Latinx Theatre Commons

• May 19, 2012: DC 8 Meeting. HowlRound hosts eight Latino theater-makers to discuss the state of Latino theater in the US at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. From this conversation, four initiatives were proposed with the aim of advancing the field of Latino theater including a national festival of ten Latino plays to be produced at the Los Angeles Theatre Center; a biannual conference of new Latino works hosted by DePaul University in Chicago; Café Onda, an online platform for articles, blogs, live-streaming of events related to Latino theater; and a national convening of Latino theater-makers. [4]

• Summer 2012: First Steering Committee was formed, with an additional fourteen Latino theater-makers from around the country, to plan the national convening.[5][6]

• September 20, 2013: Café Onda was launched, an online platform hosted by HowlRound, which seeks to build connections among Latino theater-makers, and promote dialogue and deeper understanding at large. The platform addresses cultural misrepresentations, inspires greater participation in the American theater field, and raises awareness for the body of Latino dramatic production. #cafeonda[7]

• October 31 - November 2, 2013: The Boston Convening is the “first large-scale formal gathering of the Latina/o theater community since 1986.”[8] The Convening brought together artists, scholars, and advocates of Latino theater to Emerson College, but also engaged with Latino theater-makers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, and New York City via simultaneous video-conferencing, and around the country through live-streaming.[9]

• November 10, 2013: LTC Facebook Group was launched, encouraging postings about Latino theater events, announcements, opportunities, and discussions about the field and its intersection with politics.[10]

• November 6 – November 9, 2014: The LTC Second National Convening at the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Encuentro 2014. The Convening brought together the artists participating in the 10 productions featured at the month-long festival of Latino theater from around the US, with theater-makers, scholars, and advocates interested in Latino theater.[11][12][13] Additionally, throughout the Encuentro, which ran from October 12 through November 10, 2014, the LTC produced a series of nine Tertulias, public conversations with Festival and LA-based artists and scholars to contextualize and interrogate themes raised by the Encuentro.[14]

• July 23 - 28, 2015: Carvival of New Latina/o Work, which featured staged readings of eight full-length four 10-minute excerpts of new works by Latino playwrights, at DePaul University in Chicago. The works selected displayed a range of themes and dramaturgical styles, exemplifying the diversity of Latino theater in the US. In addition to the readings, participants engaged in workshops and conversations throughout the weekend.[15][16]

• October 30 - November 1, 2015: LTC Texas Regional Convening was the first of three regional LTC convenings dedicated to learning more about each region’s specific experiences, “because every community is different, it has its own identity and own kind of needs that can flourish if recognized and addressed (Octavio Solis).”[17] In addition to meeting and attending local productions and events,[18] the Steering Committee also engaged in self-assessment, based on internal and external reviews of the LTC.[19]

• April 15 - 17, 2016: LTC Pacific Northwest Regional Convening included theater-makers from northern California, Portland, and Vancouver, BC, hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle. As with the Regional Convening in Dallas, local participants expressed a sense of isolation from Latino theater-making around the country, due to its geographic location. At this Convening, “the Steering Committee was charged with determining the criteria for selecting future projects, key factors like local support for each proposal, the feasibility of each project within the proposed timeline, and, finally, how each project fits into the overall goals of LTC.”[20][21][22]

• September 2016-June 2019: El Fuego Initiative: Fueling the American Theater with Latina/o Plays aims to support productions of each of the twelve playwrights featured at the 2015 Carnaval of New Latina/o Work. In an unprecedented fashion, eighteen theater companies agreed to produce the playwrights’ works before they had been selected, demonstrating a commitment to championing Latino playwrights and “a profound trust in the Carnaval selection process.”[23] As of March 2018, six playwrights have received productions with support from El Fuego, many of which have been documented through the IGNITED series on Café Onda:[24]

• Parachute Men by Mando Alvarado at Teatro Vista, Chicago, IL, September 10-October 16, 2016[25]

• Women on Fire by Marisela Treviño Orta at Camino Real Productions, Albuquerque, NM, September 29-October 16, 2016[26]

• El Payaso by Emilio Rodriguez at Milagro (aka Miracle Theatre), Portland, OR, January 12-21, 2017[27]

• Sweep by Georgina Escobar at Aurora Theatre, Lawrenceville, GA, February 10-March 5, 2017[28]

• Más by Milta Ortiz at Su Teatro, Denver, CO, March 9-26, 2017[29]

• The Sweetheart Deal by Diane Rodriguez at Latino Theatre Company, Los Angeles, CA, May 4-June 4, 2017[30]

• December 1 - 4, 2016: LTC New York Regional Convening, where participants moved among nine venues, including INTAR Theatre, Pregones Theatre, and the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, to engage in creative workshops as well as conversations. The programming was oriented among three tracks: leadership, aesthetics, and identity. [31]

• November 8 - 12, 2017: LTC International Convening was held during the Encuentro de las Américas International Theatre Festival, at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. This convening echoed the Encuentro Convening of 2015 but broadened its scope to include theatre-makers from Canada and Latin America. 260 participants witnessed fourteen productions and met in large and small groups to discuss the process, among other things, aesthetics, scholarship, and international collaboration.[32][33]

• April 14, 2018: Fornés Institute Symposium, produced in partnership with Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, will gather Fornés’ students and collaborators, as well as scholars and more theater-makers, to “celebrate her living legacy and collaboratively document her enduring impact.” [34]

The Latinx Theatre Commons operates as a commons, wherein resources are shared with all who care for the resources.

According to Indiana University's Digital Library of the Commons, "the commons is a general term for shared resources in which each stakeholder has an equal interest" (n.p.). Historically, the term commons is derived from the medieval English legal term for land that was designated by the lord of the manor for use by common folk for their own sustenance…The term was popularized as a shared resource term by ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1968. (1) There are several types of commons in practice today: environmental commons;(2) digital commons;(3) and cultural, social, and intellectual commons.[35]

The work of the LTC is carried out by a volunteer Steering Committee of artists, scholars, and administrators from around the US who represent the complexity of the theatre field. Steering Committee members work on a variety of subcommittees to advance the LTC initiatives, such as those listed on the timeline, reflecting the tenets of advocacy, art making, convening, and scholarship. The Steering Committee is refreshed every six months with an influx of new members who join in the work. Steering Committee members rotating off often join the LTC Advisory Committee. Communication technologies facilitate work among multiple participants simultaneously. At the hub of all the subcommittees is the LTC Producer, an independent contractor supported through the infrastructure provided by HowlRound: A Center for a Theatre Commons.[36]

On June 10, 2017, at the Theatre Communications Group National Conference held in Portland, Oregon, the LTC received the Peter Zeisler Award. In the acceptance speech, then LTC Producer Abigail Vega stated: "By their very nature, commons challenge our transactional, market-based ideology and propose an alternative reality rooted in abundance and the greater good."[37]

In January 2017, the Latinx Theater Commons adopted its current name in response to requests from the Steering Committee and community members at large and as an expression of its commitment to the principles of radical inclusion.[38]

The Latina/o Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening: A Narrative Report by Brian Herrera. Boston: Emerson College, 2015.[39]