Luz Lorenzana Twigg
Luz Lorenzana Twigg is a playwright, dramaturg, doula, and folk herbalist. Her practice explores diasporic identity, ritual, theatre as a living archive, as well as ancestral healing as the gateway for reimagined theatrical pedagogy and praxis.
Additional support: Williamstown Theatre Festival (2024) Fresh Ground Pepper (2024), MacDowell (2023), Dean’s Grant at Columbia University (2021). Her plays include The Whale and The Redwood; The Trouble With Paradise (Semi-Finalist, O’Neill 2024); Electra (Semi-Finalist, O’Neill 2022), which has received support from the Stavros Niarchos Institute for Public Humanities and the SheLA Summer Theatre Festival, and Platinum Record (MaArte Theatre Collective). She is published in Decentered Playwriting, a teaching volume of decolonial playwriting techniques from Routledge Press. MFA in Playwriting: Columbia University, David Henry Hwang, and Lynn Nottage.
During her time with Hi-ARTS, Luz will continue the development of an adaptation of the lost American classic, America is in the Heart.
About America is in the Heart
America is in the Heart is an adaptation of what is considered to be the first novel, of the same name, that depicts the Filipino-American experience, written by Carlos Bulosan and published in 1946. Adapted for performance, America is in the Heart will serve as a means of building solidarity across class, age and race; shedding light on how forgotten ancestors contributed to and built the labor movement in 1930s California while asking, “how can we follow in their footsteps?”
“Our residency will focus on reworking our text to build a highly mobile, immersive apartment-style piece that both invites audience members to learn from Filipino-American labor history and rehearses Democracy through participation and newfound solidarity.”
Luz Lorenzana Twigg
Image Credit: Jonathan Barbee
Programming
Stay tuned for more!
Creative Team
Luz Lorenzana Twigg
Lead Artist & Playwright
Yari Cervas
Director & Dramaturg
Yari Cervas is a director/dramaturg and teaching artist invoking the ritual of theatre through the alchemy of hyphenated identity. Their work is rebellious, relational, and embodied. Director: Desert Rock Garden (New Village Arts); REDD (Key City Public Theatre); The Minotaur (Wittenberg University); Electra (SheArts LA); Too Much Skin (SheArts LA); The Fire In Me (Asian Story Theatre); You’re Safe Here (MaArte Theatre Collective); Lee and the Black Hole (Edinburgh Fringe); Your Best American Girl (MaArte Theatre Collective). Assistant Director: M. Butterfly (South Coast REP, Desdamona Chiang), Vietgone (San Diego REP, Jesca Prudencio); Dragon Mama (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Andrew Russell), Voyeur de Venus (MOXIE Theatre, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg); The Last Wife (Cygnet Theatre, Robby Lutfy). Awards/Honors: Bill Foeller Directing Fellow (2024); Directors Lab West (2024); Craig Noel Award (2022); San Diego Int’l Fringe Best of Fest Critics Pick, and Outstanding World Premiere (2019); Santa Barbara Indy (2016).
Residency Highlights
More to come soon!