Making the artistic ecosystem more equitable requires strategic support by a network of stakeholders dedicated to shared vision.
This conversation with the Artistic Director of The Sol Project, Jacob Padrón, and members of the Latinx theater community—including special guest Luis Alfaro, who will also perform some of his own work—reveals how the project builds a body of work for the new American theater and promotes the visibility of Latinx playwrights. The Sol Project is a New York City-based theater initiative dedicated to producing works by Latinx playwrights, bringing the stories of this community to the fore of American theater.
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About Jacob G. Padrón is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Sol Project. He was most recently on the artistic staff of The Public Theater as the Senior Producer where he worked on new plays, new musicals, Shakespeare in the Park, and Public Works. He shepherded the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney (Head of Passes), Universes (Party People), Stew & Heidi Rodewald (The Total Bent), Tracey Scott Wilson (Buzzer), Lemon Andersen (Toast), Richard Nelson (The Gabriels), Suzan-Lori Parks (Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2, and 3), and Shaina Taub & Kwame Kwei-Armah (Twelfth Night), among many others. Prior to his post at The Public, Padrón was the Producer at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where he oversaw the artistic programming in the Garage, Steppenwolf’s second stage dedicated to new work, new artists, and new audiences. From 2008 to 2011, he was an Associate Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Appointed by Bill Rauch to his senior staff, Padrón was instrumental in producing all shows in the 11-play repertory. Padrón has worked with many leading companies around the country including Yale Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Teatro Vista, About Face, and El Teatro Campesino. He was named “one to watch” by American Theatre magazine and was an inaugural recipient of the SPARK Leadership Fellowship administered by Theatre Communications Group (TCG). He has been a lecturer at Northwestern University and has adjudicated on grant panels for TCG, Network of Ensemble Theaters, The Drama League, SDC Foundation, and American Theatre Wing. He has been appointed to the faculty of Yale School of Drama beginning in the fall 2017.
About Luis Alfaro is a Chicano writer/performer known for his work in poetry, theatre, short stories, performance and journalism. He is an associate professor at the USC School of Dramatic Arts and is the first-ever resident playwright of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, courtesy of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant. Alfaro is also a producer/director who spent 10 years at the Mark Taper Forum as associate producer, director of new play development and co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative. Alfaro is the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, popularly known as a “genius grant,” awarded to people who have demonstrated expertise and exceptional creativity in their respective fields. He was a Joyce Foundation Fellow and received awards from the The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as The Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund. He is also the recipient of awards from the National Endowment of the Arts, Theatre Communications Group and PEN USA, among others. His plays and performances have been seen throughout the U.S., Canada, England, France and Romania. They include Bruja (Magic Theatre in San Francisco), Oedipus El Rey (Victory Gardens in Chicago, Magic Theatre, Boston Court, Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C. and is the winner of the Glickman Prize for best play of the 2010 season in San Francisco, as well as Best Adaptation from the L.A. Weekly Theatre Awards), Electricidad (Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Borderlands Theatre in Tucson), Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hartford Stage in Conn.), Black Butterfly (Mark Taper Forum, Kennedy Center & Smithsonian Museum), Straight as a Line (Primary Stages Off-Broadway, Romanian National Theatre, Goodman Theatre in Chicago). His solo performances have been seen at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, The Getty Center, Boston Center for the Arts, The Goodman Theatre, Hirshorn Museum at the Smithsonian, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and X-Teresa Performance Space in Mexico City, among others. His one-man show, St. Jude, world premiered as part of DouglasPlus at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre and was presented as a part of South Coast Repertory’s Studio SCR series.
Presented in partnership with
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BRIC’s Stoop Series welcomes you in for dynamic conversations that connect art, performance, media and other creative fields with big ideas that are important to Brooklynites. The Stoop Series highlights voices we don’t hear enough, creative solutions that deserve more attention, artistic endeavors that make you see the world differently and tools for enhancing your own creativity. Join us on the Stoop -- there’s something different every week!
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* Admittance is still first come, first serve (whether you have RSVP'ed or not).
* The Stoop has a limited capacity and seating is NOT guaranteed.
Venue Information:
The Stoop at BRIC House is a public cultural gathering space featuring free, drop-in programming, and offering a place to sit, observe, and participate in multi-disciplinary work.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2022, attendees of any BRIC House programming will no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the building. Masks are encouraged but not required in all BRIC operated spaces. If you have questions regarding this protocol, please email Safety@bricartsmedia.org