NEWS
Highlights of 2022
- June 2022 - Present : World premiere of Eva Luna by Caridad Svich (adapted from the novel by Isabel Allende). Opened June 3, 2022 and running indefinitely in the repertory at Repertorio Español in NYC. For tickets visit repertorio.org (In Spanish with English subtitles)
- October 2022: Directing the second production of the opera I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, by Jorge Sosa and Cerise Lim Jacobs, at Resonance Works in Pittsburgh
- October 2022: Workshop production of Adrienne Dawes' This Bitch: Esta Sangre Quiero, adapted from Lope de Vega's El perro del hortelano, at the University of Arkansas.
- Jan/Feb 2022: Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega with original music by Julián Mesri at Princeton University (Spanish-language production)'
Highlights of 2020-2022
- Creating, directing, and producing Carla’s Quince with The Voting Project, an ensemble-devised immersive virtual theater experience to mobilize Latinx voters to the polls. We had a virtual national tour in the fall of 2020, in partnership with voting rights orgs, regional theaters, and universities. To top it off, we were nominated for a 2021 Drama League Award! Visit www.carlasquince.com.
- Joining the Center for Performance and Civic Practice as part of its new Leadership Circle, alongside 9 amazing artists/facilitators/community organizers/changemakers.
- Going back to in-person productions in the fall of 2021, with the world premiere of The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle (Philadelphia Theatre Company) and the U.S. premiere of Kamloopa by Kim Senklip Harvey (WAM).
- Working with some incredible playwrights & composers to develop their work, including Preston Max Allen & Jessica Kahkoska, Raquel Almazan, Camilo Almonacid, Oscar A.L. Cabrera, Fernanda Coppel, Adrienne Dawes, Gina Femia, Julián Mesri, Andrew Rincón, & Noelle Viñas.
- Working with students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Brooklyn College, & the University of Arkansas as a guest director.
- Receiving the inaugural Pfaelzer Award from New York Stage and Film and joining the Drama League Directors' Council and Board of Directors.
Before March 2020...
Excerpt of HATUEY at BAM
Estefanía is directing an excerpt of the opera HATUEY: MEMORY OF FIRE by Frank London and Elise Thoron as part of the OPERA America New Works Showcase at BAM on Jan 16th!
"Spoleto Festival USA, The American Opera Project, and Music-Theatre Group present excerpts of three new North American works: Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, about a scholar living in West Africa who is captured and sold as a slave in Charleston, South Carolina; Marymere, Matthew Schickele’s folk opera about love, loyalty, and murder on the American frontier; and HATUEY: Memory of Fire, a soaring Cuban-Yiddish opera by Frank London and Elise Thoron about a love story in a Havana nightclub in 1931. Also featuring a special performance by Opera Cowgirls."
THE LA PALOMA PRISONER PROJECT Announces 2019-20 Events!
"The La Paloma Prisoner Project is Raquel Almaƶán's theatre and outreach project about the reclamation of identity by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, and sharing those stories through workshops, advocacy and community partnerships. Developed from her longstanding work with incarcerated and impacted communities, the associated play, LA PALOMA PRISONER, directed by Estefanía Fadul, will have its World Premiere at Next Door @ New York Theatre Workshop (79 East 4th Street between Bowery & 2nd Avenue) alongside a series of initiatives aimed at raising awareness and inciting action towards the end of global mass incarceration. The play is a New Georges Supported Production. Performances begin April 19, 2020 and run through May 9, 2020. Tickets will be available at https://www.nytw.org/show/la-paloma-prisoner/. To make an advance reservation, please visit www.lapalomaprisonerproject.com
The La Paloma Prisoner Project includes programs designed to uplift the voices and narratives of current and formerly incarcerated women-identified folx of color through arts programming, workshops in prisons, panel discussions, and other events leading up to the production's scheduled run at NYTW in April."
Read more on BroadwayWorld:
Fall 2019
This fall, Estefanía is directing:
Productions:
October 4-20: In the Time of the Butterflies by Caridad Svich (SUNY New Paltz)
December 10-15: Frontieres sans Frontieres by Phillip Howze (American Academy of Dramatic Arts)
And Nov 21-24, come see The Lost Land of Gold by 10-year-old Sophia at The 52nd Street Project!
Workshops:
Maybe You Should Just by Oscar A.L. Cabrera (Public Theater)
Let Night Fall on the Côte d’Azur by Christopher Gabriel Nuñez (Long Wharf)
Hotel Happy by Camilo Almonacid (Houses on the Moon)
The Latinx Voting Project (working title) is hard at work on a new devised piece created by the Ensemble!
OUR DAD IS IN ATLANTIS at the Cleveland Play House/Borderlight Theatre Festival
When two brothers are dropped off at their grandmother’s, the boys are not quite sure where he is going or when they will see him again. All they know is grandmother’s house smells like old people and they are a little afraid of her. And that dad has crossed the border to build a life in Atlantis…or wait, Atlanta? As the months go on and no word comes from dad, the boys are bounced between family members and encounter first loves, bullies, and loss. They soon find themselves at the border in search of their father and a place to call home. A funny, candid, and ultimately heartbreaking tale of separated families, growing up, and the children lost in migration.
The play was originally written in Spanish by one of Mexico’s premiere writers, Javier Malpica, and will be presented as a reading in an English translation by celebrated CubanAmerican playwright Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas.
JULY 27 @ 5PM
LA PALOMA PRISONER at Next Door @ New York Theatre Workshop
Estefanía will be directing and co-producing LA PALOMA PRISONER by Raquel Almazán at Next Door@NYTW in spring 2020! Stay tuned for the community engagement program accompanying the production, kicking off in Sept 2019.
LA PALOMA PRISONER is a multi-disciplinary play about the reclamation of identity by women in the Colombian prison system. Based on the true story of a group of incarcerated women selected as beauty queen contestants at the Buen Pastor prison in Bogotá, this new play interweaves the ritualistic journey of a “parade of prisoners” within Colombia’s social, political, and spiritual history. The play centers on an infamous woman nicknamed “La Paloma” who transcendentally soars beyond physical and societal barriers to avenge the raped women of Bogotá. Her actions revolutionize the women’s lives, Bogotá’s prison society, and the world beyond its walls.
This play was developed alongside and will continue a community engagement program of panels, workshops, staged readings, and community partnerships with organizations dedicated to serving people impacted by the criminal justice system.
Summer 2019
June: Reading of The Merchant of Venice, translated by Elise Thoron for the PLAY ON! Festival in partnership with Classic Stage Company and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. More info here.
June-July: Kate Hamill’s wacky adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Heritage Theatre Festival in Charlottesville, VA. Tickets here.
August: Agent 355 will be in residence at Chautauqua Theatre Company, with workshop performances on the 15-18th. Tickets here.
INK'd Festival at Playwrights Realm
Estefanía is directing a workshop of Bleu Beckford-Burrell's new play Lyons' Pride at the Playwrights' Realm INK'd Festival! Staged readings on April 16 at 3p and 7p at the Ars Nova Loft.
"The Lyons household may be struggling to stay afloat, but one thing it doesn't lack is pride. A family play about love, identity and overcoming life challenges, Lyons Pride tells the story not only of what it means to be Jamaican and proud, but also the universal struggles shared by all families, immigrant or native, in America."
World Premiere of AZUL by Christina Quintana
Estefanía is thrilled to be reunited with Christina Quintana on her new play, premiering at Southern Rep in New Orleans. Performances April 1-15.
>> Times-Picayune Review "Cuban-American drama ‘Azul’ at Southern Rep is magnificent"
>> The New Orleans Advocate Review "'Azul' showcases homegrown talent "
Working internationally in Bulgaria this winter!
Estefanía is directing world premiere of THE SAME DAY by Stefan Ivanov in Sofia, Bulgaria! Opening February 15th at Sfumato Theatre.
November/December 2018
- Directing a production of OLD FRIENDS WHO JUST MET by Amy E. Witting, commissioned for the graduating class at The Lee Strasberg Institute/NYU
- Directing a workshop of LYONS PRIDE by Bleu Beckford Burrell at The Playwrights' Realm, NYC
- Directing a workshop of RECENT UNSETTLING EVENTS by Andrea Stolowitz at Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland, OR
