Nancy García Loza

Nancy García Loza

Nancy García Loza (she/her) is a pocha playwright rooted in Chicago, Illinois and Jalisco, México. Her audio drama BRAVA: a folktale con música launched Make-Believe Association’s inaugural season (with mention from the The New York Times), receiving nominations in six categories at the 2019 ALTA Awards, including: The María Irene Fornés New Play Award and winning in the category of Outstanding Original Music...
Nancy García Loza (she/her) is a pocha playwright rooted in Chicago, Illinois and Jalisco, México. Her audio drama BRAVA: a folktale con música launched Make-Believe Association’s inaugural season (with mention from the The New York Times), receiving nominations in six categories at the 2019 ALTA Awards, including: The María Irene Fornés New Play Award and winning in the category of Outstanding Original Music in a Play for her song "Corrido de la Brava". She is two-time alum of the national Fornés Playwriting Workshop. She has enjoyed residencies with: The New Harmony Project, Goodman Playwrights Unit, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm Institutional Residency, Chicago Dramatists, and more. Her work has also been supported by: Paramount Theater (currently in development with Bull: a love story, world premiere 2022), Teatro Leyden (Wave, TYA world premiere 2021), Broken Nose Theatre, Steppenwolf LookOut Series, Chicago Theatre Marathon, Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, Collaboraction, UIUC Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and more. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the eldest daughter of seven children. She is the keeper of stories in her vast family. A self-taught playwright, she writes from instinct, plays by ear, and is urgently determined to bring the pocha experience, in all its complexity, rawness, and lyricism to American stages. She is Mexican American, no hyphen. She is currently under commission from: Steppenwolf Theatre.

Plays

  • Ascent (or the eighth wonder) by Nancy García Loza
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adventure, drama
    Genre: adventure, drama
    Steppenwolf Theatre Edgerton Commission 2021-24. Continuing on my semi-autobiographical work, Ascent is my exploration of mother-daughter relationships. A mother, a daughter, a mountain. Two mexicanas hike into the vast, open wilderness embarking on a painfully steep climb. "There is no falling, if you fall, you. You know. Ya sabes, no te hagas."
  • BULL: a love story by Nancy García Loza
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    2022 World Premiere, Paramount Theatre: BOLD Series. Bull dealt drugs, got caught, and served his time. For a decade, he’s thought about one thing: coming home. On the day Bull is released from prison, he returns to his old Chicago neighborhood, Lakeview, now unrecognizable. Hopeful and eager, he is ready to resume life with his family, only to discover how much has moved on without him. His dream within grasp...
    2022 World Premiere, Paramount Theatre: BOLD Series. Bull dealt drugs, got caught, and served his time. For a decade, he’s thought about one thing: coming home. On the day Bull is released from prison, he returns to his old Chicago neighborhood, Lakeview, now unrecognizable. Hopeful and eager, he is ready to resume life with his family, only to discover how much has moved on without him. His dream within grasp, what will it take to get home?
  • Rust by Nancy García Loza
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: family drama, Generational trauma + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family drama, Generational trauma, healing, cycles of violence
    Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit Commission. "My father said: don't ever write about me." Güera, a young pocha, is trying very hard to be a perfect Mexican daughter. At least when Papi is around and Mami is looking. The hot Chicago summer has her climbing trees, fighting with her brothers, and melting like a paleta under her parents’ discerning rules. Suddenly, Abuelo moves in and Güera wonders...
    Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit Commission. "My father said: don't ever write about me." Güera, a young pocha, is trying very hard to be a perfect Mexican daughter. At least when Papi is around and Mami is looking. The hot Chicago summer has her climbing trees, fighting with her brothers, and melting like a paleta under her parents’ discerning rules. Suddenly, Abuelo moves in and Güera wonders if she really has to be perfect at all? Why be perfect when you can be free?
  • Los Lakeview '92 by Nancy García Loza
    Cast: 
    8
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: audio drama, audiodrama + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, radio drama
    Keyword: audio drama, audiodrama, Boxing, Mexican American, Mexican, gambling
    A young Mexican girl chases nickels, quarters, y dimes hopelessly trying to save money for a piano until she places a fateful bet on the Chavez-Camacho championship boxing match.
  • Tocaya by Nancy García Loza
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: comedy, drama
    Genre: comedy, drama
    A lesbian AF summer wedding, a 'ride or die' pocha friendship, a Hollywood house guest. It is August in Chicago, the time of year when pochas crave paletas and the city is melting. Meet Gabi and Sonia, two Mexican American 'carnalas de alma' as they grapple with a wedding, toxicity, and taking leaps. What happens when women strike a match? Which are the vows that last?
  • Brava by Nancy García Loza
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 6 more
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    Keyword: audio drama, audiodrama + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, musical, radio drama, young audiences
    Keyword: audio drama, audiodrama, Radio drama
    A brave girl's journey through a land of many monsters, a Mexican folktale with music by Nancy García Loza.
    Listen here: https://makebelieve.fm/brava
  • Macha by Nancy García Loza
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: Sisters, Latinx + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Sisters, Latinx, Mexican American, LGBTQ, queer, family
    A love letter to Mexican American pocha sisterhood. Macha follows a trio of intragenerational rule-breaking hermanas from the same imperfect family. Julia is in her 30s working hard for everyone but herself, Elena is in her 20s juggling fuckbois and a pre-med program, and Lucy is in high school chasing straight girls all day. The sisters collide one weekend, when a crisis disrupts their sister pact. What...
    A love letter to Mexican American pocha sisterhood. Macha follows a trio of intragenerational rule-breaking hermanas from the same imperfect family. Julia is in her 30s working hard for everyone but herself, Elena is in her 20s juggling fuckbois and a pre-med program, and Lucy is in high school chasing straight girls all day. The sisters collide one weekend, when a crisis disrupts their sister pact. What happens when sisters break promises?
  • Jets, Sharks, Beckys by Nancy García Loza
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, drama
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    Keyword: whitewashing, Latinx + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: whitewashing, Latinx, representation, cultural appropriation, American Musicals
    Right now. The waiting area of an audition room, two chairs, and a closed door. Sonia and Isabelle wait to audition for roles in West Side Story, one is grounded and preparing according to her ritual, the other determined to remove any obstacles, including ethical dilemmas. Beyond the door, an ambitious casting associate is just trying to get to the end of the day.