Paola Alexandra Soto

Paola Alexandra Soto is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor from the Dominican Republic, via Harlem, USA. She is the co-founder of the Obie Award Winning Dominican Artists Collective (DAC). The 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at Oye Group. Playwriting Credits include D’Carnaval (Vision Residency, Ars Nova), La Sosa Sisters (Columbia@Roundabout 2021 New Play Reading series finalist), Lucha Libre (Shanghai Theatre Academy), and On The 1 Train (Jacob Weiser Playwriting Award). She is the Creative Producer for Lemon Andersen’s When Aliens Fall From the Sky and the 66th Obie Awards ceremony. Training: MFA, Columbia University; BA, City College of New York (CUNY).

Her acting credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antigone, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She wrote and...

Paola Alexandra Soto is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor from the Dominican Republic, via Harlem, USA. She is the co-founder of the Obie Award Winning Dominican Artists Collective (DAC). The 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at Oye Group. Playwriting Credits include D’Carnaval (Vision Residency, Ars Nova), La Sosa Sisters (Columbia@Roundabout 2021 New Play Reading series finalist), Lucha Libre (Shanghai Theatre Academy), and On The 1 Train (Jacob Weiser Playwriting Award). She is the Creative Producer for Lemon Andersen’s When Aliens Fall From the Sky and the 66th Obie Awards ceremony. Training: MFA, Columbia University; BA, City College of New York (CUNY).

Her acting credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antigone, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She wrote and performed in an original adaptation of Two Noble Brothers produced by Cornerstone Theater Company. She was the lead in Raksha’s Child and was a writer/actress in the original play Don’t See My Bones and Think I’m Dead. The production was featured in a documentary for PBS where she was featured performing her work. She has also appeared in short films.

Before returning to grad school Paola was the Assistant Administrative Director of the Drama Division at The Juilliard School. She has worked for the Hip Hop Theater Festival, Signature Theater, Penguin Group, Harper Collins Publishers, Abrons Arts Center, Bronx Writers Center, and Harlem Childrens’ Zone. Paola was the independent publisher and editor of Lemon Andersen’s award-winning book County of Kings and his book of poems Straightrazor.

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Scripts

D'Carnaval

by Paola Alexandra Soto

Cast Size
3—14
Genre
docudrama/historic,
drama,
musical

Step into the heart of the Dominican carnival, where amidst the most dire circumstances, the human spirit finds its greatest triumphs. In the dawn of the "New World," on the island of Hispaniola, anything is permissible in the name of progress, including the enslavement of Africans and the mass genocide of the Tainos. When Kiskeya, one of the first women born on the island after its colonization by the Spaniards...

Step into the heart of the Dominican carnival, where amidst the most dire circumstances, the human spirit finds its greatest triumphs. In the dawn of the "New World," on the island of Hispaniola, anything is permissible in the name of progress, including the enslavement of Africans and the mass genocide of the Tainos. When Kiskeya, one of the first women born on the island after its colonization by the Spaniards, falls in love and becomes pregnant, she must make a choice: her family's freedom or her obligations to her master.

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La Sosa Sisters

by Paola Alexandra Soto

Cast Size
7—9
Genre
dark comedy,
drama

After their mother's passing, Manita and Rosita cope with their loss in distinctly different ways. Manita is haunted by their mother, while Rosita appears to be living her best life. The arrival of Mami's younger sister, Miri, freshly armed with a Green Card, to New York City, reopens old wounds while seeking a fresh start. As they lay their Mami to rest, Rosita and Manita must confront the family secrets they...

After their mother's passing, Manita and Rosita cope with their loss in distinctly different ways. Manita is haunted by their mother, while Rosita appears to be living her best life. The arrival of Mami's younger sister, Miri, freshly armed with a Green Card, to New York City, reopens old wounds while seeking a fresh start. As they lay their Mami to rest, Rosita and Manita must confront the family secrets they unearth. "La Sosa Sisters" explores the concept of belonging to a family separated by space, time, and language.

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Lucha Libre

by Paola Alexandra Soto

Cast Size
7—9
Genre
comedy,
drama,
fable/folktale,
movement/physical

Set in the economically tumultuous 1970s of the Dominican Republic, Lucha Libre tells the story of Yaneliz, a young woman who discovers that being a "luchadora" and a woman are not easily reconciled. As societal and familial pressures close in, Yaneliz must rise above expectations to pave the way for professional female wrestlers and seize control of her own destiny. This epic coming-of-age narrative celebrates...

Set in the economically tumultuous 1970s of the Dominican Republic, Lucha Libre tells the story of Yaneliz, a young woman who discovers that being a "luchadora" and a woman are not easily reconciled. As societal and familial pressures close in, Yaneliz must rise above expectations to pave the way for professional female wrestlers and seize control of her own destiny. This epic coming-of-age narrative celebrates the determination of women who dare to enter the ring and fight for their place in the world.

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