Festival Noon Conversation with Tiffany Ana López: “The Past is Always Present: Luis Alfaro as a Citizen Artist”

Luis Alfaro is the Playwright-in-Residence at Oregon Shakespeare Festival through the National Playwright Residency Program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Find out more about his residency experience here, and learn about the impact of the program at large here. 

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival presented “The Past is Always Present: Luis Alfaro as a Citizen Artist”, a Festival Noon Conversation with Tiffany Ana López livestreamed on the global, commons-based HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Saturday 4 March at 12 p.m. PST (Portland) / 2 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 3 p.m. EST (New York).

Join Dr. Tiffany Ana López (Director of the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre at Arizona State University, Dramaturg for Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles by Luis Alfaro, and member of the National Latina/o Theater Alliance) for an Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, OR) Festival Noon Conversation, “The Past is Always Present: Luis Alfaro as a Citizen Artist.” She will discuss Luis’ work as a citizen artist in tandem with his focus on immigration and cultural trauma in America in his play, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles. Dr. López will also address the history of the term “mojada” (“wetback”) as both a xenophobic term and political barometer and its importance for the playwright in titling this play. 60 percent of women who cross into the United States are raped during their journey. How does Alfaro use the Medea myth to explore the complex ways trauma resonates in the lives of immigrants, past, present, and future?

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.