ATACAMA by Augusto Federico Amador

Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble presents the live stream zoom reading of ATACAMA by Augusto Federico Amador, directed by Sara Guerrero 

Made possible by Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble  

On Tues. May 5 @ 6pm (PST) 

The Cast  

DENISE BLASOR - Ignacia  

SAL LOPEZ - Diego 

The Crew  

Augusto Federico Amador, playwright 

Diana Burbano, dramaturg, producer  

Sara Guerrero, director / producing artistic dir / stage directions 

About the Play: Thirty years after the dirty war waged by the General Pinochet regime on the Chilean people. Two strangers search the Atacama Desert for their buried loved ones and discover there are darker truths awaiting them underneath the hard sands of the Atacama. Atacama is the final play in Augusto's Latin-American Dictator Trilogy Series. 

BIOS:

AUGUSTO F. AMADOR, playwright, was born and raised in Silicon Valley and is the son of a music composer, Peruvian father and culinary chef, Austrian mother. Recently, Mr. Amador was selected for the Disney/NBCUniversal/NHMC TV Writers Fellowship as well the prestigious 2019 Humanitas Prize New Voices Award in television writing. His play, Atacama, was recently named by Steppenwolf Theatre, in their list of notable new plays and his play, The Quiet Zone, placed 3rd by Playwrights First 2019 Best New Play. His plays have been finalists for the Princess Grace Fellowship, Terrence McNally Award, BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition, runner-up for the National Latino Playwriting Award from the Arizona Theater Company, listed on 50 Playwrights Project of Best Unproduced Latino Plays, Howlround’s “101 Plays by The New Americans, or on Latinidad”, five-time semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Conference and many more. His play, The Book of Leonidas, won best play at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival in NYC. His fellowships include: Public Theater in NYC, The Humanitas Prize in Los Angeles, Latino Theater Alliance/L.A. and Lincoln City Fellowship in NYC. Mr. Amador’s plays have been produced across the country, including: Public Theater in NYC, Cherry Lane Theatre NYC, Kennedy Center in DC, Firehouse Theater in VA, Wild Project in NYC, Lark Developmental Theatre in NYC, San Diego Repertory, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Next Iteration Theater in Houston, Wake Forest University, Blank Theatre in L.A., The Road Theater in L.A., Los Angeles Theater Center, North Carolina Black Repertory Theater, A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle,Skylight Theater in L.A., Austin Latino New Play Festival and many others. His screenplay, RatCatcher, finished on the TOP 50 Nicholl Fellowship Screenplays. Upcoming in 2020: Atacama, is receiving a full production, Midwest premiere at the Full Circle Theatre in St. Paul, MN. A full production, world premiere of, Fresno, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM. Staged readings of Fresno at The Road Theatre in Los Angeles. Staged reading of, The Quiet Zone, at Barter Theatre’s 20th Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights. Staged reading of, The Book of Leonidas at North Carolina Black Repertory  Theatre. Staged reading of, Fresno, at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival in NYC. Publication of the Spanish translation of ATACAMA by Teatro sin Paredes in June 2020.

SARA GUERRERO, director, a Southern California native, is a professional versatile theatre artist whose mission is to model, share, and create theatre-making opportunities for and with her community. A CalArts alum, she has been recognized as one of the “People to Watch” by American Theatre Magazine, and “Best [Artistic] Director” and “Person of Interest” by OC WEEKLY. As the founding artistic director of  Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, an award-winning, Santa Ana-based group, she and the ensemble are part of the ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM of Grand Central Arts Center of Cal State Fullerton, Ca., where the group serves an incubator for underrepresented voices in theater by providing programming and guidance in the art of storytelling. More info: www.teatroguerrero.com 

DENISE BLASOR, actor, was the Artistic Director of LADiversified Theater Company. She is a founding member of LAAFO, KOAN, East LA Classic Theater and currently an Associate Artistic Director of the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts.

Plays directed/adapted in Los Angeles include House of Bernarda Alba, Life is a Dream, The Three Sisters, Blood Wedding, The Wide Sea, Pedro Infante, Anna in The Tropics, No Exit, Marisol, Wild in Wichita which she performed/directed at LATC, BFA, Teatro Las Americas and Frida Khalo Theatre.

She directed/choreographed the Multi Media piece Tormenta Omnia at the Craft & Folk Art Museum in collaboration with artist Gronk and the Passion Play Cristo Vive at the historic Million Dollar Theatre. Her short film Dentro de la Casa de Bernarda Alba was nominated by the ImagenAwards as Best Short Film.

SAL LOPEZ, actor,

DIANA BURBANO, literary dir / producer, a Colombian immigrant, is an Equity actor, a playwright and a teaching artist at South Coast Repertory and Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble. Written work includes:  Policarpa, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Brown Swan lab 2017, Drama League Rough Draft series May 2017, Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Award 2017, Parsnip Ship 2017 Fabulous Monsters, Latinx Play Festival, San Diego Rep 2017, Festival51 2016 winner, about women in Punk Rock,Picture me Rollin’ (featured at the 35th annual William Inge Festival and Inkfest at 2cents.), Silueta, (about the Cuban artist Ana Mendieta), with Tom and Chris Shelton, and the TYA Shakespeare mash-up, Caliban’s Island winner 2017 Headwaters New Play Festival at Creede Repertory. (Published by YouthPLAYS). Libertadoras, Vamping and Linda were written for the 365 Women a Year project and have been performed around the world, with Linda featured in more that 20 festivals over the last year, including Center Theatre Group’s community library series. Her short play Rounds Per Second is in Smith and Kraus’s 5-minute play anthology. She is currently writing material for Center Theatre Group’s Chisme y Queso series, for Rogue Artists Plummer Park project and for Kaiser Permanente’s Educational touring show. More info: www.dianaburbano.com