CHICAGO: The Latino/a Theatre Commons, in collaboration with HowlRound, has announced the eight-show line-up for the 2015 Carnaval of New Latina/o Work. The event, dedicated to showcasing Latina/o playwrights from across the U.S., will take place July 23–25, 2015 in the Theatre School at Depaul University. Carnaval builds on the ongoing work of the commons, which began in 2012 and has since hosted a national convening in Boston in 2013 and Encuentro, new-works festival in Los Angeles last year.

“In the last decade, the national theatre community has lost several organizations that served as connectors to one another and to the field at large for Latina/o writers, directors, actors and dramaturgs,” said Lisa Portes, head of the MFA directing program at the Theatre School and Chair of the LTC Carnaval Task Force, in a statement. “Carnaval 2015 goes well beyond filling that void. Since it is an artist-led endeavor, Carnaval can champion the cultural and aesthetic diversity of our work and create a vibrant dialogue about the many-faceted experience that is Latinidad in the 21st century.”

New works that will be presented in readings are:

• Parachute Men by Mando Alvarado (Los Angeles)
• Sweep by Georgina Escobar (New York City)
• Perfectamente Loca/Perfectly Insane by Magdalena Gómez (Springfield, Mass.)
• the livin’ life of the daughter mira by Matthew Paul Olmos (New York City)
• Más by Milta Ortiz (Tucson, Ariz.)
• Swimming While Drowning by Emilio Rodriguez (Detroit)
• Mother Road by Octavio Solis (San Francisco)
• Wolf at the Door by Marisela Treviño Orta (San Francisco)

In addition to the readings, four plays will be distributed via scripts to attendees. They are:

• Satyricoño by Migdalia Cruz (New York City)
• APPEAL—The New American Musical of Mexican Descent by Amparo Garcia-Crow (Austin)
• Siempre Norteada: Always Late, Always Lost by Virginia Grise (New York City)
• The Sweetheart Deal by Diane Rodriguez (Los Angeles)

Carnaval 2015 is produced in association with Teatro Vista and the Chicago Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists. All readings in the Carnaval will be free and open to the public.

The Latina/o Theatre Commons is a collective of Latina/o theatre artists dedicated to advocating for Latina/o theatre. It collaborates with HowlRound to fulfill its mission via a commons-based approach; both organizations are based at Emerson College in Boston.