Co-presented with ACTLab and ese Teatro

With crackling dialogue and heartfelt humor, Tanya Saracho explores what it takes to repair family relationships–especially when you share the blame for the damage. Erika is crazy desperate for her own apartment; so much so that she’ll take one sight unseen. Anything to escape Cynthia and Brian, her overprotective sister and her controlling brother-in-law. To be fair, Cynthia has reason to worry as Erika just left rehab and her definition of sobriety is “flexible”. As Erika fights for her independence, she realizes that kicking the pills was just her first challenge.

Curated by eSe Teatro with support from ACT’s Artistic Director John Langs, The Construction Zone provides playwrights with opportunities to develop and share new work, while providing audiences with an intimate and meaningful exposure to the process.

About the Playwright
Tanya Saracho was born in Sinaloa, México. She is a playwright who writes for television (HBO’s Looking, Girls, How To Get Away With Murder, and Devious Maids) and is the creator of Pour Vida on Starz. Named “Best New Playwright” by Chicago Magazine, Saracho is an ensemble member at the Tony Award winning Victory Gardens Theater, the founder of the Ñ Project, founder and co-director of ALTA (Alliance of Latino Theater Artists), and founder and former Artistic Director of Teatro Luna: Chicago’s All-Latina Theater. PLAYS PRODUCED AT: Denver Theatre Center, Primary Stages, Second Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theater and 16th Street Theater.
PLAYS INCLUDE: Fade, Hushabye, Mala Hierba, The Tenth Muse, Song for the Disappeared, Enfrascada, El Nogalar (inspired by The Cherry Orchard), an adaptation of The House on Mango Street for Steppenwolf, Our Lady of the Underpass, Surface Day, Kita y Fernanda, and Quita Mitos. Saracho is a winner of the Ofner Prize given by the Goodman Theater, a recipient of an NEA Distinguished New Play Development Project Grant and a 3Arts Artists Award.
NEW WORK DEVELOPED AT: South Coast Repertory, Denver Theatre Center, Two River Theatre, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Sundance Theater Lab 2012, Hedgebrook Women’s Playwright’s Festival 2012, Ucross/Sundance 2011, Martha’s Vineyard Arts Project 2011, Superlab with Clubbed Thumb/Playwrights Horizon, Ignition Festival at Victory Gardens, Latino Mixfest at Atlantic Theater, and XYZ Fest at About Face Theater. Saracho was named one of nine national Latino “Luminarios” by Café magazine and given the first “Revolucionario” Award in Theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art. IN DEVELOPMENT WITH: HBO, Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Two Rivers Theatre, Denver Theater Center, South Coast Rep. Tanya is a proud member of SAG/AFTRA, and the Writer’s Guild.