The de la Parra Discovery Series

A 3-play PWYC reading series of other Marco Antonio de la Parra plays.

• Monday, May 31: The Raw, the Cooked, and the Rotten (1978) directed by Lynn Sharp Spears, starring Karin Abromaitis, Lori Boyd, Matt Dewberry, Davis Hasty, Michael Replogle* & Harry Winter*.
  Banned by the Catholic University where it was set to perform the day before it was originally supposed to debut, Marco Antonio de la Parra’s first play depicts Chile as an empty, decaying restaurant, where the waiters, maitre d’, and cashier create routines and rituals to continue a fantasy of life and activity in the restaurant. All the while they are awaiting the arrival of “the last link in the chain of great men who governed the country.” They are waiting to kill him.
  * Actors Equity Association
• Monday, June 7: Secret Obscenities (1984) directed by Kari Ginsburg & Jay Hardee, starring Brian Crane & Christopher Herring.
  Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud dressed as flashers fighting over a bench outside of a private girl’s school in Santiago Chile in the 80s, with allusions to the characters and the restaurant from The Raw, the Cooked, and the Rotten. Believe it or not, this unlikely setup yielded the most produced play in Latin America since its debut in 1984 (). This cast will later perform the play in the 2010 Capital Fringe festival. See how it develops from first read to full production.
• June 14: King Kong Palace (1991) directed by Tony Bullock.
  Tarzan, an ousted dictator, and his wife Jane flee the African nation they once controlled, leaving behind Jane’s Imedla Marcoc-like collection of shoes. They land in the King Kong Palace hotel, where they come across Mandrake the Magician and his imaginary friend Lothur seeking work, as well as Shakespearean trio of maids and a hotel administrator desperately trying to hold onto a past where only the elite passed through the doors of the King Kong Palace.