Playwrights Beyond Borders celebrate's London’s multicultural riches through the craft of the playwright.
Showcasing the work of seven playwrights from transcultural backgrounds, the brand new Theatre Royal Stratford East Studio, will transform into an international space in the heart of London’s East End, where theatre, music and community overcome all borders.
DIAGRAM OF A PAPER AIRPLANE by Carlos Murillo
Javier C., the once promising playwright turned mentally unstable vagabond, dies in a freak flash flood in the wilds of Northern New Mexico. News of Javier’s death circulates among a group of his former friends and close collaborators—who have been estranged for nearly two decades. Javier’s death threatens to open a Pandora’s Box of secrets, old wounds and guilt none of his friends want to confront. As a final act before his death, Javier sent fragments of his play Diagram of a Paper Airplane to his surviving friends—fragments that can only be made whole if the group comes together to read it. Javier’s ex-wife and daughter arrange for a memorial service. Javier’s surviving friends, driven by curiosity and guilt, arrive, hoping that the play will reveal the truth behind a tragic mystery that has haunted them for two decades.
A Goodman Theatre commission. Developed at the Sundance Theater LAB (2009).
About Carlos Murillo
Carlos Murillo is a Chicago based playwright of Colombian descent. His plays include: The Javier Plays (which have recently been published by 53rd State Press), Augusta and Noble, Mayday Mayday Tuesday, Mimesophobia, Offspring of the Cold War, Schadenfreude, and Never Whistle While You're Pissing. His play Dark Play or Stories for Boys premiered at the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville and has been produced widely throughout the U.S. and in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia, and was named one of the 10 Best Productions of the Year by Chicago Magazine in 2012. Awards include: the 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award, the Met Life Nuestros Voces Award from Repertorio Espanol, the National Latino Playwriting Award from Arizona Theatre Company, the Ofner Prize from the Goodman and the Otis Guernsey Award from the William Inge Theatre Festival among others. He was a resident playwright at New Dramatists from 2007-2014, and is an Associate Professor and Head of Playwriting at The Theatre School of DePaul University.
Full Festival Schedule
Monday 22 February - BRAINPEOPLE by Oscar nominated playwright Jose Rivera (Puerto Rican)
Tuesday 23 February - THE LATE WEDDING by Christopher Chen (Chinese-American)
Wednesday 24 February - DIAGRAM OF A PAPER AIRPLANE by Carlos Murillo (Colombian-American)
Thursday 25 February - DREAMS OF HOME by Migdalia Cruz (Puerto Rican)
Friday 26 February - THE BALLAD OF THE LOST DOGS by Christine Evans (Canadian-Australian)
Saturday 27 February - A HUMAN INTEREST STORY (OR THE GORY DETAILS AND ALL) by Carlos Murillo (Colombian-American)
Sunday 28 February - THE NATURE OF CAPTIVITY by Matthew Paul Olmos (Mexican-American)
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