DESAPARECIDAS
Music by Jaime Lozano
Lyrics by Jaime Lozano & Florencia Cuenca
Book by Georgina Escobar
Original Concept by Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca and Rachel M. Stevens
Music Direction by Ronnie Kuller
Directed by Florencia Cuenca
Reading Presentations:
Friday, October 18 at 7:30pm
Saturday, October 19 at 7:30pm
Sunday, October 20 at 2:00pm
All presentations held at the
Wirtz Theater in Chicago (710 N Lake Shore Drive)
Tickets:
General Admission – $10
Full-Time Students – $8 advance / $10 door
ABOUT THE SHOW
Rising musical theater composer and 2023 Jonathan Larson Award winner Jaime Lozano comes to AMTP to continue development of this new state-fair concert musical about stories of disappeared women from the borderlands. Told through the lens of Mexican folklore and music, writers Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca, and Georgina Escobar explore the strategic erasure of female voices in the fight to end gender-based violence and the disappearance of women and girls. From the missing, to the socially invisible, to the forgotten, Desaparecidas takes place in a classic and timeless Mexican state fair (a Palenque) where the audience will experience a special appearance by some stories of the missing. Desaparecidas has previously been developed at the Civilians, Joe’s Pub, and JACK Space.
Desaparecidas contains violence, mention of femicide and harm against women, compulsory machismo, memory of murder, abstract representation of rape, internalized and externalized misogyny, and is recommended for ages 13 and up.
THE WRITERS
Jaime Lozano is a Mexican multi-hyphenate musical theatre storyteller considered by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the “next big thing” on Broadway. American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Grant 2022. Joe’s Pub Working Group 2020-2022. The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. JACK Resident Artist 2021. Lincoln Center Resident Artist 2023. Selected works: El Otro Oz -formerly The Yellow Brick Road- (Off-Broadway & National Tour), Carmen La Cubana (European Tour), Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 “Best of Fest” Production), A Never-Ending Line (Comédie Nation in Paris, France & Off-Broadway), Savage (UAB at Birmingham), Present Perfect (Live & In Color). Albums: “A Never-Ending Line,” “Jaime Lozano and the Familia: Songs by an Immigrant” released by Broadway Records. Film: In The Heights (orchestrations), Tick, Tick… Boom! (cameo in Broadway composers scene). His project “Jaime Lozano & The Familia” has performed sold out concerts at prestigious venues such as Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, The Green Room 42, Two River Theater, and more recently as part of the prestigious Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series. His anticipated new album “Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2” was released by Grammy Award winner label Concord Theatrical Recordings. Currently working on “Broadway en Spanglish” album, Roja, Desaparecidas, and Frida, The Musical. He is part of the faculty of The New School and Berklee NYC. BFA: Music & Composition, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MFA: NYU/Tisch, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Full Tuition Scholarship.) He was part of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, AFM Local 802, BMI and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY voting member. Mi Henrucha hermosa, mi Alonzo y Ely Aimé. TE AMO. TODO. SIEMPRE. jaimelozano.net @jaimelozano
Florencia Cuenca is a Mexican immigrant actress, singer, writer and director based in New York City. She entered the artistic world at the age of three acting alongside her father in stadiums and theaters throughout Mexico and the USA. Back in Mexico she is known for telenovelas such as “De que te quiero te quiero,” “Muchachitas como tú,” “Te Sigo Amando,” and for being part of the successful Mexican musical Si Nos Dejan, the Mexican premiere of Shrek the Musical and Selena the Musical. Her first album “Aquí – The New Standards”, made her tour all around Mexico, Latin America and New York City, being awarded with the Hot House Jazz Award 2016 for Best New Jazz Artist. She has performed Off-Broadway in shows such as Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 Best of Fest) and A Never-Ending Line (album available at Broadway Records) and more recently she was part of the World Premiere of the musical Real Women Have Curves at American Repertory Theater. As a singer-songwriter she has performed in prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, Feinstein’s/54 Below and others. Currently with her husband Jaime Lozano they are on her new album “Broadway in Spanglish.” She is interested in developing projects that celebrate diversity and especially women and the Latinx and Hispanic community. @flowcuenca
Georgina Escobar writes plays, musicals, and audio fiction that incorporates genres like frontera futurity and musical femmetasias to excavate Latin American perspectives to create unique & invigorating stories that fuse intellect and heart. She received the National Kennedy Center’s Daryl Ayers Award, the Gotham & Variety Audio Honors Award and an Outstanding Service to the Women on The Border Award. A McDowell Fellow and Clubbed Thumb Emerging Writers Group Alumni, her work has been Off-Broadway at INTAR (NYC) and Off-Off at Dixon Place, and New York Children’s Theatre, and internationally in México, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK. A published climate playwright, she has created work with Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, Bushwick Starr, Two Rivers, Milagro, Aurora, People’s Light, Hartford Stages, JACK Space Brooklyn and the Lucille Lortel Theatre, among others.
THE MUSIC DIRECTOR
Ronnie Kuller is a composer, arranger, pianist and accordionist who has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Philharmonic, and Mister Tom Musick, and whose compositions have been performed at Ear Taxi Festival and recorded onto wax cylinder at Edison National Historical Park. Ronnie is a co-developer and music director for Her Only Light, a set of new arrangements of the art and folk songs of Elizabeth “Connie” Converse for chamber ensemble, with interdisciplinary performer Emmy Bean. Ronnie lives in Chicago with her wonderful husband Patrick and amazing daughter Sylvie.
CASTING BY CATHERINE MILLER
Catherine Miller (they/them) is excited to be working with AMTP again, having previously worked on casting for Eddie the Marvelous, Manic Pixie Dream Girls Aren’t Black, Wonder Boy, 5&DIME, and Expect Victory. They also recently cast the workshop for Shimmer for Northwestern. Currently, Catherine casts for About Face Theatre, Raven Theatre and Theatre Wit. They have also cast productions for Jackalope Theatre, BoHo Theatre, Haven Chicago, Red Tape Theatre, and First Floor Theater among many others. Catherine has also worked as a dramaturg for Actors Theatre of Louisville, Paramount Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Cygnet Theatre, Diversionary Theatre and About Face Theatre. They were a 2021 3Arts Make A Wave recipient and were recently featured in American Theatre Magazine’s Role Call. Catherine was also on NewCity Magazine’s 2020 + 2019 Players: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago and the Windy City Times’ 30 Under 30 list. Catherine has a BFA in Dramaturgy/Criticism from The Theatre School at DePaul with a minor in Women & Gender Studies.
