GIVE ME CARMELITA TROPICANA!
B: I was at the end of a particularly good year for me when A, my mentor and former teacher, called me up. It was during a thunderstorm.
—Hey A!
A: I have to… I think I’m gonna kill her.
B: … Kill who? (no answer) A? Who are you killing?
A: Carmelita Tropicana.(A loud crack of THUNDER.)
Thus begins Give Me Carmelita Tropicana! — part love letter to an iconic performance artist, part intergenerational debate about the legacy of “downtown” New York, part theatrical interrogation of the uses/abuses of nostalgia, real estate, representation, and the avant-garde, 100% fantastical journey in which Branden Jacobs-Jenkins attempts to buy Carmelita Tropicana from her creator…but at what cost?
“Theater craft is on full display in this production. Scenic designers Mimi Lien and Tatiana Kahvegian bless the Walker Space with one last ingeniously transformable set, put to use with wit and energy by Eric Ting’s focused yet breezy direction.”
NicHi Douglas @ 3Views
—Hey A!
A: I have to… I think I’m gonna kill her.
B: … Kill who? (no answer) A? Who are you killing?
A: Carmelita Tropicana.(A loud crack of THUNDER.)
Thus begins Give Me Carmelita Tropicana! — part love letter to an iconic performance artist, part intergenerational debate about the legacy of “downtown” New York, part theatrical interrogation of the uses/abuses of nostalgia, real estate, representation, and the avant-garde, 100% fantastical journey in which Branden Jacobs-Jenkins attempts to buy Carmelita Tropicana from her creator…but at what cost?
“Theater craft is on full display in this production. Scenic designers Mimi Lien and Tatiana Kahvegian bless the Walker Space with one last ingeniously transformable set, put to use with wit and energy by Eric Ting’s focused yet breezy direction.”
NicHi Douglas @ 3Views
@ Soho Rep, 2024
by Alina Troyano & Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Starring Carmelita Tropicana
Directed by Erin Ting
Scenic design: Tatiana Kahvegian & Mimi Lien
Lighting design: Barbara Samuels
Costume design: Greg Corbino
Sound and Video design: Tei Blow & Jeremy Kadetsky
Hair & Wig design: Cookie Jordan
Fight Director & Choreographer: Cha Ramos
Production Stage Manager: Amanda Sayed
Creative Producer: Helen Lattyak
Props: Thomas Jenkeleit
Production Manager: Brian Freeland
Cast: Carmelita Tropicana, Octavia Chavez-Richmond,
Ugo Chukwu, Will Dagger, Keren Lugo
