Momma's Boyz Kicks Off Teatro Vista's 2011-12 Season

Teatro Vista welcomes nationally acclaimed Latino writer Cándido Tirado as the company's newest resident playwright by kicking off its 2011-2012 season with an updated version of Tirado's Momma's Boyz, a humorous, dark, but ultimately uplifting look at what happens when a young man turns back the hands of time to save the life of his friend from the violence of dealing drugs.

For its Teatro Vista debut, Tirado has changed the urban landscape of this sharp, funny and all-too poignant modern-day tale to the streets of Chicago. Performances are October 23-December 4, 2011 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. Previews are Sunday, October 23, Tuesday, October 25, and Wednesday, October 26 at 8 pm. Preview tickets are $15. Press Opening is Thursday, October 27 at 7 pm. Regular performances are October 28 through December 4: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 3 pm. Regular performances are $25; $20 for seniors and students. All performances will be followed by a post-show discussion. Single tickets and Teatro Vista Season Flex Passes (four seats for $75 or 2 seats for $40) are on sale now online at teatrovista.org or by phone, 312.666.4659.

Teatro Vista ensemble member Ricardo Gutierrez directs and Steve Casillas, Jesse David Perez and Marvin Quijada star in Tirado's tragi-comedy about three inner city friends magically given a second chance to revisit their decision to land some quick money by selling drugs. The story begins at the end of their journey, with Mimic (Casillas) standing over the coffin containing his best friend, Shine (Quijada). Mimic swears if it were possible, he would turn back time, resist the temptation of fast cash promised by the trio's alpha male, Thug (Prez), and make sure Mimic doesn't fall prey to such a senseless act of violence. Funny, real, and packed with poetic energy, Momma's Boyz rewinds back to the moment when making a different choice could change the course of their lives forever.

Designers for Momma's Boyz include Regina Garcia (set), Christine Pascual (costumes), Mikhail Fiksel (sound), Mac Vaughey (lights). Dana Nestrick is stage manager.

More about Da Boyz

New York-based Cándido Tirado is known for his works as playwright and director of works inspired in issues that affect the Hispanic community. His Off-Broadway productions include: King Without a Castle, Moribundo, First Class, The Barber Shop, Ilka: The Dream, Hands of Stone, The Missteps of Juan Pachanga; Some People Have All The Luck; Swallowed By The Sea; Momma's Boyz, When Nature Calls, The Kid Next Door, Hey There Black Cat, Abuelo, and The Missing Colors of the Rainbow. His works have been presented at The District in Los Angeles; Repertorio Español, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, INTAR, The Latino Experimental Fantastic Theater, NYC Hip Hop Festival, P.S.122, Songs of Coconut Hill Theater Festival, Ollantay, La MaMa, and Soho Rep. in New York; and Sundance Theater Lab in Utah. His play Some People Have All The Luck was presented at the National Theater of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. His plays have appeared in publications such as "Recent Puerto Rican Theater: Five Plays from New York" (Arte Público); "Nuestro New York: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Playwrights" (Penguin, Mentor Books); "Conducting a Life; Essay about Maria Irene Fornes" (Smith and Kraus Books) and "Positive/Negative: Women of Color Living with H.I.V" (Aunt Lute Books). Tirado has been the only playwright to receive four New York Foundation for the Arts' Artists Fellowships including one for Momma's Boyz in 2006.

Note: For Teatro Vista's 2011-2012 finale, artistic director Edward Torres will make his Goodman directorial debut with the world premiere of Tirado's Fish Men, about a high stakes game of urban chess hustlers set in New York's Washington Square Park. Performances are April 7-May 6, 2012 at Goodman Theatre, as part of Teatro Vista's three-year producing partnership with the Goodman.

Steve Casillas (Mimic) is making his debut appearance with Teatro Vista since he first came on board as a Junior Ensemble Member. He most recently performed in Collaboraction's Sketchbook 11: Evolution, and in Victory Gardens' Ignition Festival. His credits at Columbia College Chicago, where he is in his senior year pursuing a B.A. in Theater, Acting, include Phaedra's Love, Play, Suburbia, Waiting for Godot and Los Vendidos.

Jesse David Perez (Thug) grew up near the intersection of Montrose and California Avenue on Chicago's Northwest side, and began acting right after graduating from Mather High School. He trained at Piven Theater, Act One and Second City, appeared in Halcyon Theater's Strong Voice and (Re)Surfacing at Sour Mash Theater, and has a recurring role in the new Starz pilot Boss starring Kelsey Grammar.

Marvin Quijada (Shine) appeared in Teatro Vista's 2006 production of Jorge Ignacio Cortinez' Blind Mouth Singing. His most recent credits include understudying The Last Act of Lilka Kadison at Lookingglass, and appearing in Sonnets for an Old Century at Urban Theater, Romeo & Juliet and The Comedy of Errors at Chicago Shakespeare, Constriction and Sketchbook at Collaboraction, Merchant on Venice for Silk Road Theater, and Carnival Nocturne, Noir, Lulu, and as Charlie Chaplin in Charlie Chaplin Christmas, all for Silent Theatre, where he is an ensemble member. He is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago.

Ricardo Gutierrez (director) is an ensemble member and directing associate of Teatro Vista where he has directed La Magica Posada and the staged reading of Yamaha 300 for Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival. Recent directing credits include Quita Mitos by Tanya Saracho at Next Theatre and Romeo and Juliet and The Magic Ofrenda for Glass Onion Theatre, where he is the co-founder and Artistic Director, and The Glass Menagerie for Absolute Shakespeare. As an Artistic Associate of Theatre 40 in Los Angeles, Gutierrez directed the world premieres of Goods and Pasquini the Magnificent. Goods earned Gutierrez a Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Directing. He also has directed more than twenty musical productions including Let the Eagle Fly for Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival.

Teatro Vista to serve up Tapas a la Teatro Vista in 2011-2012

Replacing the previously announced Oedipus el Rey by Luis Alfaro in Teatro Vista's 2011-2012 season is Tapas a la Teatro Vista, an exclusive, intimate look at some of the best new work by the most exciting voices championing contemporary Latino theater. The Tapas series will feature readings of:
A Bed the Size of Portugal by Mat Smart
Olivia is beautiful. Oscar is beautiful. They are newlyweds and completely in love with each other. Everyone is jealous. But Olivia snores like a sailor and Oscar hasn't slept in months. Will a bed the size of Portugal solve their problem?

Rebecca Oaxaca Lays Down a Bunt by resident playwright Kristoffer Diaz, a joint commission with Goodman Theatre
This three-act, old-school farce is about a young extreme sports star from Southern California who shoots a video of herself practicing bunting in her backyard, posts it on YouTube, and inspires a bidding war between the Yankees and Red Sox for her services.
White Tie Ball by Martin Zimmerman
A story about two brothers, one who is easily identified as Latino, another who isn't, and the moral and emotional dilemmas they find themselves in.

After. (formerly titled A Good Ending) by Chad Beckim
In After., a wrongfully imprisoned man is exonerated by DNA evidence. After 17 years in prison, he is forced to re-assimilate into a cold, foreign world of toothbrush shopping, doggy day care, and a friendship with an anxious young woman with secrets of her own.

Tapas a la Teatro Vista readings will be held at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., and Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Dates are TBA.

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