Elsa is a primatologist with a secret that’s easier to bear when she’s at work with Wookie, the orangutan she’s training to speak. Her worlds collide when her nephew AJ, a teenager who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, forms a relationship with Wookie. Sapience is a ground-breaking and imaginative new play about how we communicate and seek to be understood.

Immunity follows a diverse team of scientists working together to solve our current global crisis. Burbano consulted with several local scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Lab while researching and writing the commissioned work Burbano,SPARC and a team of local scientists worked together for over a year to create this original piece that takes us inside the world and lives of those at the forefront of solving life’s biggest mysteries.

In 2021 Lower Depth Theatre began developing the third play in our “Cycle of Violence” Commission Series with LA based playwright, Diana Burbano. This full-length play examines incarceration & women in prison through magical realism and the perspective of an imprisoned goddess. The process began in virtual Zoom boxes where it stayed for 12 months. In 2022 we finally gathered in person to workshop Diana's new play, “Working Title: Goddess, Unchained” at A Noise Within Theatre as part of their Noise Now program.

Silueta
A new play imagined from a true story.

1985: A sultry New York night. A marital spat. Cuban artist Ana Mendieta plunges 34 stories from her bedroom window to the sidewalk below. A tragic accident? Or murder?

Silueta imagines Ana's husband, sculptor Carl Andre, as he might be today, still living in the 34th-floor apartment that he shared with the beautiful, ambitious Ana. He is riddled by frustration at the loss of his artistic potency and by a gnawing suspicion about his innocence in Ana's death. The ghost of Ana haunts him relentlessly at the scene of the tragedy. They are both obsessed with the same question, what really happened that fatal night? Silueta is a two-person show based on the true story of Ana Mendieta, who fell to her death in 1985. She was a rising star in the art world. Her husband, Carl Andre, was one of the founders of Minimalism. He was prosecuted for her murder and acquitted. The play explores their volatile relationship.

Silueta is a collaboration by Tom Shelton, Chris Shelton and Diana Burbano. Written for Tom and Diana to perform, the play came out of research and improv sessions with Chris, a writer/director.

"Characters from Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT and THE TEMPEST intertwine when a set of twins is shipwrecked on an island. As the siblings race to reunite, they encounter a young girl with magical powers, a deceptively cute fairy, and a horned monster with a heart of gold. CALIBAN'S ISLAND explores the struggle between wishes, dreams and wisdom. Bring the entire family to this witty, whimsical celebration of language and life. Part PETER AND THE STARCATCHER, part Shakespeare, Burbano writes with a unique voice all her own." --
Headwaters: Creede Rep's New Play Program

Flint, MI. The water in the town has been poisoned. Thia Stockmann, a bright young medical student, is confronted by her upwardly mobile brother, Pete, about a blog she wrote regarding the poisoning of Flint’s water supply. This brings a lot of unwanted attention to Flint and will have repercussions on the economy. Peter accuses Thia of being selfish and to solve this problem in a more quiet way.

In the media classroom reporters discuss the pros and cons of running Thia’s article bashing the reputation of the government. The group has a change of heart about how valuable it is to expose the government. They realize that printing this article will do more damage to the situation. Angry, Thia decides that she can fight this battle on his own. She calls a meeting at the community college.

Thia talks about the contamination of the water but also gets into the town leaders and how they are corrupt as are most of the citizens of Flint. Anger starts to grow. By the end of the meeting the town has rebelled at Thia and have marked her as an enemy of the people.

The landlord evicts them from their house, and Thia’s allies get fired for having progressive opinions. Thia stays true to her principles. She decides to accept her fate and become "an enemy of the people" if that is what it takes to do what is right.

3 young teens land in a magical world, due to a violent act in the real one.
Dedicated to Kimberly Vaughn Hart.

A mourner remembers her cousin, a Pakistani girl, who lost her life while on an exchange program.

A young woman discovers to her delight and astonishment that her 2 childhood heroines are as Mexican as she is.

Un drama nuevo imaginado de una historia verdadera.
Traduccion de Emiro Burbano
En 1985, Una noche cálida y húmeda en Nueva York. Una pelea entre esposos. La artista Cubana Ana Mendieta cae 34 pisos desde la ventana de su apartamento a la calle. Quizás un accidente trágico,? un asesinato,?
Silueta se imagina al esposo de Ana el escultor Carl André Como si estuviera viviendo hoy, en el apartamento del piso 34 que compartía con la hermosa y ambiciosa Ana. El está frustrado con la pérdida de su valor artístico y la sospecha que todavía persiste de la muerte de Ana no fue tan inocente como parece. El fantasma de Ana sigue sin descanso en el sitio mismo de la tragedia. Tienen ambos, una terrible obsesión con la misma pregunta, de lo que pasó en esa noche fatal.
Silueta es un drama de dos personas basado en la historia verídica de Ana Mendieta que cayó a su muerte en 1985. Era una estrella joven y luminosa en el mundo del arte de esa época. Su esposo, André era uno de los fundadores del minimalismo. El fue juzgado por el asesinato y fue declarado no culpable. El drama explora su volátil relación personal.
La versión inglesa de silueta fue un drama de taller técnico seleccionado por 2013 Great Plains Theater Conference Y fue finalista (1-12) en el Ashand New Play Festival 2014. Fue Uno de cuatro dramas escogidos en el Cygnet Theatre/Playwright’s in Process festival 2014 Y leído en el escenario en San Diego.

The true story of the liberation of Colombia. As told by the enslaved female soldier Jonatas, mimic and storyteller.

Aquilina is a clever, courageous, and imaginative girl who leads a group of orphans in a recently abandoned wild west town. Will the railroad town disappear completely? Will Aquilina and her crew be sent to orphanages around the country? Join us to find the missing deed and solve the mystery of their town’s original founders!

An woman is about to be executed for her work freeing young victims of sexual slavery. Her younger counterpart comes to rescue her, but is faced with a woman who prefers martyrdom to life.

Three young Latinas are swept up in ICE raids. Citizenship won't save them. Only an act of sacrifice will.

Jaqui has invited her boyfriend Martin (half Black, half White, all liberal.) to Christmas at her Latinx MAGA lovin' family's house in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Four little Shakespearean fairies try to figure out how to get the old man out of his rut.

A young goth girl explains her fascination with Theda Bara.

A child with cancer seeks to lighten his burden

Monologues for Woman 40's-50's
#fabulousmonsters

Slade aka Sally Rogers is a hard living, seen it all punk rocker from the 70’s, alive, sober and cynical as hell. 40’s-50’s

Una joven descubreque sus 2 heroínas infantiles son tan mexicanas como ella.

A woman without a home makes friends with a philosophical octopus on Venice Beach.

A quarantine monologue about a tourist stuck on a cruise ship. It's a small world after all.

A monologue about the murder of Vanessa Marquez at the hands of the South Pasadena police officers. The officers were exonerated. Vanessa's mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit after failing to receive justice. #defundthepolice

An elderly sex symbol takes a young man to her room. The secrets she tells him aren't the ones she wanted to hear