Play written by students opens Pima Theatre season
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Pima Community CollegePlaywright Milta Ortiz directs student-created play 'Ballet & Bagels.'
Pima Theatre's season 22-23 will begin with an original play written by Pima Community College theatre students: "Ballet & Bagels."
The play is suitable for all ages and was mainly written by student Missy Fowler and playwright and instructor Milta Ortiz, who is directing the play.
Ortiz taught a class in spring 2022 called Principles of Dramatic Structure, in which students and Ortiz worked together to create the draft of a play by the end of the semester. Ortiz said in the press release that over the summer, Fowler worked with Ortiz to rewrite the play. Ortiz then completed the final rewrites.
"It has truly been a collaborative experience, incorporating the ideas and voices of all involved," Ortiz said. "It has been a fun and rewarding experience."
The next step for them to proceed to production was auditions, which led to characters being added to the cast. Ortiz said she realized having different characters from diverse backgrounds "can function as a series of plays, modeled after a series of books, like 'The Baby Sitters' Club.'"
"We added a couple of characters because the students who auditioned for the Bagel Boys worked together during the callback and that's what the play is all about," Ortiz said.
The play tells the story of that diverse group of young people as they navigate friendships. At the center of it is a young Latina girl who aspires to go to the ballet studio next to Nana's Bagel Shop. She not only wants to dance, but she wants to make friends, as it is something she finds herself struggling to do. The Bagel Boys and the Bagel Bros are regulars at the bagel shop. All the ingredients for friendship are there, but the question is if the friendship will come true.
Bianca Morales is TucsonSentinel.com’s Cultural Expression and Community Values reporter, and a Report for America corps member supported by readers like you.
What, where & when
- "Ballet & Bagels"
- Black Box Theatre at Pima West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Rd.
- Oct. 6-16, Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
- Tickets: $10/$5/free for PCC students
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