Texas Border Business
McALLEN, Texas – South Texas College (STC) Theatre & Dance will hold auditions for its 5th Annual South Texas New Play Festival’s stage readings.
The event showcases new plays written by playwrights globally. Three plays out of 30 submissions were selected by a committee consisting of playwrights, theatre artists and STC faculty and staff as festival finalists, with three other plays selected as semifinalists. The intent of the event is to cultivate new plays which speak to the emerging perspectives and experiences.
The three plays were awarded a stage reading during the festival and are directed by a theatre director, with a cast selected among Rio Grande Valley actors and actresses. Each play will have a talkback with the playwright, director and cast after the reading.
In addition to the staged readings, a play from last year’s festival will be selected for a workshop production as well as a playwrights’ panel and a playwriting workshop.
In-person auditions will be held on Wednesday, June 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the STC Cooper Center for Performing Arts – Main Stage at 3200 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. All STC and Rio Grande Valley community members, ages 18 and over, are welcome to audition. These stage readings will be performed with a live audience.
The three stage readings for this year’s festival are “Ironin’ Man!”by Jorge E. Rodriguez, “Waiting”by Donna Kaz and “Wise Guys” by Gabriel Diego Hernández.
Thursday, June 25 – 4 p.m.
“Ironin’ Man”
by Jorge E. Rodriguez
SYNOPSIS: Don Alex, a former basketball star in the US, who was deported to Tijuana in 1993 for his involvement in an incident while attending a Guns N’ Roses concert, spends his days in 2019 working hard in his dry-cleaners business and reminiscing even harder to his two employees, Olí and Vicente, about his past American adventures. The announcement of a Guns N’ Roses concert coming to Tijuana sets him on a mercurial quest of redemption that causes the three main characters to form subconscious familial bonds with each other. As they drift further away from the broken families they come from, their fellowship weakens as the US government begins preparations to close the border due to the approaching Central-American migrant caravans. “Ironin’ man!” is a lightning-fast-paced dramedy that explores the effects of consumerism, the American gentrification of northern Mexican border cities, mass migration and divisive social-media algorithms.
Friday, June 26 – 4 p.m.
“Waiting”
by Donna Kaz
SYNOPSIS: “Waiting” is a comedy about the quest to become a professional actor. The play begins when a young woman, from a small Midwestern town, named Lucy, steps off the bus in Times Square ready to pursue her dream of a life in the theatre. She immediately lands her first job on Broadway – waiting on tables in a restaurant. All the waiters at The Great White Café are actors too, each one desperate to land a job in the theatre, yet unconsciously addicted to the performative aspects of waiting on tables. Who needs a part in a play when you have a job at which you “perform” with energy and speed combined with sincerity and pathos? To make matters worse the café’s manager, Howard, is a sexist bully who despises artists and does everything he can to make sure his team never escape into a world where actors earn respect. “Waiting” is set during a not-so-long-ago-era when women had to buck up to being harassed or lose their jobs and asks the question: Can actors who are waiters ever play any other part?
Saturday, June 27 – 4 p.m.
“Wise Guys”
by Gabriel Diego Hernández
SYNOPSIS: Four smack-talking high school juniors and their beleaguered teacher make their way through summer school, one long day at a time, testing each other’s limits to the point of no return. Years later, they look back and try to make sense of it all.
The staged readings are scheduled to run at the STC Cooper Center for Performing Arts – Main Stage June 25-27 as a part of the South Texas New Play Festival.
For more information, call 956-872-2301 or email stctheatredept@gmail.com.
