Culture Clash was Established in 1984 in San Francisco’s historic Mission District at the height of the performance art and stand-up comedy boom, while a political world was exploding in Central America and the Boys were clowning, but soon began to sharpen their satirical and political chops in the spirit of their hero: Bertolt Brecht. By the early 90s they were a budding theater force storming the nation’s premier regional stages and festivals. The decade of the 90s saw many commissions and the rise of site-specific work, which planted the Boys in cities and regions not steeped in a Chicano sensibility. This made Culture Clash an outlier in places like Miami, New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, and Boston, which lead Culture Clash directly back to the border regions of the US and the Southwest armed with new skills. This artistic journey is at the heart of what you will experience now: investigative, ethnographic, and artistic theater imbued with a responsibility and desire to excavate the most compelling stories. The act of finding and telling these stories reminds us of the strength of our America. It reminds us on the deepest and most.

Diane Rodriguez is an Off-Broadway, Obie Award- winning theater artist. In the 2016-2017 Los Angeles Theatre Center season, Diane wrote and directed the world premiere of The Sweetheart Deal which was developed by New Harmony in Indiana, the Atlantic Theatre’s Latino Mix Fest in NYC, and the Black Swan Lab at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has directed for City Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group, Mixed Blood in Minneapolis, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix (Two Arizona Theatre Nominations: Best Director), Borderlands Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Victory Gardens in Chicago, Playwright’s Arena (LA Weekly Award Nomination: Best Director), East West Players, Cornerstone Theater Company, the Fountain Theatre, and the Odyssey Theatre, among others. She was a Sundance Directing Fellow in 2017, the Denham Fellow for the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation in 2016, and recently inducted into the College of Fellows for the American Theatre. She served on the TCG Board for eight years and was president for three. She was appointed by President Obama to the National Council on the Arts. Currently she is Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group.

Paula was very inspired after seeing Radio Mambo by Culture Clash. She loved it so much that she saw it multiple times and pleaded with Richard to work on their new play, Bordertown. In a post-college fog, choreographing Bordertown with Culture Clash became a beacon, confirming her home and intuition in dance. Twenty years later, she is just as excited for the opportunity to dance with these brilliant men once again! Credits Include: Sigüenza’s A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, Richard Montoya and Gomez Penas’ Los Dopplegangers, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO), “Gypsy 05” (Fashion), “Bombay Beach” (Documentary). Artistic Director, PTERO Dance Theatre. Online: paulapresent.com

New York: The Three Musketeers (The Acting Company), Mycenaean (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Regional: Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Smart People (Denver Center Theatre Company), Othello (Hartford Stage), DJ Latinidad (Mixed Blood Theatre Company), Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (The Getty Villa/Boston Court), Prometheus Bound (The Getty Villa/Center for New Performance), Shelter (Center for New Performance), The Sweetheart Deal (Los Angeles Theatre Center). Other Credits: Company member of Poor Dog Group. Assistant Professor of Scenic Design, Cal State Northridge. MFA, California Institute of the Arts; BFA, University of California, Irvine.

 Jenny is thrilled to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut! The Wild Party (Speakeasy Society-The Broad Stage), Tale of Two Cities, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Antigone, Macbeth (A Noise Within), A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of Greatest of Great Lakes (Theatre of Note), Our Class, Love and Information (Son of Semele), The Who’s Tommy (East West Players), The Taming of the Shrew (Independent Shakespeare Company), Everything You Touch (Boston Court/Rattlestick Playwrights; Ovation Award: Best Costume Design Intimate Theatre; LA Drama Critics Circle Award: Best Costume Design; Stage Raw Award: Best Costume Design). Online: cjfold.com

Recent Work: Lynn Nottage’s Mlima’s Tale (Public Theater) and Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves (Playwrights Realm, Lincoln Center). Regional: Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, The Shakespeare Theater (Washington DC). New York: Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Second Stage Theatre. Awards: Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Angstrom Award for Career Achievement in Lighting Design, Ovation award, multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, “Drammy” for best lighting. Lighting design faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Online: lapchichu.com

 Select shows include Other Desert Cities, Marjorie Prime (Mark Taper Forum); The New Electric Ballroom, The Word Begins (Rogue Machine Theatre); 9 Circles (Bootleg Theater; LADCC Nomination: Best Sound Design), Against Oblivion (South Coast Repertory); Tempest Redux (Odyssey Theatre); Throw Me On the Burnpile and Light Me Up, St. Jude, Facing Our Truth, Titus Redux, The Paris Letter, Flight (NAACP Award: Best Sound Design), ¡Gaytino!, Taking Flight, Of Equal Measure, Taking Over, Eclipsed, Bones (Kirk Douglas Theatre). Phalen is Head Audio at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

 Yee is thrilled to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut! A scenic and projection designer for opera, theater, and any form for live performances currently based in LA. Recent works include projection design for Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (The Soraya), Sapo (Getty Villa), Citizen: An American Lyric (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Dementia, Sweetheart Deal, A Mexican Trilogy: An American History (LATC), Les contes d’Hoffmann, La Bohème, Cunning Little Vixen (Miami Summer Music Festival). Yee is a recipient of Cirque du Soleil Fellowship Award. MFA in Theater Design, UCLA. Online: yeeeunnam.com

Pasadena Playhouse: Our Town, King Charles III, and Belleville. Broadway: Bullets Over Broadway, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Guys and Dolls, Oleanna, and Cry-Baby. Other NYC: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Heading East (The Asia Society), NY2022, Shir a Shalom (Guggenheim Works & Process). Regional: Next to Normal (East West Players), Restoration Comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titus Andronicus, Othello (The Old Globe), and work with La Jolla Playhouse, New Harmony/USI, the Rude Mechs, 7 Devils Playwrights Conference, and ZACH Theatre. Jenny is on the faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Education: MFA (UCSD), MA (UT Austin), and BA (University of Florida).

 Giselle is a recent graduate of California State University, Northridge. She earned a BA in Theatre Arts where her emphasis was Stage Management. She was the LA County Arts Commission Production Intern for Independent Shakespeare Company in 2017 during the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. Her most recent and favorite credits include Measure for Measure (Independent Shakespeare Company), Culture Clash’s An American Odyssey (Los Angeles Theater Center) and Culture Clash’s Sapo (Getty Villa). She is very grateful to be working on another project with Culture Clash!

Rosalinda Morales and Pauline O’con met at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, joining their varied experiences in independent film, network television, studio casting and their professional relationships in the agency, management community they formed Morales/O’con Casting. Their passion and knowledge of actors, writing and the casting process showcases the diverse and progressive culture of today’s audiences. In 2018, they were honored to receive the CSA Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting-Regional Theatre West for the 40th Anniversary production of Zoot Suit for the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.