In partnership with The Center, we invite you to take part in a conversation on HIV narratives in theater on April 20th at 6:30pm!
Together with The Center’s Manager of Community Partnerships Richard Morales, playwrights Donja R. Love and Victor I. Cazares discuss the importance of having characters on stage living with HIV that reflect the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous, queer artists of color living with HIV.
About Victor I. Cazares
Victor I. Cazares (they/them/theirs) is a non-binary Poz Queer Indigenous Mexican Artist (enby PQIMA for short) who has had stints at Yale, Brown, and other less prestigious centers of rehabilitation. Like any border child, they were born twice: once in El Paso, Texas and another in San Lorenzo, Chihuahua. Victor lives, forages, and produces their own social media telenovelas in Portland, Oregon. Their virtual plays, Pinching Pennies with Penny Marshall and Holiday Follies, premiered at New York Theatre Workshop earlier this season where they are the Tow Playwright-in-Residence. Other plays include: american (tele)visions, Ramses contra los monstruos, We Were Eight Years in Powder, and «when we write with ashes». «when we write with ashes» will be part of our 2021 Criminal Queerness Festival.
About Donja R. Love
This past Fall, Donja R. Love taught Write it Out!, a ten-week playwrighting workshop for writers living with HIV. Donja (he/him/his) is Black, Queer, HIV-Positive, and thriving. A Philly native, his work examines the forced absurdity of life for those who identify as Black, Queer, and HIV-Positive—a diverse intersection filled with eloquent stories that challenge the white supremacist, heteronormative structures that exist in American culture. He’s the recipient of the Antonyo’s inaugural Langston Hughes Award, the Helen Merrill Award, the Laurents/Hatcher Award, and the Princess Grace Playwriting Award. Other honors include The Lark’s Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, The Playwrights Realm’s Writing Fellowship, and the Philadelphia Adult Grand Slam Poetry Champion. He’s the co-founder of The Each-Other Project, an organization that helps build community and provide visibility, through art and advocacy, for LGBTQ+ People of Color. Plays include soft, one in two (The New Group), Fireflies (Atlantic Theater Company), Sugar in Our Wounds (Manhattan Theatre Club, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Nominations), and The Trade. He’s a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School.