Works Progress Austin: Casta by Adrienne Dawes

Salvage Vanguard Theater invites you to attend a staged reading of Castaby Adrienne Dawes, presented as part of Works Progress Austin. Launched in 2006, Works Progress Austin provides playwrights with the resources they need to bring their work to life. Works Progress Austin has featured new works by Caridad Svich, Dan Dietz, and Sibyl Kempson.

Casta is inspired by a series of casta paintings by Miguel Cabrera, a mixed-race painter from Oaxaca. Casta paintings were a unique form of portraiture that grew in popularity over the 18th century in Nueva España/colonial Mexico. The paintings depicted different racial mixtures arranged according to a hierarchy defined by Spanish elites.

When a lowly apprentice is commissioned to paint a casta series for a wealthy patron, he tries to conform his work to a set hierarchy. The images revolt, illuminating a complex portrait of fluid Latinx identities.

In anticipation of the 2019 premiere, this Works Progress Austin workshop will support 2 weeks of rehearsal time, incorporating new puppets by designer Julia Smith and new music by composer Graham Reynolds. Founding creative team members Adrienne Dawes (playwright), Jenny Larson (director) and khattieQ (performer) will return to Austin as part of this final development process. An ARTIST TALK with the playwright and guest speaker Laura G. Gutiérrez, Interim Chair and Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and Susan Deans-Smith, Associate Chair and Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of History and Faculty Affiliate, Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, will follow the Saturday August 25^thperformance.