The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance Launches Inicios: Chicago Latine Playwright Festival

The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) has announced Inicios: Chicago Latine Playwright Festival, a new, annual new play incubator for Chicago's Latine voices.

Inicios is a new initiative from CLATA, best known for producing Destinos, the Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, and builds on the organization's mission to increase the visibility of Latine voices on stages in Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America, year round.

"Our annual fall Destinos Festival is well known for showcasing fully-realized, 'finished' productions created by our Chicago Latine companies, most of them world premieres," said Jorge Valdavia, Executive Director, CLATA. "With Inicios, CLATA is offering Chicago's Latine theater artists a new platform to write a play, workshop it with a director and cast, present it as a staged reading, and gain invaluable artist and audience feedback to take it to full production. Inicios, literally, is a new beginning for nurturing new plays by Chicago's Latine writers who have been relegated to the shadows of theatrical storytelling for too long."

Submissions for the first Inicios new play festival are now open at clata.org. CLATA is seeking full-length plays by writers from the greater Chicagoland area who identify as Latino/a/e/x. Submissions should be original works that represent the Latine experience and culture. Scripts should not have been produced before. Deadline to apply is Friday, April 21 at 11:59 p.m. CST. There is no fee to submit.

Submitted plays will be reviewed and selected by a panel of renowned Latine theater artists. Writers whose work is selected for workshops and staged readings will be notified in early May. A stipend of $1,000 will also be provided for each chosen script.

Workshops will take place May 30 through June 1, leading directly into free, public staged readings at CLATA's first Inicios: Chicago Latine Playwright Festival, June 2-4, 2023 at Aguijón Theater, Teatro Tariakuri, and UrbanTheater Company.

Stay tuned for details about the selected plays, directors and casts.

The first Inicios: Chicago Latine Playwright Festival is supported by Driehaus Foundation.