Vacancy Arts Collective 2022
A staged reading of
Native Gardens
by Karen Zacarías
Streaming May 10 - 22
The performance from Saturday, April 30 is now available to stream!
Recorded at Taller Arte Del Nuevo Amancer (TANA) in Woodland, CA.
Reserve your free online ticket below for access to the video!
Closed captions included. Version with ASL interpreters also available.
Image Description: The text NATIVE GARDENS by Karen Zacarías is featured, the title in bright red. A center black and white image shows two hands emerging from flowers to hold one another. In the background are large blue flowers outlined in purple.
Poster Art by Jose Arenas.
Native Gardens brings us to two adjoining backyards with two very different couples: the Del Valles and the Butleys. The new neighbors seem like they’ll get along until they discover a problem with the property line. As urgency to solve the issue ramps up, we consider pertinent themes: ownership, identity, and privilege. Native Gardens is a vibrant comedy that asks us a vital question as we emerge from the pandemic — what is our relationship to the land we inhabit?
Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) co-produced and hosted this free outdoor staged reading at their space in Woodland. TANA also premiered original screen prints inspired by the play.
Cast features Beatriz Figueroa, Robin Fisher, Tim Gaffaney, and Pano Roditis. Production team includes Gia Battista, Madeline Hamaguchi, Pablo Lopez, Angel Rodriguez, and Rob Salas.
DIGITAL PROGRAM
NATIVE GARDENS
by Karen Zacarías
Filmed April 30, 2022
Below you will find everything you need for this performance — from the pre-show info to the cast to the art that was displayed in the lobby area before the show.
Enjoy!
PRODUCERS & PLAYWRIGHT
Native Gardens is the first event through Davis Shakespeare Festival’s current project, Vacancy Arts Collective (VAC). VAC’s mission is to cultivate community joy by aligning socially conscious art with equitable practice. VAC produces works that represent the identities of the artists and team members involved with each production.
Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) is a collaborative partnership between the Chicana/o Studies Program at the University of California, Davis and the greater Woodland community. TANA offers a fully functioning silkscreen studio, Chicano/Latino Arts exhibition space, and a teaching center for the arts. Through exhibiting, printing, and teaching, TANA cultivates the cultural and artistic life of the community, viewing the arts as essential to a community’s development and well-being.
Karen Zacarías is one of the most produced playwrights in the nation. She is one of the Inaugural Resident Playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, and is a core founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons. More at karenzacarias.com
Native Gardens is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
PRE-SHOW INFO
CAST
*Appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
Beatriz Figueroa
Tania Del Valle
Beatriz Figueroa (she/her) is a proud Mexican-American singer based in Sacramento. She enjoys theatre on the side and is very excited to be a part of Native Gardens for Vacancy Arts Collective. She has worked in the past with Teatro Nagual on their annual La Pastorela as well as Cartas de la Frontera. Beatriz studied Music and Sociology at Sacramento State University where she developed her musicianship and deepened her passion for Social Justice. When off stage, Beatriz enjoys teaching and spending time with family, her husband and dog, Quijote.
Pano Roditis
Pablo Del Valle
Pano Roditis (he/him) is a local Sacramento director, actor, sound designer who is making his Vacancy Arts Collective debut. He has collaborated with several local theatre companies, both on and offstage, and he intends on going to graduate school to get his PhD in Performance Studies researching performance as a means of protest.
Robin Fisher
Virginia Butley
Robin Fisher (she/her) is ever-so-glad to be back with Davis Shakespeare again after the fun she had as Letitia Primrose in On the Twentieth Century in 2019. As a classically-trained soprano, she has extensive experience in opera and concert. A strong advocate for the performing arts and arts education, Robin has been active in grant-writing and fundraising, both through her faculty position in the Sac State School of Music, and as a new board member with Friends of Sacramento Arts. This summer, she will direct the CSU Summer Arts program for CSU voice students in Germany, where she will present concerts of German art song with pianist, Hatem Nadim. This season, Robin will be a featured soloist with Sacramento Baroque and the Sac State Choral program.
Tim Gaffaney
Frank Butley
Tim Gaffaney (he/him) has been performing with Davis Shakespeare Festival since 2014. Credits include Comedy of Errors (Egeon), As You Like It (Duke Frederick), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Romeo and Juliet (Capulet), Cyrano (de Guiche), Twelfth Night (Malvolio), and Much Ado About Nothing (Don Pedro). Other local credits include Dance Nation, Pillowman, and the Internationalist (Bike City Theatre Company); and Inspecting Carol, A Flea in Her Ear and The Miser (Woodland Opera House). He worked with the Foundry Players in Washington, DC, where his credits included Fortinbras, The Curate Shakespeare As You Like It, and Shadowlands. He currently hosts the arts beat on “In the Studio” with Davis Community Television, and serves as the Casting Director for the dramatic reading series, Stories on Stage Davis.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Gia Battista
Dramaturgy & Directing
Gia Battista (she/her) is a change maker and an artist. As one of its founding artistic directors, Gia has dedicated this last decade to growing Davis Shakespeare Festival. She is passionate about nurturing social change as a leader, a teacher, and an artist. While she has directed and performed in numerous theatrical productions in the past, she is now driven by providing an inclusive and equitable platform for others to engage artistically. Gia is a lecturer in the Theatre & Dance Department at Sacramento State. Education: B.A. in English and Dramatic Art (UC Davis), M.M. in Vocal Performance (Sacramento State).
Madeline Hamaguchi
Marketing & Community Outreach
Madeline Hamaguchi (she/they) is an arts leader and multi-disciplinary artist, born and raised in the Sacramento, CA area. She is passionate about reflexive artistic experiences that center equitable and inclusive processes. Since 2017, she has proudly held managerial and technical positions in several DSF productions. Other credits include Bay Area Children’s Theatre (Stage Manager), Sacramento Theater Company (Assistant Stage Manager); Davis Media Access (Production Specialist), American Conservatory Theatre (Production Management Fellow); UCSD’s The Underground New Play Festival 2015 (Managing Director); Sacramento Music Circus (Stage Management Intern). Education: B.A. in Theatre from UC San Diego.
Pablo Lopez
Directing & Dramaturgy
Pablo Lopez (he/him/they/them) is a storyteller, advocate and educator who’s honored to join the Vacancy Arts Collective. He’s been associated with DSF since their move into the Veterans Memorial Theatre in 2014. He currently resides in Washington as an ESL Instructor at the immigrant workers rights center, Casa Latina. It’s here in Seattle that he graduated with a BFA in Theatre Original Works at Cornish College of the Arts in 2018. Since then, he’s performed his solo shows: Chuy’s Radio Waves in MxMellona: Reclaiming Our Stories Solo Performance Festival & Brilliant Fucking Bird in El Teatro Campesino’s Palabra Vol. Solo. Acting credits include The Tragedie of Dr. Faustus (Dr. Faustus), Fire Season (Ricky), querencia (Milo), Journey of the Saint (Juan Del Camino), Lydia (Alvaro).
Ángel Rodríguez
Stage Management
Ángel Rodríguez (he/him) is an actor, director, and a bunch of other things in the Sacramento area. He holds a bachelor’s in Theater from Sacramento State. Ángel has had the honor to fill the shoes of many fantastic roles and would love to keep doing that forever. He dreams of continuing to be a part of the arts for the rest of his life, whether it is on stage, backstage, as a director, or as an educator. Keep up with Ángel’s projects on IG: @a_rod719.
Rob Salas
Directing & Marketing
Rob Salas (he/him) is a Mexican-American theatre artist based in Sacramento. He is a founding Artistic Director of Davis Shakespeare Festival, where he has directing numerous productions since 2010. His most recent theatre work has been playing Darcy in Capital Stage’s Christmas at Pemberley productions since 2019. Other credits include New Village Arts (San Diego), Dramatic Adventure Theatre (NYC), UC Irvine, and Harvard College. Rob is a theatre arts lecturer at Sierra College and holds an MFA in Directing from UC Irvine and a BA in English and Dramatic Art from Harvard.
LOBBY POSTERS
The posters below were created by the Native Gardens dramaturgy team to highlight the importance of native plants.
SCREENPRINTS BY TANA ARTISTS
TANA premiered the screenprints below at their gallery, where Native Gardens was performed.
Interested in purchaing a screen print? Here is the contact information for each artist:
