Teatro Vivo proudly presents Swimming While Drowning by Emilio Rodríguez, presented at the Emma S. Barrientos-Mexican American Cultural Center, directed by Alexis A. Arredondo.

Angelo and Mila are fifteen and homeless. Angelo is a dreamer, and Mila is a streetwise realist. But when they become roommates at a shelter for LGBTQ teens, they build a fragile bond that inspires them to reach for understanding and self-acceptance.  Emilio Rodriguez’s poetic coming-of- age story celebrates the healing power of hope, and the beautiful mystery of being a teenager.

July 11-21, 2019
Emma S. Barrientos – Mexican American Cultural Center
600 River St, Austin, TX 78701

Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm
Sundays at 2pm

Emilio Rodríguez began his theatrical career at the age of 2, performing one-kid adaptations of The Wizard of Oz in his parents’ living room using a broom, a funnel and his mama’s high heels. Since then, his plays have been performed in Texas, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, and Florida. Some of his career highlights include being part of the inaugural Carnaval Festival of Latinx Playwrights, being the inaugural Michigan playwright for the Mitten Lab, being the guest playwright for the Theatre Kalamazoo festival, and being part of the anthology Scenes for Latinx Actors: Voices of the New American Theatre.  In 2018, Emilio was awarded the Robert Chesley/Victor Bumbalo Foundation award for LGBT playwrights and the Kresge Artists in Detroit grant for playwriting. Earlier this year Emilio was invited to be a guest judge for the KCACTF Midwest Region playwrights. Of all his accomplishments, Emilio’s most memorable accolade is the time a cashier at Panera gave him a free meal because the cashier liked Emilio’s play Mamacita. Emilio was a featured playwright of Teatro Vivo’s 2016 Austin Latino New Play Festival.

This production is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

The Austin Latino New Play Festival (ALNPF) was held this weekend at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, where play writers got to premiere their work to an audience and get their thoughts in the talkback session after the play. The plays My Dad is a Pterodactyl, Primas, Más Cara, and Mamacita and the Negrito were in this year’s festival written by Andrew Valdez, Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, Krysta Gonzeles, and Emilio Rodriguez, respectively.

At the sixth year the ALNPF, the Latino-focused plays were a more mature in terms of revision due to a public reading held earlier in the year. Producer Project Manager of the ALNPF Dolores Diaz says the festival is a sort of peek behind the curtains for the public. This rings true for the overall feel of the festival, both backstage and onstage. Backstage, the production crew for Mamacita and the Negrito are all laughs. While onstage is bare with just stools and a sheet stand, a typical view for rehearsals, is unusual for a premiere.

The audience waiting for the showtime of Mamacita and the Negrito. (Photo Credits: Jordan Kasprzynski)

First-timer at the ALNPF was Krysta Gonzales, whose play Más Cara premiered Friday, found the experience to be nurturing. “I had one moment where I got some critical feedback and I wrote the same note that they {an audience member} had.”

In a time when people don’t just experience events like the Super Bowl or the Oscars with the people and TV around them, but with the people online as well, the incorporation of the “Social Media Seats” was created. These seats are designated in an area that will not distract from the rest of the audience and media approved by Teatro Vivo, where people got free tickets to sit in on the play and live-tweet the play and talkback sessions.

The Austin Latino New Play Festival is hosted in collaboration with Teatro Vivo and Scriptworks. (Photo Credits: Jordan Kasprzynski)

“Maybe what sticks with you five minutes ago doesn’t stick a month ago…this is a way to check back,” says Diaz.

This new feature at the ALNPF is planning to grow after its inception, where Diaz hopes will create a conversation online through the designated hash tags that can go for as long as there is a discussion to be had on the topic.

As Teatro Vivo is preparing for its sixth annual Austin Latino New Play Festival (ALNPF) in partnership with Script Works, many of our playwrights are also anxiously getting ready to present their stage readings that will take place from February 25 through February 27. Playwrights such as Andrew Valdez and Krysta Gonzales will debut their plays, My dad is an Pterodactyl and Mas Cara, which will both show important and distinct life lessons through different experiences in the Latino culture.

Meanwhile, Emilio Rodriguez also produced the stage production Mamacita and the Negrito that will introduce different cultural predicaments that can be seen within Latino communities and will help engage its audiences to give their own opinion about their experiences in relation to the stage readings.

We also want to further spotlight the hard work of Andrew Valdez who is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin and is hoping to capture the attention of his audience through his most recent stage production My Dad is a Pterodactyl that brings a different perspective into the challenges that families face when experiencing loss and grief.

Furthermore, we also want to showcase Roxanne Schroeder-Acre who has years of experience teaching theater at different universities and colleges. She is currently getting ready to debut Primas, which is about bringing different struggles that many Mexican American women face when coming to the United States including the traditional and highly anticipated quineanera and its meaning to their cultural roots.

Each one of our dedicated and passionate playwrights will also get the opportunity to interact with their audiences through talk back sessions that will be held directly after each stage reading.

Because we are very passionate and excited to offer a hands on experience into the diverse cultures surrounding the Latino community, we are going to be offering donation-based admission tickets during the festival. Therefore, anyone with an adventurous mindset is welcome to join us and gain new ideas about a very rich culture.