VISIT HIGHLAND PARK FROM YOUR HOME
WITH CORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY
Cornerstone Theater’s new play HIGHLAND PARK IS HERE offers an intimate view of a changing community, created and performed with residents of this beloved Los Angeles neighborhood.
Performances online November 19 – 22, 2020
Los Angeles, Calif. –
From November 19-22, 2020, Cornerstone Theater Company presents its first play developed through an online community engagement process HIGHLAND PARK IS HERE, written by Mark Valdez, directed by Michael John Garcés.
The murals, the music, the taqueros and tamaleros, the Christmas parade and lowrider parades, the gardens, the hills, the arroyo…and the people. HIGHLAND PARK IS HERE connects the fractured stories—past and present—of this beloved L.A. neighborhood in this moment of community change, searching for shared spaces and experiences. From our homes to our street corners to on-line, if you are there, then Highland Park is here.
Originally conceived to be performed as a theatrical installation and walking tour in and around the neighborhood, Cornerstone began its signature community engagement practice with Occidental College and the greater Highland Park community in 2019 and in March 2020 re-conceived the process with new socially-distanced and online engagement strategies.
HIGHLAND PARK IS HERE has been re-imagined as an online presentation, (with dreams of a new site-specific iteration in 2021 when health safety concerns allow). The play consists of two audience experiences - Llegamos - the multi-generational story of one family from the 1950s to today - and Movements & Moments, local stories from the 1990s to today.
Separation, cultural identity and the human need for connection and community are explored in the stories and design of this online play. What makes a community when some are welcomed and some are forced out? How can we share space in Highland Park 90042 in 2020 and beyond?
Performed by a cast of 30+ people from Highland Park, Occidental students and Cornerstone, HIGHLAND PARK IS HERE takes us on a virtual journey from York to Figueroa and the Arroyo, from yesterday to tomorrow, from fact to fantasy, all told through the stories of the people who live there.
Cornerstone Theater Company’s HIGHLAND PARK IS HERE is created in/with/for the residents of Highland Park and in partnership with the Occidental College Theater Department and Oxy Arts.
Highland Park is Here will be presented online from November 19-22, 2020. Thursday Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7:30pm PST and Sunday matinee at 2:00pm PST. Tickets are FREE and will be available online starting November 5, 2020. Visit Cornerstonetheater.org or call 1-800-578-1335 for more information.
Cast member Marita de la Torre at The Offbeat Bar, rehearsing one of a handful of performances on location in Highland Park.
CREDITS
Artistic Team
Michael John Garcés, Director
Mark Valdez, Playwright
Page Leong, Choreographer
Carlos Melgar, Composer
Lynn Jeffries, Production Designer
John Nobori, Sound Designer
Jared Mezzocchi, Creative Director for Virtual Performance
Nikki Hyde, Production Stage Manager
And featuring the talents of: Adrianne Alvarez-Jackson, Karla Antone, Rebecca Bermudez, Kendell Byrd, Sevan Cash, Jayleen Chavarria, Alejandro Chavez, Dolores Chavez, Naomi E. Cornejo, Rose G. Donahue, Marita De La Torre, Gina DeLuca, Adam Flores, Alejandra Flores, Cecille Forsyth Rios, Simran Fulton, Zachary Goldsmith, Peter Howard, Abby Howell, Sarah Kozinn, Afreen Mann Majumdar, Beret Malmgren, Ebony McConico-Garcia, Michael Mejia, Jenna Morris, Daniela Naranjo, Ana Isabel Narvaez, Irene Narvaez, Elisa O’Malley, Hoyeon Park, Kenny Ramos, Gabriel Rodriguez, Autumn Scott, Elinor Taylor, Richard Tom, Isabella Vidal, Ralph Waxman, Jona Yadidi
LEAD ARTIST BIOS
MARK VALDEZ (Playwright)
Mark Valdez is a director, writer, and producer based in Los Angeles. Directing credits include world premiere productions by Erik Ehn, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, Peter Howard, Tom Jacobson, Will MacAdams, Tracey Scott Wilson, and others. Currently Mark is working with 15 Latino artists of various disciplines to create DJ Latinidad's Latino Dance Party, a performance that explores latinidad in contemporary U.S. culture, through the lens of a dance party. Most recently, Valdez was the Executive Director of the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), a national community of artists and arts organizations dedicated to collaborative creation. Mark has led workshops and participated in numerous panels. He is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award for Directing and for Special Projects, a MAP grant, and a NALAC Artist Grant.
MICHAEL JOHN GARCÉS (Director)
Michael has been a Cornerstone ensemble member since 2006. Directing credits at the company include Native Nation (presented by ASU Gammage) and Urban Rez by Larissa FastHorse; California: The Tempest by Alison Carey; Plumas Negras by Juliette Carrillo; Café Vida by Lisa Loomer; Making Paradise by Tom Jacobson, Shishir Kurup and Deborah Wicks La Puma; and What Happens Next by Naomi Iizuka (a La Jolla Playhouse "Without Walls" production in association with Cornerstone). Plays he has written for Cornerstone include Magic Fruit; Los Illegals; and The Forked Path, a collaboration with the Van der Hoeven Kliniek and Stut Theatre in the Netherlands. Other recent directing credits include the just and the blind, by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (Carnegie Hall), Seize the King by Will Power (The Alliance); Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play (The Geffen Playhouse); The Royale by Marco Ramirez (Arizona Theatre Company); Epic by Ellen Struve (The Great Plains Theatre Commons); and Wrestling Jerusalem by Aaron Davidman (Intersection for the Arts, The Guthrie Theatre and Cleveland Public Theatre). Michael is a recipient of the 2020 Doris Duke Artist Award, the Princess Grace Statue, and the Alan Schneider Director Award. He serves as first vice president of the executive board of SDC, the theatrical union for stage directors and choreographers.
FUNDING CREDITS
Highland Park Is Here is made possible in part by grants from the Annenberg Foundation; the California Arts Council, a state agency; Capital Group; the James Irvine Foundation; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Shubert Foundation; the Edgerton Program in Theater at Occidental College; the Kathryn Caine Wanlass Charitable Foundation; and US Bank.
ABOUT CORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY
Cornerstone Theater Company has been making new plays with and about communities throughout Los Angeles and beyond since 1986. Nationally recognized as a leader in community-engaged theater, our plays celebrate many voices as we strive to include people new to theater experiences as artists and/or audience. Combining the artistry of people with many levels of theatrical experience, we act upon the conviction that artistic expression is civic engagement and that access to a creative forum is essential to the wellness and health of every individual and community. Our plays are staged in theaters, parking lots, factories, schools and subway stations. Each venue is specific to its project and community; audiences pay what they can so our performances are always accessible to all. Visit Cornerstonetheater.org and follow the story on social media @cornerstonetheater on Facebook and Instagram, @cornerstonethtr on Twitter and youtube.com/CornerstoneTheater.
Cast member Peter Howard with Rosamaria Marquez at her Rock Rose Gallery, rehearsing one of a handful of performances on location in Highland Park.
