Zoomlets

October 2021 / No Comment

Esmeralda by Demitra Olague – Zoomlet

ESMERALDA

By Demitra Olague
Directed by Catherine Castellanos
A San Francisco Playhouse Zoomlet

Original air date: October 18, 2021

Featuring Wilma Bonet, Marilet Martinez, and Gabriel Montoya

As she gets ready for her brother’s wedding, Esmeralda lures Gabriel into her room. Her words are a masterful dance ensnaring Gabriel. But what is she planning?

PLAYWRIGHT

Demitra Olague
Demitra Olague is an artist born in Mexico and currently living in the United states. She is an avid fan of transferring the thoughts in her brain onto paper, often creating stories from personal experiences, most which are still being processed, and her contradicting emotions.

DIRECTOR

Catherine Castellanos
Catherine Castellanos (she/her/hers) Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016-2020: Bring Down the House, parts I and II; Mother Road, La Comedia of Errors; Destiny of Desire, The Book of Will; The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Odyssey; Roe (Helen Hayes nomination), Richard II. Bay Area: Associate Artist with California Shakespeare Theatre appearing in over 20 productions; Company member with Campo Santo since 2001, creating premiere works with renowned and award winning writers Denis Johnson, Luis Alfaro, Naomi Iizuka, Octavio Solis, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Jessica Hagedorn, Luis Saguar, Sean San Jose, Greg Sarris. Regional credits include: A.C.T., Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players, San Jose Rep, Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep, La MaMa, Arena Stage, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Shakes, Arizona Theatre Company. Teaching: California Shakespeare Summer Conservatory, and restorative justice through theatre art with Community Works West-Rising Voices, and with the men in blue in San Quentin.

ACTORS

Wilma Bonet
Wilma Bonet most recently appeared in Ricardo Perez Gonzalez’s Don’t Eat the Mango at the Magic Theatre, Ruben Grijalva’s Anna Considers Mars at Playground and in Tony Kushner’s Mother Courage and Her Children at Ubuntu Theater. Her acting credits includes, Little Erik at Aurora Theater, This Golden State Part One: Delano and Bruja at the Magic Theatre, A Streetcar Name Desire and The Tenth Muse at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Electricidad at the Mark Taper Forum and September Shoes at the Denver Center Theatre Company. She has also performed at the American Conservatory Theatre, Campo Santo, California Shakespeare Theatre, Thick Description, Marin Theatre Company, the Old Globe, Dallas Theatre Center, El Teatro Campesino and the San Francisco MimeTroupe. Film and television credits includes: NONA, COCO, What Dreams May Come, 8MM, Underwraps, Jack, Radio Flyer, Midnight Caller and Nash Bridges.

Marilet Martinez
Marilet Martinez is a multidisciplinary artist, born and raised in SF, currently creating in Chicago.

Gabriel Montoya
Gabriel Montoya is a Mexican-American actor-director-writer-producer and teaching artist who loves to create work that reflects the important issues of our times. In 2014, Gabriel and his wife’s production company, The Department of Badassery, made theatre history by simultaneously premiering the play, Don’t Be Evil, live onstage and in virtual reality. In the Bay Area, Mr. Montoya has appeared in productions by Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Brava Theatre, Central Works, The Custom Made Theatre Co., Word for Word, The Pear Theatre, and SF Playhouse. Mr. Montoya was also a part of the original cast of the immersive theatre hit “the Speakeasy” in San Francisco. He has most recently appeared in Cutting Ball Theatre’s virtual production of Charles L. Mee’s Utopia. Mr. Montoya also spent a decade working as a sports reporter covering the world of professional boxing both in print and video.