FULL LENGTH PLAYS
Staging the Daffy Dame
Staging the Dame | UC Santa Barbara | Photo by David Bazemore
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In the present, on the campus of a California public university, Lupe, a Latinx theatre professor, directs a production of La Dama Boba (The Daffy Dame), the 1613 Spanish Golden Age comedy, by Lope de Vega. Personalities collide onstage and off as the company grapples with the issues of race, class, and gender raised by the play. As opening night approaches, national politics start to invade the personal lives of the company, revealing the question: Can love truly have the power to overcome differences and lead to a new kind of knowledge?
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Dramedy (4W,4M)
Developed: Arkansas New Play Festival at Theatre Squared, LaunchPad at University of California Santa Barbara |
Lorca in New York
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In 1929, Federico García Lorca, acclaimed Spanish poet and playwright, travels to New York City to study at Columbia University. He arrives heartbroken and artistically blocked but soon experiences the wonders of the city and begins to create innovative work. Lorca in New York jettisons straightforward history to explore how Lorca’s whimsical, searing and experimental writing guides him to find personal and professional freedom in this American metropolis.
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Dramedy (4W,4M)
Developed: Chicago Dramatists, The Lark Theatre Commissioned: The Denver Center Theatre |
Paloma
Paloma | LATC | Photo by Susanica Tam
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Peace among Muslims, Christians, and Jews? It happened once, in Spain, for several hundred years, why couldn’t it happen again? When NYU students Ibrahim and Paloma study an ancient Muslim treatise on the art and practice of love, they debate the complexities of romantic relationships while falling into one. After tragedy strikes this Muslim-Christian interfaith romance, it tests the limits of love in a post-9/11 world and Ibrahim must seek the help of his friend Jared, a young Jewish attorney, to clear his name.
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Drama (1W, 2M)
Award: Runner Up, Natnl Latino Playwriting Award, Arizona Theater Co. Produced: World Premiere: National Hispanic Cultural Center with Camino Real Prods., Albuquerque, NM West Coast Premiere: Los Angeles Theatre Center, Los Angeles, CA East Coast Premiere: Kitchen Theatre, Ithaca, NY Developed: WordBridge Playwrights Laboratory, New Dramatists, Open Fist Theatre Company, LoNyLa Writers Lab, Los Angeles Theatre Center, University of Notre Dame, Amigos del Rep, Emory University Published: Broadway Play Publishing and 2013 New Playwrights: Best Plays, Smith & Kraus Paloma, Spanish translation by Georgina L. Escobar, also available. |
PRESS
- "Today and pre-1492 Spain come into collision in a twist on a Romeo & Juliet story (here Latina Catholic meets devout Muslim) in the highly poetic and beguiling Paloma by Anne Garcia Romero in a dazzling production directed by Margarett Perry." - Ross Haarstad, Ithaca Times- Read Review
- "Told from a survivor’s perspective this is a story - a despairing reflection - of one who can love but remains chaste because his religion is an unyielding barrier... For Anne Garcia-Romero, the writer, this is a very impressive work of art. One is caught off guard by its brilliance, the diverse nature of the characters, and the message it conveys." - Joe Straw, Los Angeles theatre critic - Read Review
- "At its core, Paloma is a love story. But Paloma also touches on topics such as religious conflict, coexistence and peace. They are noble ideas presented in cleverly poetic metaphors...García-Romero defies the usual gender dynamic with a female pursuer and a reticent male, and it proves a good decision." - Graham Gentz, New Mexico Daily Lobo - Read Review
- "The evolving love between Ibrahim and Paloma is tender and true. Likewise, the underlying difficulties are also authentic...This is a powerful play that gets under the skin of religious tensions." -Rob Spiegel, Talkin' Broadway - Read Review
Provenance
Provenance | O'Neill National Playwrights Conference | Photo by A. Vincent Scarano
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In present day Los Angeles, sisters Ramona and Grace Martinez receive a stolen painting created by Ramon, their deceased Mexican great-grandfather. Grace wants to sell the valuable work. Ramona desperately tries to hold onto his art. Will the women keep the portrait in the family or sell the artwork in order to survive?
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Drama (3W, 2M)
Award: Finalist, Repertorio Español Nuestras Voces Contest, NYC Finalist, Terrence McNally Award, Philadelphia Theater Company Developed: Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Chicago Dramatists, University of Notre Dame |
Mary Domingo
Mary Domingo | New Harmony Project | Photo by Aaron Johnson
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Mary Peabody Mann is the widow of 19th century American education reformer Horace Mann. In the aftermath of her husband’s death, Mary hopes to carry on his work by translating a book by Domingo Sarmiento, a brilliant and attractive intellectual and admirer of Mann’s ideas. As she gets deeper into her relationship with Domingo, Mary struggles to make herself heard. She espouses the ideals of gender equality, but is she ready to stand up to the men in her life? Mary Domingo follows one woman’s struggle to find her own voice—in English, Spanish, or both.
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Drama (3W, 3M)
Production (Spanish Language): Escuela Normal, Pehaujó, Argentina Developed: The Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, New Harmony Project, UNC Chapel Hill - Process Series Commissioned:The Goodman Theatre Mary Domingo, Spanish translation by Karina Paola Belletti and Maria Virginia Costantino, also available Video Introduction for Argentine production can be viewed here. |
Mary Peabody in Cuba
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In Boston, Amy Diaz, a Cuban-American graduate student, discovers letters from colonial Cuba written by her ancestor, Mary Peabody. Completely cut off from her Cuban heritage, Amy decides to travel to Havana. Upon her arrival, she meets Miguel Campos, a charismatic Cuban journalist and librarian, who helps her unearth her ancestor's history. Past and present soon collide, as both Amy and Mary must confront the passion, politics and poetry of Cuba, which forever change their New England lives.
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Drama (4W, 2M)
Award: Finalist, National Latino Playwriting Award, Arizona Theater Co. Developed: New Dramatists, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, INTAR Published: NoPassport Press |
Earthquake Chica
Earthquake Chica | SPF Festival, NYC | Photo by Cameron Anderson
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In present day Los Angeles, Esmeralda, feisty with a capital F and frustrated, desperately wants out of her secretarial job. The escape act begins when Sam, a shy, literary accountant, asks her out. Amidst the poetry of Latin American and Spanish romantics and, well, mathematical equations, a comedic "marriage of the minds" ensues catapulting them out of their work-a-day lives and into an unforgettable lesson in how to love.
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Comedy (1W,1M)
Award: Finalist, National Latino Playwriting Award, Arizona Theater Co. Produced: Summer Play Festival (Off Broadway), Borderlands Theater Developed: Mark Taper Forum Latino Theater Initiative, ASK Theater Commissioned: Mark Taper Forum Published: Broadway Play Publishing, NoPassport Press |
PRESS
- “García-Romero has a writing style that comfortably contains the literary spirit of Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges and others...The conversations in this two-person play flow back and forth in gentle shapes.” - Chuck Graham, Tucson Citizen - Read Review
- Borderlands Theater Company’s production featured on Arizona Illustrated, KUAT-TV, PBS, produced by Sooyeon Lee
Watch video segment
- Arizona Daily Star feature by Gerald Gay - Read article
Juanita's Statue
Juanita's Statue | Nevada Repertory Company | Photo by Michael Fernbach
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In the city of a Spanglish speaking land, Juanita disguises herself as a man to escape the wrath of her lover Ignacio's father. Masquerading as a "new" Don Juan, she careens through the city encountering Alejandra, a wealthy art collector, Tomas, a leather bar patron and Beatriz, an innocent bride, who all fall instantly in love with him/her. Her romp soon lands Juanita squarely at the feet of Don Juan himself as she struggles to find true love.
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Comedy (7W, 5M)
Produced: Nevada Repertory Company, Florida International University Developed: NYSF/Public Theater, Playwrights Center, Jungle Theater, Hartford Stage, Ford Theatre Commissioned: NYSF/Public Theater Published: Broadway Play Publishing |
PRESS
- “The social aspects of the play are fascinating because then Juanita basically tries to deconstruct what being a Don Juan is and strives to create a better version of him." - Juan López, The Nevada Sagebrush
Pandorado
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Inspired by the myth of Pandora’s box, Pandorado explores one Latina’s mystical journey from servant to scientist. Set in Beverly Hills and Glendale, California, the play opens as Dora, 40, a Latina maid, receives instructions from her new boss, Hilda, 50, a wealthy Anglo housewife. Among her various tasks, Dora is instructed never to touch the bread box in the kitchen. Once alone, the bread box attracts Dora with its golden glow. Curiosity compels Dora to open the box. Upon doing so, Dora is catapulted into a parallel universe where she is no longer a maid, but a scientist. The landscapes of culture and class in Los Angeles collapse amidst the search for doppelgangers until Dora’s servant and scientist worlds mysteriously unite.
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Comedy (2W, 3M)
Developed: New Dramatists |
Santa Concepción
Santa Concepción | Cheap Theatre | Photo by Erica Christ
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In the countryside of a Spanglish speaking land, Connie waits to receive the "second" Virginal conception. Meanwhile, her sister, Aurora, lies in a tulip garden entertaining as many men as possible. In walks Reynaldo, a young suitor, whom their mother, Dolores, desperately wants Connie to marry. Amidst aphrodisiac soups, prayers and levitations, sensuality and spirituality collide on Connie's circuitous road toward sainthood.
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Comedy (4W, 2M)
Produced: NYSF/Public Theater, Cheap Theatre Developed: South Coast Repertory, NYSF/Public Theater Commissioned: South Coast Repertory Published: NoPassport Press |
PRESS
- “García-Romero's script is a delight...the wild spirit persists, so that even weighty themes such as the death of hope and the erosion of love retain a blithesome quality.” - Max Sparber, Mpls/St.Paul City Pages - Read Review