Download el henry, presented in association with san di

2910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla, CA 92037
lajollaplayhouse.org
Contact: Becky Biegelsen
[email protected] / (858) 228-3092
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES NEXT PRODUCTION
IN ACCLAIMED WITHOUT WALLS SERIES: EL HENRY,
PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH
SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE
HERBERT SIGUENZA’S FUTURISTIC, SITE-BASED ADAPTATION OF
SHAKESPEARE’S HENRY IV, PART ONE TO BE PERFORMED AT SILO
IN MAKERS QUARTER IN EAST VILLAGE
LA JOLLA, CA — Following its hugely successful Without Walls (WoW) Festival last October,
La Jolla Playhouse announces the latest production in its acclaimed site-based theatre series:
El Henry, written by and starring Culture Clash’s Herbert Siguenza, directed by San Diego
REPertory Theatre Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse. Presented in association with San Diego
REP, the show will run June 14 – 29 at SILO in downtown San Diego’s Makers Quarter.
Performances run Tuesday – Sunday at 7:30pm.
“While the central idea of Without Walls is about exploring new theatrical forms by moving
beyond the traditional four walls of a theatre, we’ve found over the past several years that WoW
is just as much about collaboration,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.
“Partnering with new theatres, artists and communities has been one of the most rewarding
aspects of the program, and we’re eager to join with San Diego REP and Makers Quarter to
mount Herbert’s visceral new site-based piece.”
About El Henry
It’s the year 2045 in a huge, run-down metropolis called Aztlan City (formerly San Diego), where
political apathy and corruption run the city while violent barrio families run the streets. It’s a
harsh new world where Hispanics, Mexicans and Chicanos rule as the majority in this new
society abandoned by Anglo America. When El Hank, the ambitious leader of all the barrios,
finds his street kingdom threatened by El Tomas and his hot-headed son El Bravo, he seeks the
help of his brave and charismatic son El Henry. But El Hank finds his son wrapped up with a
bunch of low-life thieves and drunkards headed by the lazy Fausto. Written in a unique poetic
cadence called Calo, which mixes urban Spanish and English slang, this world- premiere
adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One explores the universal themes of this classic
through the lens of Mexican-American machismo.
"This artistic opportunity represents so much that I cherish: a one-of-a-kind partnership with La
Jolla Playhouse; the first-class writer, actor and longtime REP collaborator Herbert Siguenza;
and the enlightened folks at Makers Quarter who believe art is essential to build a vibrant
community in the East Village,” said Woodhouse. “To make a brand new play based on the
work of Shakespeare set in the imagined future of my hometown San Diego with some of the
major Latino actors on the West Coast is an artistic dream come true."
The production will take place at SILO in the vibrant new East Village neighborhood of Makers
Quarter. This emerging live/work/play/learn neighborhood maintains a strong commitment to
collaborating with partners to create a dynamic and vital community.
Tickets to El Henry are $25 and will be available to La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego REP
subscribers starting on March 17 and to the general public March 22 by calling the Playhouse
Patron Services Department at (858) 550-1010 or online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
Herbert Siguenza is a founding member of Culture Clash, the country’s most prominent
Chicano/Latino performance troupe. The group’s work has been produced by the nation's
leading regional theaters, including the Mark Taper Forum, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and
Goodman Theatre in Chicago, among others. Along with partners Richard Montoya and Ric
Salinas, Siguenza has performed and/or co-written: American Night, The Mission, A Bowl of
Beings, S.O.S.-Comedy for These Urgent Times, Unplugged, Capra Clash, Radio Mambo:
Culture Clash Invades Miami, Bordertown, The Birds, Nuyorican Stories, Anthology, Mission
Magic Mystery Tour, Anthems: Culture Clash in the District, Chavez Ravine, Senor Discretion
Himself, Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, Zorro in Hell, Water & Power, Peace and Palestine New
Mexico. In 2003, Siguenza wrote and starred in Cantinflas! He is currently touring his one man
show A Weekend with Pablo Picasso which was developed at the San Diego Rep. He recently
performed Big Daddy in Cat on Hot Tin Roof for the Perseverance Theatre in Alaska.
Sam Woodhouse co-founded San Diego REPertory Theatre with D.W. Jacobs in 1976, and
has since served as its Producing and Artistic Director. He has worked as a director, producer
or actor on more than 250 REP productions. Mr. Woodhouse has performed as an actor on The
REP stages in The Seafarer, in the title role of King Lear, Proof, Hamlet, and with the San Diego
Symphony Orchestra in the title role of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. His most recent
directorial work with The REP includes: Detroit, Venus in Fur, In the Heights, Federal Jazz
Project, Clybourne Park, The Who’s TOMMY, In the Next Room or the vibrator play, Superior
Donuts, Hairspray, boom, The Threepenny Opera and Water & Power. In 2011 he directed
American Night: The Ballad of Juan José for the Denver Center Theatre Company. In 2003, he
was awarded the Patté Shiley Award for Lifetime Achievement by KPBS and the prestigious
Alonzo Award by the Downtown San Diego Partnership. Mr. Woodhouse is the founder of The
REP’s Calafia Initiative, a multi-disciplinary artistic initiative that brings together unlikely partners
to create new works that speak to the future of our bi-national region. In 2006, he and Jacobs
were honored with the Craig Noel Award by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for 30 years of
artistic dedication to downtown and diversity.
Makers Quarter is located in San Diego and is comprised of several blocks, spanning 14th
Street to 17th Street, Broadway Avenue to G Street, the five plus block neighborhood in East
Village. By creating a centralized live and work community, Makers Quarter will be an economic
generator, where jobs, people and commercial activities along with the arts, culture and events
thrive together in a self-sustaining community. Makers Quarter embraces – and is implementing
– the principles of the I.D.E.A. District, a powerful conceptual framework for East Village.
Through community events and gathering venues such as the community garden Smarts Farm
and SILO in Makers Quarter, the growth of Makers Quarter will be an incremental progression
that will reflect the community goals of a new neighborhood. For more information
visit: makersquarter.com.
San Diego REPertory Theatre (San Diego REP) produces intimate, exotic, provocative
theatre. Founded in 1976, San Diego REPertory Theatre is downtown San Diego’s resident
theatre, promoting a more inclusive community through work that nourishes progressive political
and social values and celebrates the multiple voices of the region. The company produces and
hosts over 300 events and performances year-round on its three stages at the Lyceum Theatre.
Since moving to the Lyceum, the REP has produced 47 main stage productions by Latino
playwrights, and more than 44 world premieres. The company has received more than 200
awards for artistic excellence from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, Patté Theatre Awards,
NAACP, Backstage West, Dramalogue, and StageSceneLA. In 2005, the San Diego Theatre
Critics Circle presented the REP with the Craig Noel Award “For 30 Years of Artistic Dedication
to Downtown and Diversity.” San Diego REPertory Theatre feeds the curious soul. To learn
more about San Diego REPertory Theatre, to purchase tickets, or make a donation, visit
sdrep.org. Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SanDiegoREP).
Initially funded by a generous grant from The James Irvine Foundation, Without Walls (WoW)
is La Jolla Playhouse’s acclaimed site-specific theatre program designed to break barriers by
moving beyond the boundaries of a traditional four-walled theatre space. Over the past five
years, the Playhouse has commissioned and/or presented works by local, national and
international theatre artists in locations throughout the San Diego community. Previous WoW
productions include Susurrus at the San Diego Botanical Garden in Encinitas; The Car Plays:
San Diego in the Playhouse parking lot; Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir at Martini’s Above Fourth
in Hillcrest; Accomplice: San Diego in Little Italy, as well as the four-day Without Walls Festival
in October, 2013 that garnered major national attention and critical acclaim. Underscoring the
theatre’s mission of providing “unfettered creative opportunities for the leading artists of today
and tomorrow,” coupled with the idea that the Playhouse is defined by the work it creates, not
the space in which it is performed, WoW is designed to offer theatrical experiences that venture
beyond the physical confines of the Playhouse’s facilities.
The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of
creating some of 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 the currently running hit Jersey
Boys, as well as Memphis, Big River, The Who’s Tommy, 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, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations, Bonnie &
Clyde, Chaplin, Peter and the Starcatcher and Hands on a Hardbody. 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
Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.