The Soccer Player In The Closet
February 14th - March 17th, 2019
By: rYAN OLIVEIRA • DIRECTED BY: CHRISTOPHER SYLVIE
Christy Webber Landscapes | Farm & Garden center / 2833 W Chicago Ave,, chicago, il
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
February 14 - March 17, 2019
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 7pm - 9pm
The Soccer Player in the Closet tells the story of Cristiano, a top-ranked competitive e-soccer player, who hasn’t stepped out of the apartment he's lived in for three years. But finally, he leaves the apartment...and behind him, a certain "stench" his cousin and landlady can't seem to Febreeze. Through Internet magic and memories over video games, they work to unearth the root of the rotten juju. But what they uncover are painful secrets about themselves and Cristiano – and how difficult it is to get someone to move on from the closet they've built for themselves.
The play is mostly written in English with pockets of Spanish and Portuguese. English speaking audiences will be able to understand the other two languages based on the tone, rhythm, acting, and context. The Soccer Player in the Closet is meant to both challenge and immerse audiences through the multiple languages living in the play.
Oliveira wrote The Soccer Player in the Closet from the center of a complex consisting of depressions, queerness, family acceptance, and sporting communities. Oliveira says, “I wrote this play in 2015 in a depression after moving to Chicago. I recently came out to my mother, which didn't end well. I lay in bed a lot over several months, trying to recover from personal failures as a playwright and human being. From those failures sprung this play. Queer loneliness is a looming theme in my work. Gay men of color don't have many healthy models of masculinity so we often have to create them from damaged goods - machismo, colorism, silence. Depression is rarely talked about in Latinx communities; it's often received as inadequacy. ”
CAST
Cristiano - Rolando Serrano
Milena - Viviana Uribe
Leona - Amelia Bethel
Colbi - Julian Serna
Bastian - Alex Roggow
PRODUCTION TEAM
Stage Manager - Sunniva Holmlund
Dramaturge - Hannah Herrera Greenspan
Assistant Director - Heather Jencks
Scenic / Props Designer - Hayley Wallenfeldt
Lighting Designer - Benjamin Hampikian
Sound Designer - Xavier Lagunas
Violence Choreographer - Will Bennett
Intimacy Choreographer - Heather Jencks
Costume Designer - Satoe Schechner
Photographer - Matthew Gregory Hollis
