Marga Gomez' Brings LATIN STANDARDS to Borderlands Theater

Between vivid portrayals of characters from 1960's Manhattan to present day San Francisco, Marga Gomez ponders the ballads (or Latin Standards) penned by her late father Willy Chevalier: a comedian/producer/entrepreneur and composer of dance tunes steeped in jealousy and obsession.

Borderlands Theater proudly presents the hilarious Gomez in her hit solo play, Latin Standards, a New York Times Critic's Pick. David Schweizer directs. Latin Standards runs February 14-18. The performance runs 80 minutes with no intermission. This may be Marga Gomez' last solo play.

THE PLAY

In her 12th solo play GLAAD Award winner, Marga Gomez performs the funny and true story of perseverance and creative addiction passed down from immigrant father to lesbian daughter. Mixing nostalgia, social commentary and comic edge, Gomez portrays herself as a driven adult child of a blustery Cuban showman. As an impractical tribute to his memory, she defies reason and launches a hipster comedy night at "Esta Noche," a doomed Mission district drag club, during the onset of San Francisco's gentrification crisis. As the story unfolds Gomez muses "Esta Noche might smell like bleach and urinal cake now but I'll just buy all the potpourri in town. Because my father taught me you have to spend money to make money!"

FOLLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HER FATHER

The amazing performer Marga Gomez pays loving, tribute to her father, a comic performer and songwriter named Willy Chevalier, a stage name. He was a popular entertainer in the nightclubs that catered to New York's large Latino population in the 1950s and '60s, who like some of his peers had come to the city "from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico - all of them looking for a better life raping, drug dealing, committing crime," Ms. Gomez quips, adding a wry, "Nyet!"

The show's title refers to the songs that Willy Chevalier wrote, many of which were recorded and made the Latin charts, and most of which were soulful laments about the trials of love. These songs weave the play together. Latin Standards underscores with winning heart and humor, the ups and downs of show business and how the ability to keep striving was passed down from father to daughter.

VETERAN COMEDIAN AND PERFORMER

Marga Gomez is known for her work in solo performance and stand up comedy and for being one of the first openly lesbian performers in the nation. Robin Williams called her "Amazing... a lesbian Lenny Bruce and invited her to perform on HBO's Comic Relief. Her comic style has been described as "deliciously cheeky and incendiary" by the New York Times and "salaciously surreal" by the San Francisco Chronicle. She is a regular at SF Comedy Day and has been featured at numerous comedy festivals including SF Sketchfest, Montreal's Just For Laughs, South Beach Comedy Festival, Vancouver Comedy Festival and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The SF Weekly named Gomez one of "2016's Artists To Watch" and the Huffpost named her an "Agent of Change" in 2015.

Marga is also the writer/performer of twelve solo plays, which have been presented Off-Broadway and internationally. She was a founding member of the Latino ensemble Culture Clash. Her acting credits include Off-Broadway and national productions of The Vagina Monologues sharing the stage with Rita Moreno and Vicki Lawrence and roles in HBO's "Tracey Takes On..." and Warner Brothers film's "Batman Forever" and "Sphere." Gomez can be seen December 2016 in season two of the Netflix series "Sense 8"

MORE ON THE SOLO PERFORMER:

Marga Gomez is a GLAAD Award and LA Ovation Award-winning writer/performer of 12 solo plays which have been presented at The Public Theater, La Mama ETC, Dixon Place, The Whitney Museum, nationally and internationally including London's ICA, The Edinburgh Fringe, and Montreal's Juste Pour Rire Festival. Gomez is also a stand-up comedian. Her television appearances include LOGO's "One Night Stand," Comedy Central's "Out There," and HBO's "Comic Relief." She was recently named "2017 Best Of The Bay Comedian" by the SF Bay Guardian and 48 hills. Her screen roles include "Sphere" (Warner Brothers) Tracy Takes On... (HBO) and most recently she was featured on the Netflix series Sense8. Gomez was an original Member of Culture Clash. In 2016 NBC named her one of eleven "Out Latinos you should know." The SF Weekly named Marga one of "2016's Artists To Watch." Her website is margagomez.com

David Schweizer has been developing and directing new live performance work nationally and internationally for forty years, from his debut at Lincoln Center with a radical revival of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida to his return there with Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulfur for New York City Opera. He has proudly directed many of Marga Gomez' solo works including Los Big Names, Jaywalker, Lovebirds, and Long Island Iced Latina.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

Leo Rich Theater, 260 S Church Ave, Tucson, AZ 85701. Tickets: $16-$30

2/14/18 - 7:30 pm ($30) Opening Night Celebration with DJ Humblelianess, Cuban appetizers by Patricia's Cuban Kitchen, and prizes. Meet Marga Gomez!

2/15/18 - 7:30 pm ($16/$22/$27)

2/16/18 - 27:30 pm ($16/$22/$27)

2/17/18 - 7:30 pm ($16/$22/$27)

2/18/18 - 2pm ($16/$22/$27)

PLEASE CONTACT BORDERLANDS THEATER BOX OFFICE AT (520) 882-7406.

ORDER TICKETS ONLINE: www.borderlandstheater.org

In person at 151 S Granada Ave, TUCSON 85701.

For handicap accessibility please call the Box Office.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Direction of a Play - Top 3

1. Joe Mantello - Death of a Salesman

19.5% of votes

2. Duncan MacMillan, Jeremy Herrin - Every Brilliant Thing

17.4% of votes

3. Whitney White - Liberation

9.8% of votes

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