel, The Big Meal, and The Fantasticks, for which she received a MAC Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She received ballet training with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ballet Arts.
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Tyler Gastelum (Narrator) has been a member of Winding Road Theater Ensemble since 2019. A Tucson native, he graduated from the University of Arizona and the Bennett Theatrelab. He now works as a local drama teacher. Favorite roles with Winding Road include Dev in Stupid F***ing Bird and Moritz in Spring Awakening in Concert. Tyler directed shorts in Winding Road's Eight 10's festival in 2019 and 2020, as well as the Winding Read of Dusk in 2020.
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Lance Guzman (Cesar Marroquin) is grateful to be joining the cast of Wetback. He was previously in Moby Dick and The Oresteia with the Rogue Theatre. He has also appeared in the Scoundrel and Scamp productions of The Little Prince and the radio show It Is Magic. He is a University of Arizona graduate with a BA in Theatre Arts and a Graduate of the Bennett Theatre Lab.
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Eddie Diaz (Gustavo Perez) has worked with many theatre companies and he is grateful to be back with Winding Road Theatre! Some of Diaz's most recent work includes: Santos in Their Dogs Came With Them, Mitchell in Cry It Out, Merperson/Crux in The Mermaid Hour, Father Hartford in Sanctuary, Cheche in Anna in the Tropics, Ariel in Rough Magic, Carlos in The Migration Project, and more. In 2018, Diaz received a MAC nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his work in The Fantasticks as Mortimer. In the Spring of 2019, Diaz directed The Parrots of Heaven for WRT's short play festival. Diaz hopes to continue to grow, create, and become where he is planted. His ancestors love is still protecting and guiding him.
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Brie Zepeda (Samantha Ortiz) is incredibly excited and humbled to be originating the role of Samantha in Wetback. Zepeda currently lives in Los Angeles and is pursuing a career in acting and combat choreography. Some of her recent credits include the release of her latest feature film All We Have playing at the Harkins in Tucson, Across Sagittarius Street, Never Home, and Fallen Saints: SALEM. Zepeda is passionate about telling Latinx stories and couldn't be happier to be a part of this production. ¡Viva México!
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