Teatro Luna to Stage Reading of Milta Ortiz's YOU, ME & TUNO at Stage773, 5/11

Join Teatro Luna for a staged reading of You, Me & Tuno by Milta Ortiz, winner of the 2013 Diane Rodriguez Award for the Advancement of Latina Voices in Theatre. The reading will be directed by Jacob Padrón and roduced by Alexandra Meda* on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 2pm at Stage773, 1225 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL. Suggested $5 Donation. Appropriate for Ages 13+.

The cast features Sipriano Cahue, Kristiana Rae Colón*, Elizabeth Nungaray***, Jesse David Perez, Angelica Roque, Abigail Vega*, and Norm Woodel.

When teen sisters Marisol and Luna's parents leave to pick pomegranates in the fields of Northern California, they are left under the care of their barely present Tia in East Oakland. Desperate for a way out, the girls and their cousin, Tuno, set out on an epic quest from the familiarity and danger of their food desert barrio to the aisles of the elusive "Real Foods" to taste a pomegranate. The quest tests their relationships with each other and ultimately makes them question their place in the food chain.

About the Writer: Milta Ortiz is a playwright and performer from the Bay Area with an MFA from Northwestern University's Writing for the Screen and Stage program. Milta was a finalist for the 2013 Edes Prize for Emerging Artist at Northwestern University. Milta's play, You, Me and Tuno was a finalist at Downtown Urban Theater Festival 2013 in New York City. Her play Fleeing Blue won the Wichita State playwriting contest with a production in November 2012. Her play Last of the Lilac Roses was a runner up finalist at NYC's Repertorio Español, Nuestra's Voces play contest 2011. Milta has been awarded grants from City of Oakland Cultural Arts and Zellerbach Family Foundation to write and perform solo work. Milta was co founder of HyPE theater troupe and one third of Las Manas Tres Spoken Word troupe. Milta has taught creative writing to youth for over five years and is published in WritersCorps' Teachers Anthology, Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds, with her students in City of Stairways: A Poet's Field Guide to San Francisco, and in Teaching Artist Journal. She earned a BA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

About Diane Rogriguez: Diane Rodriguez is a prominent America theatre artist who directs, writes and performs. An OBIE Award winning actor, she is known for using comedy to confront various forms of oppression, often with special attention to issues of gender and sexuality. She is a producer and director at Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles and an Artistic Associate of Cornerstone Theater Company. An enduring influence in Chicano theatre, she co-founded two theatre companies, El Teatro de la Esperanza (Theatre of Hope) and Latins Anonymous, and was a leading actress for the seminal Chicano theatre group, El Teatro Campesino (Theater of The Farmworkers). In 1988 she co-founded the comedy troupe Latins Anonymous as a response to the Hollywood stereotyping of Latino actors. Rodriguez then served as director of the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum from 1995-2000. She began directing in 1991 and was awarded an The National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Directing Award in 1998. She has directed and developed the work of Nilo Cruz, Lynn Nottage, John Leguizamo, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, John Belluso, Octavio Solis, Culture Clash, Oliver Mayer, Migdalia Cruz, Cherrie Moraga. She received Best Direction nominations for her work on Leguizamo's Spic-O-Rama and Culture Clash's Border Town. She won an OBIE Award (OFF-BROADWAY) Award in 2007 for playing multiple roles in Heather Woodbury's Tale of Two Cities (Best Ensemble) .

Please note: This play contains strong language and some sexual content.

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