meet the team: carolina pilar xique
Writing this after months and months of preparation feels surreal! I’m honored to finally say that I’m Carolina Pilar Xique, Co-Producing Artistic Director for (un)defined arts collective. Creating this Collective has truly been a labor of love and it is nothing short of gratifying to be able to to share our plans for the 2024 season.
Like most things, the idea to create this Collective was birthed out of mutual feelings of love and deep frustration: love, for the communal impact of storytelling, for the artists who deserve to feel safe in their creative spaces, for the digitally-innovative revolution that has sprung from the tragedy that was (and still is) the COVID-19 pandemic; and frustration, toward toxic and arbitrary rules, teachings, and standards of being that have historically plagued theatre artists, particularly, theatre artists of marginalized identities. The idea came about while I was having lunch with my best friend and beloved colleague, Vic Melkonyan, while we were lamenting about resistant attitudes we were witnessing toward inclusive teaching, practicing, and facilitating theatre and/or theatrical spaces. This conversation was not unlike others Vic and I had had before - having self-produced our own theatrical productions & events, both separately & together, this topic was always at the forefront of our discussions - but this time felt different. We walked to a nearby bookstore that specialized in artistic books, and something about that afternoon felt like the right time to fully pursue these ideas that had remained dreams in our heads for so long.
The first step to even think about actualizing these plans was to build our team. And whenever I begin a new project, the first collaborator that comes to my mind has always been and will forever be Jesse Bosworth.
Jesse and I were each other’s right-hand-persons when we were both managing the short-lived Streamlight Theatre Company back in 2020. Back then, we were fresh college graduates, trying to conceive an artistic life during a global pandemic, when Jesse called me and asked if I wanted to be the Artistic Director of a theatre company he was building with some of our other friends/colleagues. Soon after, we created the Festival of Healing, a short play festival that had a three-part mission: to launch our theatre company; to garner donations so we could pay our actors, directors, and writers as well as use any leftover profit for future programming; and to explore the capabilities of “Zoom plays” during an artistically-limited time. The Festival of Healing amassed such great success that we were able to produce an even more successful event in partnership with Pier’s End Productions: Chiu’s Haunted Drive-Thru. Even after Streamlight disbanded, I knew that Jesse and I would work together again very soon because he had such a visual clarity for where our organization could go, and I needed that in a collaborator.
I say all this to express that my collaborators and I always work from a place of need from the community - and that’s why I love working with them. And it’s also why I believe creating this Collective is the right decision for us - and for the community - at this time.
Vic, Jesse, and I agree that a priority for this group is to center new, innovative, dynamic projects and usher them into full development. One of my favorite parts of being a theatre-maker & collaborator is bringing untold stories to the forefront, not only giving them the 15-minute spotlight, but fostering the long-term development that most works need in order to advance to bigger, more accessible stages. We commit to doing so in our New Works Pipeline, as well as our Zine-in-development that we’re proud to launch during our run for Generation X, Y, Z at Long Beach Playhouse. If you love new artistic works that explore different mediums - both physical and digital - be sure to tune into our season this coming year. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
I hope you are just as excited as we are to bring this year’s 3-part season to the Long Beach & Los Angeles community: the devised production of Generation X, Y, Z at Long Beach Playhouse in March; the play-in-progress for our New Works Pipeline in collaboration with Malachi dre Beasley in the summer; and the reprise of Chiu’s Haunted Drive Thru for the Halloween season; with a sporadic bonus of our Zine-in-develpoment. We at (un)defined arts collective believe deeply in the arts community that makes up LA & LB, and can’t wait to lift up artists who are already doing the work that so many of us long to see in our communities.
And it starts with you and your support for local artists. We hope to see you at our shows & events very soon.
Carolina Pilar Xique
Co-Producing Artistic Director