The Refocus Project aims to transform
the American theatre canon.
The works deemed to be “classic” plays have long been defined too narrowly and by too few. If we’re to have an equitable theatre, we must look to the past and shine a spotlight on the plays and playwrights that were left behind by history, not because of their merits but because of their identities.
As a theatre company with a legacy of producing revivals, we realize we need to tell a more complete story and ensure we are an active part of the solution, not an ongoing part of the problem.
The second year of The Refocus Project spotlights Latinx playwrights from the 20th and 21st centuries, including René Marqués, Fausto Avendaño, María Irene Fornés, Rosalba Rolón, and Desmar Guevara, in partnership with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre (PRTT). This year’s plays have been selected in partnership with Pregones/PRTT and will be workshopped and performed in a reading series this summer in Roundabout and Pregones/PRTT spaces, featuring on stage and behind-the-scenes artists from both theatres.
We encourage you to get to know these works and join us in redefining them as the American classics they truly are.
SARITA
By María Irene Fornés
Directed by Rebecca Aparicio
Performed live on June 13, 2022
THE OXCART
By René Marqués
Directed by Cristina Angeles
Performed live on June 16, 2022
EL CORRIDO DE CALIFORNIA
By Fausto Avendaño
Directed by Galia Backal
Performed live on June 27, 2022
HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS ON A LATIN BEAT
Book, Lyrics, and Directed by Rosalba Rolón
Compositions by Desmar Guevara, James Reese Europe, and Rafael Hernández
Arrangements by Desmar Guevara
Performed live on June 23, 2022
All readings were performed in the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.
REFOCUS PROJECT THEATRE TALK:
A Conversation between Anna Morton and Rosalba Rolón
Refocus Project Panel Discussion
Moderated by Alexi Chacon, Managing Director of Token Theatre Friends
Panelists: The Refocus Project 2022 Directors
Please contact refocus@roundabouttheatre.org for further information on these resources.
Additional funding provided by Eugene and Joann Bissell and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, and R. Martin Chavez.
The Refocus Project is made possible by the Champions for Inclusive Theatre and Roundabout’s Forward Fund. We acknowledge the generous friends who support our many efforts to increase representation and inclusion in all aspects of theatre: Eugene and Joann Bissell and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, Elizabeth Armstrong, R. Martin Chavez, Herbert W. Engert Jr. and Timothy Miller, EY, the Ford Foundation, Kenny Leon, Gina Maria Leonetti, Beryl Snyder, and Charles Randolph-Wright.