The Salvi Chronicles

CTG LA.ORG / DIG ITALSTAG E

AUGUST 2021

MICHAEL RITCHIE Artistic Director | MEGHAN PRESSMAN Managing Director | DOUGLAS C. BAKER Producing Director GORDON DAVIDSON Founding Artistic Director

Center Theatre Group Presents

THE SALVI CHRONICLES Written, Directed and Performed by

Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza

Composer

Freddy Lanuza

Editor

Production Coordinator

Dennis Mendez

Associate Artistic Director

Tyrone Davis

Michelle Blair Producer

The Zerote Brothers

AUGUST 27-OCTOBER 25, 2021 DIGITAL STAGE

WHO’S WHO RIC SALINAS (Author, Performer, Director, he/him) is an original member of the critically acclaimed performance troupe Culture Clash, who have forged a unique role on the American stage. As a theatre artist, writer, social commentator, and activist, he and his co-creators, Richard Montoya and Herbert Siguenza, have written over a dozen plays and performed over 5,000 shows nationwide. The trio made television history twice: being the first Latino comedy troupe to have a nationally broadcast sketch TV show (Fox TV) and to have their serio-comedy historical anthology, “Bowl of Beings,” presented on PBS’s Great Performances series.

He is touring his solo show, 57 Chevy, written by Cris Franco, and has also played the lead in the Salvadorean specific play, Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo, which toured over a dozen cities across the U.S. He also directs for Teatro Zinzanni, a Cirque du Soleil-type show, and is proud to have three published plays: Life, Death and Revolutionary Comedy, Culture Clash in AmeriCCA, and Oh, Wild West: The California Plays. He graduated with two B.A.s from San Francisco State University in Broadcasting Communications and Speech Communication, and also taught courses at Occidental College (“Comedy & Social Change”) and UCLA (“Theater as Pedagogy in Education”).

Ricardo is a proud immigrant born in El Salvador, Central America.

HERBERT SIGUENZA (Author, Perfomer, Director, and Drawings, he/him) is currently the Playwright in Residence for the San Diego Repertory Theatre thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Herbert is also a founding member of the performance group Culture Clash.

For twenty years Herbert and Culture Clash created a series of plays based on oral histories of residents from different neighborhoods throughout America.

As a solo writer and performer, he has produced Cantinflas!, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, Steal Heaven, El Henry (Best New Play, San Diego Critics Circle Award 2014), Manifest Destinitis, Beachtown, and Bad Hombres/Good Wives (San Diego Repertory Theatre).

He is also an accomplished visual artist and has had exhibits both nationally and internationally. He has a B.F.A. in printmaking from the California College of Arts, Oakland.

TV and Film credits: Ben 10: Alien Swarm (Cartoon Network), Larry Crowne directed by Tom Hanks. His voice was prominently featured in Pixar’s 2017 Oscar winning animation feature, Coco.

FREDDY LANUZA (Composer, he/him) has a Ph.D. (CGU/ SDSU), M.S. (PepperdineU.), and B.A. (UCLA). Academy Award nominee for In the Name of the People (Paul Espinosa/KPBS), composer/producer for L.A.’s Olympic Arts Festival, keyboardist throughout L.A.’s salsa/jazz scene including Poncho Sanchez, Mongo Santamaría, El Chicano, Tito Puente, Jack Costanzo, Little Richard, Buddy Miles, and several rock/salsa bands. Composer/Music Director for several productions at San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Lamb’s Players Theatre, and more. Professional flamenco dancer and master Mexican dance folklorist. Has published his own Latin-jazz piano trio music CD’s Lanuza-SiVa & SiVa-2 (iTunes/Spotify/Amazon).

Currently working on his own musicals: The Desert Rose and Ace of Gold.

DENNIS MENDEZ (Editor, he/him) is a Los Angeles native working as an Editor. Dennis mostly works in documentaries. His early position as a delivery driver for a post-production rental company allowed him to witness all different areas in “post” and provided hands-on experience with editing hardware and software. Eventually, a newfound friendship allowed him to take his first position as an Assistant Editor, which he worked as for four years.

He has recently made a change to Editor and loves the experience and sense of creativity it has provided.

MICHELLE BLAIR (Production Coordinator, she/her) has worked on over 30 productions for Center Theatre Group.

Some highlights include A Play is a Poem, Lackawanna Blues, Linda Vista, Sweat, Water by the Spoonful, Head of Passes, Heisenberg, Archduke, Zoot Suit, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Bent, The Sunshine Boys, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Red, Leap of Faith, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Parade, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, all wear bowlers, Topdog/Underdog, and QED at Lincoln Center Theater. Other favorites include Eurydice and La Traviata with the Los Angeles Opera, The Tempest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Henry IV with Shakespeare Center Los Angeles, The Pee-wee Herman Show at Club Nokia and Jersey Boys in Las Vegas. Mom to thirteen-yearold Liam and nine-year-old Imogen.

CENTER THEATRE GROUP (Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Meghan Pressman, Managing Director/CEO; Douglas C. Baker, Producing Director), one of the nation’s pre-eminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’s leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum in Downtown Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and World premiere productions and a leader in community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Find a complete staff list at CTGLA.org/Staff.

ADDITIONAL STAFF FOR THE SALVI CHRONICLES Featured Guests..............................Roberto Lovato, Ana Patricia Rodriguez ....................................................Ruben Martinez, Milta Ortiz, Olga Aguilar Featured Locations.... Cafecito Organico, La Pupusa Urban Eatery, Carecen Production Support...........................................Joel Juarez, Nicole Ramirez

Center Theatre Group is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the American Arts Alliance, the Broadway League, Independent Producers’ Network (IPN), LA Stage Alliance, National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) and the Theatre Communications Group (TCG).