Carlos-Zenen Trujillo

Carlos-Zenen Trujillo is a Latine theatre artist from Bejucal, Cuba. Carlos’ written work includes: The Island in Winter and Our Utopia (Bag&Baggage Productions); Sirena (Portland Center's JAW Festival); Christmas, Contigo (Oregon Cabaret Theatre; Teatro de las Americas; TheatreWorks Tampa); Conchita (a play about a dog) and WILD/CAUGHT (Artist Repertory Theatre); The Image of the Black Madonna and Abundancia (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Long White Line (LimeArts Productions) and Queen of Deseret (FUSE's OUTWright Festival). They have worked as a Dramaturg for several local theatres including Bag&Baggage, Advance Gender Equity in the Arts, Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre and others. They are an ordained babalocha in Regla de Ocha and served as a Lucumi Religious...

Carlos-Zenen Trujillo is a Latine theatre artist from Bejucal, Cuba. Carlos’ written work includes: The Island in Winter and Our Utopia (Bag&Baggage Productions); Sirena (Portland Center's JAW Festival); Christmas, Contigo (Oregon Cabaret Theatre; Teatro de las Americas; TheatreWorks Tampa); Conchita (a play about a dog) and WILD/CAUGHT (Artist Repertory Theatre); The Image of the Black Madonna and Abundancia (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Long White Line (LimeArts Productions) and Queen of Deseret (FUSE's OUTWright Festival). They have worked as a Dramaturg for several local theatres including Bag&Baggage, Advance Gender Equity in the Arts, Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre and others. They are an ordained babalocha in Regla de Ocha and served as a Lucumi Religious Consultant for Dear Dead Drug Lord (Washington Ensemble Theatre; CRAVE Theatre) and The Brothers Size (Portland Center Stage). They were a 2019 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) ASPIRE Leadership Fellow, a member of ART’s 2022-2024 PATHWAYS Cohort, a 2020 KCACTF Directing Fellow, a cohort member at 2021 Ashland New Plays Festival New Voices Retreat and a participant in the 2021 Maria Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop. They received the 2019 John Cauble Award for Artistic Leadership and the KCACTF Certificate of Merit in Dramaturgy for their work on The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Carlos-Zenen holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Southern Oregon University with specializations in Performance, Direction and Dramaturgy. They hold a degree in Culinary Arts from the Northwest Culinary Institute and are a certified home care worker with the state of Oregon.

"Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, but a hammer with which to shape it." -Bertolt Brecht

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Scripts

Christmas, Contigo

by Carlos-Zenen Trujillo

Cast Size
7
Genre
comedy,
holiday

First gen Cuban-American law student, Iris Delgado-Piñera is finally going back home to spend Noche Buena with her family in Hialeah after two years of grad school on the west coast and she's also bringing a big surprise, her new fiancé. Unbeknownst to her, the family has its own secrets that she has to overcome as she plans her future and reconnects with her mom and abuela.

First gen Cuban-American law student, Iris Delgado-Piñera is finally going back home to spend Noche Buena with her family in Hialeah after two years of grad school on the west coast and she's also bringing a big surprise, her new fiancé. Unbeknownst to her, the family has its own secrets that she has to overcome as she plans her future and reconnects with her mom and abuela.

The Long White Line

by Carlos-Zenen Trujillo

1
Cast Size
3
Genre
drama,
experimental,
horror,
mystery/thriller,
radio drama

A psychological thriller set during the long Antarctic night. The story follows three scientists, trapped in the cold isolation of the south pole, as they each slowly unravel.

A psychological thriller set during the long Antarctic night. The story follows three scientists, trapped in the cold isolation of the south pole, as they each slowly unravel.

Abundancia

by Carlos-Zenen Trujillo

4
Cast Size
4
Genre
drama,
movement/physical

A hyper-realist piece, set during the 1990s following the collapse of the USSR, Abundancia follows a typical Cuban family as they struggle with the famine, which the government has named "The Special Period". This play focuses on the small motions of tension and struggle that build over time to a boiling point. It plays with time and space, flowing in between a hyperrealist world and an expressionist dance-scape...

A hyper-realist piece, set during the 1990s following the collapse of the USSR, Abundancia follows a typical Cuban family as they struggle with the famine, which the government has named "The Special Period". This play focuses on the small motions of tension and struggle that build over time to a boiling point. It plays with time and space, flowing in between a hyperrealist world and an expressionist dance-scape, orchestrated with Cuban genres of music and dance like Guaguanco, Timba, Bolero and Rumba. It is a kitchen sink drama for a modern Cuba.

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The Image of the Black Madonna of Candelaria

by Carlos-Zenen Trujillo

2
Cast Size
6
Genre
adaptation,
drama,
fable/folktale,
melodrama,
period

A loose adaptation of the Bacchae set in 15th Century Cuba, this play follows a Spanish conquistador sent to cleanse a frontier colony of the influence of heretical nuns. The nuns, and their Mother Superior, turn out to be much more than the conquistador expected. Written as a fusion of actual Cuban history, the Lucumi religion, and Greek theatre, The Image of the Black Madonna paints an epic fable of justice...

A loose adaptation of the Bacchae set in 15th Century Cuba, this play follows a Spanish conquistador sent to cleanse a frontier colony of the influence of heretical nuns. The nuns, and their Mother Superior, turn out to be much more than the conquistador expected. Written as a fusion of actual Cuban history, the Lucumi religion, and Greek theatre, The Image of the Black Madonna paints an epic fable of justice, colonization and sacrifice deeply steeped in Yoruba divinity.

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