AlterTheater Premieres New Comedy By Native Writer, PUEBLO REVOLT

AlterTheater is the first company to present a rolling world premiere of award-winning new comedy, Pueblo Revolt by Dillon Chitto. Pueblo Revolt will run February 2nd to February 12th at UC Berkeley's Arts Research Center, and from February 13th through February 26th at Art Works Downtown in San Rafael.

"I'm excited to share Pueblo Revolt with audiences," Chitto says, "because it's an Indigenous story of survival through a comedic lens."

Equally hilarious and poignant, Pueblo Revolt is the story of two brothers, Feem Whim and Ba'homa, living through the only time in North American history when Native people kicked out the colonizers. Unfortunately, even as they prepare for the upcoming Pueblo Uprising, the younger brother is trying to navigate a very inconvenient crush on the Spanish baker's son.

Pueblo Revolt won the Rella Lossy Award, for Best New Play set to premiere in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pueblo Revolt weaves together history and Indigifuturism to examine queerness, family, religion, and survival.

"Initially, I was really connected to the character of Feem Whim," says Reed Flores, who will direct the project. "I'm also a Queer younger brother. But, as I kept rereading this play, I was really drawn to the language. A majority of the dialogue of this play is created in a sort of modern realism, how we talk today -- but then there are parts that lean into magic, into poetry, and those are the parts that really transport me to a different place."

AlterTheater returns to the East Bay, this time in a partnership with the Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley. Pueblo Revolt will perform for two weekends on the campus of UC Berkeley, before moving to San Rafael for an additional two weekends.

The Arts Research Center (ARC) is located on the University of California, Berkeley campus at the Hearst Field Annex D23.

COVID Safety protocols: ARC has been outfitted with top-of-the-line HEPA filtration, and the space has high ceilings and is self-contained. In addition, AlterTheater will follow all applicable local Public Health recommendations. If our community is in Medium or High Risk, as assessed by the CDC, audiences will be required to wear masks.

This performance in Berkeley follows AlterTheater's East Bay debut last summer, as part of California Shakespeare Theater's Community Circle, with its production of Pure Native.

"When applying an equity lens to producing theater, sometimes access means taking the play to the people rather than the other way around," says AlterTheater producing Artistic Director Eric Avery. "And Pueblo Revolt is the latest form of healing medicine in our nearly two decades of centering Black and Indigenous artists' stories for cultural repair, connection and mutual understanding."

"And laughter is the greatest medicine Indigenous folx have to offer," adds Jeanette Harrison, co-founder of AlterTheater.

The production then tours to San Rafael, performing in the Founders Gallery at Art Works Dowtown. Originally built as Gordon's Opera House in 1878, the Art Works Downtown has a rich history, and since 1996 has been home to artists' studios, the Fourth Street gallery, and an ever expanding arts community spanning three floors. "We're very excited to be back at Art Works Downtown," says Harrison, "and be part of AWD's vibrant program offerings."

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