PLAY MAID

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2023
7:30PM at The Shiva Theater at the Public

Written and performed by Jesús I. Valles (they/them)
Directed by Liliana Padilla (they/them)

Stage Manager: Beatrice Perez-Arche
Movement Director: Ishmael Gonzalez (any pronouns)
Vocal Coach: Josh 'J' Feliciano-Sanchez Moser (they/them/elle)

PLAY MAID is a spell, a pre-emptive mourning ritual for my mother, who will be taken from me too soon by the labor she's performed in the service of all the women she cleaned for, all the babies she was paid to raise. This play is a eulogy for Lupe Ontiveros, legendary for playing over 150 maids in her acting career. This play is me obsessing over my strange desire to become my mother, whose love has absolutely devastated me. This is my obsession with ending this place and the labor that is killing her. Structured as a series of monologues that interrogate the role of the maid as a sociological, theatrical, and pop culture figure, PLAY MAID is a confrontation with this house that never ends.

 

Jesús I. Valles (they/them)

Writer

Jesús I. Valles (they/them) is a queer Mexican immigrant, educator, writer-performer from Cd. Juarez/El Paso. Valles is the winner of a 2023 Princess Grace Award in theater, the 2023 Yale Drama Series (Bathhouse.pptx), the 2022 Kernodle Playwriting Prize (a river, its mouths), and was named the 2022 Emerging Theatre Professional by the National Theatre Conference. As a playwright, Valles has received support from The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, The Flea, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, The Playwrights’ Center, and Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Valles is a Writing Fellow of The Playwrights Realm and a Core Apprentice of the Playwrights’ Center. They received their MFA in writing for performance from Brown University.

 

Liliana Padilla (they/them)

Director

Liliana Padilla (they/them) wrote and co-directed How to Defend Yourself at New York Theatre Workshop, Winter 2023. How to Defend Yourself was also produced at the Humana Festival and Victory Gardens Theatre. Liliana is a winner of the Yale Drama Series Prize and finalist for the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. They created Born 1000 Times, a visual time capsule of friendship, loss and change and Literally by LP, a text-based clothing line. Other works: TWITCH (Breaking the Binary Theatre), (w)holeness (OSF, UCSD), And Then You Wait (La Jolla Playhouse). Liliana teaches at Dartmouth College and the Sewanee Writers Conference. MFA Playwriting, UC San Diego, BFA NYU, Experimental Theatre Wing and Playwrights Horizons.

 

Beatrice Perez-Arche

Stage Manager

Bea Perez-Arche is a Cuban American Theatre Artist, based in New York City, focused on creating community through her work. She has primarily worked at The Public Theater on the New York Shakespeare Festival, Under The Radar Theatre Festival and the Public Shakespeare Initiative. She is an Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and has collaborated with a range of companies including, The Flea, Tectonic Theater Project, One Whale’s Tale, Women’s Project Theater, LaMaMa, Little Island, Chelsea Factory and Ballet Collective. She received her BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University and currently freelances as a Stage Manager, Director, and Dramaturg.

 

Ishmael Gonzalez (any pronouns)

Movement Director

Ishmael Gonzalez (any pronouns) is a multi-faceted artist born and raised in Miami, FL. Ishmael had the privilege of being a Youngarts Finalist in Theater and Presidential Scholar of the Arts in 2018, taking them to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. After attending New World School of the Arts in Miami, he then graduated from UNC School of the Arts and was the recipient of the Sarah Graham Kenan Scholarship. Ishmael credits their success to family, friends and teachers who have consistently supported their artistic aspirations.

 

Josh 'J' Feliciano-Sanchez Moser (they/them/elle)

Vocal Coach

Josh “J” Feliciano-Sanchez Moser (they/them/elle) is an NYC based actor and voice/dialect specialist represented by Brickhouse Talent. They are thrilled to be working on Play Maid at Breaking the Binary Festival. Additional Coaching includes: Utah Shakespeare Festival; Profile Theatre; Phoenix Theatre Ensemble; Brown U/Trinity Repertory; CNN’s Harry Enten; Savannah Stage Company; Savannah Shakes; and others.

Currently, Josh is an Assistant Professor in Kean University’s Theatre Conservatory. Josh is certified in Fitzmaurice Voicework® and Knight Thompson Speechwork, with an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. Additional details available at www.JoshFSMoser.com.

Proud member: Actor’s Equity Association, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. Resident Artist Phoenix Theatre Ensemble.