Our Past Noise Now Events
2023-24 Season
HYMN • February 9-10
Presented by Lower Depth Theatre
Lolita Chakrabarti’s Hymn is a heartfelt and empathetic tale of family and male bonding. This captivating story of two black men who form an unbreakable bond through their journey of self-discovery and grief explores their platonic friendship and the significant role of music in their lives.
2022-23 Season
THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD • May 19-22
Presented by Artists at Play
A haunting and powerfully affecting work revolving around two Chinese artists and their fellow railroad workers, who stage a strike to protest the inhuman conditions suffered by the Chinese laborers in the American West of 1867.
UNMASKED • May 13 at 4 & 7 pm
Inspired by visual images of the diversity of Los Angeles County, TheatreWorkers Project will collaborate with formerly incarcerated and justice-impacted members of Cal State LA’s Project Rebound community to develop an original theatre piece based on the participants’ poetry and prose.
TRANS CHORUS OF LOS ANGELES • April 8 at 7:30 pm
The Trans Chorus of Los Angeles for a pre-show performance with excerpts from the Kiss of the Spider Woman musical. The Trans Chorus of Los Angeles is the first all Trans-Identified Chorus in America, consisting of Transgender, Non-Binary, Intersex, Gender-Non-Conforming, and Gender-Fluid individuals. TCLA Celebrates diversity and acceptance in our appearance and vocal presentation so that others can see and feel the joy we share. Through our music, we bring to the world awareness, understanding, power, and victory for the Trans Community.
AN IMPROBABLE FICTION • April 3 at 7:30 pm
Presented by the ANW Resident Artists Reading Series
It’s plague time, and Shakespeare’s characters are out of sorts (and out of work). Several of our favorites Shakespearean characters reunite at The Boar’s Head Tavern to celebrate life and ruminate on the state of the world.
CYCLE OF POVERTY • February 4 & 5 at 1:30 pm
Lower Depth Theatre proudly presents their Cycle of Poverty Reading Festival. Presented over two days, this festival is the culmination of their new Commission Fellowship Program and gives their 2022 cohort the opportunity to showcase the four new full-length plays they have developed under the program. Each of the plays explore the social and racial issues within the cycle of poverty through BIPOC perspectives. Playwright fellows include: Vasanti Saxena, Sage Martin, DeLane McDuffie, and Marlow Wyatt.
The Commission Fellowship Program supports the development of new plays by BIPOC and/or women-identifying playwrights by providing development and financial support to emerging playwrights.
LATINA CHRISTMAS SPECIAL • December 13, 14 & 20 at 7:30 pm
This off-Broadway hit is a timely comedy about those of us who ride the edge between the culture of our immigrant parents and the culture of our home, America. Every ethnicity can relate to the feeling that their parents and families are a little “weird” (that’s a nice word) during the holidays when compared to the traditional American Christmases fed to us on TV. Three comedian friends: Sandra Valls (Showtime’s Latin Divas of Comedy) Maria Russell (Lt. Liz Salazar on TruTV’s Tacoma FD) and Diana Yanez (Margaret Cho’s Sensuous Woman) show us with their personal tales that every family has its own hilarious peculiarities, everyone wants to belong, and everyone, regardless of their background, has a hard time at some point in their life.
THE AMATEURS • November 7 at 7:30 pm
Presented by the ANW Resident Artists Reading Series
An intrepid troupe of pageant players races across medieval Europe, struggling to outrun the Black Death. The arrival of a mysterious outsider sends Hollis, the leading lady, in search of answers that can only be found off-script… and soon the 14th-century plague begins to look like another, more recent one. This wildly inventive and funny new work examines the evolution of human creativity in a dark age: when does a crisis destroy us, and when does it open new frontiers?
MARABELLA • September 12 at 7:30 pm
Presented by ANW and Artists at Play
Marabella has been hiding away in Pacoima with her newborn son. When the wife of her baby’s daddy suddenly dies, Marabella maneuvers to claim what is rightfully hers. Inspired by Euripides’ Medea, Marabella is a study in how much a woman in willing to sacrifice for the adoration of a man.
2021-22 Season
LATINA CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: AN AMERICAN COMEDY OF LATINA PROPORTIONS • December 14 & 15 at 7:30 pm
This Off Broadway hit is a timely comedy about those of us who ride the edge between the culture of our immigrant parents and the culture of our home, America. Every ethnicity can relate to the feeling that their parents and families are a little “weird” (that’s a nice word) during the holidays when compared to the traditional American Christmases fed to us on TV. Three comedian friends: Sandra Valls (Showtime’s Latin Divas of Comedy) Maria Russell (Lt. Liz Salazar on TruTV’s Tacoma FD) and Diana Yanez (Margaret Cho’s Sensuous Woman) show us with their personal tales that every family has its own hilarious peculiarities, everyone wants to belong, and every one, regardless of their background, has a hard time at some point in their life. Learn more about Latina Christmas Special.
RASA KALAA: A BHARATA NATYAM MARGAM • December 5, 6, & 7 at 7:30 pm
Presented by MKM Bollystars
Come experience Rasa (essence/sentiment) in Kalaa (performing arts) through a traditional dance repertoire. Indian classical dance has historically been a form of theatre and dance in India. A Bharata Natyam (South Indian classical dance) “Margam” is a curated compilation of pieces that both entertain and elevate through an artistic experience of pure percussive dance and theatrical story-telling that embraces mythology, drama, and the human experience. In a Margam, a solo dancer performs numerous compositions, plays multiple characters, and deftly moves between pure dance and theatrical narrative. Learn more about Rasa Kalaa: A Bharata Natyam Margam.
BLACKJACK • October 29 & 30 at 7:30pm & October 31 at 1:30 pm
Presented by Griot Theatre
A movie in the making: part theatre, part film set, join a live studio audience and witness a film being made onstage. In the spirit of Hamilton, get a glimpse behind the scenes as this play is turned into a feature film.
Set in the Black Jack neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, during the early nineties, the play follows Heru as he arrives at the family home of his sometime-girlfriend, Khet. While Khet struggles to define her relationship with Heru and navigates the failing health of her grandfather, Heru raises suspicion with his late-night visits to East St. Louis. The arrival of a mysterious visitor propels the play toward its tragic conclusion. Based on the Isis/Osiris story from Egyptian mythology, Blackjack invokes humor and tragedy to explore the nature of identity and family – both the family into which we are born and the family we choose. Learn more about Blackjack.
2020-21 Season
SONNETS FOR AN OLD CENTURY • April 12 – May 9
Written by José Rivera
Directed by Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
Through a sophisticated and theatrical audio odyssey, Sonnets for an Old Century invites you to stroll through the beaches of Puerto Rico, waft through the windows of a quiet Seattle neighborhood, and take flight from a mythical tower high above the sea. Oscar-nominated writer José Rivera weaves a tapestry of poetic, magical meditations in this highly produced sonic journey exploring yearning, connection, and community. We’ll journey into the whimsical worlds of bedtime tales, marinate in the salty-sweet memory of migrant family members in the fields, and assemble our ancestors from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Canary Islands to ask the burning questions of our past. Learn more about Sonnets for an Old Century.
Diversifying the Classics presents LA Escena • November 12 – 16
Diversifying the Classics is delighted to present the second edition of Los Angeles’ Festival of Hispanic classical theater, LA Escena 2020. Since launching our biennial celebration in 2018, we have been planning for this new opportunity to present Hispanic classics, from inventive productions of the original texts to translations and adaptations inspired by the Golden Age. This special-edition, largely virtual festival includes artists from Mexico City, Madrid and Málaga in Spain, as well as New York and Los Angeles in the US, all exploring new directions in theater practice across a number of platforms.
2019-20 Season
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes presents TLACANTZOLLI: MONSTERS AND CHIMERAS • August 17 – September 8
An art exhibition by print-makers Daniel González and Joel Rendón
Tlacantzolli, which in Nahuatl means “Men squeezed together,” alludes to monsters and chimeras. Human beings have always been fascinated by the idea of being able to absorb the energies of other creatures and manifest their attributes through some sort of magical process or meditation. Daniel González’s and Joel Rendón’s hybrids of creatures and humans illustrate the idea of Tlacantzolli while also contemporizing it, pushing viewers to consider how their everyday interactions with the environment and the world transforms them. Through his linocuts, González and Rendón join a long legacy of artists who politicize mythological imagery in order to incite discussion on topics such as the military industrial complex, identity, and the continued destruction of the environment.
THERE OR HERE • August 11 at 1:30 pm
A staged reading by Jennifer Maisel
Presented with Griot Theatre
Robyn and Ajay are about to meet the woman who will act as a surrogate to birth their child. These Americans find themselves confiding in the anonymous beings on the other end of their phone lines rather than in each other; computer technicians, fast food order takers and phone operators whose work has been outsourced to another country become the refuge they can’t be for each other right now.
Griot Theatre creates opportunities for women, artists of color, and those with physical disabilities to establish a place where audiences may reliably come to see a more comprehensive view of who we are and who we can be, as a society. Griot Theatre rotates between re-imagining the classics and developing the work of contemporary playwrights from underrepresented groups.
EL CIRCO ANAHUAC • August 12 at 7:30 pm
A workshop presentation of a new Aztec opera
Presented with Brown Fist Productions
Brown Fist Productions presents El Circo Anahuac, an Aztec Opera that tells the ancient tale of the twin volcanoes outside Mexico City, Popocaltepetl (Smoky Mountain) and Ixtlacihualt (The Sleeping Woman). El Circo blends the present with the fantastic, the real with the imagined, and the historic with the mythical. It will challenge the imagination of adult audiences while it fascinates and delights children. This multi-disciplinary production includes tri-lingual lyrics (Nahuatl, Spanish, English) and the words of historic Nahuatl poets.
A HIT DOG WILL HOLLER • August 15 at 7:00 pm
A staged reading by Inda Craig-Galván
Presented with Griot Theatre
When racism and oppression manifest in a scary physical form, a social media influencer and a boots-on-the-ground activist form a complex bond to help each other survive this contagious condition.
Griot Theatre creates opportunities for women, artists of color, and those with physical disabilities to establish a place where audiences may reliably come to see a more comprehensive view of who we are and who we can be, as a society. Griot Theatre rotates between re-imagining the classics and developing the work of contemporary playwrights from underrepresented groups.
O-DOGG: AN ANGELINO TAKE ON OTHELLO • August 16 at 7:30 pm
A staged reading by Alex Alpharaoh
Directed by Julianna Stephanie Ojeda
Presented with Company of Angels
Los Angeles, 1992. The city is engulfed in flames after the acquittal of 4 LAPD officers in the brutal beating of Rodney King. O-Dogg is a modern, Afro-Latinx adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, written in verse, and using modern vernacular to ignite the chaotic vibrancy of a Koreatown that still feels the scars from this dark LA history.
CONCRETE ROSE • August 18 at 1:30 pm
By LaDarrion Williams
Directed by Nancy Cheryll Davis
A staged reading presented with Towne Street Theatre
A poetic drama birthed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, centered around two head trauma victims who are trapped in an abandoned hospital room. In this chilling tale of terror and confusion, these two characters must ask themselves who to trust, what to fear and what to believe during the most catastrophic storm in history.
FROM HEAVEN [ORUN] TO EARTH [AIYÊ] • September 22 at 4:45 pm
An Afro-Brazilian Dance Journey & Fashion Show
Presented with Viver Brasil
Artistic Collaboration: Shelby Williams-Gonzalez with Bianca Medina
Witness the ancestral wisdom of African royalty as Viver Brasil salutes the Orixas – forces of nature – in captivating movement, rhythm, and costumes. Experience the energy of oceans, rivers, rainbows, winds, and storms along with the vibrations of justice and prosperity. Join us on the front lawn for this outdoor, dancing journey. Read more.
DEAR ONE: LOVE & LONGING IN MID CENTURY QUEER AMERICA • October 13 at 1:30 pm
A staged reading by Josh Irving Gershick
Co-sponsored with ONE Archives Foundation
Dear ONE: Love & Longing in Mid-Century Queer America, by Josh Irving Gershick, illuminates the lives of ordinary Queer Americans as recounted through letters written between 1953 and 1965, to L.A.’s ONE Magazine, the first openly gay & lesbian periodical in the United States. Looking for love, friendship, or understanding, they wrote of loneliness and longing, of joy and fulfillment, and of their daily lives, hidden from history. Adapted from material from the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world. Featuring Michelle C. Bonilla, Nicky Endres, Michael Kearns, & Jermaine Taylor. Directed by Josh Irving Gershick. Read more.
DIWALI BLOCK PARTY • October 26 at 5:00 pm
A Festival of Lights Celebration
Presented with MKM Bollystars Dance Company and special guest artists
Celebrate Diwali! – The Festival of Lights! Heralding the New Year, Diwali is one of the biggest celebrations in India. Featuring live, outdoor performances by MKM Bollystars Dance Company, tasty culinary treats, and the opportunity to participate in a community art installation, join us on the front lawn for a celebratory afternoon for all ages! Read more about Diwali Block Party.
THE THREE-FIFTHS PROJECT • September 22 – November 16
An exhibition by photographer Ibarionex Perello
Presented with Pasadena Photography Arts
Inspired by August Wilson’s play, Gem of the Ocean, The Three-Fifths Project explores the legacy of slavery and institutional racism. The photographs reflect the perpetual sense of tension, anxiety and insecurity faced by men and women of color, while also evoking the sense of bloodline and legacy. The title is derived from the Three-Fifths Compromise in the US. Constitution, a conceit that not only claimed that blacks were less than human, but that their value was measured by how they benefited the wealth, power and prosperity of white males.
A SAD TALE’S BEST FOR WINTER • A Feminist adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale • November 17 at 6:30 pm
A staged reading by Anna Miles
Presented with Beating of Wings: An Artist Collective
Is it possible to move forward – and to heal – in moments when catastrophic violence can’t be erased with forgiveness? With a merging of new and classic language, and through song, dance, and spoken word, A Sad Tale’s Best for Winter explores this question by interrupting and disrupting Shakespeare’s text. This new play brings the story into a world where a new generation struggles to undo the centuries of fear, pain, and violence in the hopes of creating a new, better world. Read more about A Sad Tale’s Best for Winter.
ROOM BY THE SEA • December 7 at 7:30 pm
A staged reading by John Guerra
Presented with Coin & Ghost Theatre Company
LATINA CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: AN AMERICAN COMEDY OF LATINA PROPORTIONS • December 9 at 7:30 pm
Presented with Latino Theater Company
A timely comedy about those of us who ride the edge between the culture of our immigrant parents and the culture of our home, America. Every ethnicity can relate to the feeling that their parents and families are a little “weird” (that’s a nice word) during the holidays when compared to the traditional American Christmases fed to us on TV. Three comedian friends: Sandra Valls (Showtime’s “Latin Divas of Comedy”) Maria Russell (MTV’s “Teen Wolf”) and Diana Yanez (Margaret Cho’s “Sensuous Woman”) show us with their personal tales that every family has its own hilarious peculiarities, everyone wants to belong, and every one, regardless of their background, has a hard time at some point in their life. Read more about Latina Christmas Special.
WICKED LIT: STAGED READINGS • December 15 at 6:30 pm
Presented with Unbound Productions
Staged readings of three chilling classic stories:
From Beyond, adapted by Trey Nichols, from the story by H.P. Lovecraft, directed by Shaina Rosenthal
The Unholy Sisters, by Susannah Myrvold, inspired by “The Malleus Maleficarum” by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, directed by Paul Millet
The Grove of Rashomon, adapted by Jonathan Josephson, from the short story “In A Grove” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, directed by Darrell Kunitomi
Stories of darkness and horror are as old humanity, and just as universal. Journey with us through three short plays inspired by the darker side of storytelling – meet a scientist who has broken through a new plane of existence in a Lovecraftian thriller; take a journey alongside a fanatical Medieval inquisitor on his hapless search for witches; and travel to 13th Century Japan to relive a haunting, harrowing tale of violence from a multitude of perspectives. Read more about Wicked Lit.
BALLAD • December 22 at 6:30 pm
By Roxie Perkins
Co-Directed by Taylor Greenthal
A staged reading presented with Pasadena Mental Health Advisory Committee & Project Sister Family Services
In order to make sense of the violence that seems to follow them wherever they go, a young, single mom teaches her daughter a murder ballad that was passed down to her from her own mother about a monster that can climb inside of anyone and make them “bad.” Told in a non-linear structure with interwoven songs, Ballad explores the weight of generational trauma and how far people will go to protect their families from the monsters of the world – including themselves. Read more about Ballad.
ANOTHER PERFECT DAY • January 25 at 8 pm
A world premiere opera presented with LA Opera Connects
There’s a traffic jam in L.A., and an opera breaks out. Infidelity, gentrification, a mother and child reunion, and an earthquake. L.A., baby… Another Perfect Day is a love letter to Los Angeles. And… it’s in English. This concert production, by Geoff “GG” Gallegos (composer) and Velina Hasu Houston and Shishir Kurup (librettists), will be performed for one night only. Read more about Another Perfect Day.
to.be.FREE • March 6 at 7:30 pm
Five formerly incarcerated men redefine their personal narratives using themes from The Winter’s Tale
TheatreWorkers Project provides opportunities for reentering and incarcerated individuals to redefine their personal narratives through theatre, movement, and writing. Through Project Re/Frame, an initiative dedicated to the creation of pieces based on the writing and stories of those impacted by mass incarceration, participants have the opportunity to develop, rehearse and perform original work presented to diverse audiences. This newest project uses the following text from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale as a launching off point for personal storytelling: “a wild dedication of yourselves. To undiscovered waters, undreamed shores.” Read more about to.be.FREE.
2018-19 Season
Lineage Performing Arts Center’s CEILING IN THE FLOOR • February 25 at 7 pm
Choreography by Lineage Artistic Director Hilary Thomas
Music and lyrics by Brandon Toh
Directed by Marisa Echeverria
Ceiling In The Floor is a dance-theater piece that explores the true story of a friendship bound up in art, music and mental illness. Through journal entries, songs, dances, letters and a manual for suicide risk assessment, we learn about Hilary and Brandon’s devoted friendship, their mutual love of music, and their struggles to grow together and apart as they balance the pressures of college, life, and Brandon’s increasingly apparent manic depression. Read more about Ceiling In The Floor.
Carolina Caycedo’s COSMOTARRAYAS • February 12 – April 14
Curated by Canan Cem
Noise Now celebrates the installation of the contemporary art exhibit, Cosmotarrayas, by Los Angeles artist Carolina Caycedo in the theatre’s main lobby. The exhibition is a series of hanging sculptures assembled with handmade fishing nets collected during the artist’s field research in riverine communities affected by the privatization of water. The nets are intertwined with a variety of objects that Caycedo acquires in a range of locales or that come from her personal archive. Some of the nets were given to the artist by friends or acquaintances in the sites she visits, while others were purchased in local markets or commissioned by the artist. The Cosmotarrayas works are embodiments of people the artist has met during her travels and their stories of dispossession and resistance; the series operates as a connector between Caycedo’s activism and community involvement and her studio practice. Read more about Cosmotarrayas.
SWAN Day • March 23 at 2:30 pm
Presented by LA Female Playwrights Initiative and A Noise Within with the participation of actors and directors from local theater companies, the day will include readings of short plays by Elizabeth Bluth, Victoria Goring, Leelee Jackson, Starina Johnson, and Penny Peyser as well as a number of 1-page Micro-Reads, plus time to eat, drink, and connect with female artists for future collaborations – the perfect way to Support Women Artists NOW! Read more about SWAN Day.
AMERICAN MOOR • March 27 at 7:00 pm
Written and performed by Keith Hamilton Cobb
Directed by Kim Weild
Join us on March 27 at 7pm for a truly unique, one-night-only event: A ticketed presentation of Keith Hamilton Cobb’s award-winning solo play, American Moor, on the set of ANW’s Othello! A poetic exploration of the experience and perspective of black men in America through the metaphor of William Shakespeare’s eponymous black hero. Read more about American Moor.
Mercedes Dorame’s THE LAND UPON WHICH YOU STAND • April 18 – June 9
Curated by Canan Cem
Noise Now opens its second art exhibit in April with the work of Mercedes Dorame (Gabrielino-Tongva tribe) who uses photography as a way to explore, reimagine, and connect to her tribal culture and bring visibility to contemporary indigenous experience. The Tongva were the first people in what is now Los Angeles, and their territory covered the expanse from Malibu to San Bernardino to Aliso Creek. Dorame activates Tongva land using organic materials, such as sage, ochre, cinnamon, feathers, quartz, and the skins of coyotes and foxes to create moments of vitality. Using symbolic, ceremonial objects projected to be around 75,000 years old, Dorame has created a way for her ancestors who have been disturbed and unearthed by developers to ascend into the sky and rest once again. Read more about The Land Upon Which You Stand.
Trans Chorus of Los Angeles & Celebration Theatre’s TRANSISTER RADIO • April 24 at 7:00 pm
TranSister Radio is a collective of artists in the Trans community bringing awareness, art, and culture of the Trans-narrative perspective. Trans Women, Trans Men, Gender Non Conforming/Gender Non Binary and Intersex artists, lending their voices and talents to show the plethora of artistic expression through song, spoken word, dance, and so much more. Join Trans Chorus of Los Angeles (the first all Trans identified Chorus in the United States, according to GALA Chorus), gender non-conforming hostx MJ Brown aka Miss Barbie Q (artist/writer/drag queen entertainer) and many more. This will be an evening of art and edutainment. We are proud to present the first Trans-Identified entertainment event in the San Gabriel Valley. Read more about TranSister Radio.
Ate9 Dance Company’s 1 TO 3 • May 20 at 7:00 pm
“1 to 3” is a series of solos, duets, and trios in an intimate setting that allows the dancers and Ate9 Artistic Director Danielle Agami to meet the audience both formally and informally. The performers’ embodiment of Agami’s signature mix of technical precision, vulnerability, and off-beat humor is juxtaposed with opportunities for audience members to ask questions and become more familiarized with Ate9’s rich contemporary dance work. Read more.
Coin & Ghost Theatre Company’s Pequeños Sueños • May 27 at 7:30 pm
Mexicans know all too well the tales of La Llorona, La Chupacabra, and especially El Cucuy. But what about the monsters they don’t warn you about? The monsters that perhaps they’re afraid to admit are parts of themselves. Featuring an ensemble of all Latinx theatre-makers, Pequeños Sueños is Coin & Ghost’s new Mexican folklore, inspired by the stories we’ve heard and the stories we haven’t. Read more about Pequeños Sueños.