Pauline Adamek
Acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree, Roger Q. Mason is an award-winning writer, performer and educator who uses the lens of history to disrupt the biases that divide rather than unite us. The playwright has created a trio of genre-obliterating plays about the beauty and the underbelly of ambition in America’s West.
Coming to L.A. theaters in June is Roger Q. Mason’s Califas Trilogy, a collection of plays which examine the past, present and future of California. All three productions will run April 26 – June 1 at Skylight Theatre and at Outside In Theatre in Los Angeles. For more information on the Califas Trilogy and to sign up for exclusive ticket offers, please visit www.califastrilogy.com.
The first part in the trilogy, California Story, tells the story of Pio Pico, California’s last Mexican governor during its journey to statehood in the 1800s. The production, directed by Michael Alvarez, will run April 26 – June 3 at Outside In Theatre.
Part two, Hide and Hide, is set in seedy 1980s Los Angeles. The play follows a queer rent-boy on-the-run from the Texas police and a Filipina immigrant whose visa is about to expire, as they enter into a sham marriage to achieve their own American Dream. Helmed by Jessica Hanna, this World Premiere will run May 9 – June 22 at Skylight Theatre Company.
The last piece in the trilogy, Juana Maria, tells the true story of a young indigenous woman who lived for almost two decades on the isolated St. Nicolas Island, and what happened after she was “rescued” by an American sailor. Directed by Michael Alvarez, the piece will have a limited two-night engagement at Outside in Theatre, May 25th and June 1st.
During a time when the city of Los Angeles is being divided by social disparities, real estate interests and culture wars, playwright Roger Q. Mason hopes that their Califas Trilogy will be an invitation to Angelinos to embark on a new journey of unity through this exploration of California’s history.
“My goal for Califas Trilogy is to bring Los Angeles together as a community. Our city has often been divided by social disparities, real estate interests and culture wars aimed at dividing rather than uniting us. The LA of my youth was essentially a collection of suburbs in search of a true center. But that is not its present and cannot be its future. The recent fires have highlighted our need to come together and transcend our differences in finance, geography, privilege, and access. Califas Trilogy is an invitation for Los Angeles to embark on a new journey of unity through the exploration offered in these works of performance.”
Playwright Roger Q. Mason.
In other news, Roger Q. Mason has been awarded the McKnight National Residency and Commission from the prestigious Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, MN.
The intent of the McKnight National Residency and Commission is to support an established playwright from outside of Minnesota who demonstrates a sustained body of work, commitment, and distinct artistic vision.
Roger Q. Mason’s Califas Trilogy
Three genre-busting plays about power, land and dreams in California.
Produced by Outside In Theatre and Skylight Theatre Company in association with Roots & Wings Project in Los Angeles.
California Story
Directed by Michael Alvarez
April 26 – June 3, 2025 at Outside In Theatre
Whipping between a post-capitalist water-world dystopian future and the Golden Era of 19th Century Manifest Destiny, California Story scrutinizes the past, present, and (hopefully not) future cost of grasping for privilege in America. At the heart of the tale is Pio Pico – California’s last Mexican governor – who sacrifices family, identity and integrity to stake his claim in the American dream during California’s journey to statehood in the 1800s. California Story was a finalist for the 2024 Ojai Playwrights Conference.
Hide and Hide
Directed by Jessica Hanna
May 9 – June 22, 2025 at Skylight Theatre Company
Set in seedy 1980 Los Angeles, Hide and Hide is a Homeric critique of the American Dream. Enter Constanza – a recent Filipina immigrant from Marcos’ Philippines – and Billy – a white Texan rent boy running from a Christian sex conversion camp. Their lives collide while searching for the freedom dreamed up on movie screens, billboards, and our minds. Hide and Hide is the recipient of the LA New Play Project from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, & Television. Additional support provided by the Vladimir And Araxia Buckhantz Foundation and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Juana Maria
Directed by Michael Alvarez
Presented in association with The Roots and Wings Project
May 25 & June 1, 2025 at Outside In Theatre
West of the West Coast lies the isolated St. Nicolas Island where a young indigenous woman lived for almost two decades without human contact. And then she was “rescued” in 1853 by an American sailor with a bounty. After living as an exotic at the Santa Barbara Mission for seven weeks, rich food, fleeting fame, and the excess of the West killed her. This is a dirge for her last two months alive. Juana Maria is a recipient of the 2024 Ojai Playwright Conference Fall Playwright Residency.
For more information on the Califas Trilogy and to sign up for exclusive ticket offers, please visit www.califastrilogy.com.
About the Artists:
Roger Q. Mason (Playwright) (they/them) is an award-winning writer, performer and educator who satirizes and revises history to disrupt the biases that separate rather than unite us. Their playwriting has appeared on Broadway; Off/Off-Off-Broadway; and regionally. Their recent productions have garnered five Barrymore Award nominations in Philadelphia, a Jeff Award Recommendation in Chicago and the San Francisco Chronicle’s prestigious Datebook Pick. Mason’s World Premiere of Lavender Men was lauded by the Los Angeles Times as “evoking the mingled visions of Suzan-Lori Parks, Jeremy O. Harris and Michael R. Jackson.” They received 2024’s Playwrights’ Center McKnight National Playwright Commission, the inaugural Dramatists Guild Foundation Catalyst Grant Award, a Hermitage Residency, a Lucille Lortel commission, a Kilroys List nod, and the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award. Mason is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and an alum of the Ma-Yi’s Writing Lab, Page 73’s Interstate 73 Writers Group, the Fire This Time Festival, and Primary Stages Writing Cohort. They currently produce a memoir/cooking segment on Instagram called Cooking with Q: A Playwright’s Guide to Telling My Truth. Previously, they co-hosted the podcast Sister Roger’s Gayborhood and hosted This Way Out Radio’s Queerly Yours: Portraits in Courage. As an educator, Mason has served as a mentor for Lambda Literary, Workshop Theatre, the Marsha P. Johnson Institute’s Starship Fellowship, the New Visions Fellowship and the Shay Foundation Fellowship. They are currently on faculty at CalArts. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. Instagram: @rogerq.mason
Michael Alvarez (Director) Michael is a Latinx interdisciplinary and international theatre director, creator, and visual artist. He has been a Directing Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and a Director with the Civilians R&D Group, amongst others. He has directed and created work in New York, London, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Eastern Europe, and at such institutions as Her Majesty’s Theatre in the West End, Arcola Theatre, London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, National Theatre of Slovenia, New York Theatre Workshop, Serenbe Playhouse and made performance art pieces at the British Museum. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Muse Collective and is Assistant Professor of Directing and Interdisciplinary Performance at UNCSA. Most recently, he directed Julius Caesar at Catskill Mountain Shakespeare. Member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Education: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and California Institute of the Arts. www.Michael-Alvarez.com
Jessica Hanna (Director) is a Los Angeles based Director, Producer & Space Maker. She is founding Producing Artistic Director of Outside In Theatre, a member of The Kilroys and was Chair of SITI Company’s Board of Directors (2019-2023). Her focus as a director has been on new play development. Including Justin Elizabeth Sayre’s LOTTIE PLACHETT TOOK A HATCHET at The Cavern Club, The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Assembly Roxy Upstairs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Also Sayre’s THREE LITTLE GIRLS DOWN A WELL at The Public Theatre for Under The Radar Festival 2023. Other world premieres include DEATHPLAY written & performed by Lisa Sanaye Dring at Circle X, as well as Dring’s HUNGRY GHOST at Skylight Theatre; John Ross Bowie’s FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN, Kerri-Ann McCullough’s THE WILLOWS, and Georgette Kelly’s I CARRY YOUR HEART all at Bootleg Theatre, and she directed the Ovation Award winning PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT at Celebration Theatre. She is currently developing KRISTINA WONG, #FOODBANKINFLUENCER which will premiere at ASU Gammage in April 2025. She is thrilled to be working on CALIFAS TRILOGY as both the director of HIDE AND HIDE and producer of CALIFORNIA STORY and JUAN MARIA. She has been a fan and colleague of Roger Q Mason’s work since 2015 when she produced a reading of their play THE WHITE DRESS at Bootleg Theatre, where she was Co-Founder and Managing & Producing Director. www.JessQueen.com for more info.
Outside In Theatre is a new non-profit theatre in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. An evolving force in equitable and transformative storytelling. Through multi-platform theatrical experiences, we create art that speaks to our intersectional communities. We have a focus on new work, both Scripted and Unscripted, developing new plays as well as creating improvised stories that will lift up the voices of the Global Majority, Queer, Disabled and other traditionally marginalized groups and their allies. We live at the intersection of Live & Digital performance, with infrastructure for cameras and streaming that will create greater access to the work of local artists. We believe in making Brave Spaces for All, building the world we want to see by producing daring, dynamic, and authentic untold stories by unheard voices. Outside In Theatre is building the world we want to see by creating, producing and supporting daring, dynamic, and authentic untold stories by unheard voices. www.outsideintheatre.org
Skylight Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based company known for developing new plays. They’ve had a string of successes, including transferring three plays to Off-Broadway. In 2019, their production of Bronco Billy – The Musical, which they developed and produced in Los Angeles, became a hit in London’s West End. Skylight has been recognized as a “powerhouse of new play development” by Dramatist Magazine and “a leader in play development” by the L.A. Times. Their work has earned numerous accolades, including the prestigious Steinberg/ATC New Play Citation for Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production for Rotterdam. Rotterdam also garnered top honors at the Stage Raw Awards, winning Production of the Year and Leading Actress awards. For more information about Skylight Theatre Company, visit www.skylighttheatre.org.
The Roots and Wings Project is a feminine charged, socially transformative theatre company that brings attention to truth and provides stage and space for voices of the unnamed, unknown and misunderstood. Going strong for over 20 years, the work is intersectional, uniting artists and audiences across race, class, background, and artistic discipline. We create plays in traditional and site-specific spaces, disrupting biased narratives. The rehearsal and performance process is collaborative, incorporating the perspective of our world-class artists. We go deep into critical subject matter, written by globally renown, female-identified, BIPOC writers, collectively discovering the roots of story, conveying dramatically impactful work for both the artists and audiences alike. We offer arts education programming to people of all ages in schools, shelters, prisons, arts institutes, and colleges, among other spaces. www.therootsandwingsproject.com
