LOS ANGELES — The Latino Theater Company opens its 2022 season with the world premiere of SHE, a poignant, lyrical coming-of-age drama written by Marlow Wyatt and directed by Justin Lord. Performances take place May 6 through June 5 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown L.A., with previews scheduled April 28 through May 5.
Camille Spirlin (Runaway Home at the Fountain) stars as 13-year-old SHE Sojourner Freeman. Growing up in a small town filled with poverty and neglect, SHE escapes by re-imagining her reality through poetry. Her dreams take flight when she’s presented with the opportunity to attend the prestigious Vanguard Academy. But forced to make her own way, SHE soon discovers that dreams cost… and you don’t always pay with money.
Also in the stellar cast are Lorenz Arnell (Ovation, Backstage and LADCC awards for the title role in The Ballad of Emmet Till at the Fountain) as SHE’s best friend, Davie Mansaw; Karen Malina White (The Mountain Top for L.A. Theatre Works, Eight Nights at Antaeus, The Ballad of Emmet Till at the Fountain) as SHE’s neglectful, man-obsessed mother, Bernice; Kamal Bolden (NBC’s The Endgame, AMC’s upcoming 61st Street) as Bernice’s charismatic gambler boyfriend, Mr. Lonnie; Aixa Clemente (The House of Bernarda Alba at the Mark Taper Forum, American Illiad at the Victory) as the eagle-eyed town matriarch, Miss Jane; and Gerard Joseph (Antaeus Theatre Company’s The Zip Code Plays Los Angeles podcast series) as the city-slick hustler Othalee.
“How do you thrive when you’re stuck in a small box?” asks Wyatt. “SHE is trapped by the boundaries of poverty, searching and wanting and growing up female in a male society. She copes through a world of poetry and eventually discovers that the small town she desperately wants to escape is filled with the very people who give her wings to fly.”
SHE is a CTG/HUMANITAS finalist, Long Beach Playhouse New Works winner, and received National Black Theatre Festival A-List and Antaeus Theatre Company Lab Results readings. In 2021, as the pandemic raged, the Latino Theater Company produced an online, digital reading in advance of this world premiere production.
The creative team for SHE includes set designer Herb Newsome; lighting and sound designer Kenneth Cosby;and costume designer Wendell C. Carmichael. The stage manager is Ladine Jae.
“I commend the Latino Theater Company for prioritizing putting together an all-Black creative team for this production,” Wyatt notes.
Marlow Wyatt is a playwright and actor with a BFA (magna cum laude) from Howard University College of Fine Arts. Her thirst to share the richness and beauty of Black culture manifested into playwriting. Selected works include Robbin, from the Hood (2021 Eugene O’Neill semi-finalist, 2021 New Works Pipeline/SBT); Red Ribbons (2022 Voices for Victory reading series, 2021 Headwaters New Play finalist, National Black Theatre Festival A-List reading series); Listen, A Black Woman Is Speaking (2021 Playwrights Union First Look reading); Mourning of the Sons (LACMA-Theater at the Museum); American Dreamers (St. Brigid Catholic Church benefit); Sweetie’s Confession (Fade to Black, NESONA Festivals); Say Something (AWOT Festival, Moving Arts); and The Village, What Would Billie Sing and Red,White & Blue-Trilogy (Girl Blue Project). Marlow is an Antaeus Theatre Company 2021 NEXT Commission artist, Support Black Theatre’s 2021 As We Grow We Sow awardee, SBT’s first New Works Pipeline artist and a 2019 MADLab playwright. She is also a Many Voices Fellowship finalist, a Howard Players honored alumna and a CTG/Humanitas Playwrights Prize finalist.
Justin Lord’s background as an actor with numerous TV, film, music and theater credits to his name, including Division Street on Broadway, led to directing. His directing career started at American Theatre Arts in California, where he directed Sam Shepard’s Cowboy Mouth, Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller’s Full Hookup and his own adaptation of Harry Kondoleon’s The Brides. Since then he has gone on to direct in Los Angeles at venues such as the Skylight Theatre, Luna Playhouse, Inner City Cultural Center, Theater 40, Towne Street Theatre and the Stella Adler Theatre, as well as in New York and around the country. He has been honored with multiple award nominations for Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO awards, and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.
The Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future. Now in its 37th year, LTC has operated The Los Angeles Theatre Center, a landmark building in Downtown’s Historic Core, since 2006.
SHE opens on Friday, May 6 at 8 p.m., with performances thereafter taking place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through June 5. Six preview performances take place on Thursday, April 28; Friday, April 29; Saturday, April 30; Wednesday May 4; and Thursday, May 5, all at 8 p.m., and on Sunday, May 1 at 4 p.m. Tickets range from $10–$48, except opening night which is $58 and includes a post-performance reception, and previews, which are Pay-What-You-Choose starting at $5. The Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. Parking is available for $5 with box office validation at Joe’s Parking structure, 530 S. Spring St. (immediately south of the theater).
To purchase tickets and for more information, including up-to-date Covid-19 safety protocols on the date of each performance, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.
