Download frida libre - La Jolla Playhouse

910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla, CA 92037
lajollaplayhouse.org
For Immediate Release: October 25, 2010
Media Contact: Becky Biegelsen, Public Relations Director
[email protected] / (858) 228-3092
Deanna Chew, Communications Specialist
[email protected] / (858) 228-3093
DISCOVER MAGIC IN UNEXPECTED PLACES DURING LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE’S
2011 POP TOUR PRODUCTION: FRIDA LIBRE
PLAYHOUSE-COMMISSIONED WORK, FRIDA LIBRE, BY PLAYWRIGHT KAREN ZACARÍAS
SET TO TOUR SAN DIEGO COUNTY SCHOOLS JANUARY 31 – APRIL 1, 2011
La Jolla, CA — La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce that its 2011 Performance Outreach Program
(POP) Tour, Frida Libre, by critically-acclaimed playwright Karen Zacarías will be touring schools throughout
San Diego County January 31 – April 1, 2011. Frida Libre will be directed by Rosemary Newcott and
features original music by Deborah Wicks La Puma. Public performances of this world-premiere, Playhousecommissioned piece will take place at La Jolla Playhouse April 2 and April 3 at 1:00 and 3:30 pm.
Frida Libre is an uplifting story, featuring delightful original songs, which explores the meaning of
transformation, understanding and acceptance. Alex may seem like a quiet shy boy, but he secretly wrestles
with big ideas inside his head. His life changes when he meets brave and colorful Frida, an unusual girl who
encourages him to reveal his secret dreams. Forced into an unlikely partnership, the pair discovers how
dreams can become a reality with the right friend by your side.
“I am very excited to introduce our audiences to the powerhouse team of Karen Zacarías and Deborah Wicks
La Puma – a remarkable duo whose talents are in high demand across the country. These two artists have
worked together to create a dynamic piece that speaks from the heart and causes imaginations to soar,” said
Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.
Last year, the POP Tour’s wildly successful production of Chile Pod reached over 15,500 children at 43
schools throughout San Diego County. Due to the popularity of the POP Tour program, the Playhouse has
extended this year’s tour an extra two weeks.
“The POP Tour allows us to create original, high-quality theatrical experiences the Playhouse is known for and
share it with children in their own communities,” said Playhouse Director of Education and Outreach
Stephen McCormick.
La Jolla Playhouse will present Frida Libre to schools, community centers and libraries across the county
January 31 – April 1, 2011. Prior to each performance, a Playhouse teaching artist will visit each school to
engage students in an interactive workshop to explore issues and themes at the core of the play. The
Playhouse will provide schools with a standards-based engagement guide that enables educators to integrate
the play into their existing curriculum. After each performance, the cast and crew will conduct a question and
answer session with the audience.
Karen Zacarías is one of the country’s most-produced Latina playwrights and was recently selected to be a
resident playwright for Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. Over the last two years, she has
written five world premieres. Her credits include the award-winning plays Legacy of Light,Mariela in the Desert,
The Sins of Sor Juana, an adaptation of Julia Alvarez’s best-selling book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accents, The Book Club Play and the national tour of the musical Chasing George Washington (Helen Hayes
Award Nominee). Her musical plays for young people with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma include Einstein
is a Dummy, Ferdinand the Bull, Jane of the Jungle, Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans, Looking for Roberto
Clemente, Chasing George Washington, The Magical Piñata, Choosing Nine and The 13th Summer of William
and Pilar. Zacarías is the founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater, a nationally recognized not-for-profit
organization dedicated to fostering literacy and conflict resolution through playwriting in D.C. inner-city schools.
Deborah Wicks La Puma's work for adults and children has been seen across the country and the world from
the East Room of the White House in Washington DC to California, Hawaii and even Singapore. Her awards
include the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Robert M. Golden Award, a National Endowment for the
Arts’ New American Works Grant, two Helen Hayes nominations, two Parent’s Choice Awards, and an
iParenting media award. Her adult works include the lyric opera Dakota Sky, the musical comedy One Bad
Apple, the pet-centric cabaret show Petpourri, and a Mexican folk musical based on Shakespeare’s “Winter’s
Tale”: Perdita. Her works for young audiences include Nobody’s Perfect (based on the book by Marlee Matlin)
and Chasing George Washington (both premiered and commissioned by the Kennedy Center), Ferdinand The
Bull and Looking For Roberto Clemente at Imagination stage, and Einstein Is A Dummy at the Alliance
Theatre. Ms La Puma, a Mexican-American, received her MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, her BA
from Stanford University, and studied folk music with Alfredo Lopez, musicologist at la Universidad de Baja
California. She is a union member of ASCAP and The Dramatist Guild and an active musical director,
orchestrator and performer. A selection of her works are published with Dramatic Publishing and represented
by the Graham Agency, NY.
About The POP Tour
Each year the Playhouse's Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour commissions and produces a bold
new play conceived and created by world-class artists to the school children of San Diego. Playwrights create
a 45-minute theatrically interesting and innovative piece that addresses issues in the students' lives.
Introduced in 1987 by former Playhouse Artistic Director Des McAnuff, the POP Tour production travels
throughout the county touring schools, libraries and community centers. The set, costumes and props are
designed to fit into a van and, in just 30 minutes, can be unloaded, placed in any space and be ready for
children to experience. For more information about the POP tour, please contact Nicole Keepers at
[email protected]. To order tickets to the public performances, please contact the Box Office at (858)5501010.
La Jolla Playhouse also offers the Adopt-A-School program, which provides subsidized funding for a
performance or part of a performance. Playhouse friends and board members Judy Smith and Barbara ZoBell,
with the help of the Playhouse Education Committee, created the Adopt-A-School program for those who love
theatre and feel no child should be without its transformative power. For more information about Adopt-ASchool, please contact Jessica Burger at [email protected].
The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the
most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory
Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres
in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who’s
Tommy, Thoroughly Modern Millie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods,
Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth
Invention, 33 Variations and Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up
of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the
Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre complex which features the
Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and
Michael S. Rosenberg Managing Director.
FACT SHEET: Frida Libre
WHAT:
Frida Libre
Book and Lyrics by Karen Zacarías
Music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
Directed by Rosemary Newcott
WHEN:
Tour Dates: January 31 – April 1, 2011
Public Performance Dates: April 2 & 3, 2011
Public Performance Times: 1:00 and 3:30pm
WHERE:
Various schools across San Diego County
Public Performances: La Jolla Playhouse
BACKGROUND:
Alex may seem like a quiet shy boy, but he secretly wrestles with big ideas inside his head. His
life changes when he meets brave and colorful Frida, an unusual girl who encourages him to
reveal his secret dreams. Forced into an unlikely partnership, the pair discover how dreams can
become a reality with the right friend by your side Frida Libre is an uplifting story featuring
delightful original songs which explore the meaning of transformation, understanding and
acceptance.
BOOKING:
For more information about booking the POP Tour, please contact Nicole Keepers at
[email protected]
For information about the Adopt-A-School program, please contact Jessica burger at
[email protected].
WEB SITE:
http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/education-and-outreach/performances-for-youth/pop-tour
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ljpPOPtour
TICKETS:
Public performance tickets will be available through the La Jolla Playhouse Box Office: (858)
550-1010 or online at lajollaplayhouse.org
La Jolla Playhouse is supported by grants from the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture; the County of San Diego
and Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
La Jolla Playhouse Education and Outreach Programs are supported by Helen K. and James S. Copley Foundation; the William
Hall Tippett and Ruth Rathell Tippett Foundation; Qualcomm Incorporated; Sidney E. Frank Foundation; San Diego Scottish Rite
Community Foundation; Bank of America; the Crawford Smith Foundation; Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation; Sempra Energy; Jack in
the Box Foundation; Wells Fargo Foundation; Union Bank; ResMed Foundation; Macy’s Foundation; Price Family Charitable Fund; and
the City of Encinitas and Mizel Family Foundation Community Grant Program.
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