Nothing is Impossible for Migdalia Cruz... or You

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, Nothing is Impossible for Migdalia Cruz... or You- A talkback, signing, album release and live podcast recording.

Join us for an evening with legendary playwright/mentor/scholar Migdalia Cruz. Cruz has written provocative and essential plays while inspiring generations of theatre artists to embrace their true voice. We'll launch Cruz's anthology - The Impossible Plays - which includes three previously unpublished plays as well as essay reflections on her legacy by theatre luminaries Virginia Grise, Todd London, and Morgan Jenness. The book incorporates visual art that is in conversation with the plays by award-winning illustrator Christian Potter Drury. Cruz'll also offer insights and advice to playwrights who are seeking to build their own careers as a working artist. The event will include a book signing and live podcast recording.

About the book: “Welcome to these Impossible Plays! The three plays included in this volume, Fishtank, Satricoño, and Two Roberts, represent three of my waking-dreams about joy, grief, sex, spirituality, Democracy, and hope. If you read this volume, you will find the true meaning of impossible poured over impossible landscapes punctuated by the poetic realism that has conjured my ancestors and birthed this volume of plays.” -Migdalia Cruz

“Migdalia Cruz rips the American drama out of the bougie living room and affluent morality crisis, and puts it directly in the human body - the desirous, gorgeous, disgusting, sacred, and misunderstood flesh that our souls call home. She probes the many places where beauty and horror coexist in our lives. No one else writes or thinks like Cruz; her work changed me and expanded our genre, returning it to its humble, sacred, and impolite origins. Put more simply, Migadlia's vision as a writer is ravishing.” —Quiara Alegría Hudes, Playwright/Screenwriter, Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award

“This new volume reaffirms Migdalia Cruz as one of America's greatest playwrights, still working at the height of her powers. These plays reimagine history and conjure new worlds, through blazing theatricality, boundless imagination, and heart-wrenching joy. Cruz's groundbreaking and seminal work continues to define our new American canon.” —David Henry Hwang, Playwright/Librettist, Pulitzer Prize Finalist (three times), Three Obie Awards, Professor at Columbia University

“Creating new worlds in the liminal spaces between the living and the dead, imagining the excesses of classical Rome in the context of an ecologically doomed, dystopian future, and leaping across centuries to reveal the relationship between a Puerto Rican pirate in the seventeenth century and a seminal Mississippi blues musician in the early twentieth century, Migdalia defies all expectations in Impossible Plays by uniting us with the secret corners of our mortal understanding. She whisks us by virtue of her theatrical imagination into realms otherwise denied our everyday, rational minds. I dare this generation to match her courage and produce these magnificent plays!” —Linda S. Chapman, Artistic Director, New York Theatre Workshop

About the Author: Migdalia Cruz, the 2023 DGF Legacy Playwright, is a Bronx-born playwright, lyricist, translator, and librettist with over 60 works performed in 150 venues across 40 cities in 12 countries. Her awards include the NEA, McKnight, NYSCA, and TCG/Pew, and she was named the 2013 Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright. Cruz's mentor María Irene Fornés at INTAR and her residency at Latino Chicago honed her voice. She co-chaired the DGF Playwriting Fellows, mentors the Latinx Playwrights’ Circle, was listed on The Kilroys Web 2023, and taught at Princeton, NYU, IU, and as founding member of the Fornés Institute’s Playwriting Workshop. Migdalia is an alumna of New Dramatists, and a member of The Tent, a theater for “Vintage” playwrights. She was featured in: “Fifty Key Figures in Latinx and Latin American Theatre.” Her recent essays and interviews appeared in the publications: “Shakespeare And Latinidad,” “Diasporic Journeys: Interviews with Puerto Rican Writers in the United States,” “A History of Latinx Performing Arts in the U.S.,” “The Routledge Companion to Latiné Theatre and Performance,” and “Fornés In Context.”

About the Artist: Christian Potter Drury decided to become an artist at 13 years old, and has been one ever since. Her work has shown at many galleries, and she has won numerous awards including The Newport Museum Annual Show. For many years she worked at The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal as Art Director. Today, she continues to paint and illustrate.

About the Tripwire Harlot Press: Tripwire Harlot is a small artist-driven press that began in late 2019 as an imprint of Savage Candy Productions. It was initially founded by playwright Sheila Callaghan as a thought experiment, and soon grew into a platform for amplifying under-represented voices in the American Theater and beyond. Tripwire H. is dedicated to spotlighting adventurous work that might otherwise be overlooked by risk-averse institutions. It seeks to give voice to unique, insightful perspectives through interrogation and creative inquiry. It strives to serve the field by playfully poking at the boundaries of the impossible. And finally, it challenges our presumed limitations around dramatic works in print.

About the Sledgehammer Series: The Sledgehammer Series publishes playwrights who have been under-published in volumes that combine visual art with performative text to create a theatrical experience on the page. It provides artists, educators, scholars, and theatre lovers access to some of the most important and provocative voices in the American Theatre. The Series has previously published Phillip Howze, Hansol Jung, and Christina Anderson. In 2025, they will publish a volume by Sharon Bridgforth.

About the event

We kindly ask that you review the following information before reserving your spot:

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Please note that the purchase of. “The Impossible Plays " ($18.00) is required for entry.

Upon arrival, our team will direct you to the register to obtain your copy and complete your admission.

The store will begin welcoming guests at 7:15 pm.

Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

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