Help Me Bring Querencia to the Stage!

I am about to embark on a fun personal journey bringing to life my play Querencia. If you know me from “back then”, then you know at one point in my life I was heavily involved in the theater world. And if you REALLY know me, then you know that I stayed passionate and connected with this world. After so many years of living in my head, I finally wrote my first play and did my first reading in December, 2020. I titled it “Querencia”, after my favorite song from Simon Diaz .

 

Querencia is about a Venezuelan immigrant family dealing with the trials and tribulations of living in America while still connected to their land of origin. It’s about assimilation and resistance, celebration and grief. The process of shedding former identities while discovering new identities that brings us closer to our authentic selves.

Querencia is about the loving nostalgia we feel of the past. What happens to us when we leave everything we know to survive? Who do we become? Four characters will explore this question with us.

This is about what used to be vs. our complex presents and the uncertainty of our futures. Querencia is a snapshot into the lives of an immigrant family and I can’t wait to put it out in the world. This is an immigrant play, a Queer Play, a Latinx play, a family play, a political play, a LOVE play, a friendship play. It’s a story for all of us, and I hope you see some part of yourself in it.

 

In order to make this magic happen, here's a DREAM budget of what it would take to put together a staged reading of Querencia:

 

Venue and Production crew - $3000

(including theater space rental, equipment, stage management, lighting, sound, direction, dramaturgy)

Actors' time - $1200

Stage directions- $50

Reading/printing supplies - $100

Contingency/ misc expenses - $205

Rehearsal Space - $100

 

Total - $4,655

 

Updates so far:

• I have already raised $500 back in May (Thank you to my first sponsors! <3)
• I found a beautiful space in Jamaica, Queens to bring it to life, at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. The neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens has a special place in my heart because it is also where I started doing theater as a college student at York College.

 

 

• The director of the staged reading will be the amazing Hazel Hernandez
• We are currently casting for the roles
• We have a film crew (Thank you, Particle Productions!)
• We have confirmed a date for the staged reading of Querencia: September 11th! SAVE THE DATE!

 

Help us Dream! Help us bring it to life! Every little bit counts, I hope the numbers above help inform your decision.

 

** A donation of $15-$20 gets you a seat to the Staged Reading on September 11th in NYC**

With love,

Francis and the Querencia Production Team