Aurora’s Paramount Theatre will present a free virtual reading of BULL: a love story, a new play about a young Mexican American man’s path to self-actualization, written by Nancy García Loza, Thursday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. CT. Tickets are free but reservations are required. Reserve online at ParamountAurora.com/Inception-Project.
BULL: a love story is the second new work to be developed via Paramount’s new Inception Project, a new works development initiative designed to support and amplify BIPOC and marginalized voices while creating artist driven, courageous, thought provoking new work in a radically inclusive environment.
BULL: a love story is about a Mexican American man who dealt drugs, got caught, and served his time. Ten years’ time. Every day for a decade, he’s thought about one thing: coming home. We meet Bull the day he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds, Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, gentrified beyond his imagination. Hopeful and eager, he is ready to resume his life, only to discover how much everything has moved on without him. How free are you if you can’t get home? What does it take to get there?
BULL: a love story is a complex play that invites audiences to confront their own biases about a young Mexican man who survived his past and is trying to reach for the seemingly unattainable: self-love. It was originally commissioned by Chicago Dramatists during García Loza’s Tutterow Fellowship 2018-2020 residency program.
Earlier this week, Paramount’s New Works Department began coordinating eight days of Zoom rehearsals for BULL: a love story under the direction of Laura Alcalá Baker.
The cast includes Eddie Martinez (Bull), Lisandra Tena (Sol), Esme Perez (Esme), Rinska Carrasco (Sadie), Víctor Maraña (Tio), Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carrillo (multiple roles) and Janyce Caraballo (stage direction reader). Working behind-the-scenes are Rachael Jimenez (casting), Amrita Ramanan (dramaturg) and Jinni Pike (stage manager).
The final reading will be recorded and presented on January 28th as a free virtual event for Paramount subscribers, supporters, residents of the local community and the state of Illinois, and all theater professionals interested in new work. The reading is followed by a live, interactive discussion in which García Loza and other production members will reflect on the play and respond to audience questions.
-Jay Kelly PR