The Latinx Theatre Commons’s Next Cycle of Programming

At the Tenth Anniversary Convening, the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) announced its next cycle of programming, which will span from October 2024 to June 2027. The LTC received a wide range of applications from the community that all centered the needs of the Latine theatre field. Consistent with their commons-based approach, all applications were reviewed by LTC steering and advisory committee members, and the programming was selected by consensus. 

Steering committee member and champion of the 2022 Comedy Carnaval Amelia Acosta Powell shares: 

The selection process for our 2024-2027 programming was a beautiful embodiment of the LTC’s commons-based approach that has been developed over the past ten years. The opportunity to apply was opened up broadly to anyone interested, and steering committee members with experience selecting and/or championing events in the past mentored applicants through the robust process. The steering committee explored deep conversations about the merits of each proposal, with a strong focus on alignment with our mission, vision, and values. We had so many wonderful submissions that it was very difficult to narrow down, but I am thrilled by the creative ideas that the committee offered to support projects in new and different ways. The slate we agreed upon will set the LTC up for success well beyond 2027 by celebrating and expanding upon our existing traditions, introducing new perspectives, and investing in intentional relationship building that will plant seeds for the future.

The LTC will kick-off its new programming with a convening at the 2024 Encuentro, the tenth anniversary of the national theatre festival produced by the Latino Theater Company featuring three weeks of artistic exchange, cross-company co-creation, and presented performances—all in repertory—for Los Angeles audiences. The LTC will host a weekend-long convening during the festival that will aid in documenting, preserving, and disseminating what is learned from the participating companies; illuminating dialogue that emerges from the festival to archive its events; and furthering the advancement of the Latine narrative in American theatre. The convening will be championed by Jose Luis Valenzuela.

In 2025, the LTC will produce the Fornés Symposium.

The 2025 Fornés Institute Symposium will be a one-day convening of scholars, artists, students, advocates, and others invested in the life, work, and legacy of playwright María Irene Fornés. The event will celebrate the pathbreaking publication of Fornés in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2024), a volume featuring the work of more than thirty artists, advocates, and scholars, which is slated for digital publication in summer 2024, with print publication arriving in tandem with the symposium.

The symposium will take place in the Lewis Arts Complex at Princeton University on Saturday, 22 March 2025. The 2025 Symposium will offer a series of plenary readings from Fornés in Context in tandem with a constellation of hosted breakout conversations engaging questions of context, legacy, and engagement around Fornés’s work. And just as the 2018 Symposium launched the current wave of scholarly, artistic, and community engagement with the work of María Irene Fornés, the 2025 Symposium will be designed to activate the next wave of critical, creative, and collaborative explorations of the Fornésian tradition. The symposium will be championed by Dr. Anne García-Romero and Dr. Brian Herrera.

In 2026, the LTC will produce two events: the Actor Training Laboratorio and the Carnaval of New Musical Theatre.

The LTC will produce its first convening in the Southwest in Spring 2026 with the Actor Training Laboratorio. This event will bring together fifty Latine participants—selected from an application process—to participate in workshops over the course of three days. The Laboratorio seeks to reimagine and restructure the practice of actor training. It will also offer participants the opportunity to practice in culturally inclusive forms and embodied acting techniques that embrace heritage, identity, and diverse narratives. The purpose of the Laboratorio is to offer empowering tools to succeed in the craft. 

The Laboratorio will be hosted by Arizona State University's Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts in the School of Music, Dance, and Theatre. It will be championed by Cynthia Santos DeCure and Micha Espinosa.

The LTC 2026 Carnaval of New Musical Theatre will be an exuberant celebration of Latine music and storytelling. We will bring together Latinx theatremakers and theatre decisionmakers from across the nation to amplify, illuminate, and forward Latinx musical theatre. 

The best-known Latine musicals have been helmed by non-Latine directors and music directors. The Carnaval serves as an intervention by uplifting Latinx musical theatre directors, choreographers, and music directors. It will also feature the rich talent of Latine musical theatre performers in the Southern California region and involve Carnaval participants in rich conversations about Latine music, music theatre, and the future. 

The 2026 Carnaval of New Musical Theatre will be hosted by the University of California San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance. It will be championed by Maria Patrice Amon and Lisa Portes.

The LTC 2026 Carnaval of New Musical Theatre will be an exuberant celebration of Latine music and storytelling.

In 2027, the LTC will return to Washington, DC for the first time since 2012. A Forum on the Future: Language, Technology, and Provocations in Multilingual Theatermaking will gather artists, scholars, and industry professionals in the nation’s capital to discuss the past, present, and future of translinguistic theatermaking. 

Over four days, participants will engage with bilingual/multilingual works, hear from artists and scholars across all disciplines, network, and wrestle with the possibilities and hurdles of creating bilingual and cross-cultural works. The themes throughout the forum will be Translation, Adaptation, and Design Integration; Audience Development and Multilingual Futures; and Community Building. The Forum will be a hybrid event with panels, gatherings, and readings open to the public. It will be championed by Cristina Fernandez and Eric Swartz. 

LTC steering committee member and co-champion of the forum Eric Swartz shares: 

We are excited to bring the LTC back to our nation's capital for the first time since Karen Zacarías and the "DC 8" gathered at Arena Stage in 2012 to discuss the state of Latine/o/a/x theater and theatermakers. Fifteen years after that initial meeting, the Forum on the Future promises to be a landmark gathering of artists, scholars, and administrators to celebrate the bilingual and multilingual works that have come before and dream of the theatrical landscape that can be. DC is an incredibly rich and diverse theater city and home for the arts, and we hope the Forum will involve and inspire stakeholders in other fields and disciplines.

In addition to this programming, the LTC will be supporting the Fornés Playwriting Workshop in Summer 2025. The workshop is intended for educators and to serve as a space for participants to examine their own creative practice while expanding their teaching practice to integrate the Fornés Playwriting Method. The workshop will be hosted by the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. It will be championed by Migdalia Cruz, Juliana Frey-Méndez, and Dr. Anne García-Romero.

The LTC will announce additional partnerships at a later date.