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Zorro in Hell | |
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Music | Culture Clash |
Lyrics | Culture Clash |
Basis | Zorro |
Zorro in Hell is a satiric play by Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza, collectively known as Culture Clash. It is a profile of the legendary hero Zorro from a Latino viewpoint.
The play had its initial productions at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse in 2006. It then ran at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood from July 11 - August 19, 2007. [1]
Bob Verini of Variety said the play "is overlong and not as consistently funny as it wants to be, largely because of the troupe's habit of site-specific name-dropping as a substitute for wit." [2]
Tony Taccone, artistic director of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre described Zorro in Hell as a "bold piece of agitational propaganda" in a world capable of change. Taccone also analyzed the protagonist's humanity and role as a professional Fool. [3]
Anne Marie Welsh of the San Diego Union-Tribune discussed the play's development in California's political climate from 2003-2005. Welsh notes the potential tension caused by the 2003 election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California and the 2005 election of Antonio Villaraigosa as the first Mexican American Mayor of Los Angeles in 130 years. According to Siguenza of Culture Clash, the play asks "Who is a terrorist and who is a hero? Who is a Californian?" [4]
Karen D'Souza of the Knight Ridder Tribune critiqued the middle of the play for its overuse of pop references and racial stereotypes. D'Souza noted that the play "starts and ends so explosively, you almost forget that the center is a mess." [5]
Donald Margulies is an American playwright and Professor (Adjunct) of English and Theater & Performance Studies at Yale University. In 2000, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Dinner with Friends.
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Rep became the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay with an annual operating budget of $5 million. In 2006, it was saved from impending insolvency by a $2 million bailout loan from the city of San Jose; this was later restructured into a long-term loan similar to a mortgage.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley.
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.
Jorma Christopher Taccone is an American comedian, director, actor, and writer. He is one-third of the sketch comedy troupe The Lonely Island, with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. In 2010 he co-wrote and directed the SNL spinoff film MacGruber, which was his directorial debut. He directed his second feature alongside Schaffer, the musical comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which he also co-wrote and co-starred in with Schaffer and Samberg.
Amy Freed is an American playwright. Her play Freedomland was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Dinner with Friends is a play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in 1999. The play received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Culture Clash is a performance troupe that currently comprises writer-comedians Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza. Their work is of a satirical nature.
Sharon Ott is a director, producer and educator who worked in regional theaters and opera throughout the United States. Two plays she directed, A Fierce Longing and Amlin Gray's How I Got That Story, each won an Obie award after their New York runs.
Tony Taccone is an American theater director, and the former Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California.
The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is a 2009 play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The title was inspired by George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
Marielle Stiles Heller is an American writer, director, and actress. She is best known for directing the films The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), as well as acting in The Queen’s Gambit (2020).
Pam MacKinnon is an American theatre director. She has directed for the stage Off-Broadway, on Broadway and in regional theatre. She won the Obie Award for Directing and received a Tony Award nomination, Best Director, for her work on Clybourne Park. In 2013 she received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She was named Artistic Director of American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California on January 23, 2018.
Jonathan Moscone is an American theater director, and currently the Chief Producer for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. Formerly the artistic director of California Shakespeare Theater in Berkeley and Orinda, California for 16 years, Moscone received the inaugural Zelda Fichandler Award, given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation for his transformative work in theater in 2009.
Richard Montoya is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, playwright, comedian, and co-founding member of the San Francisco based performance troupe Culture Clash. His work in theatre is largely comedy-based and centers around ideas of racism, immigration, discrimination, and identity in Latin-American communities. He follows in the steps of his father, famous activist José Montoya, and is known for creating social and political change through a variety of artistic expressions.
Duane Boutté is an American actor, director, and composer known in film for his portrayal of "Bostonia" in Nigel Finch's Stonewall (1995), and as young "Bruce Nugent" in Rodney Evans' Brother to Brother (2004). Boutté was in the original Broadway company of Parade, and played "Enoch Snow, Jr." in the 1994 TONY Award-winning revival of Carousel. His television acting credits date from the 1980s and include episodes of What's Happening Now, A Year in the Life, Sex and the City, and the made-for-television movie The Drug Knot, directed by Happy Days star, Anson Williams.
Herbert Siguenza is an American actor, writer, and performer based in California. He is best known for co-founding the theater performance group Culture Clash, which is still active since its founding in 1984, more than thirty years later. He is currently the playwright-in-residence at the San Diego Rep and has continued to pursue many solo ventures in addition to his group work.
Katrina Lenk is an American actress, singer, musician, and songwriter. She is known for originating the role of Dina in the Broadway musical The Band's Visit, for which she won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her additional stage credits include roles in the Broadway productions of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Once, and Indecent, as well as roles in regional theater productions.
Ric Salinas is a Salvadoran–American actor, writer and producer. He is known for co-founding the comedy group, Culture Clash, with Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza and Jose Antonio Burciaga. He is currently working with the remaining two members, Herbert and Richard, on the production "Culture Clash (Still) in America". As of 2012, he resides in Los Angeles.
Fairview is a 2018 play written by Jackie Sibblies Drury. The play was co-commissioned by Berkeley Rep and Soho Repertory Theatre.