About the Series:
Braata Productions team of collaborating research-writers have used true stories as the catalyst for an original series of plays: “Caribbean in Queens: a Borough, a People, a Vibe, in a Time of COVID 19.” The characters and situations we bring to life in each radio play will focus on a different Caribbean-American household, how they are threaded together by living in a 21st America. How people play and work, cook and clean, assimilate or not, raise children, practice religious beliefs, rituals and rites: marriage and intimacy, birth and death. How people struggle, fight, and reconcile, are all here in these five plays for audiences to experience.
Show #3 : “BODEGA DE LA SOL”
Written by Janelle Lawrence (they/them)
Directed by Antonio Miniño
Featured Voices:
ABUELA/COMP 1 : Jessica Carmona
LUCIA/COMP 2 : Gyana Mella
ROBERTO/PERSON 1 : Ian Blanco
EDUARDO : Kervin Peralta
WAITER : Tori Lanzillo
RAUL/COMP 3/ROOMMATE 2/HOMIE 1/CHAR : Ana Lia Arias Garrido
PERSON 2/CUSTOMER 1/ROOMMATE 1/HOMIE 2 : Rigo Vindiola
POLICE : Kervin Peralta
AMI 1/CASS : Pilar Gonzalez
AMI 2 : Leonardo Gonzalez Dominguez
Music & Production by Joel Edwards
Music Composition by Janelle Lawrence
Episode 1: The Origin
At Bodega De la Sol, COVID hasn’t stopped the doors from opening; which keeps the Sol family somewhere in-between safety and illusion. With 4 generations in one home, the diversity of realities becomes blaringly loud when they have to sit with each other & live with big personalities. Welcome to Bodega De la Sol, choose your own story.
Episode 2: AISLE 3
Episode 3: AISLE 5, HOME SUPPLIES
Episode 4: COUNTER GRABS
Show #2 : “WILL WE MAKE IT?”
Written by Nyanda Cammock
Directed by Teisha Duncan
Featured Voices:
KATRINA: Lydia Eku
MERYL : Julene Robinson
TONEY : Michael Sean Harris
LOCAL NEWS REPORTER : Teisha Duncan
Music & Production by Joel Edwards
Music Composition by Mijanne Webster
Narration by Julene Robinson
Episode 1: A Jamaican-American in London… and COVID hits!
Katrina Holgate is away from her home in Queens, NY working in London; this is her first time being so far away, which at times takes its toll as she is very close with her Jamaican parents: Meryl and Toney Holgate. While in London, there is an outbreak of the Coronavirus. Katrina and a male coworker find themselves stuck in London after being left behind out of a group of seven people. The race is on to make it home in time before the lockdown starts in London. Will they be able to make it?
Episode 2: Far from Queens, keeping together when being kept apart
Katrina and her co-worker are still trying to make it back to the United States from London; this is proving more difficult than expected. Back in Queens her parents, Meryl and Toney, are praying for her safe return. With the Coronavirus on the rise across the world, it is stressful for this Jamaican family to be apart at such a crucial time and it is also taking its toll individually. Will the world make it through Covid19?
Episode 3: Homecoming, but coming home looks different in a pandemic
The lockdown. After returning to Queens from London, Katrina finds herself in a precarious position as her return has prompted a different emotion from what both she and her parents expected. To cope, Katrina is doing what she feels is best for her: therapy. For old-fashioned Jamaican father Toney, therapy isn’t his first option for his daughter. As Meryl tries to keep the peace, a lot is exposed when an argument erupts between father and daughter. Will the family make it through quarantine closer or will they be ripped apart?
Show #1 : FLOR
In a time where Social Media and Zoom are the only thing keeping us connected, Flor Aponte has decided she will bloom again. How? Pues, the only way a Boricua knows how, pa'lante. Flor is an audio diary of a Puerto Rican family's hustle as they navigate a doomed world and find ways to become the better out of it.
CREATIVE TEAM
Directed by Gineiris Garcia
Inspired by Interviews with Rosa Mendez
Voice Actors:
FLOR: Jessica Carmona
VALENTINA: Jennica Carmona
DJ/CHEO: Leonardo Gonzalez Dominguez
HECTOR: Cedric Leiba Jr.
TITO/ROB: Rigoberto Vindiola
MARIANNA/ENSEMBLE: Michelle Reiss
Assistants: Leonardo Gonzalez Dominguez and Rigoberto Vindiola
Episode 1: Meeting Flor & her family
As she starts to enjoy life again, the whole world shuts down, leaving Flor without her groove back, and worse, without her Karaoke. What does a recently retired Puerto Rican woman do when everything seems to keep changing on her?
Episode 2: The weight of the pandemic and the BLM protests set in...
After helping his mother Flor find purpose, Hector finds himself in the midst of a cultural awakening he doesn't understand. Questions about culture, love, and communication plague him as a promotion in his job looms and the world gets angrier.
Episode 3: In the final episode of ‘Flor’ it’s an unexpected family member who turns things around.
Tito was always the simple boy. The family man. The working class hero, until his jobs dry up, and the world took all his plans away. So what did he do? Become a Tik Tok Star!