ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS OF THE 2012 HOLAfestival

ALBERTO BONILLA received a BA in Theatre at Arizona State University. He also studied at The British American Dramatic Academy in Oxford, England. He continued his studies at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts receiving an MFA in Acting under Maggie Flanagan and William Esper.

     

His first foray into New York City theater was a part of the creative team at 78th Street Theatre Lab that developed a play called Boy Steals Train that won a Fringe First and Best Ensemble award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. After Scotland, he was inspired to write and direct Walking To America, which was also developed and produced at the 78th Street Theatre Lab. This play was based on a true story of a boy who walked from Honduras to America. 

The play was so well received, that it was published in NY Theatre’s Plays and Playwrights 2005, an anthology of off-Broadway plays. Other written works include Nonnie (produced at Metropolitan Playhouse), Big Black Mexican Woman, #69, El Conejo and PS 357. He is currently developing two new plays– Dome and Hunting For Ewoks. He also wrote and developed a new play based on Medea called María with Resonance Ensemble of which he is a member.
       
He has directed several other shows including Look Back in Anger, Three Points Over the Vig, Leaving Lilly, and many more. He recently directed two productions at the Secret Theatre: Servant of Two Masters (garnering a glowing review from NYtheater.com critic Lyn Berg) and Raft of the Medusa (which critic Andrew Martin said was "gloriously directed by Alberto Bonilla"). Upon seeing his direction of Raft of The Medusa, José A. Esquea, Artistic Director of Teatro LATEA, approached him to become a resident playwright/director. 

He is also a fight director, teacher and the Director of Film and Television at Maggie Flanigan Studios. He is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. He is also a member of HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors) and NALIP (National Association of Latin Independent Producers). For more information, click here.

His play in the 2012 HOLAfestival is María and will be directed by Shana Solomon and presented on Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 7:30pm.

FLORENCIA LOZANO was born in Princeton, New Jersey and raised in Newton, Massachusetts and earned degrees from Brown University and NYU, where she studied under Ron Van Lieu, Jim Calder and Paul Walker. She is best known for playing the tough-as-nails attorney Téa Delgado on the daytime TV drama “One Life To Live.” Her other television credits include “Blue Bloods,” "Royal Pains," “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Gossip Girl,” “Lipstick Jungle” and “Ugly Betty.” She has also appeared in numerous films. She played opposite Halle Berry and Bruce Willis in Perfect Stranger and recently starred in Franc. Reyes’ The Ministers with Harvey Keitel and John Leguizamo. Some of her other film credits include Bittersweet Place, Deception, Transbeman and Veronika Decides to Die. 

In addition to her film and TV work, she is also an accomplished stage actress and playwright. Her stage credits as an actress include Red Dog Howls (NYTW) Where’s My Money? (LAB, MTC), Dirty Story (LAB), Macbeth (Delacorte), Last Easter (MCC), Privilege (Second Stage) and Right You Are... (National Actors Theatre). She has worked at 52nd Street Project, Williamstown Theatre Festival and at the Eugene O’Neill Playwright’s Conference. Her first full-length play, Under Her Breath, was written while she was at Brown. Her second full-length play, girl in window, has been developed at LAB, Rattlestick and NYTW. Two of her ten-minute plays, Bitch and Charlie Go Back to Charlie’s House and Sheila, Jack, Claire Danes and The Man On My Roof were given staged readings at LAByrinth Theater where she has been a member since 1992 and where she served as both literary manager and associate artistic director. In October 2009, she wrote, directed and conceived a site-specific, guerrilla theater piece called Chez Moi in and around her old stomping grounds on East 25th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan. Her second full-length play, underneathmybed (directed by Pedro Pascal), was produced by Rattlestick Playwrights’ Theatre and earned two HOLA Awards in 2011, including one for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting.

Her play in the 2012 HOLAfestival is girl in window and will be directed by Ms. Lozano and presented on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 7:30pm.

ALFONSO RAMÍREZ has had his plays have been performed at Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, Public Theater, Circle Repertory Theater and Repertorio Español in New York; Nosotros Theatre and Ford Theatre in Los Angeles; and Teatro Esperanza, in San Francisco.  He has won several awards, including a NYFA grant, Arizona Theatre National Hispanic Playwrights Award, the Isadora Aguirre Playwriting Award (twice), finalist in MetLife Nuestras Voces Competition and South Coast Rep’s Hispanic Playwrights Project.  His play, The Watermelon Factory, was published in the anthology Positive-Negative: Woman of Color/HIV/AIDS.  He was one of three writers invited by the Mexican Arts Commission as part of its first exchange program with the USA in 2001.  He has a MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and recently finished his first novel, a chapter of which was published in the anthology From Macho to Mariposa. He is also an accomplished actor, he has several off-Broadway, film and television credits to his name.

His play in the 2012 HOLAfestival is Toxic Saints and be directed by Allison Astor-Vargas and will be presented on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 7:30pm.

The HOLAfestival was originally created in 1983 as a series of showcase theatrical productions and musical evenings by and for HOLA members. The last one of the HOLAfestival series occurred in 1990.

In 2011, HOLA decided to revive the HOLAfestival as a series of staged play readings written by HOLA member-playwrights and featuring the acting talents of HOLA members.

2012 HOLAfestival
Teatro LATEA
Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural andEducational Center
107 Suffolk Street, Second Floor
(between Rivington and Delancey streets), NYC
DECEMBER 17-20, 2012


2012 HOLAfestival
KICKOFF EVENT

HOLAtalks: DAVID ZAYAS

 interviewed by LOUIS PEREGO MORENO (TÍO LOUIE)
host of the Prime Latino Media Salon

A one-on-one discussion with the star of stage and screen,
currently seen as Ángel Batista on Showtime's "Dexter". 


$10 SUGGESTED ADMISSION FOR EACH EVENT
($5 FOR HOLA & NALIP MEMBERS/FRIENDS OF HOLA)
RESERVATIONS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
ALL READINGS AT 7:30pm
(HOLAtalks: DAVID ZAYAS AT 7pm)
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RSVP, CALL (212) 253-1015.

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