News from José Torres-Tama:
Living Arts of Tulsa, José Torres-Tama, and ArteFuturo Productions Receive Prestigious MAP Fund from New York Arts Entity and Transform a Food Vehicle into a Theater on Wheels
TULSA, Okla. USA — MAP Fund, an arts entity in New York City supporting experimental and socially-conscious theater, has awarded a 2015 grant to Living Arts of Tulsa and José Torres-Tama, with ArteFuturo Productions, his producing entity. Living Arts of Tulsa is the lead commissioning arts organization for his ALIENS Taco Truck Theater Project. http://mapfundblog.org/2015/04/28/aliens-taco-truck-theater-project/
The artist will be in residence at Living Arts of Tulsa from October 27 through November 2, 2015, as part of the Living Arts Día de los Muertos celebration events. He will perform an excerpt from his critically-acclaimed performance solo, ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS, at 5:30 pm on November 1 in an outdoor staging area.
“José Torres-Tama’s past solo performances at Living Arts of Tulsa have been brilliantly conceived, fast-paced, riveting, and skillful in conveying meaningful messages straight to the conscience, with energetic flair surrounding social justice themes.”
— Glenda Rice Collins, arts columnist
NOW: Living Arts of Tulsa will host an Immigration Reform Roundtable Discussion on October 29 at 7 p.m. For additional details, contact Living Arts of Tulsa at http://www.livingarts.org or 918.585.1234.
In late April, MAP Fund’s director, Moira Brennan, announced the 2015 award recipients for the highly competitive grant. The ALIENS Taco Truck Theater Project has received $26,000 in support funds to develop this radical theater on wheels project. Living Arts of Tulsa has received $4,684 of general operating support for the project as well.
The ALIENS Taco Truck Theater Project:
— will transform a food vehicle into a theater on wheels to reach immigrant communities and non-traditional theater audiences–crossing geographical, economical, and racial borders — to explore the current anti-immigrant hysteria gripping the so-called land of the free
— is a National Performance Network Creation Fund project, co-commissioned by Living Arts of Tulsa and Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis. The artists’ residency visits to develop the Taco Truck Theater Project began in Minneapolis, from September 23-28, 2015
— is the 2nd creative endeavor of an Immigration Trilogy the artist is developing to explore this dark era of anti-immigrant hysteria driven by political zealots, which is exemplary of previous periods of a lingering legacy of such immigrant vilification in the United States history
Collaborating project artists are Dipankar Muhkerjee, an award-winning director with Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis, and Maritxell Carrero, an award-winning actress, performance artist and vocalist based in Los Angeles. Torres-Tama and Carrero will conduct performance art workshops in Tulsa.
José Torres-Tama at work
José Torres-Tama:
— born in Ecuador and based in New Orleans. is an award-winning interdisciplinary performance artist with 20 plus years in the arts field
— is a past recipient of a Regional Artist Project Award from the NEA, and is a Louisiana Division of the Arts Theater Fellow
— has received two Creation Fund Awards from The National Performance Network (NPN)
In the visual arts, the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York awarded him, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Arts, publication funds for his art book titled New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy, a visual history project of pastel portraits on paper documenting 18th and 19th century Creoles of color in the Crescent City. www.torrestama.com
As a poet, performance and visual artist, Torres-Tama explores the underbelly of the American Dream mythology and Latino immigrant experience. Since 1995, he has toured his genre-bending solos nationally and internationally. Such universities as Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Tulane, LSU, OSU, and University of Michigan have presented his performances and lectures on art as a tool for social change.
In 2014-2015, he was awarded an Alternate ROOTS’ Partners in Action award to develop Teatro Sin Fronteras / ALIENS Taco Truck Theater Project a seven-art interdisciplinary theater, visual arts, and music series to highlight the contributions of Latina/no artists and Latina/no immigrants to the rebirth and reconstruction of post-Katrina New Orleans.
I In 2009, the NPN awarded him his first Creation Fund for ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS, which chronicles the current persecution of Latino immigrants across the USA. In September 2014, Diálogos Books New Orleans published Immigrant Dreams & Alien Nightmares, a debut collection of twenty-five years of poems that have informed seven different performances.
From 2006 to 2011, he contributed commentaries to National Public Radio’s Latino USA, exploring the many challenges of the epic post-Katrina recovery and difficulties immigrant workers have faced in helping to rebuild New Orleans. His battle cry is, NO GUACAMOLE For Immigrant Haters! www.torrestama.com
Recent Press Links on Torres-Tama’s Projects:
The Advocate New Orleans:
Nuestro Pueblo Blog/NOLA.com/Times-Picayune:
http://blog.nola.com/new_orleans/2015/07/latino_contributions_to_rebirt.html
WWNO/89.9FM Inside the Arts with Diane Mack:
http://wwno.org/post/yaya-arts-center-opens-teatro-sin-fronteras-maafa-healing
San Antonio Current ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS Solo:
http://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/jose-torres-tama/Event?oid=2448648
NOLA.com/Times Picayune ALIENS Solo Review:
http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/09/powerful_performance_art_piece.html
Photo provided.
# # # # #10-20-15 GlendaRiceCollins.com; Updated 10-28-15
Glenda Rice Collins 