Teatro Círculo Commissions a new play by Luis Caballero

To be produced in the Spring of 2022

Thanks to a Round Three Recovery Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, Teatro Círculo has commissioned Luis Caballero to write a new play.  

With rising domestic violence deaths in Puerto Rico and the U.S., Luis Caballero’s new play is a moving story of an Afro-Caribbean Puerto Rican woman who is a victim of domestic violence and whose only refuge from her pain is the music of Donna Summer. 

 

Presently entitled LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY: THE STORY OF DOLORES VERANO, we can already tell from developmental readings that the work is a poetically written piece where fantasy and reality blend behind the inspirational music of Donna Summer’s Last Dance, and becomes an anthem and last chance for abused women.

Asked about this prestigious grant award, Caballero said, 

“I write about social justice issues in my plays.  For example, Mariposa is about a bullied and abused LGBTQ child; La Gringa is about the tug and pull of racial and ethnic identity; Don Quixote in NY explores the mental health crisis in our fair City, and La Lupe is based on the life of the controversial and famous Cuban singer, who was a trailblazer in an industry dominated by men. 

Dolores Summer will be my first play specifically about domestic violence.  I chose to write about this topic because of the situation in my home country, Puerto Rico.  Since COVID one hundred women have already lost their lives to domestic violence by their partners.  These women include a pregnant woman and a transgender woman who asked the police for protection and was ignored. The theme of domestic violence is close to home as my father was an abuser.  This is very typical in Puerto Rico; it is part of the machismo dominance and aggression that is deeply rooted in family dynamics and culture. But now it has a name.”

 

The play will be completed for a May 2022 Mainstage production, will be directed by Luis Caballero and will star Puerto Rican Singer and Actor, Lorraine Vélez. 

LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY: THE STORY OF DOLORES VERANO opens May 12 through May 29, 2022. The play is performed in English with Spanish Overtitles.

To purchase advance tickets to this show and others, go to our Ticketing page.