The Alcyone Festival 10
January 21 through February 27, 2010
This 2010 festival celebrated the work of Maria Irene Fornes, featuring four Chicago premieres and a Pulitzer finalist in rotating repertory. The plays featured span several decades of Irene's staggering body of work that has profoundly influenced the American Theatre.
Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre
Letters from Cuba directed by Juan Castañeda
Manual for a Desperate Crossing directed by Coya Paz
Sarita directed by Gina LoPiccolo
Summer in Gossensass directed by Lavina Jadhwani
What of the Night directed by Margo Gray
María Irene Fornés was born in Havana, Cuba in 1930. Her family moved to the U.S. in 1945, and she became a painter before beginning to write plays in the early 1960s. Since 1961, she has written nearly 40 stage works and directed her own works as well as classic drama. She became a pivotal figure in both Latino and experimental theater. Her innovative dramas have made her one of the most successful and frequently produced of off-broadway playwrights. Her influence in the American Theater is vast, due not only to her unique vision as a writer but also her role as a teacher to writers (including Nilo Cruz.) She has won numerous awards and honors over her 40 year career including winning thirteen Obies.
