Breath Of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble Will Celebrate the Release of 'The Covid Monologues' Book

Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble (BOFLTE) celebrates the book release of The COVID Monologues.

"The COVID Monologues," was a video project presented by Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, that honored people who died from COVID-19. (Watch on YouTube)

The series premiered online January 26, 2021.

BOFTLE's literary director Diana Burbano launched the project in August 2021 when she found herself faced with the sheer volume of people in the Latino/a/e/x theater community dying from the coronavirus. Data about those who had died from the virus was continually climbing, but she didn't see the people behind those numbers being honored.

As of this writing, more than 986,545 individuals have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the U.S. alone. The sheer magnitude of the numbers can feel impossible to understand, but Santa Ana's Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble found a beautiful, intimate way of putting faces to those devastating statistics. They put a call out to writers to write living altarpieces for those who have passed, 54 writers from around the globe responded to the prompt and their work is collected here.

Named simply The COVID Monologues, each piece illustrates the life of an ordinary person who passed away to COVID-19, memorializing their everyday battles and accomplishments in a tapestry woven with grounding, intimate details, and inspiring in their reflective insight.

Submissions came from Orange County but also from as far away as Latin America, New Zealand, and England.

Although the project is volunteer-based much like the company itself, a portion of donations and book sales will benefit Doctors Without Borders.

The writers are Robert Weibezahl, Maria Enriquez, Cris Eli Blak, Roy Conboy, Samantha Chagollan, Meghan Covington, Elizabeth Sophia Strauss, Mercy Vasquez, Desireé York, Lora Danley, Mark Whicker, Richard Soto, José Hernandez, Lindsey Bouchard, Carla Hargrove, Sara Guerrero, Donna Latham, Leilani Squire, Ayanna Stevenson, Jasmin Butler, Jacquleen Stevenson, William Butler IV, Rex McGregor, Kate Rich, Brian David Walker, Dinah R.Tutein, Marj O'Neill-Butler, Jennifer O'Grady, Susanne Pinedo, Philip Middleton Williams, Cynthia Rodriguez, Emma Goldman-Sherman, Sienna Serrano, Roberta H. Martínez, Peter Dakutis, Scott C. Sickles, Wendy Graf, Laura Rohrman, Blanca Velazquez, Jeremy Kehoe, Lisa Alvarez, Xavier Serna, Margo Rofé, Mary Crescenzo, Aaron Higareda, Marla E. Schwartz, Eloise Coopersmith, Diana Burbano, Jordan R. Young, Elizabeth Isela Szekeresh, Jennifer Ju, John Mabey, Xiomara Ossorio, Ruben Carbajal.

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