San Diego REP Receives Three Grants Supporting Future Work

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) has been awarded three grants to support the theatre's production of Emmy Award-winner Cris Franco's 57 Chevy starring Culture Clash co-founder Ric Salinas. The theatre has been awarded a $100,000 Season Sponsorship grant from The Conrad Prebys Foundation to support San Diego REP's Theatre Without Borders initiative, which includes the hilarious one-man memory play 57 Chevy. The theatre also received a $35,000 grant from The Parker Foundation, and a $20,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the production.

San Diego REP plans to stream a filmed version of the play, directed by REP Playwright-in-Residence Herbert Siguenza and Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse, in July. The theatre will be contacting season subscribers and those holding tickets for the previously planned in-person production of 57 Chevy soon to discuss their options for their tickets.

"We are very grateful that three major funders share with us at San Diego REP a deep love for this very special story. 57 Chevy is a father/son story, an immigrant story, and a Southern California story," says Woodhouse. "This loving tale is told to us by the master comic storyteller Ric Salinas of Culture Clash, up close and personal on film like one could never do live onstage."

Honoring its namesake's legacy and passion for philanthropic giving, The Conrad Prebys Foundation is celebrating the selection of 121 grant projects, which will receive nearly $78 million in grant funding during its inaugural grant cycle. The Conrad Prebys Foundation's Season Sponsorship grant will support San Diego REP's Theatre Without Borders Initiative, a comprehensive virtual humanities and engagement initiative showcasing the theatre's commitment to the development and presentation of new work by Latinx and other diverse, underrepresented Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) writers and artists for the stage, diversifying the casting of plays, and most importantly, engaging the public in conversations with these artists.

The Parker Foundation this year celebrates 50 years of giving. The foundation has the distinction of being one of San Diego's most generous grantors during the past 50 years. With grants totaling more than $56 million over its 50 years, it has been an essential part of building and sustaining the region's non-profit community.

57 Chevy is among 1,073 projects across America totaling nearly $25 million that were selected by the National Endowment for the Arts during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.

"The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from San Diego Repertory Theatre," said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. "San Diego Repertory Theatre is among the arts organizations across the country that have demonstrated creativity, excellence, and resilience during this very challenging year."

The REP previously received $25,000 from The Peggy and Robert Matthews Foundation for the Theatre Without Borders initiative, which includes 57 Chevy, in August of 2020.

It's 1964 and ten-year-old Junior is in crisis because his Old World Mexican dad is at it again. Five years ago he loaded his entire familia into his 1957 Chevy and moved them all from Mexico City to East LA. Today Dad is moving the family again, from their diverse East Side neighborhood to a new tract home in the middle-class and eerily homogenous San Fernando Valley. This one-man memory play written by Emmy Award-winning writer/comedian Cris Franco, humorously explores the generation of "double immigrants" who first moved from their homelands to the U.S. barrios in search of opportunity, then moved up into the suburbs in search of color TV and the middle-class American dream! 57 Chevy is a hilarious and deeply endearing tale performed by a brilliant and lovable master of comedy and storytelling.

For more information on projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news. For more information on The Parker Foundation, visit theparkerfoundation.org. For more information on The Conrad Prebys Foundation or the grantees, visit conradprebysfoundation.org.

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