March 28, 2024

Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program Presents References To Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot

José Rivera’s Obie-Award-Winning Play Runs October 3 - 13

Posted

Providence, RI: The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program presents its October thesis show, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, by José Rivera, directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo ‘20. Performances run October 3 through October 13 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire St., Downtown Providence. General admission is $15 with a discounted price of $10 for seniors and $7 for students. Tickets are on sale now at Trinity Rep’s box office, by phone (401) 351-4242, or online at www.TrinityRep.com.

While Gabriela waits for her husband Benito to come back from the war, she ventures outside to search for connection. As she gets closer to nature, chatting with the moon and standing off with a coyote, Gabriela feels increasingly estranged from her husband, even after his return from the field. For her, the outside world - including the infatuated neighbor boy - seems more vital and immediate than her relationship with her husband, who has been changed by the war into a man she doesn’t always recognize.

Director Tatyana-Marie Carlo said of the show: “References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot exposes the raw guts and glory of a marriage. It is a story about two people searching for a way to communicate beyond words, who seek compromise by finding the courage to ask for what they need from their spouse for the first time. The tenderness of their requests unmasks the raw vulnerability of what it means to make sacrifices for and with the one you love.

When I listen to José Rivera words spoken aloud, I hear my family. He writes the way my family, a strong Puerto Rican family with a New York City Edge talk. He paints a vivid picture of my cousins, aunts, and uncles in this play.”

Tatyana-Marie Carlo is a Puerto Rican director from Miami, FL who received her BFA in Acting from the New World School of the Arts. During her undergraduate career she developed a passion for bilingual theater that continues to influence her career. As the Artistic Director of Micro Theater Miami, Tatyana-Marie integrated English-language plays, where previously all the plays were performed in Spanish. While leading the creation process of 15-minute plays in 20 X 8 shipping containers, she was also able to establish Micro-theater for Kids, which was never before seen in the United States. Soon after, she became the Associate Director of Seminole Theatre, a performing arts center in Homestead, Fl. In her role she aided in the reestablishment of the theater after being previously closed for 40 years.

Currently, Carlo is a third year MFA Directing candidate at Brown University (Brown/Trinity Partnership) where she has directed a diverse body of work including: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, and Commedia de las Equivocaciónes a bilingual Spanish/English adaption by Kufa Castro. She has also had the opportunity to direct the workshops of Miku and the Gods by Julia Izumi and Saltfish by Kyla Searle. During her time in Providence, Tatyana has worked on the Trinity Rep and Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA) partnership, Teatro en El Verano, which brings free bilingual adaptations of classic plays to locations throughout Rhode Island. In 2018, she directed The Tempest/La Tempestad and in 2019 she was at the helm of Much Ado About Nothing/Tanta Bulla ¿Y Pa Que? She has been commissioned to direct both locally and nationally for plays that include: Clybourne Park, Real Women Have Curves, and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. Most recently Tatyana was named the 2019 Matt Harris Directing Fellow at Williamstown Theater Festival.

About The Brown/Trinity Rep Program
The Brown/Trinity Rep directing MFA is a three-year program that includes participation in studio and academic course work, and direction of several productions before graduation. Directing students must direct a workshop of a contemporary/modern play with the Brown/Trinity Rep acting students, and then put together three full productions of plays with moderate technical support. These productions include one new play, one classical verse play, and one play of the directors’ choosing. In their third year, the directing students put on their thesis project, a production utilizing the third year acting students with full design and production support. It is the final opportunity for directing students to showcase their abilities and vision, and bring attention to a work they believe is important.

The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provides professional training for students under the auspices of an Ivy League university and Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University’s Department of Theater and Performance Studies is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

Share!
Truly local news delivered to every home in town