The Rosalila

EAST LA REP
proudly presents the workshop production of

The Rosalila

By Fanny Madrid Garcia
Directed by Luis Alfaro

About The Rosalila

Set in present day Los Angeles on the eve of a hurricane, a young woman makes the decision to travel to her birth place to find her father. Her decision creates conflict and unearths family secrets long hidden and forgotten. This play is about mothers, daughters, abandonment and the bond four Honduran women share.

Cast
Denise Blasor as Profunda
Blanca Melchor as Aguas
Raquel Sanchez as Nieves
Monica Sanchez as Lluvias
Alejandra Cisneros, Stage Manager

ABout The workshop

Fanny Madrid Garcia is a founding member of East LA Rep and has served the company as Managing Director, actress, producer and playwright since 2003.

The kernel of the story first took shape as a ten-minute play written while attending a playwriting class at our sister theatre company, Casa 0101 headed by playwright Josefina Lopez.

Fanny returned to East LA Rep with her short piece and was encouraged to elaborate on the themes and plot of the story she had written. Our goal with Fanny and her work was to give her a development process that she could find useful and engaging at the level she was currently at. She presented new drafts at in-house readings before participating in our on the pulse reading series that was attended by a general audience followed by a
Q&A session.

On the pulse was instrumental in pushing Fanny forward toward completing her first full-length play and East LA Rep made it a priority to further develop the play in a one-on-one master class in playwriting, with the goal of completing the play, under the tutelage of playwright/poet/teacher
Luis Alfaro.

Together Luis and Fanny spent hours talking about the play, discussing structure, plot, character, history and themes. All the while Fanny made revisions. What followed were private in-house readings of new drafts with strong actresses, not necessarily the actors meant to play the roles, but rather actresses that were well trained and knowledgeable in working on new plays. Their insights were instrumental in helping shape arc,
storylines and clearing up inconsistencies.

The final step in the development of this new play is the workshop production. At this workshop production the goal is to add those missing links, some technical elements and the audience. The workshop production is essential because the play has been written for a live audience to enjoy in a theatrical manner, it’s not a book or essay, it’s
an active dramatic piece of literature. The play will get some minor technical assistance to help bring it to life but the audience will be the true barometer for Fanny. She will be able to finally listen to her words in concert with the actresses and audience members.

After the workshop production she will have a postmortem with her director/dramaturg, Luis Alfaro, before heading back to her writing space to work on her “final” draft.

The process of developing new work and helping shape the voice of an emerging playwright is crucial in the American Theatre, but particularly in the cannon of plays written by playwrights of Latino heritage. Here we have a female voice and a story about four Honduran women living in Los Angeles. How else can we give voice to such
a specific group but through the development process that leads to the workshop process then off to stand on its own with a solid foundation for the rest of the world to enjoy.

Thank you for being part of the process!

Jesus A. Reyes,
Creative Artistic Director
Nov. 1, 2010