Highland Park is Here

With the Cornerstone Theater Company
Written by Mark Valdez
Directed by Michael John Garcés

November 19th-22nd at 7:30pm and November 22nd at 2pm PT

The murals, the music, the taqueros and tamaleros, the Christmas parade and lowrider parades, the gardens, the hills, the arroyo…and the people. Highland Park is Here connects the fractured stories—past and present—of this iconic Los Angeles neighborhood in this moment of community change, searching for shared spaces and experiences. From our homes to our street corners to on-line, if you are there, then Highland Park is Here.

Performed by a cast of 30+ people from Highland Park, Occidental College and Cornerstone, Highland Park is Here takes us on a virtual journey from York to Figueroa and the Arroyo, from yesterday to tomorrow, from fact to fantasy, all told through the stories of the people who live there.

The play is told in two paths, Llegamos - the multigenerational story of one family from the 1950s to today - and Movements & Moments, local stories from the 1990s to today.

Highland Park is Here is created in/with/for the residents of Highland Park and Cornerstone Theater Company, Oxy Arts, and the Occidental College Theater Department.

Student Comprehensive Projects

Flying the Nest

Playwright: Makaela Vogel
Director: Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
Assistant Director: Brendan Hughes
Starring: Makaela Vogel
Music by: Christine DuBois

Based on interviews Makaela Vogel conducted with her 8 aunts, she wrote a play all about the journey of leaving home. This documentary style play uses exact quotes from her aunts where they explore what it means to be independent and the importance of family.
_{Support for this project provided by Edgerton Foundation Program in Theater and Omar's Cookie Jar.}

MIRa

A senior comps project written, directed, and performed by Nina Srdić Hadži-Nešić
Directing consultant: Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
Playwriting consultant: Kathy Randels
Performs: April 24th & 25th at 12pm PDT

Nina discovers a letter written by a famous actress who fled Yugoslavia in 1991 and landed in L.A. This journey across time and space asks burning questions about the past, present, and future of the Balkans and the U.S.
_{Support for this project provided by Edgerton Foundation Program in Theater and Omar's Cookie Jar.}

Dirty Laundry

A senior comprehensive project by Sandy Nguyễn
Directed by David Crabb and Sarah Kozinn
Performs: April 24 & 25 at 6pm PDT
Content warning: this show contains depictions of trauma, abuse and violence and may not be appropriate for younger viewers.

Dirty Laundry is a devised, story-telling performance created by Sandy Nguyễn that revisits old wounds, family secrets, and intergenerational trauma. Her play is an offering to heartbroken saps and the low-down dirty b*tches who walk the fine line between hating and loving yourself. By the end of the play, she implores you to ask of yourself, what dirty laundry might I need to air out?
_{Support for this project provided by Edgerton Foundation Program in Theater and Omar's Cookie Jar.}

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