Generation Now Theatre Champions Inclusion

Gabriel Rivas Gómez received his M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from USC in 2007, where he was mentored by Oliver Mayer, Velina Hasu Houston and Luis Alfaro. His plays, including Chasing Monsters, Circus Ugly, Swarm Cell, and Scar Tissue have been produced in various LA theaters. Scar Tissue was subsequently published in The Best American Short Plays of 2010-2011. He developed his play, Carnivores, as an inaugural member of the Latino Theatre Alliance Writer’s Circle. His work focuses on justice issues and giving words to the voiceless. His plays have been taught, read, and performed at numerous universities across the country. His work has been called everything from surreal to abstract to unstageable. He is tenured faculty at Glendale Community College and when he is not busy writing or teaching, he can often be found lego-ing and softballing with his children who, along with his wife, Elsie, are the source of his drive and strength.

The Mainlanders by Kalani Queypo and Chadwick Johnson, co-commissioned by Native Voices (Los Angeles, California) and Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis, Minnesota).

• May 19-23, 2024: The Mainlanders will receive a workshop in Minneapolis at Children’s Theatre Company.

Native Voices cannot wait to share this new work by Kalani Queypo and Chadwick Johnson with audiences of all ages. Kalani Queypo has a long history with Native Voices, dating over 15 years,” stated Native Voices Artistic Director DeLanna Studi.

“He is a prime example of what Native Voices hopes to do with all our theatre artists. Kalani began as an actor learning the process of New Play Development and dramaturgy, eventually becoming a director, playwright, and teaching artist. As Kalani shares about the Native Voices’ process, ‘Even though we are building a play from scratch, we are not building relationships from scratch.’ Native Voices nurtures and develops Native talent through all stages of their careers, and we are honored to celebrate successes such as these.”

The Mainlanders is a heartfelt intergenerational musical that explores “Home” and what it means to return home and find one’s place in community. Set in Hawai’i, The Mainlanders centers around the return of 11-year-old Kimo, who finds himself the “new kid” at his old school. But with the help of his mysterious uncle, who has also recently returned from the mainland, Kimo discovers the power of music as he navigates a new understanding of the true meaning of ohana.

Generation Now really wanted to make sure they found the right fit, motivation, inspirations, and desires to create something special,” said playwright Kalani Queypo. “They see the value in stories like ours, which is different than what you typically see on the American stage. We are developing a project that has rarely been entertained on this level.

“What’s so cool about this whole thing is that, personally, this is my first musical I’ve ever written so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but Kalani and I have worked together for over a decade,” said playwright Chadwick Johnson. “We’ve worked on both music and theatrical pieces but never them together until now. This has given us such an opportunity to build a relationship with Children’s Theatre Company and expand our relationship with Native Voices and that’s been so fruitful.”

Kalani Queypo is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Hawaii, studied in New York City, and is currently based in Los Angeles. Kalani is an award winning screenwriter for “Ancestor Eyes,” his self-directed short film that played at nearly 40 festivals, winning 14 awards. For his musical, Missing Peace, Kalani is the recipient of the 2019 Native Voices Playwrights Retreat, 2020 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, 2021 and 2022 Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, 2021 NAMT Festival of New Plays, and the 2022 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat Triple R. Kalani has independently written, directed, and produced the short films, Whispered Fall and Power Point. He is currently developing an episodic comedy, “When You Miss Aloha,” a feature length drama, Stored and Safe, and a brand-new musical, The Mainlander, all showcasing his birthplace and culture as the backdrop in his character driven projects. As an actor, Kalani can be seen in the Oscar-nominated, Terrence Malick film, The New World, Steven Spielberg’s Emmy winning Into the West and Slow West (Sundance GRAND JURY PRIZE). Television credits include “Jamestown,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” “Mad Men,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “Bones.” Kalani is currently starring in the new CW series, “Trickster”, for which his performance was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award.

Chadwick Johnson is a singer/songwriter who approaches the craft as a storyteller and revels in the complexities of the human experience. Chadwick’s sound echoes the soulful stylings of Chris Stapleton and soaring vocals of Ben Platt. In November 2022 the USA Songwriting Competition honored Chadwick and co-writer Kalani Queypo for their original composition “Unbreakable”. Chadwick’s new holiday single “It’s Almost Christmas” released November 29, 2022. Written by Chadwick Johnson and Kalani Queypo the track is a throwback to all things Christmas. Chadwick’s 2019 album, “Stormy Love”, topped Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart and featured special guest, saxophone megastar Grace Kelly. Performing both nationally and internationally, Chadwick’s acclaimed concerts have been enjoyed by audiences at venues including Birdland’s Jazz Club in NYC, Feinstein’s at Vitello’s, The Purple Room, Catalina Jazz Club, and the prestigious Smith Center for the Performing Arts where he recorded his live album, “Live In Las Vegas.” Chadwick was recognized with the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Song Of The Year, and experienced a dream come true when he collaborated with legendary producer David Foster.

The Science Fair Project by Lloyd Suh and Diana Oh, co-commissioned by Ma-Yi Theater (New York, New York) and Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis, Minnesota).

“I can’t think of a more exciting and explosive combo than Diana Oh and Lloyd Suh,” said Ralph Peña, artistic director of Ma-Yi Theater Company. “Bringing these two together is like cold fusion.”

The Science Fair Project (working title) is a musical comedy for young audiences that takes place at an International Science Fair set in a distant, almost-cataclysmic future, as three middle school scientists simultaneously pursue the title of Best in Fair, while also attempting to save humanity from itself.

What a thrill it is to be collaborating with Diana Oh ‘Zaza D’, who is one of the smartest, funniest, most theatrically innovative and effervescent artists working today,” said playwright Lloyd Suh. “I’m so excited to return to Children’s Theatre Company in collaboration with Ma-Yi on this piece about trying to save the most beautiful parts of our world with joy and hope and flair, and am so grateful to the entire Generation Now team for making it possible.

“I said yes to making music for this musical,” added Diana Oh “Zaza D,” “because Lloyd texted me and said I can be as weird as I want to.”

Diana Oh “Zaza D” (they/them): Creator of {my lingerie play} (The Concert & Installation Series, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, TOW Fellow, Venturous Capital Fellow, NY Times Critics Pick), Infinite Love Party (An Intentional Barefoot Potluck, Dance Party, and Sleepover for QTBiPOC & Their Allies, Bushwick Starr, NY Times Critics Pick), CLAIRVOYANCE (A Yearlong Concert, Installation & Tree Planting Series celebrating Queer Magic, A.R.T.), OH FAMILY CONCERT (A Documentary Film  available on PBS, All Arts TV), The Gift Project (A Film & Concert celebrating Elders of Marginalized Experience, Symphony Space, All-For-One), My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre (The Public Theater), The Dope North Star Workshop, A Rare Bird (2025, Ping Chong and Company). Oh also throws and DJ’s Art Chxrch (An underground binaural beat brain massage & dance party for creatives), Oh is the Recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwright Award, Susan Steinberg Playwright Award, United States Artists Fellowship for Theatre, Sundance Institute Fellowship, Van Lier Fellowship in Acting, and is a previous Williamstown Theatre Festival Playwright-in-Residence and a Refinery29 Top LGBTQ+ Influencer.

Lloyd Suh is the author of plays including The Heart Sellers (Milwaukee Rep, Huntington, forthcoming at the Guthrie, Aurora, North Coast Rep, Northlight and Theatreworks Silicon Valley), The Far Country (Pulitzer Prize finalist), The Chinese Lady, American Hwangap, and others, including plays for young audiences Bina’s Six Apples (Children’s Theatre Company and Alliance Theater), and The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go! (Children’s Theatre Company, ArtsEmerson, and others). His plays have been produced across the country, including at Atlantic Theater Company, The Public Theater, Berkeley Rep, Denver Center, Long Wharf Theatre, Magic Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, and others, as well as internationally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and with PCPA at the Guerilla Theatre in Seoul, Korea. A recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the Horton Foote Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Suh served from 2005 to 2010 as the Artistic Director of Second Generation, and co-director of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, and from 2011 to 2020 as Director of Artistic Programs at The Lark. He was elected in 2016 to the Dramatists Guild Council.

Untitled Commission by Nambi E. Kelley, co-commissioned by Penumbra (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis, Minnesota):

• This piece is still under development contractually.

I am excited for the opportunity to tell a story about adult mental illness through the eyes of a child witnessing the illness,” said playwright Nambi E. Kelley. “I’m super charged about how to have this conversation in a way that is empowering and authentic, while still providing space for healing.

Nambi E. Kelley’s play is about a little girl who has a mentally ill parent and how mental illness helps to shape her identity about who she is and what she is capable of in the world.  It’s a healing balm for her, and for her parent to be able to recognize the illness and understand that the parent is not the illness.

Nambi E. Kelley is an award-winning, published, and produced playwright who is developing multiple projects regionally and for Broadway. She received The Prince Prize and an NNPN commission, where her play Re-Memori was presented at WP’s Pipeline Festival in New York City and recently celebrated a world premiere at Penumbra in St. Paul. A former playwright-in-residence at the National Black Theatre, Dramatists Guild, and the Goodman Theatre, Nambi was chosen by Toni Morrison to adapt her novel Jazz. Her adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son (Sam French, Concord Theatricals) has been produced across the country and premiered in New York at The Duke on 42nd Street (The Acting Company, producer), receiving a Drama League nomination (Best Revival) and an AUDELCO Award (Best Production). Most recently, Nambi served as a writer/co-producer on Peacock’s “Bel Air.”  Previous television credits include:  “Lady In The Lake” (Apple), “Our Kind of People” (Fox), and “The Chi” (Showtime). Also an award-winning actress, Kelley’s been seen on television and has graced stages all across the world. www.nambikelley.com

Folklórico, created by Latino Theatre Company and co-commissioned by Latino Theater Company (Los Angeles, California) and Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis, Minnesota):

• The first draft is in development.

“With this play, the Latino Theater Company gets the exciting opportunity to journey into the minds of young people and investigate why, in this particular socio-historical context, it is important for them to be a part of the specific cultural expression that is folklórico, and to discover what that means to them, their families, and their communities,” stated Latino Theater Company Artistic Director José Luis Valenzuela.

Folklórico is a journey into the world of Mexican Folklórico dance through the lens of young people in the U.S. who while exploring this tradition are confronted by their roots, their identity, and their truth.

About the Partners

Native Voices

Founded in 1993 and in residence at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles since 1999, Native Voices provides an artistic home for Native American theatre artists, supporting the development and production of new works for the stage written by American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights. Native Voices is the only professional theatre company—deemed such for its affiliation with the Actors’ Equity Association, the union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers—dedicated exclusively to Native storytelling.

From the beginning, Native Voices has put Native narratives at the center of the American story in order to facilitate a more inclusive dialogue on what it means to be American. The company fills a tremendous need for more diverse representation among playwrights, actors, and theatre professionals and for the exploration of a broader range of themes and issues on the American stage. In the long-term, Native Voices remains committed to developing Native playwrights and theatre artists, to telling Native stories by and about Native people, and to providing the public access to these plays and playwrights—all with the goals of fostering greater understanding and respect and of showcasing artistic voices that might otherwise not be heard. With this project, Native Voices looks forward to having their playwrights seen by audiences in theatres that have historically produced little to no Native work. TheAutry.org/NativeVoices

Latino Theater Company’s mission is to provide a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures, and ideas contribute to a more vibrant future. LTC was founded in 1985 with the goal to establish a theater company dedicated to contributing new stories and novel methods of expression for the American theater repertoire and to increase artistic opportunities for underserved communities. As the company has evolved, its role as the lease-holder of the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) has become critical to their mission. With a continuing exploration of the U.S. Latina/o/x experience in bold and contemporary terms, LTC programs its seasons with work by local playwrights that speaks to important issues and highlights new voices within the Latina/o/x, First Nation, Black, Asian American, Jewish American, and LGBTQ+ communities. This project will allow writers to create Latina/o/x stories specifically for multigenerational audiences, solidifying LTC’s outreach efforts and strengthening their relationship with the thousands of students they serve every year.

Ma-Yi Theater Company is an award-winning professional theater based in New York City, renowned as the premier incubator for new works by Asian American playwrights. They encourage their artists to engage communities in vigorous dialogues that challenge popular prescriptions for culturally specific theater, and that reexamine the immigrant histories that shaped our country. Ma-Yi Theater Company is one of the very few BIPOC-led theaters in the country whose original works have transferred to major regional theaters around the country. Ma-Yi’s Writers Lab has 34 professional writers, including Michael Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza who are on their fifth year of residency at Ma-Yi Theater, through the Mellon’s NPRP initiative. Many of the most produced Asian American playwrights today are members of the Lab, including Lauren Yee, Kimber Lee, Jiehae Park, Lloyd Suh, Qui Nguyen, Sam Chanse, and Madhuri Shakar to name a few. These playwrights are changing the landscape of American Theater to redraw the boundaries for what it considers part of the American canon. While there has been progress in creating a body of new plays by Asian American writers, many of them cater to mature audiences; very few are for multigenerational consumption. This opportunity to co-develop new works for multigenerational audiences will allow Ma-Yi to offer communities a new genre of theater that is more inclusive.

Penumbra is recognized nationally and internationally for its artistically excellent and socially responsible art that illuminates the human condition through prisms of the Black experience. Founded in 1976 by celebrated scholar Lou Bellamy in Saint Paul, Minnesota, this legacy institution has earned national accolades, producing nearly 200 plays, over 30 premieres, and cultivated generations of artists of color now working across the nation.

Since 2011, President Sarah Bellamy has been testing multigenerational programs that spark empathy and drive engagement with public conversations, screenings, and community meals that engage patrons across Minnesota. Through her leadership, Penumbra brings vibrant communities together to shift the ground under some of the most deeply entrenched issues of equity and justice. Today, Penumbra is embarking upon its next life cycle: a performing arts campus and center for racial healing that nurtures black artists, advances equity, and facilitates wellness for individuals and community.

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is the nation’s largest and most acclaimed theatre for young people and serves a multigenerational audience. It creates theatre experiences that educate, challenge, and inspire nearly 250,000 people annually. CTC is the only theatre focused on young audiences to win the Special Tony® Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and is the only theatre in Minnesota to receive three Tony® nominations (for its production of A Year with Frog and Toad). CTC is committed to creating world-class productions at the highest level and to developing new works, more than 200 to date, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.

CTC is the most significant provider of theatre education opportunities in the region. Every year, thousands of children experience theatre for the first time at CTC. Our student matinees and education programs demonstrably benefit the community, from the intergenerational conversations sparked by our world premieres, to the sequential skill-building that happens in our Theatre Arts Training, to the pre-K focus of our Early Childhood Initiative. ACT One is CTC’s comprehensive platform for access, diversity, and inclusion in our audiences, programs, staff, and board that strives to ensure the theatre is a home for all people, all families, reflective of our community. childrenstheatre.org

Plays for New Audiences (PNA), CTC’s script licensing division, licenses quality scripts for multigenerational audiences and actors. Written by some of the world’s most extraordinary playwrights including 4 of the top 10 most-produced Theatre for Young Audiences playwrights, PNA’s 300+ show catalog features plays and musicals for any programming need. A division of Children’s Theatre Company, PNA offers contemporary stories and reimagined classics that are topical, relevant, and even fantastical. As a non-profit licensing company, all profits are invested back into supporting artists and creating new work.