Alba by Alejandro Rodriguez, Directed by Mariela Lopez-Ponce

This adaptation of Lorca's masterpiece, House of Bernarda Alba, consolidates the family from five daughters to three, and transposes the action to working-class Miami. It puts the matriarch, now a hard-working Cuban immigrant, Alba Romero, center stage, not to amplify her legendary militancy -- though she remains tough as nails -- but to contextualize and illuminate how, and why, she raises her daughters the way she does. The play is intergenerational, multilingual, filled with humor and flourishes of magic, and though scholars would perhaps call it an exploration of "intergenerational trauma," I call it a love letter to the women I come from, tough Hispanic moms who are way too often misunderstood.

TEATRO CHELSEA’S 4th ANNUAL A-TÍPICO: A NEW LATINX PLAY FESTIVAL || FINALIST ANNOUNCED!

Teatro Chelsea is excited to announce our featured new plays for our 4th Annual A-Típico New Latinx Play Festival this December 7-9!

Out of over 40 submissions from across the United States and Latin America, these three plays have been chosen for staged readings here at the Chelsea Theatre Works Blackbox: Beheading Columbus by Diana Burbano, Directed by Luz Lopez; Alba by Alejandro Rodriguez , Directed by Mariela Lopez-Ponce; y El Puente // The Bridge by Sandra Ruiz, Directed by Armando Rivera.

Offering creative space for Latinx artists to grow and express their work, A-Típico will feature a selection of English/Spanish/Bi-lingual full-length plays presented as staged readings in the style of in-development workshops. Scripts will be read by professional actors and audiences will then be able to share feedback with the playwrights to help them continue to develop their work to its next steps.

As part of Teatro Chelsea’s commitment to cultivating new work, a new work from the A-Típico Festival may be selected for a world premiere production in the summer of 2023! Teatro Chelsea’s new Latinx play festival, A-Típico, aims to showcase and expand the focus on underrepresented Latinx stories. The festival also looks to present universal stories: not Latinx plays but plays by Latinx playwrights.