PAST EVENTS & PERFORMANCES
FIND OUR PROJECTS FROM PAST YEARS BELOW.
The End of the World Variety Show (Part 2)
(2020)
Hosted by: Heather Lee Echeverria & Wallace Yan
Art Direction: Lucas Goodman
Lighting Designer: Diana Herrera
Production/Poster Designer: Jacqueline Gonzalez
Editor: Peter Newell
With performances by Lu Valero, Liana Moore, Jamie Collazo, Felix Colon, Aleisha Lew, Natalie Satarzadeh, Mary Marie Hill, Heather Lee Echeverria, Kiki Ruiz, Annelise Hermsen, and Jesús López Vargas
HIGH SCHOOL TOURS
Orange County area
(2020)
OUTREACH & TOUR TEAM
Outreach Director: Carina Negrete
Managing Director: Jesús López Vargas
Director of Works Performed: Lucas Goodman
Representatives: Heather Echeverria, Meliza Gutierrez, Lucas Violeta Ruiz-Lopez, Lucas Goodman, Jesús López & Carina Negrete.
PORCELAIN
by Chay Yew
(2020)
CAST:
Anthony Doan, Sawyer Maier, Tristan Lee,
Megan Robinson, Rusty Dimagiba
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director: Erika Clark
Dramaturg: Aaron Cirillo
Stage Manager: Francesca Menegon
Scenic Designer: Mariko Cilley
Lighting Designer: Kayo Tokuue
Co-Sound Designer: Daniel J. Betts
Co-Sound Designer: Erika Clark
Costume Designer: Meghan Marshall
Producer: Elijah Punzal
Brown Bag Theatre Co. Rep: Jesús López Vargas
THE END OF THE WORLD
Variety Show
(2019)
Producer / Project Manager: Jesús López Vargas
Stage Manager: Meghan Marshall
Event Manager: Carina Negrete
Lighting Designer: Nita Mendoza
Asst. Lighting Designer: Jacqueline Gonzalez
Sound Supervisor: Bryan Vartanian
Hosts: Meliza Gutierrez & Wallace Yan
House Managers: Evelyn McCollum & Erika Clark
PAs: Peter Newell & Elisa Alvarez
Coproduced by Brick Theater Company at UCI
PC: Jesús López
To see show performance, Click here.
Culture Clash in Americca
(2019)
Written by Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza & Ric Salinas (CULTURE CLASH)
Directed by Victoria Yvette Zepeda
Props & Scenic Design: Leah Booth
Costume Design: Shawna Jackson
Lighting Design: Nita Mendoza
Projections Design: Arielle Brown
Sound Design: Zared Mance
Dance Choreography: Marco Antonio Miranda
Movement Choreographer: Shawna Jackson
Stage Manager: Samson Lautzenheiser
Graphic Designer: Jesús López Vargas
PC: Brown Bag Ensemble
Late Night with Brown Bag Woks: Variety Show
(2018)
Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá
(2018)
"Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá" is a full length play, and new work, inspired by the stories from various 1st generation, 1st generation college, undocumented, and DACA Latinx college students on the campus of UC Irvine. The play follows two students who have grown up under the stress of having undocumented family members and even being undocumented themselves. What happens when the fear of deportation becomes real?
Just Like Us
"Just Like Us", by Karen Zacarias. Presented by Brown Bag Theatre Company and sponsored by the Claire Trevor School of the Arts.
Based on Helen Thorpe’s bestselling book, this documentary-style play follows four Latina teenage girls in Denver—two of whom are documented and two who are not—through young adulthood. Their close-knit friendships begin to unravel when immigration status dictates the girls’ opportunities, or lack thereof. When a political firestorm arises, each girl’s future becomes increasingly complicated. Just Like Us poses difficult, yet essential questions about what makes us American.
Written by Karen Zacarías
Directed by Victoria Yvette Zepeda
Costume Design:
Lighting Design: Marissa Diaz
Sound Design:
PC: Brown Bag Ensemble
Quebrando el Silencio
Quebrando El Silencio: Breaking the Silence-Latinx Voices
A new, original work, by members of Brown Bag Theatre Co. at UC-Irvine, shows a compelling look into the lives of Latinx students at UCI as they share their struggles of identity, activism, relationships with family and culture, and ultimately, being a Latinx student in higher education. In times like today where the voices of the media are distorted and false, this new work, written by members of Brown Bag Theatre, gives us the chance to hear the voices not often heard. Help us break that silence (Quebrando el Silencio!)
March-June 2017
Written by Brown Bag Ensemble
Directed by Victoria Zepeda
Scenic Design: Tessa Bookwalter
Costume Design: Danielle Nieves
Lighting Design: Wesley Charles Chew
Sound Design: Matthew Eckstein
PC: Brown Bag Ensemble
LYDIA
The Flores family is a Chicano family living through the turmoil of a tragic car accident in the early 1970s in El Paso Texas. A mysterious young woman enters their lives, bringing change. Lydia is a universal story of family, secrets, love, and sacrifice.
Performances:
June 3rd-5th, 2016
Little Theater, UC Irvine
Director: Maria Patrice Amon
Associate Director/Acting Coach: Maribel Martinez
Scenic Design: Luis Mondragon
Costume Design: Jojo Siu
Lighting Design: Jamie Eby
Sound Designer: Matthew Eckstein
Stage Manager: Briaana Abasta
Cast: Maria Oliveira, Julianna Ojeda, Luis Mondragon, Raul Vega Martinez, Letty Mendoza, Amilcar Jauregui & Hugo Conde.
To see the performance, Click here.
Tomas
Tomás and the Library Lady adapted by Jose Cruz Gonzalez
Co-production with Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble
Tells the story of young Tomás as he learns the joy and freedom of language through the mentorship of a kind librarian.
Was viewed by 600 student, 40 staff & faculty members, and 30 families from our 6 performances in Santa Ana.
Emsemble work that toured to local junior high schools in 2015-2016.
Directed by: Sara Guerera
Performance Dates / locations in Santa Ana, Ca
March 11, 2016 - Thomas Edison Elementary
Mach 18, 2016 - Latino Health Access (LHA)
March 25, 2016 - Carl Harvey Elementary
Los Vendidos
Los Vendidos (The Sold Ones ) by Luis Valdez
A one-act play by Chicano playwright Luis Valdez, a founding member of El Teatro Campesino. Wrote it in 1967. The play examines stereotypes of Latinos in California and how they are treated by local, state, and federal governments
Directed by: Sara Guerrero
Performed at:
UCI Studio 4 in Fall 2016
UCI HIB135 as part of 22nd Annual Juan-Bruce Novoa Mexican Studies Conference in Spring 2016
Santa Ana High Schools in Winter 2016
The Service Worker's Project
This community-engaged project connected with the community of Service Workers on the UC Irvine Campus. Through a series of events and story circles, we developed a relationship with the workers, learned about their struggles and their successes, and developed a new play with original music inspired by this beautiful community.
In Contra la Corriente/Against the Current, we highlight the humanity of the Service Workers and their plight against an unfair workplace. It is an insight into the lives of individuals who are often ignored on our campus and yet are perhaps the most “human” of us all. They have families, they have struggles, and they have a voice that must be heard.
Performance Dates: May 1st-3rd, 2015 -Robert Cohen Theatre, UC Irvine
To see the performance, Click here.
Yerma.
The focus of this production was on the lyrical beauty of Lorca’s and a desire to retain as much of the original Spanish as possible. We wanted to show not only the Spanish culture of his work but the various Latinx cultures evident in our student population. Yerma provided our students the opportunity to explore innovative design techniques with expressionistic designs along with puppet and mask work to express the worlds of the play.
LOA to the Divine Narcissus
Loa to the Divine Narcissus by Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz is a brilliant allegory of Europe's colonization of the America's. Written in 1689 by the first female playwright of the Americas, this short piece was originally meant to introduce a longer theatrical play. The 2012 Brown Bag Theater Company production of Loa to the Divine Narcissus also served as an introduction to Brown Bag's forthcoming longer theatrical productions. Loa to the Divine Narcissus initiated the trajectory of Brown Bag Theater Company with a focus on the historical lineage of Chicano and Latino Theatre with an awareness of issues related to identity and social justice.