On the Other Side of the Sea | El Salvador
Playwright - Jorgelina Cerritos
Translator - Margaret Stanton and Anna Donko
Director – Warner Crocker
Synopsis - A deserted beach, a nameless, homeless fisherman and a strictly-by-the-rules census-taker. He desperately needs an ID and she refuses to give him one since he has no “identity.” A sweetly saltwater play about borders, documentation, and a dog.
Originally produced in the English language by The Cherry Arts Inc., Ithaca, NY.
All staged readings begin at 6 PM followed by a talkback and complimentary reception.
Performances are FREE to the public and reservations are not required. DONATIONS help keep the festival free!
Jorgelina Cerritos
Jorgelina Cerritos is a Salvadoran playwright, actor, and university professor. She has written over 30 plays, many of which have been published, staged, and translated in El Salvador and abroad. Cerritos is the recipient of numerous national and international playwriting awards including the Casa de las Américas Literary Award for drama (2010), the George Woodyard Latin American Theater Award (2011), and the Biennial Prize for Women’s Playwriting (2012). She was recognized with the title of Grand Master in playwriting for young audiences, and playwriting for adults, by the Ministry of Culture in El Salvador (2004 & 2013 respectively). In 2018 she created Didascalia, an ongoing playwriting training program; she currently leads Didascalia with the support of Los del Quinto Piso Theatre, a collective with whom she has maintained a stage presence in El Salvador since 2007.
Margaret Stanton
Margaret Stanton (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison), professor emerita at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, taught Spanish and Latin American studies there from 1987 to 2013. Her translations include three pieces in the short story anthology edited by Marjorie Agosín, What Is Secret (Buffalo, NY: White Pine Press, 1995) and The Reef and Exotic Birds: Five Stories with Rare Women by Reina Roffé (New Orleans: University Press ofthe South, 2011).
Anna Kathryn Donko
Anna Kathryn Donko holds a BA in Spanish from Sweet Briar College, an MA in Hispanic Cultures and Literatures, as well as a certificate in Second Language Studies from the University of Kansas, and an MA in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies from the University of Chicago. She has published Spanish-to-English literary translations in a variety of academic journals. International work includes studies at the Universidad de Sevilla; teaching English in Río Bueno, Chile, and learning Maya; as a Foreign Language and Areas Studies fellow in Nahualá, Guatemala. She has taught Spanish at the University of Kansas and University of Chicago, as well as at high schools including Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, where she currently teaches.
Warner Crocker
Warner Crocker (Director) is delighted to return to one of his favorite gigs, The International Voices Project. Before returning to Chicago in 2013 he served as the Artistic Director of Wayside Theatre in Virginia for 15 seasons. Before that stint on the East Coast, he worked for 20 years in Chicago Theatre as Artistic Director for Absolute Theatre Company, New Tuners Theatre, and Pegasus Players, and directed for other Chicago theatres. He has produced and directed more plays than he can count, is the author of several, and has won a few awards along the way including and 2024 Ostrander Award for Best Director and Best Production for The Lehman Trilogy. Other recent highlights include Ink, The Play That Goes Wrong; Shear Madness; Peter Pan, the US premiere of Diamonds and Divas; Junk; Pinocchio; Bunny Bunny Gilda Radner, A Sort of Love Story; The Bridges of Madison County; Boing Boing; Barnum; The Seven-Percent Solution, and The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes.