LONE STAR THEATRE COMPANY
Texas Pages for New York Stages
David Davila is the founding artistic director of Lone Star Theatre Company, dedicated to bringing "Texas Pages to New York Stages" by creating innovative and fresh pieces of theatre for New Yorkers brought to you by Texans. Whether a play is by a Texas playwright, or features Texas talent and ingenuity, Lone Star Theatre aims to bring you entertaining theatrical events that will whisk you away from city life.
A BRIDGE BETWEEN TX & NY
Developing young voices, creating performance opportunities, and building a strong community are at the center of Lone Star Theatre Company's mission.
PAST EVENTS
Lone Star Theatre is proud to present a variety of events that support Texas writers including developmental readings, concerts, play festivals, and productions.
SPOOKY OOKY AUTUMN CONCERT-PALOOZA
2019
A costume party and music extravaganza, directed by Jay Levy with music direction by Karl Hedrick. A celebration of all things spooky featuring old time favorites, brand new songs, and some of your favorite show tunes. With performances by Brandon Ellis, Charles Barksdale, Dana Costello, Cory Alexander, Hannah Brady, Michelle Caniglia, David Davila, Brendan Daugherty, Amber DeFeo, Lillian Andrea De Leon, Emily Esposito, Belinda Harolds, Daniel Hidalgo, David Michael Kirby, Durra King-Fung Leung, Kendra Lynn, Steph Nash, Mariela Flor Olivo, Ashley Kristeen Vega, Tricia Whitlock, and Benjamin B. Wright. Along with original songs by Davila, Hedrick, Leung, and Wright.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY BY DAVID DAVILA
2019
Directed by Sidney Erik Wright with intimacy choreography by Adele Rylands, this intense romance opened October 10th at the Under St. Mark's Theater as part of the 2019 New York International Fringe Festival. David Michael Kirby and Daniel Anthony Hidalgo star as two lovers at the center of a torrid four year affair.
This was Lone Star Theatre's first full production of a new play.
BACK TO THE BEECHMAN
2018
Broadway's Ruby Rakos and Brian Charles Rooney will be joining David Davila as very special guest stars when Davila makes his triumphant return to the Beechman on Sept 16th at 7pm with a brand new show filled with new jams and old favorites from Davila's songbook. Joining them will be Jaime Cepero, Lillian Andrea de Leon, Charles Barksdale, Jackson Perrin, Ashley Mitchell, Delvonte' Rashawn Heart, Mark Andrew Garner, and Stephanie Nash.
Six years after first making his New York City premiere David Davila will return to the Laurie Beechman Theatre to celebrate his vast songbook. The award-winning composer of Manuel Vs the Statue of Liberty, 52Songs, Vox Pop, and Promèsa presents a host of new songs, and old favorites with his regular band of merry collaborators and Broadway guest stars!
CROSSING BORDERS MADNESS
2018
For the sixth annual one-act play festival, Lone Star collaborated with New York Madness to produce Crossing Borders Madness at The Kraine Theater. The lineup will included Raquel Almazan (Sextrilogy, She Wolves), Oscar Cabrera (Through Andrew's Eyes, Gravity), Emily Comisar (Undrown'd: Seeking Asylum, Track Twelve), David Davila (Manuel vs. the Statue of Liberty, Animal Husbandry), Penny Jackson (I Know What Boys Want, Safe), Mandy Murphy (From A to Double D, VALER), Nandita Shenoy (Washer/Dryer, Lyme Park: An Austonian Romance of an Indian Nature) and Tom Matthew Wolfe (Janice Underwater, This is How We Emerge).
TEXAS READS: LA NEGRA BY RAQUEL ALMAZAN
2017
Co-produced by La Lucha Arts, LA NEGRA was directed by Fernando Parra Borti.
As the Day of the Dead approaches, Drug Cartel Queen La Negra takes a ritualistic journey from child prostitute to patron saint of Mexico: La Santa Muerte. Siete, her top drug pusher lover, a Gringo tourist painter, and hundreds of street children inhabit her world towards light and peace. The citizens of Tijuana, police officers and skull figures of the night force her to face her relentless darkness. These light and dark symbolic forces within her battle for the future of Mexico itself.
LA NEGRA is part of Almazan's Latin is America play cycle, a bi-lingual cycle of plays that will ultimately have 33 parts, one for each of the countries and dependencies in Latin American. LA NEGRA is written in dedication to the country of Mexico: you can't build a wall around a play.
The cast includes Adriana Sananes, Juan Villa, Gilbert Cruz, Annabel Guevara, Greg Barone, and Raquel Almazan.
TEXAS READS: BONNET BLUES BY OSCAR CABRERA
2017
BONNET BLUES centers around Hortencia, a seventy-two year old woman, who befriends a neighborhood girl who breaks her window with a baseball. But something isn't quite right with this young girl. What starts as a simple magic trick, gives her reason to question everything about what she knows. As Hortencia struggles with what is real, she must work against the clock to fix what is broken before it stays the same forever.
The play features Nicholas Robert Ortiz, Gilbert Cruz, Monica Steuer, Danny Bolero, Mariana Newhard, and Andrea Abello. Bonnet Blues was directed by Lou Moreno.
THE TEXAS HEAT MUSIC FESTIVAL
2017
Lone Star Theatre presented its first music festival at Mockingbird stage on the lower east side. The festival included full hour sets by Texas song-writers Karl Hedrick, Jackson Perrin, Mariela Flor Olivo, and Charles Barksdale.
Breakfast tacos, margaritas, and nachos were had by all.
CINCO DE LONE STAR: TEJANO PLAYWRIGHT FEST
2017
For Lone Star Theatre's fifth annual playwright festival they celebrated plays by Tejano playwrights. There were new plays by Claudia Acosta, David Davila, Ryan Ramirez, Selena Fonseca, and Stephanie Sosa.
Starring Lillian De Leon, Claudia Acosta, Oscar Cabrera, Selina Fonseca, Gabriel Bernal, Raul Meruelo, and Alexandra Castro.
TEXAS READS: VALER BY MANDY MURPHY
2016
Directed by Daniel McGowan, this new play centers around Burnett Family: three generations of born and bred small-town Texans. Whether they've bought into life in Paducah or have chosen to run from it, all of them have long been set in their ways, but an untimely death of a young cousin forces everyone to reevaluate. Will they soldier on as before, or will they change?
The cast featured Jackie Abbott, Roberta Ahrens, Michael R. Douglass, Travis Emery, Belinda Harolds, Katherine Alt Keener, LaShonda Reese, Jackie Maruschak, Lindsey Olson, Bryn Packard, and Dakota Smith.
TEXAS READS: LEGENDS OF TEXAS BY NILSA REYNA
2016
Directed by David Davila, the new play centers around a gun store in South Texas. LEGENDS OF TEXAS is part of the on-going Texas Reads series at Lone Star Theatre Co and developed through the Askins Playwright Fellowship. Nancy, is a gun-reform activist in New York who has just inherited her father's gun shop in South Texas. When she returns to "El Valle" to put his affairs in order and turn the gun shop into a cafe, she is met with opposition at every turn from her father's new wife, her gun-toting sister, and her ex-boyfriend who now manages it. What could possibly go wrong?
Leading the cast as Nancy is playwright Nilsa Reyna. Joining her are Lillian Andrea de Leon, Alexandra Castro, Bryn Packard, Paul Pakler, and Jacqui Rêgo.
THE POWER PLAYS
2016
For its Fourth annual One Act play festival, Lone Star Theatre Company
presented THE POWER PLAYS: Six Plays about Strong Texas Women. The event includes six new one-act plays by Askins Playwright Fellows Alan Charnock, Emily Comisar, Judith Leora, and Nilsa Reyna plus special guest playwrights Maxwell Martinez and Ryan Ramirez.
This event was directed by Melissa Farinelli and features a stellar cast of women including Kendra Augustin, Michelle Caniglia, Lillian Andrea De Leon, Vivian Lam, Mandy Murphy, Robie M. Park, and Shetal Shah.
THE MAGIC TIME MACHINE
2016
David Davila returns to the Beechman with an all-star cast on January 25th to present: DAVID DAVILA & THE MAGIC TIME MACHINE, a time travel song extravaganza that reflects on revisiting mistakes you shouldn’t have repeated. The concert will feature original songs from Davila's latest work plus audience favorites from MANUEL VERSUS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, #52SONGS, and VOX POP, sung by a cast of talented Broadway and NY Cabaret vets... (to be announced soon!!!)
DAVID DAVILA & THE MAGIC TIME MACHINE is directed by Jose Sepulveda, with musical direction by Karl Hedrick. This concert is produced by Emily Comisar and presented as part of Lone Star Theatre Company's TX MUSIC/NY STAGES concert series.
TEXAS READS: SHOWPONY BY JUDITH LEORA
2016
Judith Leora's SHOWPONY received its first staged reading at Lone Star Theatre Co as part of their on-going Texas Reads series. When a diverse group of women are randomly thrown together, they quickly realize that their cultural training has put them directly in opposition to each other, whether as workhorses, show-ponies or race-horses. Will they figure out how to get past their assigned roles and see each other as people?
The reading, directed by Illana Stein stars Amy Gaipa, Tanya Everett, Michael Markham, Shaun Bennet Fauntleroy, Meghan VanArsdalen and Twinkle Burke.
SHOW PONY later premiered at the Victory Theatre in Los Angeles in 2019.
TEXAS COOKS GALA
2016
The Texas Cooks Gala was a fully catered Tex-Mex enchilada dinner with rice and beans and lots of performances. Jackson Perrin was the headliner of the evening with David Davila's great-grandmother's enchilada recipe and featuring a special seminar on how to make great salsa featuring the executive chef of Manhattan hot spot, Javelina.
ORPHAN THANKSGIVING & WRITERS WORKSHOP
2016
Lone Star Theatre's third annual orphan Thanksgiving potluck. A fun event where writers bring in fresh pages of brand new material and read it out loud with other writers and actors who all bring food and celebrate Thanksgiving!
TEXAS READS: SWITZERLAND BY EMILY COMISAR
2016
Not quite a boomerang child, not quite an independent, thirty-something professional, Katie, moves in with her father to help raise her young half-sister after the death of his wife - that was ten years ago. Now that the little girl is leaving home, Katie must consider whether it's time to move on with her own life as well. This reading will be presented at the Hourglass Tavern.
Switzerland was directed by Daniel Roberts.
TEXAS READS: ALIEN SEX COMEDY BY ALAN CHARNOCK
2015
Alan Charnock's ALIEN SEX COMEDY is a wacky, irreverent, and poignant look at the status of sex in our galaxy. With their planet on the brink of extinction, three aliens go searching for the secret to sex in the most confusing place in the universe: Earth. There they meet a UFO enthusiast, a reproductive biologist, her assistant, and an omniscient narrator - hijinks ensue. ALIEN SEX COMEDY is directed by Bryan Hunt and presented at the Hourglass Tavern. The cast includes Cliff Miller as the captain of an Alien vessel, Zachary Gamble and Elaine Stenson as crew members, David Davila as a customer service rep for a porn site, Erin Frisbie as a scientist close to discovering a form of asexual reproduction, Drew Barksdale as her lab assistant, and Andy Ingalls as the omniscient narrator.
ASKINS PLAYWRIGHT FELLOWSHIP DINNER
2015
The Askins Playwright Fellowship is a program created by the award-winning playwright, to give Texas playwrights living in New York City a home base to develop their new work. Each playwright received creative support from Lone Star Theatre Company through a tiered level of staged readings and developmental workshops in New York City, and received professional guidance from Askins and the Lone Star Theatre Co staff.
The inaugural fellows were Alan Charnock (Alien Sex Comedy), Emily Comisar (Track Twelve), David Davila (Men of God, Credo), Judith Leora (Elijah), and Nilsa Reyna (The Care I Need). The fellowship will commence tonight with a private reception at Lobo Tex-Mex in Brooklyn.
BIG TEX SHORT FEST
2015
Lone Star Theatre Co will presents BIG TEX SHORT FEST, as it's third annual short play festival. The event features five new short plays by Texas playwrights Emily Comisar, David Davila, Virginia Grise, Kevin Kautzman, and Judith Leora directed by Nilsa Reyna, Daniel Roberts, Benita DeWit, Diego M. Chiri, and Jeremy Karafin.
The BIG TEX SHORT FEST takes five Texas playwrights and connects them with a diverse group of actors to write new material for. The plays will feature a massive cast of talent including Brendan Daugherty, Mark Andrew Garner, Daniel Anthony Hidalgo, Jenny Anne Hochberg, Lloyd Mario Prion, Eternanda Fudge, Tracy Singer, Don Frame, Sara Noe, Bryn Packard, Aaron Morton, Tania Jeudy, Keelie Sheridan, Dakota Dutcher, Jorge Luna, David Gomez, Aamira Martinez, and Jasmin Bristow.
FEEL THE WHIPLASH: THE SONGS OF BENJAMIN B. WRIGHT
2015
Texas musical theatre composer Benjamin Brundrett Wright makes his New York City concert debut with FEEL THE WHIPLASH: Songs for Throwing Popcorn & Chasing Whales!
The concert will feature a wild night of country-fried rock-n-roll songs from Benjamin Brundrett Wright's musicals such as MOBY DICK and LONE STAR: A POPCORN THROWING MUSICAL, plus a handful of other songs from works in progress.
FEEL THE WHIPLASH features performances by Brian Charles Rooney, Joey Calveri, Injoy Fountain, David Davila, Steph Nash, Chris Jehnert, Danielle Faitelson, Albert Meijer, Vanessa Theus, Peter Michael Romberg, Rebecca Odorisio, and Benjamin Brundrett Wright himself.
LONE STAR CINCO DE MAYO GALA
2015
The Cinco De Mayo Gala featuring Texas Talent from the Broadway stage singing Country's biggest hits!
The second Cinco de Mayo gala officially makes it an annual event. Come hear some Texas talent croon Country's biggest hits while enjoying margaritas and chile con queso!
Featuring Steph Nash, Jose Sepulveda, Desi Oakley, Michelle Caniglia, and more.
TEXAS READS: STROKE VAGINA BY NILSA REYNA
2015
Directed by Janie Martinez; a woman's personal and professional lives are forever changed when she faces a massive health scare. Constantly weighed down by anxiety, poor stress management, an unpredictable childhood, and humble beginnings in South Texas she must finally face her fears and fight for the right to live a happy life regardless of how long she has left!
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TEXAS READS: REMNANTS OF A DREAM BY RUTH CANTRELL
2014
Dallas playwright Ruth Cantrell's play, REMNANTS OF A DREAM tells the story of Calvera, a prominent figure in Dia De Los Muertos who follows the U.S./Mexico border to find remnants of dreams of those trying to cross to El Norte. Along the way, Miguel, a would-be immigrant, makes several attempts to cross. His dramatic story, as well as others from both sides of the U.S./Mexican border, is presented through narration, song and dance, blending imagery, pathos and humor in the style of magical realism.
Directed by Illana Stein.
TEXAS READS: MEN OF GOD BY DAVID DAVILA
2014
As a Catholic priest, Sergio took a vow of chastity, but as a man he has broken that vow again and again. He understands that living a good life is easier said than done, but when he is sent to council a saint-like priest who has been accused of murdering a little boy, everything he has ever believed in will be put into perspective.
The reading is directed by Roberto Cambeiro and features Dan Domingues, Joshua Gonzales, Jose Sepulveda, Sarah Elizondo, A.B. Lugo, Cash Tilton, Claudia Acosta, Don Frame, Carlos Saenz, and Daniel Hidalgo.
ONLY HUMANS LIKE MUSIC: THE SONGS OF PAUL COZBY
2014
Entitled ONLY HUMANS LIKE MY MUSIC: the songs of Paul Cozby, the 8 PM concert will feature highlights from Cozby's four musicals in development-Babes at Sea, Cyranose! and Panther City, for which Cozby wrote book, music and lyrics, and Fictitious, written with Tom Hyndman. The night also features some of Cozby's trunk songs.
Performers will include Tony Plana, Ada Maris, Tyler Bellmon, Todd Berkich, Jessica Burrows Van Kipp, Joe Byrne, Jef Canter, Emily Drennan, Geoffrey Kidwell, Dani Marcus, Diane Phelan, Tony Ponella, Bret Shuford, and Kay Trinidad.
Produced by David Davila & Benjamin Wright, the evening will feature direction by Dennis Courtney with music direction by Laura Bergquist.
THE CAPITOL PLAYS
2014
THE CAPITOL PLAYS, are five plays inspired by Wendy Davis and the crazy day and night she spent defending women's rights in Austin, TX. The plays -- by Raquel Almazan, Mando Alvarado, David Davila and Lindsay Hicks -- depict different events (true or fictional) that could all take place at the Texas Capitol.
The cast features Claudia Acosta, Anissa Felix, Laura Gomez, Kristoffer Infante, Kristen Leger, and John Mazurek. The reading is produced by Benjamin B. Wright and directed by Christopher Romero-Wilson.
The Capitol Plays premiered at the 45th St Theatre on May 19th, 2014
TEXAS READS: MOONLIGHTING BY EMILY COMISAR
2014
When a young woman living in New York City is forced to ask "what if" she finds herself transported into an alternate version of her own life with an alternate love and career. Magical realism comes head to head with the tough choices of living in New York City. This full-length play about what you really want out of life was directed by Daniel Roberts.
TEXAS READS: ELIJAH BY JUDITH LEORA
2013
ELIJAH is a dark comedy about the death penalty, which takes place in a TGIFridays in Texas during a hurricane. While they wait out the storm near a prison with a high-profile execution schedule, a group of strangers discover that violence and mercy are not as easy to reconcile in the real world.
Elijah later had its world premiere at the Victory Theatre in Los Angeles in 2019.
THE FIRST LOVE FESTIVAL
2013
For Lone Star's first ever new play festival we celebrated firsts. The first love festival featured new one-act plays about first loves by Daniela Benavides, Emily Comisar, David Davila, Lindsay Hicks, and Judith Leora.
Directed by David Davila.
THE MUSIC OF MICHAEL L. AUSTIN
2013
Michael Austin is a composer and multi-media artist from Texas whose music has been played across the world. Lone star theatre presented the New York City premiere of several of his works including his string quartet and a song-cycle of love songs.
Featuring Luis Ramos, David Davila, Ashley Mitchell, Jillian Cox, Michael Austin, and members of the Queer Urban Orchestra.
BROADWAY SINGS SELENA!
2013
Celebrating the life of Mexican-American superstar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, BROADWAY SINGS SELENA welcomed a starry cast of Broadway's best performers to The West End on April 1st, 2013. The show was directed by Jay Levy.
Performers included Courtney Reed (Aladdin), Luis Salgado (Women on The Verge...), Genny Lis Padilla (In The Heights), Desi Oakley (Annie), Jose Sepulveda (Altar Boyz), Margot B. (Rent), Brandon Contreras (In The Heights), Gizel Jimenez (Wicked), Tyrone Davis, Jr. (Shrek), Stephanie Klemons (In The Heights), Danny George (Sister Act), Charles Barksdale (Sister Act), David Davila, Michelle Caniglia, Ashley Mitchell, Damaris Gonzales, Kimberly Gonzales, Lola St. Lords, and the Boston cast of SpeakEasy Stage Company's In The Heights: Diego Klock-Perez (Usnavi), Jorge Barranco (Sonny), Alessandra Valea (Vanessa), Sean Jones, Adrian Ruz, Chris Ramirez, and Sarah Crane.
#52SONGS ABRIDGED! BY DAVID DAVILA
2012
Davila wrote one song a week for an entire year, collaborating with New York’s best singers and song-writers. The concert titled “David Davila’s 52 SONGS: Abridged!” will feature highlights from the year-long project that include collaborations with Drew Gasparini, Charles Barksdale, Sean Havrilla, Stephanie Nash, Tara Fike, & Kyle Struck.
The cast includes Jaime Cerpeo (Smash), Gabrielle Ruiz (In The Heights), Jenna Leigh Green (Wicked), Jared Zirilli (Lysistrata Jones), Charles Barksdale (Sister Act), Jennifer Foster (If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet), Daniel Quadrino (Bye Bye Birdie), Charles MacEachern (Nutty Professor), Jillian Cox, Jose Sepulveda, Tory Ramirez, Michelle Caniglia, Keith Hines, Devin Lewis, Kelly Bales, Anika Seidman-Gati, Sean Havrilla, Stephanie Nash, Allison Rerecich, Alexander Sage Oyen, Katie Hotz, and David Davila.
TEXAS READS: THE SKYE OF JULY BY HAYLEY HOFFMEISTER GREEN
2012
Hayley Hoffmeister Green's THE SKYE OF JULY is a new play about a young woman whose fiance is caught in a terrible disaster in New York City. Using magical realism, Hoffmeister crafts a script that eloquently deals with grief and the questions of moving on using unique story telling and magical realism.
Directed by Chad Brinkman.
TEXAS READS: ADAN Y JULIO Y LA FRONTERA 2003
2012
The very first event in Lone Star History was a reading of Adan y Julio y la Frontera 2003.
Directed by Schnele Wilson, the reading casts Jose Sepulveda and Raphael Eilenberg as the star-crossed lovers with Gabrielle Ruiz.
David Davila's Adan y Julio, according to press notes, "tells the story of gay teenage lovers who are caught on two different sides of the Mexican Drug war. Can they break away from the dangerous world of the Texas/Mexico border, or is death their only escape?"
Rounding out the cast are Christopher Romero-Wilson (Erasmo), Lillian Small (Juana), Sarah Elizondo (Veronica), Mark Kinch (Arcadio), Matthew Castlemann (Gallo), Jian-Carlos Vasquez (Pacito) and Cesar Anthony Villavicencio (Sapphire).