Parrots at the Pagoda imagines an afterworld where parrots guide Puerto Rican drag performer Johnny Rodriguez through memories of his life. In this journey, Citlali Pizarro writes, the transformation of death and life into memory illuminates a queer Latinx theatricality that celebrates itself against erasure.

Citlali Pizarro draws on her own experience working with incarcerated poets, and learnings from the film Sing Sing about Sing Sing Correctional Facility’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, to explore how common narratives about creating theatre in prison fall short, and what theatremakers must understand instead.