AZ Espinoza

AZ Espinoza

AZ Espinoza is a transmasculine feminist who makes magic through theatre. Their play All My Mothers Dream in Spanish will have its world premiere at Azuka Theatre in 2023, and their play Homeridae has been developed nationally and was an Honorable Mention finalist for the Terrance McNally Award. Their adaptation of Anne Carson’s The Bakkai took place in a BIPOC mutual aid zoom room in 2020, commissioned by...
AZ Espinoza is a transmasculine feminist who makes magic through theatre. Their play All My Mothers Dream in Spanish will have its world premiere at Azuka Theatre in 2023, and their play Homeridae has been developed nationally and was an Honorable Mention finalist for the Terrance McNally Award. Their adaptation of Anne Carson’s The Bakkai took place in a BIPOC mutual aid zoom room in 2020, commissioned by Villanova Theatre; and their adaptation of Pericles, Peril’s Island was performed outdoors while observing social distancing in 2021, commissioned by Shakespeare in Clark Park. Directing credits include Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness (Philadelphia Artists Collective and theBlackBestFriend), the world premiere of R. Eric Thomas’s Backing Track at the Arden Theatre (associate director) and the Philadelphia premiere of Angelina Weld Grimke’s 1915 anti-lynching play Rachel at Quintessence Theatre Company. They are the co-founder of theBlackBestFriend, a producing collective that uplifts Black multiplicities. They have been a theater educator at the Wilma Theater, Temple University, Haverford College, and the University of the Arts, and they are a student of liberation everywhere, and for everyone.

Plays

  • HOMERIDAE by AZ Espinoza
    Recommendations: 25
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: adaptation, political
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    Keyword: Ancient History, Race + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, political
    Keyword: Ancient History, Race, Academia, digital age, coming of age
    Mac, an adjunct lecturer, and Nessa, a freshman, have a lot in common. They’re slightly awkward, deeply passionate about Homer’s The Odyssey, and are African-Americans in a very white department at a very white school. They stumble upon the discovery that Homer himself came from Africa, and must figure out how best to honor this truth in the face of university administrators, overbearing older siblings, the...
    Mac, an adjunct lecturer, and Nessa, a freshman, have a lot in common. They’re slightly awkward, deeply passionate about Homer’s The Odyssey, and are African-Americans in a very white department at a very white school. They stumble upon the discovery that Homer himself came from Africa, and must figure out how best to honor this truth in the face of university administrators, overbearing older siblings, the Internet, and Homer himself. HOMERIDAE is a play about who controls the narrative, and about finding your voice when it seems like no one is listening.
  • All My Mothers Dream in Spanish: A Play with Drums by AZ Espinoza
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: experimental, movement/physical + 2 more
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    Keyword: Afro-Latinx stories, Political Revolution + 5 more
    Genre: experimental, movement/physical, political, translation
    Keyword: Afro-Latinx stories, Political Revolution, intergenerational relationships, Black Pride, magical realism, spirituality, bilingual
    Inspired by Afro-Venezuelan folk history, All My Mothers Dream in Spanish is about three generations of an Afro-Latinx family and their encounters with their ancestor named Guiomar. An Afro-Venezuelan folk hero, Guiomar was queen of Buría, a kingdom established by Africans who rebelled against enslavement in 1552. Guiomar also had the capacity for magic and has passed this on to her descendants who are: A...
    Inspired by Afro-Venezuelan folk history, All My Mothers Dream in Spanish is about three generations of an Afro-Latinx family and their encounters with their ancestor named Guiomar. An Afro-Venezuelan folk hero, Guiomar was queen of Buría, a kingdom established by Africans who rebelled against enslavement in 1552. Guiomar also had the capacity for magic and has passed this on to her descendants who are: A Grandmother who worked as a housekeeper and now listens to the birds who visit her mango tree… A Mother who is a successful physician in the United States and never taught her daughter her mother tongue… A Daughter who dropped out of law school to join a revolution in the same forest where Guiomar reigned as queen. This play is made of midnight conversations, Spanglish, and dreams that leave visible scars.
  • exxx...stasis, exxx...hale... by AZ Espinoza
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6–10
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: BIPOC stories, queer + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, experimental, fantasy, political, zoom
    Keyword: BIPOC stories, queer, Virtual Performance, a short Zoom play, Black Queer Love, ancient greek mythology
    A Black/Queer/2020 response to Euripides' Bakkhai. Nadia and Cecily are trying to make their socially distanced relationship work, but trying to keep it sexy is a whole different grape on the vine. When they both join a Zoom-room nightclub hosted by DJ Dion, the two love birds are thrust beyond their mundane digital world into an intoxicating new dimension. A glimpse into our current cultural moment, exxx...
    A Black/Queer/2020 response to Euripides' Bakkhai. Nadia and Cecily are trying to make their socially distanced relationship work, but trying to keep it sexy is a whole different grape on the vine. When they both join a Zoom-room nightclub hosted by DJ Dion, the two love birds are thrust beyond their mundane digital world into an intoxicating new dimension. A glimpse into our current cultural moment, exxx...stasis, exxx...hale… serves up a politically radical, and radically queer, virtual fantasia. “So dance.”
  • A Lynching Play for Today (Working Title) by AZ Espinoza
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: adaptation, experimental + 2 more
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    Keyword: police brutality, black lives matter
    Genre: adaptation, experimental, political, tragedy
    Keyword: police brutality, black lives matter
    A contemporary response to the lynching play tradition of the early 20th century
  • The Mango Tree (Featured in Power Street Theatre Company's PALANTE) by AZ Espinoza
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adventure, biography + 5 more
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    Keyword: Afrolatina, Venezuela
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, fable/folktale, immersive, movement/physical, musical
    Keyword: Afrolatina, Venezuela
    A stream of consciousness on Latinidad, originally performed with drumbeats. A walk through a tropical forest. A call to action.