We believe in continuing to support artists beyond their residencies. Our Artist Labs program, launching Spring 2025, will aid artists in further developing their creative projects by giving them additional time, space, and funds. Pieces selected for Artist Labs have a known or established path to future performances/workshops.
This season, our Artist Labs program will support the progression of Samora la Perdida’s musical theater work and Fall 2024 Residency project, SPANGLISH SH!T, produced by En Garde Arts. The piece began as a TEDx Talk la Perdida gave about the decreasing number of Spanish-speaking Latines in the United States and the process of relearning her forgotten childhood Spanish. It is a fantastical reimagining of immigrant children’s linguistic tribulations in the United States, inspired by oral histories, research, and her own lived experience.
SPANGLISH SH!T tells the story of Brujita, a trans Puerto Rican witch standing trial at the Supreme Court. Her crime? Brewing up a vengeful hurricane to destroy the White House. Pleading innocence, her testimony transports us from the warm hills of Puerto Rico to the frigid suburbs of New Jersey. But there’s no escaping the guilt of her whitewashed past.
Samora la Perdida (she/they) is a trans trilingual creator and performer. She is a 2024 Princess Grace Award winner and YoungArts Fellow. In February 2025, she will be the featured artist of the PLAYBILL Songwriter Series. Her TEDxTalk, Do Latines Need to Speak Spanish? Finding Your Lost Mother Tongue, features music from her upcoming bilingual brujería musical: SPANGLISH SH!T. SPANGLISH SH!T has been developed with support from Baryshnikov Arts, Berkeley Rep, NYSCA and En Garde Arts. Her queer Spanglish rap opera, pato, pato, maricón, debuted at Ars Nova’s ANT FEST and its tour of public schools was featured on BRIC TV. She has starred in the Off-Broadway productions of Quiara Alegría Hudes’ My Broken Language at Signature Theatre, David Mendizábal’s Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members at Soho Rep, as well as Tina Landau’s A Transparent Musical at the Mark Taper Forum. Upcoming work includes Tina Romero’s zom com horror film Queens of the Dead. la Perdida graduated from LaGuardia HS as a YoungArts Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and from Carnegie Mellon University with a dual degree in Drama and Global Studies.