SOLO PLAYS

by Karina Casiano (2014)

A solo play with aerial dance, pole dancing and acrobatics, with original music by Bryan Wade.

On Super Bowl Sunday, on the last day of her life, a vengeful old lady looks back at the way her life has been shaped by being a woman. As she remembers the instances of harassment and danger she has endured throughout her life, she reflects on the role we all play in perpetuating sexual inequality. Womankind submerges us into the dark reality of sexism, and into the mind of a poisoned soul who has had enough.

* February 28 to March 2nd, 2014, La MaMa E.T.C., New York City (producers)

* June 2014, Kupferberg Centrer for the Performing Arts, Queens College, NYC
 

Poster photo by Cecilia De Bucourt.
 

This work was created in part through The Field's Artist Residency Program, supported by the Lambent Foundation, and Chashama.
 

Made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, The Yip Harburg Foundation and the Puffin Foundation.
 

This project is made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
 

Thanks to "First Acts" sponsors New York Community Bank, the Natalie Bailey and Herbert Kirshner Foundation, the Kupferberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Queens College.

Additional voices by Isaac López and Rock Wilk.

Lighting: Miguel Ángel Valderrama
Set and Props: Jorge Dieppa and Ana Nivelo
Acting Director: Alejandra Orozco
Stage Manager: Antígona González
Press Agent: OFF OFF PR/Paul Siebold

Texts by Karina Casiano (2008)

New York:
* April 2008, chashama at 42nd street, NYC
* October 2008, Gerald W. Lynch Theater, CUNY John Jay College, NYC
* May 2010, 7th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival, P.S.122, NYC

Mexico City, July 2010

* Teatro Bar El Vicio and Foro A Poco No, 8vo Festival Int'l de Cabaret 

An ardent, insightful, bilingual cabaret with video and live piano featuring  covers of popular songs about the migration experience and the emotional life of migrants.

A confused immigrant begins to forget her past, her accent and even her gender after years of living away from her country. The foreigner contemplates her dilemma through music, sharing with the audience the transformation that exile has caused in her and the guilt of not wanting to return home.

Throughout this journey, the clash between her identity and an ingrained inferiority complex informs her bittersweet adaptation.

Poster photo by Miguel Ángel Reyes. Gallery photos by Marius Chira. 

Written, directed, produced and performed by Karina Casiano (2000) 

Puerto Rico: 

* November 2000, Bar ?, Old San Juan  

Ecuador, February 2001: 

* Teatro Malayerba, Quito, and 

* Casa de la Cultura, Ibarra

New York: 

* August 2004, HERE Arts Center (TALR Festival)   

A musical multimedia play written in 2000 which fictionally predicts the future of Puerto Rican society based in the prevailing repressive policies enforced in the United States and other countries.  

An array of eccentric characters sing, dance and invite the audience into the world of a fictional Puerto Rico in 2007: We are in a government-run night club where behavior considered illegal before an uprising in 2001 is permitted to keep social order through an illusion of freedom. Terrified citizens comply with these measures in response to the threat of losing their individual well-being.  

With a heavy dose dark humor, the show glimpses into the brand of Stockholm syndrome brought about by colonialism and a colony's sloppy imitation of the sophisticated police state promoted by its owner.  

Additional voices by Francisco Capó.

Poster photo by Eric Borcherding. Design by Matt Egan. Gallery photos by David Rubio.

Written, directed, produced and performed by Karina Casiano (1999)

Puerto Rico: 

* Tito Fortuna Bar, May 1999 

* Bar ?, Old San Juan, June 1999  

Cuba: 

* January 2000, Café-Teatro Delirio Habanero, Teatro Nacional, La Habana 

South American Tour (Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina:) 

* January - May 2001 

A bold play about Puerto Rican identity and sovereignty, it was inspired by the cultural and ideological shock Casiano received as a Latina U.S. citizen on her one-year trip to South America in 1998. With bittersweet humor, the play raises the question of the role of Puerto Ricans in their country's political and social destiny. 

A deceived and jaded prostitute leads the audience through the travels of a young wide-eyed girl who leaves her country in search of a more fulfilling life. A disturbingly practical flight attendant and an enigmatic nightclub employee show her an envious, fed-up "third world," putting her motivations to the test. As she confronts the complexity of her country's political and national identity with some distance, she comes to realize how fragile dignity can be.

Poster photo by Jorge Dieppa. Design by Matt Egan. Gallery photos by Carla Cavina, Edwin Rivera and Jorge Dieppa.

"Bold, experimental, multilingual theater exploring the role of individuals within society."

by Karina Casiano (2010)

New York: 

* December 2 to 12, 2010, a presentation of La MaMa E.T.C.

* June 9 to 13, 2011, 5th Teatro StageFest, Connelly Theater 

* Brazil: September 1 & 2, 2011, SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo (as part of the first LITFNY/SESC Partnership)  

They found each other in the lonely, apocalyptic city. Now they must choose between their bliss and their convictions.  

A poetic and poignant dystopian love story. With Karina Casiano and Renzo Ampuero* (originally played by Daniel Irizarry.)

Additional voices by Susan Hyon and Chuck McMahon.

Premiered in association with La MaMa ETC, New York City, in December 2010.  

The Orphans is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council for the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties. And by the support of  Puffin Foundation, The Yip Harburg Foundation and John Soto.   

* Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. 

Photos by Marlon Krieger. 

Written and directed by Karina Casiano (2005)

With Miguel Belmonte, Jorge Dieppa, Antonio Pantojas, David Storck, Elodián Barbosa and José Acevedo

Additional voices by Rob Goodmonson.

Stage Manager: Miguel Ángel Reyes

New York: 

* February 2006, CSV Cultural Center, Lower East Side 

* June 2006, chashama @ Queens, old Citibank Building, Long Island City  

A chilling, immersive/site-specific documentary play seeking to shed light onto mass psychology, fear, individualism and oblivion.  

Based on official documents, testimonies, historical research and analyses of periods of political and social repression in Argentina, Guatemala, Chile, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Israel and the United States, "Silence Is Health" is an aesthetic approach to the pressing debate on human rights, warning us of the symptoms of a horrific pattern too often repeated throughout History.  

Photos by Abel Ramírez, Rob Goodmonson and La Criatura Theater.

(2014)

by Karina Casiano with Miguel Belmonte

A one-act play about love... and the fucking economy.

"VERTIGO," conceived to be performed in intimate settings,  premiered on January 30, 2014, 

at a private house in DUMBO, Brooklyn, as part of the monthly Tertulia Latina salon.

 Photos by Francisco Lupini.

(1996 to 2004) 

Founded by Fermín Candelario, Karina Casiano, Manolo Castro and Myrna Cuevas, Colectivo C-4  worked in a completely cooperative fashion, taking advantage of its members' array of skills to feed the company's creative process and administration. No hierarchies or static roles were established, and duties were distributed freely.

Colectivo C-4 selected plays addressing our society's most pressing issues, including violence, inequality and lack of solidarity. The company sought to build eclectic stagings informed by movement and dance, and to go beyond traditional theatrical forms.

by Jorge Díaz 

* Festival de Teatro de Caguas, Puerto Rico, 1999 

* University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, 2000 

* Centro de Bellas Artes, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2000 

* Festival de Teatro de La Habana, Cuba, 2000  

by Heiner Mueller 

* Festival de Teatro Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña 1996

* University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, 1997 

* Festival de Teatro de Caguas, Puerto Rico, 1997