"Word for Word’s Citizen is as lush and penetrating as a Sonoma County grapevine."
—Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
"...Gendell Hing-Hernández [provides] brisk, unsentimental direction and [an] eye for the comedic."
—Jean Schiffman, Local News Matters
"Citizen is one of the best productions ever from Word for Word."
—Patrick Thomas, Talkin' Broadway
Z Space and Word for Word present:
Citizen by Greg Sarris
Directed by Gendell Hing-Hernández
October 18 to November 12
in Z Below
Word for Word returns this fall with a full production of a story by long time company friend and collaborator Greg Sarris. “Citizen” tells the tale of Salvador, born in the U.S., raised in Mexico, son of an American Indian mother and a Mexican father. He has returned to California to find his mother, or rather, her grave. Working in the fields and ranches around Santa Rosa, he meets his mother’s family, encountering both kindness and opportunism, as well as glimmers of hope. An American citizen, who speaks no English, Salvador procures his proof of citizenship and begins to discover his true identity and what it means to belong.
A Night with the Author, Greg Sarris
Thursday, October 26th is a special night with the author. Join us for an after show conversation with Greg Sarris.
Directed by Gendell Hing-Hernández+
CAST
Christian Jimenez Salvador
L. Duarte Eldine
Lisa Hori-Garcia*+ Candy, Ensemble
Rudy Guerrero* Al, Ensemble
Ixtlán* Marco
Carolina Morones Ofelia, Ensemble
Ryan Tasker*+ Mike, Ensemble
PRODUCTION
Scenic Designer: Mikiko Uesugi**
Lighting Designer: Brittany Mellerson
Composer and Sound Designer: David Molina
Associate Sound Designer: Matt Stines
Costume Designer: Nolan Miranda
Assistant Costume Designer: Armando Breiz
Prop Designer: Leah Hammond
Dramaturg & EDI Consultant: Fran Astorga
Voice & Text Coach: Stephanie Hunt+
Assistant Voice & Text Coach: Tiffany Cartagena
Production Manager: Jim Cave+
Stage Manager: Karen Runk*
Asst. Stage Manager: Theodore Cordano
Lead Production Technician: Daniel Hall
Casting: Casting Collective
Press Agent: David Hyry & Associates
Promotional and Production Photography: Robbie Sweeny
*Member, AEA
**Member, United Scenic Artists
+Word for Word Core Company member
Author and Chairman of Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Greg Sarris
In 1994 we produced a show, one of our first mainstage shows, from Greg’s book Grand Avenue, a novel of interlinked short stories about contemporary, urban American Indians and other marginalized people who live in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. We were struck by the theatrical potential of the stories and their characters who were seldom seen in fiction at that time, and rarely seen on stage.
We invited Greg to the opening night of his story “Slaughterhouse,” and as he often tells it, he came to the theater not knowing what to expect – “They’re performing my story – word for word? What the heck is that?” – but left the theater a fan. And we’ve been mutual admirers ever since. That led to many more wonderful collaborations, most recently between our arts education program, Youth Arts, and FIGR’s youth summer camp programs.
"Word for Word’s wonderful productions make me feel that I am a smarter and better writer than I can possibly be."
—Greg Sarris
“If you’re a short story writer, one of the coolest things that can happen to your work is to have Word for Word translate it to the stage."
—Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
"Word for Word’s powers of transformation, its essential theatricality, comes through and gratifies..."
—Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle
