The New Foundations Theatre Festival is a new project that enlists the help of local and national playwrights to help develop new actors.  Utilizing a culmination of World Premieres, Works in Development, and previously produced scripts, actors and directors are given a bevy of different resources to develop their writing, directing, and acting craft.

Formally called “From Passion to Page” (2012, 2013), this project is in collaboration with Texas A&M University – Kingsville’s group The English Club.  Likewise, the performances will occur in a nontraditional space often used by Zero Untitled called The Blue Room.  Performance dates are October 9-10, 2014 at 7:00.

Here is a list of the productions:

“All Tied Up” by Beth Marie Cantu (World Premiere)

“From Inside” by Katherine Orozco (previously staged in Los Angeles)

“The Graveyard Shift” by Gabriel Ruiz (World Premiere)

“The Writing Process” by Julio Martinez (World Premiere)

“Wolfe of the West” by Charles “CJ” Lillie (World Premiere)

“Orale!” by Michael Verderber (World Premiere)

“Reflections in the Vertical Water” by David Gutierrez (World Premiere)

“Stranger in a Stranger Land” by Karen Macklin (Developed by Playground in San Francisco, and previously staged in NYC)

“Under the Overpass” by Steven Young (previously staged in NYC, etc)

A Little Tied Up

By Beth Marie Cantu

Directed by Julio Martinez

GRAHAM – Emanuel Ibanez (Thur) / Julio Martinez (Fri)

SARAH ANN – Beth Marie Cantu

PARRY – Michael Verderber

From Inside

Written and Directed by Katherine Orozco

ALISON – Lesley Guerra

RICHARD – Robert Trujillo

The Graveyard Shift

By Gabriel Ruiz

Directed by Rebekah Ramos

NOE – Heraclio Gonzalez, Jr.

FERNANDO – Luis Zaragosa

PRODUCER – Haley Russell

The Writing Process

By Julio Martinez

Directed by Beth Marie Cantu

OLIVER – Emanuel Ibanez (Thur) / Michael Verderber (Fri)

GISELLE – Drea Martinez

NICOLE – Christina Saldivar (Thur.) / Jessica Rojas (Fri)

JOSH – Elan Perez

FREUN – Julio Martinez

Wolfe of the West

Written and Directed By Charles Lillie

MALCOLM – Luis Zaragosa

RICHARD – Robert Trujillo

MONICA – Victoria Rios

JACKSON – Drea Martinez

PETERSON – Dylan Mendoza

Órale!

By Michael Verderber

Directed by Rebekah Ramos

MONICA – Jennifer Limon

PEDRO – Heraclio Gonzalez, Jr.

BUBBLES – Beth Marie Cantu

LUPE – Danielle Montoya

HUNTINGTON –Robert Breedlove

ANJELITA – Nicolas Rodriguez (Thur) / Jazmin Leyta (Fri)

Reflections in the Vertical Water

Written and Directed By David Gutierrez

Assistant Director – Michael Verderber

WOMAN ONE – Danielle Montoya

WOMAN TWO – Haley Russell

Stranger in a Stranger Land*

By Karen Macklin

Directed by Michael Verderber

MITCHELL – Joshua “Beta” McCaulley

LYNN – Katherine Orozco

BRIAN – Robert Breedlove

PAUL – Julio Martinez

BRANDON – Dylan Mendoza

*script developed by PLAYGROUND

Under the Overpass

By Steven Young

Directed by Katherine Orozco

LEONARD – Joshua “Beta” McCaulley

JOEY – O’Ryan White

Techies:

Rebekah Ramos & Jazmin Leyta

Beth Marie Cantu – Ms. Cantu has appeared in several Zero Untitled productions as a playwright, director, and actress. Credits include The Factory, Flowers in the Fall (2012), and There’s a Hotel at the End.

Julio Martinez* – A veteran with a ton of experience, Mr. Martinez has been seen in productions such as Cooookie!, Nightmare of Oz, Café Triste, and others. He is also the co-director of Textual Overture.

Emanuel Ibanez – Relatively new with Zero Untitled, Ibanez has written productions such as Leave a Message and Don’t Forget the Other and debuted in Saints and Gunshots.

Katherine Orozco*# – As the Co-Main Stage director, Orozco has acted, written, and directed several works including Heart and Stole, A Glass Veil, The Thin Divide, Mal De Ojo, and several others.

Lesley Guerra – Guerra is a first-time actress with Zero Untitled.

Robert Trujillo – This will be Mr. Trujillo’s first production with Zero Untitled.

Gabriel Ruiz – Ruiz co-founded Zero Untitled back in 2003. He still writes for ZU and has written or appeared in The Man Who Walks Alone, Three Hours, Domestic Insanity Standup Showcase, and several others.

Rebekah Ramos – Ramos is ZU’s go-to tech girl and has directed, written, and appeared in several works including The Brothers Complex, Coach of The Year, Acoustical, and more.

Heraclio Gonzalez, Jr.^ – In addition to being the webmaster for www.zerountitled.com, he has performed in Coming Out Party, did principle camera work for Catchweight and Mal De Ojo, and directed Eighty Six Thousand Four Hundred Seconds.

Luis Zaragosa* – A long-time Zero Untitled affiliate, Mr. Zaragosa has appeared in productions like Mime the Gap, Fate of Eights, The Unraveling, The Walls Have Faces, and others.

Haley Russell – Russell is a first-time actress with Zero Untitled.

Drea Martinez – A relatively new face with Zero Untitled, she has made her presence known with productions such as The Factory and Dual Sex.

Jessica Rojas –   Ms. Rojas has performed in Dependents, The Factory, and will appear in the forthcoming That One Friend.

Christina Saldivar – Saldivar has appeared in a handful of productions such as Nightmare of Oz, MIME-nificent Seven, Torn and others.

Elan Perez – Mr. Perez is still new to Zero Untitled and has appeared The Rape of Lucrece (in St. Louis), Shrink, A Winter’s Harvest, and others.

Charles Lillie – Mr. Lillie is primarily a playwright and director for ZU. His recent credits include There Always, Not That Wise, and he is currently working on an all-female revival of Anti-Gone Wrong.

Victoria Rios – Ms. Rios is a relatively new actress with ZU. She participated in some scene work from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of Textual Overture.

Dylan Mendoza – Tonight’s production will be Mendoza’s debut with our company.

Michael Verderber* – Verderber is the co-Director of the Main Stage. His play G.P.S.: Gender’s Problematic Situation was the recent winner of Playwright’s Express Los Angeles’s Best Comedy. His play Libertad opened Off-Broadway over the summer.

Jennifer Limon – Limon makes sporadic appearances with ZU and has recently appeared in The Bachelorette Party and Nightmare of Oz.

Danielle Montoya – This evening’s performance marks Montoya’s premiere with Zero Untitled.

Robert Breedlove – Mr. Breedlove is a newer actor with our company. His acting credits include productions of Flight 1862 and The Factory, among others.

David Gutierrez – Our guest director and a long-time collaborator with ZU, Gutierrez has several acting, directing and writing credits with us including Glamorgan, Wandering Blvd., Forest, and Excerpts From a Life Once Lived.

Karen Macklin – is SF-based writer whose plays have had readings or productions in San Francisco, NYC, Seattle, and Italy. She is a Bay Area Playwright’s Festival finalist, and the winner of the Emerging Playwright’s Award from Playground. She is also a widely published journalist. Visit www.karenmacklin.com.

Joshua McCaulley – Quickly becoming one of our busiest actors, McCaulley has appeared in our Shake38 entry The Rape of Lucrece, Injection, Nightmare of Oz, as well as several skits with Textual Overture, among others.

Steven Young – The Night We Bombed Lincoln Towing: Winner Centre Stage Play Festival. Under the Overpass: Produced by Nylon Fusion Theatre NYC, Literary Award at TeCo Arts. Blank Canvas: Top fifty ten-minute plays Actors Theatre of Louisville, produced at Midtown International Festival NYC. The King’s Face: Staged reading The Blank Theatre Los Angeles.

O’Ryan White – One of the early Zero Untitled heads, Mr. White has appeared in Freakshow Theatre II, Mimeumentary, Making Sense of Scents and Cents, Flowers in the Fall (2004), and more recently, Shattered.

Jazmin Leyta – This is Leyta’s first production with Zero Untitled.

*Denotes actor/actress trained at the Globe Theatre in London, England under Shakespearean acting specialist Chu Owambala.

#Denotes actress trained with the Broadway cast of The Lion King.

^ Denotes Corpus Christi 7-Day Film Project Award Nominee/Winner

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Additional backstage action: