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Michael John Garcés with members of Cornerstone Theater Company. (Photo by Ed Fuentes)
LOS ANGELES: After 16 years as inventive director of Cornerstone Theater Company, Michael John Garcés has introduced his resolution to depart the put up, efficient June 30, 2023.
“We value and love Michael so much,” mentioned board chair Mark Valdez in a press release. “He’s been a great leader for Cornerstone, pushing our work to more directly address the social and political issues confronting our communities. We’ll miss Michael, but we’re excited for his new adventures and for the opportunity this presents for Cornerstone’s evolution.”
“My time at Cornerstone has been an incredible, beautiful, always challenging but also deeply joyous journey,” mentioned Garcés in a press release. “I have learned so much from my fellow company members and from the many communities with which we’ve worked. Life lessons about collaboration, about relevance, about humility, about listening, and about how to be a better artist and a better human. While I am very excited about what the future will bring, I know that this company and this work will always remain central to who I am and what I make, for which I am deeply grateful.”
Garcés started his tenure with Cornerstone in early 2006, succeeding founding inventive director Bill Rauch. Upon arrival he helped to outline a brand new six-production collection, the Justice Cycle, which explored how legal guidelines form and disrupt communities. He wrote Los Illegals, the primary play in that cycle, interviewing day laborers and home employees, studying from group associate organizations just like the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the South Asian Network. The Justice Cycle was adopted by an anniversary yr of revisiting three communities from Cornerstone’s earlier work, in addition to the Hunger Cycle, which included 9 full-scale community-collaborative productions and codified “Creative Seeds,” a brand new engagement apply. Cornerstone’s latest thematic exploration, the Change Series, started in 2019.
Garcés’ directing credit for Cornerstone embrace Someday by Julie Marie Myatt, atTraction by Page Leong, 3 Truths and What Happens Next by Naomi Iizuka, Making Paradise—The West Hollywood Musical (co-directed with Mark Valdez) by Tom Jacobson, Café Vida by Lisa Loomer, Plumas Negras by Juliette Carrillo, California: The Tempest by Alison Carey, Urban Rez and Native Nation by Larissa FastHorse, Highland Park Is Here by Mark Valdez (a digital manufacturing), in addition to Jim McManus’ The Rivers Don’t Know, produced by City Theatre Company on the Pittsburgh Playhouse, and others. His playwriting credit for Cornerstone embrace Los Illegals, Consequence (exploring faculty expulsion insurance policies with college students, dad and mom, and directors), Where I’m From, The Forked Path (as a part of a Cornerstone residency with a forensic psychological well being establishment within the Netherlands), Magic Fruit (an adaptation of The Magic Flute which bridged the communities of the Hunger Cycle), 36 Yesses, and others.
The final venture that Michael will direct for Cornerstone as inventive director is Wicoun, written by Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation). Wicoun will probably be co-created in May/June 2023 with the interconnected South Dakota residents of the Sicangu Lakota Nation (Rosebud), Oglala Lakota Nation (Pine Ridge), and Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate (Yankton and Rapid City).
“We are lucky to have had Michael’s partnership and his leadership,” mentioned Paula Donnelly, a longstanding member of Cornerstone’s ensemble. “He’s modeled adaptability, generous mentorship, and encouraged us to always step a little farther into discomfort for artistic and personal rewards. Michael’s voice and artistry will be dearly missed at Cornerstone.”
Cornerstone’s board has engaged Tom O’Connor Consulting Group to help within the seek for our subsequent inventive director. Information concerning the place and software course of could be discovered right here.