Contact: Richard Ochoa
Tel.: 310-659-4403
Email: AC@AbrahamCelaya.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, JULY 1, 2009
At HIGHWAYS in Santa Monica, Political Fable Creature / Creations
Examines Responsibility and Delusion in Oppressive Times
What:
Creature / Creations
(A Political Fable about Responsibility and Delusion in Oppressive Times)
Who:
Starring: Minerva García, well known to Los Angeles audiences for her performances in
Electricidad at the Mark Taper Forum, as María in Chavez Ravine also at the Taper, as
Julia Flores in School of the Americas at Teatro Visión, and as Frida at the Frida Kahlo
Theatre…Co-produced by Director Abraham Celaya and Theatre of Hope, with special
funding from the Spanish Consulate of Los Angeles.
Where:
HIGHWAYS,
at the 18th Street Arts Center,
1651 18th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
When:
July, Friday 17 & Saturday 18 @ 8:30 p.m.
How Much:
$15 / $20
Reservations: Ticket Customer Service. . . . . 310-315-1459
More Info:
www.highwaysperformance.org
OR
www.AbrahamCelaya.com
Once upon a very terrible time, a Woman coped with the slaughter of her friends and family by turning
herself into a Hen…
That’s the premise of Creature / Creations (A Political Fable about Responsibility and Delusion
in Oppressive Times), a one-woman show written in 1981 by Argentinean writer Eugenio Griffero in
Argentina during the 1970-1981 military dictatorship. The expressionistic fable recounts the tale of a Woman
whose whole world has been turned upside down. Family and friends are all dead. She survives by thinking
she is a hen. But as she examines her life, she comes to the shocking realization that she has been a
“collaborator” in the terror and violence that engulfed her. It was easier for her to look the other way,
deluding herself with fantasies and distractions in order to enjoy her privileged status, the middle way.
“Only at the end she realizes that she was just a puppet,” says director/translator Abraham
Celaya. “She was only the soldier, the consumer, the cheap labor and the meat provider. Just one of those
‘creations’ that the ‘owners of the chicken coop’ needed for their own profit.”
Spanish-born Celaya responded immediately to his first hearing of Creature/Creations. He
explains, “This play has a special meaning for me. I was in Argentina during the bloody repression of the
dictatorship, and when I heard the play in a reading in Buenos Aires in 1980, it touched a soft spot in my
soul. I have a strong social background, and I am deeply concerned with freedom, human rights, media
manipulation and fascism, being born under a fascist regime myself.”
--More--
Celaya says that Minerva García is the perfect actress to play this extremely demanding and
complex character. “You need a powerhouse to play this creature, and when I saw Minerva playing Frida
Kahlo”—a milestone in her career, she did over 400 performances— “at the Frida Kahlo Theatre in Los
Angeles, and saw the energetic turmoil she displays onstage, I knew I had the right vessel,” he says. Also,
it is very important to find the right venue for the production, and HIGHWAYS—with its history of social
unrest, politically aware and provocative theatre that carries— is the perfect match. “In the end,” Celaya
says, “the great lesson we can learn from this play is that we have to speak out for what we believe. We,
the people—never losing our optimism or sense of humor—have to state our true convictions. It is our duty
to speak out.”
Creature / Creations is part of a group of 21 short plays written in 1981for the first cycle of Teatro
Abierto (Open Theatre) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also known as Theatre Under Vigilance, Teatro
Abierto was a cultural reaction by the theatre community against the military dictatorship that ruled
Argentina from 1970 through 1983.
Playwright Eugenio Griffero’s plays include La Fuerza del Destino no trae mala suerte (The
Force of Destiny Doesn’t Bring Bad Luck), Familia se vende (Family for Sale), nominated for the Molière
Award, La Gripe (The Flue), which won the Molière Award, and Des-Tiempo (Wrong Moment). He also
won the Molière Award for best play for Principe Azul (Charming Prince). His work has been produced in
many languages and countries.
Director / Translator Abraham Celaya has served as the Artistic & Education Director of
Theatre of Hope, the Education and Outreach Coordinator of the Pasadena Playhouse, and Associate
Director and the Assistant to the Artistic Director, Benny Sato Ambush, at the American Conservatory
Theatre in San Francisco. He has also served as an assistant director for the Taper-Too, the Old Globe in
San Diego, and the Seattle Rep. His direction of Arrabal’s The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria
received critical acclaim during its run at Stages Theatre Center. He has a master’s degree in Directing
from Columbia University in New York, as well as master’s degree in Philosophy/Linguistics & Literature
from the University of Oviedo, Spain.
Co-Producer: Director, Celaya serves on the Board of Theatre of Hope, a non-profit
organization dedicated to using the Arts as a ‘tool for change’. Theatre of Hope has produced over 100
plays, which examine the impact of violence, in all it’s forms, on the individual, the family, the community
and the world. Mr. Celaya directed several plays for Theatre of Hope including, Puppies with a Dark Gaze
by Paloma Pedrero; plus, our resident theatre program at Ribet Academy and our teen playwriting labs.
Performer Minerva García is well known to Los Angeles audiences. A few of her credits are
Electricidad in the homonymous play at the Mark Taper Forum, María in Chavez Ravine also at the
Taper, Julia Flores in School of the Americas at Teatro Visión, Frida at the Frida Kahlo Theatre and
Sandra in Living Out at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. A few films: Ladron Que Roba a Ladron, What
Planet Are You From?, and Real Women Have Curves. Minerva García can also be seen on the small
screen in series like Dexter, Viva Vegas, Los Beltrán, City of Angels and The Closer. Ms. García has a
master’s degree in acting from the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.
Designer Frederica Nascimento has worked and designed with Robert Wilson, Wim Wenders,
Pina Bausch/Peter Pabst and Jose Alvaro Morais, among others. She was a Design Fellow for the New
York Theatre Workshop and is now a Usual Suspect for the New York Theatre Workshop.
More Info:
www.highwaysperformance.org
www.AbrahamCelaya.com
Creature / Creations (A Political Fable about Responsibility and Delusion in Oppressive Times)
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