The Dirt is Fertile

by Alisha Espinosa

New York City is the Schrodinger's Cat of America: simultaneously the greatest and worst place in the world to live, a city of wealth or of poverty, of dirt or of concrete. The only way to know what it's really like to live there is to be there--whether it's Five Points in the 1890s, the Queensbridge Houses in the 1940s, or a BBQ restaurant in 2018. Open the city like a dollhouse and witness the ragged cycle for...

New York City is the Schrodinger's Cat of America: simultaneously the greatest and worst place in the world to live, a city of wealth or of poverty, of dirt or of concrete. The only way to know what it's really like to live there is to be there--whether it's Five Points in the 1890s, the Queensbridge Houses in the 1940s, or a BBQ restaurant in 2018. Open the city like a dollhouse and witness the ragged cycle for yourself.

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The Dirt is Fertile

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  • Heather Helinsky: The Dirt is Fertile by Alisha Espinosa
    “

    Each distinct act is a snapshot of a vibrant community disrupted by racism and capitalism. Each of the three acts is just enough to build the world and invest the audience in the residents who live in the neighborhood, before we are swept away to another era of inequity. Each portraiture is given for the audience to create their own meaning, and overall poses a challenging question of why do we all allow this to happen again and again over time?

    Each distinct act is a snapshot of a vibrant community disrupted by racism and capitalism. Each of the three acts is just enough to build the world and invest the audience in the residents who live in the neighborhood, before we are swept away to another era of inequity. Each portraiture is given for the audience to create their own meaning, and overall poses a challenging question of why do we all allow this to happen again and again over time?

    ”
  • Playwrights Foundation: The Dirt is Fertile by Alisha Espinosa
    “

    The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced THE DIRT IS FERTILE as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. The readers leaned into the central statement about the structures that keep the privileged in power and the working class oppressed in New York. We highly appreciated the photographic world-building in each of the three distinct acts and the final speech that binds everything together. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production...

    The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced THE DIRT IS FERTILE as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. The readers leaned into the central statement about the structures that keep the privileged in power and the working class oppressed in New York. We highly appreciated the photographic world-building in each of the three distinct acts and the final speech that binds everything together. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

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    ”