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The Process Series 2019-2020: Crossing Boundaries presents “Critical Distance”
November 9, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Critical Distance
Written by Cristina Luzárraga
Directed by Alejandro Jose Rodriguez
Time: November 8th & 9th at 7:30pm
Location: Center for Dramatic Arts, Studio 101
The Process Series continues its 12th season, with a staged reading of Cristina Luzárraga’s Critical Distance as part of the Making Tracks Reading Series and Co-Sponsored by PLAYMAKERS REPERTORY COMPANY.
Critical Distance is a dark comedy that pits two women against each other: Inez, a white/Latina art history graduate student at Columbia University, and Felicia, a black security guard at the Guggenheim Museum. Inez is attempting to navigate the highfalutin waters of academia and write her dissertation on outsider art, but her scholarship is turned on its head when she encounters Felicia, a no-nonsense autodidact who calls it like she sees it. When Inez grants Felicia a platform to voice her unorthodox opinions, she unwittingly creates a competitor in the world of art criticism, and the two women fight it out for the sake of relative fame and fortune. The play examines the intersection of art and class, and the extent to which art is subjectively defined.
Process Series artistic director Joseph Megel notes, “This is the 2nd year of our Making Tracks Series, a partnership with PlayMakers Repertory Company. These readings give our audience an exciting opportunity to experience staged readings of topical yet-to-be produced new works for the stage – a chance to see these plays before they move on to a major American stage.”
This reading is directed by Alejandro Rodriguez, Associate Artistic Director of Playmakers Repertory Company. The cast includes visiting artist Sarita Ocon, Omolade Wey, Gwendolyn Schwinke, Khalil Lesaldo, and April Mae Davis. It will be followed by a conversation with playwright Luzárraga, director Alejandro Rodriguez and the cast.
Rodriquez states, “As PlayMakers continues to establish itself as a home and incubator for great new American plays, a space where Joseph and the Process Series have already made quite a name for themselves, we’re thrilled to welcome Cristina to UNC and to place our one-of-a-kind resources at her disposal. When we stumbled upon Critical Distance last year, we were immediately aware we had encountered a vibrant and incisive theatrical voice.”
Cristina Luzárraga is a playwright from New Jersey whose dark comedies tend to feature unruly women and an exploration of the grotesque and uncanny. Her plays include Critical Distance, Millennialville, and La Mujer Barbuda (2018 Screencraft Stage Play Winner and Princess Grace Award finalist). An alum of The Second City Conservatory in Chicago, she is a current member of EST/Youngblood. Her work has been developed with IATI Theater, Tantrum Theater, The New Colony, and Chicago Dramatists, and her short plays are published in anthologies by Smith and Kraus. She holds a BA from Princeton and an MFA from Ohio University.
About the Process Series
Dedicated to the development of new and significant works in the performing arts, The Process Series features professionally mounted, developmental presentations of new works in progress. The mission of the Series is to illuminate the ways in which artistic ideas take form, to examine the creative process, to offer audiences the opportunity to follow artists and performers as they explore and discover, and by so doing to enrich the development process for artists with the ultimate goal of better art and a closer relationship between artists and audiences. Immediately following each performance, we ask our audiences to join in the creative process, providing feedback critical to the development of the work as it moves forward. All performances are free and open to the public. Now in its 12th season, the Series has supported over sixty artist residencies since its inception, with many of the projects going on to significant future lives both nationally and internationally. This season’s theme, Crossing Boundaries, offers audiences an opportunity to experience performances that question society’s expectations and transcend norms in search of a more just society.
For more information, contact Joseph Megel, megel@email.unc.edu, Producer Heather Tatreau, htatreau@email.unc.edu, or call 919-843-5666 or visit the following links:
Website: http://processseries.unc.edu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theprocessseries
Twitter: https://twitter.com/processseries