Exploring New Work Through Old Words

June 28th, 2024 | By Maya Malan-Gonzalez

Studio Luna has always been a home for developing new single author work. Saturday June 8th was an exciting day at the Studio, starting bright and early at 10 am (technically 9 am is when Maya was picking up Cafe de Olla and pan dulce from our favorite local Latine bakery, La Monarca). We gathered a group of Latinas to explore a new project for our dear friend and colleague, Cristina Fernandez. 

Why? 

Because developing new work for Latines and women of color is kinda our thang. 

When Cristina came to us with the idea of working on a new piece inspired by Death of a Salesman, we were ready to help in any way possible. In this case, our playwright was eager to hear the original piece. 

We began the day with centering exercises and a writing prompt to ground everyone and help folks get to know each other. Cristina then shared about this project and what excites her: thoughts of modernizing the play, playing with gender, culture, and geographical location, and does the adaptation still hold with these changes? 

“With those questions in mind, I've decided to revisit this classic, and read the play with an updated perspective-an all female, Latiné cast, to see where a reimagined "Death..." can take us.”~ Cristina Fernandez

This reading exploration fed our spirits as we connected with some of our amazingly talented friends like Marissa Chibas and Christine Marie Mantilla and some new faces to Luna including Valentina Garcia, Asta Paredes, Sol Crespo and Xochitl Romero.

After the first hour of reading we paused to discuss what was coming up for folks.
After sharing out and engaging in a lively discussion, in true Luna fashion, the day literally fed our spirits as we enjoyed a group lunch from Tender Greens- y’all this is not a sponsored ad, but DAMN that food is good and priced well for what you get! I’m still thinking about my delightful salad and the chicken…. and the falafel- yum!!! If you know us at Luna, we believe in making sure everyone is fed!

Following lunch we jumped back into reading the script and kept reading till time got away from us. It’s a pretty long script. The day wrapped up with each person in the room sharing out meaningful thoughts they would be walking away with after this exploration. And most importantly, Cristina percolating ideas for her new work.

It really was a joy to offer a space for Cristina to start incubating this new work and to remind ourselves of the joy we have when we help single authors develop new plays. 

As we are always planning ahead, we are already dreaming up a weekend of new play development- we’ve met some phenomenal playwrights through NNPN and know there are so many more brilliant individuals with meaningful plays in development– are you looking for a studio to develop a new piece of work? Get in touch with us, reach out and schedule a cafecito, we’d love to chat with you and find out how we can help you create something new.

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