Django in Pain Program

Dear Friends,

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Django in Pain. We’re so happy to be sharing this very special film with you. When Covid-19 closed theatres in the spring of 2020, PlayCo quickly created a mini-commissions program for new digital experiments so we could keep supporting artists and serving audiences.

We invited Ana Graham and Antonio Vega to participate, and they chose to develop Django in Pain while quarantining in New York. They asked composer and musician Cristóbal MarYán to collaborate from Mexico.

It had been years since I wanted to do an uplifting show about depression. The opportunity arrived thanks to PlayCo. Working on it while in lockdown helped me deal with my own mental health issues and allowed us to create a little play in a time when theatre seemed impossible. Ana and I made and staged the whole thing on top of my drawing desk inside our bedroom and now you can watch it from your own bedroom, living room, kitchen or anywhere, really.

We hope you like our mini tabletop western; well, it is not really a western but the thing is I don’t know exactly what it is; we explored a few different ways of telling you a story and Cristóbal composed, played and recorded some great music for it. Here it is, I hope you find it uplifting indeed.

This is PlayCo’s fourth collaboration with Por Piedad Teatro. Ana and​​Antonio never cease to inspire me, as artists, as producers, and as people. During some of the worst days of the pandemic, they used the materials and tools they had on hand to create a magical, soulful little world for this story about depression, creativity, and love.

59E59 Theaters was the New York home for our first project together in 2013. It’s thanks to their support that we were able to finish the project that started with the mini-commission. We’re grateful for all the encouragement and support from Val, Elysabeth, Brian and the 59e59 team.

Thank you, as always, for being with us.

Warm regards,

Kate Loewald Founding Producer

Antonio Vega Playwright and Co-Creator

PlayCo and Por Piedad Teatro present

Django in Pain Written by

Antonio Vega Co-Created by

Ana Graham & Antonio Vega Featuring Original Music By

Cristóbal MarYán October 5-19, 2021 59E59 Originally presented as part of PlayCo’s #PlayFrom6FeetAway mini-commission program, Django in Pain is a co-production of PlayCo and Por Piedad Teatro, and was developed with support from 59E59 Theaters/The Elysabeth Kleinhans Foundation in New York, NY. Presented as part of 59E59 Theaters Plays In Place program.

IMPORTANT TRIGGER ADVISORY: This story is about a character who is dealing with depression, and contains strong images and language associated with suicidal thoughts and actions. There are also images of injured animals in distress (not photographic).

Resources are listed at the end of the film.

Artistic Team Biographies Ana Graham

(Photographer, Editor, Performer, and Co-Creator) is a director, actor, translator and costume designer born in Mexico City, where she studied drama at the Núcleo de Estudios Teatrales.

She is Artistic Producer and Founder of the Mexico-based Por Piedad Teatro where she has developed most of her work. She is also a member of the adviser committee for the US/MEXICO exchange program at The Lark and has been a recipient of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and Arts performers grant. In 2012 Graham was appointed Mexico’s Art, Culture and Tourism Ambassador by former President Felipe Calderón. Aiming to expand the activities of her theatre company and to open international opportunities for Mexican theatre artists, she moved to New York in 2009. She splits her time producing work in Mexico City and New York City.

Ana and collaborator Antonio Vega partnered with The Play Company to present Ettore Scola’s Working On a Special Day in New York at 59E59 (2013) and The Duchamp Syndrome at The Flea (2015). In 2018 she was a resident artist at Berkeley Repertory Ground Floor program. In Mexico she recently directed Samuel Beckett’s El Final (The End), Maria Milisavljevic’s Abismo (Abyss) and codirected with Antonio Vega El Ensayo (10 Out of 12) by Anne Washburn and Winter Solstice by Roland Schimmelpfennig. As an actor she has performed in more than twenty plays, including Woody Allen’s Interiors and Terror by Ferdinand Von Schirach. In 2005 she received an Ariel nomination as Best Actress for her role in the movie Mezcal directed by Ignacio Ortiz.

She is currently collaborating with New York playwright Andy Bragen on the development of a new play called Summit and rehearsing William Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra where she has been cast as Anthony in an all-women Mexican production.

Cristóbal

MarYán (Composer, Musician, and Sound Mixer) has been composer in residence at The Orchestra of the Americas since 2019. His works have premiered and played in New York, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Canada, Mexico, Abu Dhabi and Sri Lanka. Apart from his concert music, he is heavily involved in both theatre and cinema. He has written music and designed sound for plays devised

by Theatre Mitu, Zoukak Theatre, Por Piedad Teatro, Mexico’s National Theatre Company, Once Once productions, and Mejor Teatro. In 2019, he received the Metropolitano award (Mexico’s equivalent of the Tony award) for best sound design in the play El Ensayo (10 out of 12) by Anne Washburn, a play he designed for Por Piedad Teatro. In February 2021, he premiered Son of Monarchs (the latest film he scored) at Sundance Film Festival. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize.

Antonio Vega

(Playwright, Director, Designer, Performer, and Co-Creator ) is a director, actor, playwright and translator born in Guadalajara, Jalisco where he graduated from ETX Jalisco School of Theater. He has also trained with Teatro Estudio (TEES) in Guadalajara; the Mexican Improvisation League in Mexico City; Odin Teatret in Holstebro, Denmark; American Institute of Comedy, HB Studio in NYC, and the Actors Center in London. In

2004, Vega joined Por Piedad Teatro. Hee became the company’s artistic director in 2012. In 2013 Vega and collaborator Ana Graham partnered with The Play Company to present Ettore Scola’s Working On a Special Day in New York at 59E59. In 2015 he created, co-directed and starred in The Duchamp Syndrome which premiered at The Flea in New York City. He has been a resident artist at Tofte Lake Center, Blue Mountain Art Center and at Berkeley Repertory Ground Floor.

In Mexico he recently directed Terror by Ferdinand Von Schirach, and co-directed Anne Washburn’s El Ensayo (10 Out of 12) with Ana Graham as well as Winter Solstice

by Roland Schimmelpfennig. As an actor he has performed in more than thirty plays.

Last year he was cast as Iago in Mexico City’s production of Shakespeare’s Othello and as Saturninus in Titus Andronicus.

He is currently collaborating with New York playwright Andy Bragen on the development of a new play called Summit.

The Play Company

(PlayCo) commissions, develops and produces new plays, from the U.S. and around the world, to create contemporary theatre that reflects and responds to both our New York City home and today’s interconnected world.

We support ambition and experimentation in both form and content. We champion new and marginalized voices to expand the repertoire of artists represented on U.S. stages. We commit to affordable access and collaborative community engagement, welcoming inclusive audiences to join us in exploring the meaning of our time through live theatre experiences.

Since our first full production in 2001, we’ve produced 39 plays from the U.S., Central and South America, the UK, Europe, the Russian Federation, South and East Asia,

and the Middle East. Our organization, artists, and shows have been honored with Obie, Lucille Lortel, American Theatre Wing, Drama Desk, and Drama League awards and nominations. PlayCo received a 2007 Obie Award for our “unique contribution to the Off Broadway community”.

PlayCo’s office on the island known as Mannahatta (Manhattan), as well as the rehearsal, performance and other spaces where we work in New York City, are located on the Lenapehoking, the unceded homeland of the Lenape people.

Por Piedad Teatro

is a theatre company founded in 1999 by Ana Graham, Arturo Ríos and Tania Ruiz. Our mission is to raise questions and discuss issues that affect our community by producing high quality, bold and risk taking theatre.

Based in Mexico City and in New York, the company aims to introduce some of the most important international contemporary playwrights to the Mexican Audiences and to promote the work of Mexican theatre makers throughout the world.

59E59 Theaters

was established by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation in 2004 to grant professional space and expertise to non-profit theater companies premiering their work in New York City. Under the leadership of Val Day, Artistic Director, and Brian Beirne, Managing Director, 59E59 Theaters presents a yearround curated program of Off Broadway plays and musicals that are nurtured and supported through highly-subsidized rental rates, as well as production, ticketing, FOH, marketing, and press support.

The Play Company

Artistic Associate Charlene Adhiambo Managing Director Robert G. Bradshaw Community Engagement Associate Carolina Đỗ Founding Producer Kate Loewald Interim Development Manager Devon Miller Social Media Assistant Janie Paw Associate Director for Programming & Communications Annie Jin Wang Script Readers Velani Dibba, Taylor Barrett Gaines, Ana Graham, Jeremy Tiang, Antonio Vega Associate Artist Trip Cullman Press Representation Blake Zidell, Moze Halperin

Por Piedad Teatro

Founder and Artistic Producer Ana Graham Artistic Director Antonio Vega Producer (Mexico) MariCarmen Núñez Producer (USA) Mauricio Lomelín Associate Artists Arturo Ríos, Tania Ruíz, Belén Aguilar, Víctor Zapatero, Cristóbal MarYán Communications and PR (Mexico) Pin Point

Access Services

Django in Pain is available to watch with English and Spanish audio, English and Spanish subtitles, and English audio description.

Audio Description provided by Gravity Access Services (jesscurtisgravity.org/access) Closed Captioning provided by c2 (https://c2net.org/)

Community Partners

And special thanks to

Val Day, Liz Engelman, Allan Flores, Kirsty Gaukel, Marie Graham, Melissa Hardy, Elysabeth Kleinhans, Juan Meliá, Julián Mesri, Lloyd Mulvey, Maricarmen Rodríguez, Elizabeth Solís, TJ Tamny, The Museum of Chinese in America

Board of Directors Chair Carmine Boccuzzi Secretary Kate Loewald Trip Cullman • Bruce Geismar • Ruth Hendel Lawrence Kaplen • Victoria Reese • George Sheanshang The Play Company would like to thank the following foundations, government agencies and individuals for their generous support of our work.

Angels ($10,000 and above)

59E59 Theaters/Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation Kyra Tirana Barry Carmine Boccuzzi & Bernard Lumpkin The Booth Ferris Foundation Patricia & Michael Dweck Michael Fedele & Doug Wurth Alice & Bruce Geismar Ruth & Stephen Hendel The Howard Gilman Foundation The Kaplen Brothers Fund Barb Lee & Alston Gardner The National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts NYC Department of Cultural Affairs The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Red Crane Foundation George Sheanshang The Shubert Foundation Leanne Tavoso

Visionaries ($5,000-$9,999)

Sustainers ($1,000-$2,499)

Helen & Alexander Haris Lauren Hughes & Jonathan Loewald Bill Hutton Vijay Iyer Mia Katigbak Jacqueline Katzman & Bernard White Nicolas Kent Ann & Francis Loewald Mauricio Lomelin & Michael Lobel Claudette Mayer Philip Naudé Aya Ogawa Margaret Okomo Rose Polidoro Hope & John Reese Lee Riffaterre & Frank Boyle Partners ($500-$999) Stephanie Kerley Schwartz & Actors’ Equity Foundation Michael Schwartz Joel Assouline Joshua Shapiro & Heller Berman Douglas Dooley Noel & Tanya Silverman Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman Shelley Temchin & Thomas Thomas Fontana Parker Ellen Gesmer Elise Thoron Sharon & Dina Karmazin Elkins Jeffrey Lewis & Karin Miller-Lewis Amina Tirana Kathryn Matschullat & Allan Arffa Gail Tirana Cynthia Tong Maria Mileaf & Neil Patel Suzanne Trauth Gregory Miller Lauren Weigel & Erich Jungwirth Kathleen O’Grady Lauren Worsham & Kyle Jarrow Dan Rothenberg Bruce Whitacre Carol Tambor Anonymous Katherine Alford & Robert Johnson Sean T. Buffington Trip Cullman Sarah & Matt Frazier Molly K. Heines & Thomas J. Moloney Buck Henry The John Golden Fund Debra Keates & James Swenson Miyoung Lee Roslyn & Jerome Meyer Linda Cicely Morgan Leslie & Richard Weigel

Axe-Houghton Foundation Lucille Lortel Foundation Mary Ann & Bruno Quinson Victoria Reese & Greg Kennedy Alexandra Shiva & Jonathan Marc Sherman Friends ($100-$499) SLA Foundation Gretchen Adkins Joel Assouline Producers ($2,500-$4,999) Rashad Bailey Sara Brandston Victoria Bailey Chelsea Congdon & James Benevity Brundige Denise Burse Bob Donnalley Rachel Colbert Elysabeth Kleinhans Catherine Coray C. Cybele Raver & Clancy Blair Jennifer Corman & Anne Erbe Peter Risafi & Steve Wheeler Paul Friedman The Spencer Foundation Andrew Einspanier Philip Guttmann Andrew Hamingson

Donors ($1-$99)

Wesley Ahn Chari Anhouse Susan Babcock Brooke Berman Susan Bernfield Susan Bernofsky Edward Bromberg Gigi Buffington Lenora Champagne Rose Cortico Orietta Crispino Rosie DaCosta Carolina Đỗ & Vasile Flutur

Dinhhuong Do Pamela Drexel Bart Fasbender Amanda Feldman Crystal Finn & Andy Bragen Christy Fleming Hillary Gamblin Hunter Gause Lorraine Gordon Marion Holt Paul Hoover Morgan Jenness Martins & Lev Jukna-Parsons Peter Kim Ondine Legris Elizabeth Loewald Mitch Marois Patrick McEvoy Gayther Myers Joey Nasta Elizabeth O’Brien & Jay Craven Matthew Paul Olmos Nancy Piccione Mark Portier Theresa Russo Rose T.M. Jaynie Saunders Tiller Mike Shapiro Nandita Shenoy

Yoko Shioyo Bruce Wang & Huiling Jin William Westerman Paula Wing Judy Xie Amir Nizar Zuabi Alan Zucker

Succulent Sponsors Caroline Cao Jack Calk Jonathan Castanien Christine Chang Jennifer Chau Nana Dakin Carolina Đỗ & Vasile Flutur Dinhhuong Do Katie Do Anna Flowers Vannessa Greenleaf Anees Hasnain Sunny Hitt Monet Hurst Joyce Kim Aneesha Kudtarkar Stefani Kuo Jeffrey Lo Laura Lorber May Madarang

Francesca McKenzie Ann Nguyen Vikki Nguyen Cary Patrick Ashley Paw Francesca Pazniokas Sami Pyne Maggie Robinson Katz Cha See Hannah Seusy Ryan Shen Leigh Silverman Natasha Sinha Michael Stewart Maria Ta Alexa Telano Sugar Vendil Duy Vo Tony Vo Allison Walker-Elders Annie Wang Cassidy Wingate Alaina Wis Includes special events, as of 10/05/2021

The Play Company gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of The Kaplen Brothers Fund.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, and The New York State Council on the Arts.

The Play Company gratefully acknowledges the support of the following:

As we move forward together, you make all the difference! PlayCo is committed to supporting artists by creating opportunities to share knowledge and grow as a community. We deeply appreciate your generosity and look forward to seeing you at one of our events soon.

DONATE

The Play Company thanks our Producers Circle members for their advice and support: Sara Brandston Bob Donnalley Carson & Joseph Gleberman Elysabeth Kleinhans Barb Lee & Alston Gardner Mary Ann & Bruno Quinson Alexandra Shiva & Jonathan Marc Sherman Leanne Tavoso

Mental Health Resources NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS - NYC NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

What started as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979 has blossomed into the nation’s leading voice on mental health. Today, we are an alliance of more than 600 local Affiliates and 48 State Organizations who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need. Visit nami.org for more information.

NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE (800) 273-8255 Ayuda En Español - Cuando usted llama al número 1-888628-9454, su llamada se dirige al centro de ayuda de nuestra red disponible más cercano. Tenemos actualmente 170 centros en la red y usted hablará probablemente con uno situado en su zona. Cada centro funciona en forma independiente y tiene su propio personal calificado.

THE TREVOR PROJECT - 1-866-488-7386 Our trained counselors are here to support you 24/7. If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk, call the TrevorLifeline now.

THE WORLD ON STAGE Productions from 2001-2021

Visit PlayCo.org to learn more about our plays and upcoming programming.

ENGLAND

• Bad Jazz • generations

FRANCE

• Monsieur Ibrahim & The Flowers of the Koran

UNITED STATES

• A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick • American Hwangap • Caught • Edgewise • High Dive • Is It Supposed to Last?

• Lovely Day • Ludic Proxy • Lunch Bunch • No. 11 (Blue & White) • Notes on My Mother’s Decline • Recent Alien Abductions • Smashing • This is My Office • The Wildness: A Sky-Pony Rock Fairy Tale

MEXICO

• Django in Pain • The Duchamp Syndrome • Working on a Special Day

CHILE • Villa

GERMANY

• Abyss • Arabian Night • The Golden Dragon • The Ugly One

ITALY

• Intractable Woman: A Theatrical Memo on Anna Politkovskaya

NORTHERN IRELAND • Trust

SCOTLAND

• Rainbow Kiss

SWEDEN

RUSSIA

• I Call My Brothers • Invasion!

PALESTINE • Oh My Sweet Land • This Is Who I Am

• Terrorism

JAPAN

• The Attic • Enjoy • Sakharam • The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise Binder • Time’s Journey Through a Room

INDIA

POLAND

• Made in Poland

ROMANIA

• Romania. KISS ME! Six Short Plays from Romania’s New Wave