Brava Welcomes Back Cherrie Moraga for NEW FIRE, January 2012

After a fifteen-year hiatus, Brava Theater will welcome award–winning writer and director, Cherríe Moraga, back to its stage to celebrate its 25th anniversary with the world premiere of her new play, New Fire – To Put Things Right Again. Co-produced with cihuatl productions, and conceptually created and designed by Celia Herrera Rodríguez, this new work follows the sacred geography of Indigenous American mythologies to tell a 21st century story of rupture, migration and homecoming. Countering new-age apocalyptic predictions for 2012, NEW FIRE takes a mythic and modern-day look at the conditions of our times.

The play follows one woman's dreamscape ceremonial journey upon the eve of her birthday, expertly interweaving humorous encounters with tricksters and allies of every ilk who act as her guides on the road to remembering a stolen past. New Fire will inspire and challenge its audiences to regain an American history erased in post-colonial textbooks. The world premiere production runs January 11 – 29, 2012 at the Brava Theater (2781 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110). Tickets ($10 - $30) are available at the Brava Box Office at 415.647.2822 or www.brava.org.

"We are ecstatic to have Cherrie at Brava again. After all, she's a legend!" says Brava Artistic Director, Raelle Myrick Hodges. "She is such a big part of the Brava legacy and having her part of our 25 year anniversary season seemed so fitting. It allows are young new staff to connect with the history of the organization." Moraga was the first resident playwright at Brava and in the 1990s saw three world premieres of her plays produced by Brava. Of her return to Brava, Moraga states, "It's about coming home, returning to the same place, but as a different person, a different artist. The world has changed so dramatically in fifteen years, and I, along with it. I am older, yes… and the work, more mature, as well. I have, with my collaborators, discovered the poetry of movement, of visuals, the music of silence, even as I continue to write with words. It's a beautiful thing to return to Brava . . . this woman's theater. . . changed in this way, to celebrate a homecoming with a play that requires return for each of us – man, woman, elder and the young." Herrera Rodríguez adds: "This is a Chicano story, specific to the Chicano diaspora. Forty years into an intellectual and aesthetic movement, we continue the conversation of our evolving politic. Our friends, neighbors and allies are given a wonderful opportunity through this play: to observe, to listen, to learn how we may interpret the world." New Fire speaks to many issues at the core of both Moraga's and Herrera's work, such as the effects of forced migration and violence against women. At its most fundamental, the play considers questions of human consciousness and the role of the sacred in our lives upon the eve of a "New Fire."

Brava Theater would like to thank two major supporters of this production: The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation who commissioned this world premiere through the The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation Playwright Collaboration Awards 2009 initiative. A Creative Work Fund Award with Campo Santo + Intersection for the Arts was also a major part of the development of New Fire. With the generous support of the Creative Work Fund, the collaborators held ceremonial meetings with immigrant and indigenous communities from the barrios of Chicago to the agriculturAl Fields of California's San Joaquin Valley in order to establish a solid community base for their explorations as theater artists.

The production features a solid team of artists that include KULARTS Artistic Director and award–winning choreographer Alleluia Panis (Pilipina) as choreographer and indigenous music composers and performers Stephen Cervantes (Xicano/Chumash) and Charlene O'Rourke (Lakota).

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