18 Jul Film screening – “The Rest I Make Up” – on July 27th at #BAPF2018
We are kicking off our 2018 Theater Professionals Weekend with this exceptional, award-winning documentary about Maria Irene Fornes, in the presence of Director Michelle Memran. The FREE screening starts at 4pm on JULY 27 at our festival venue, Potrero Stage, and will be followed by the Theater Professionals Welcome Event (6pm) and the staged reading of Jon Bernson’s play When Lighting The Voids (8pm).
Please RSVP on our Facebook page or by sending an email to hello@playwrightsfoundation.org.
Maria Irene Fornes has been called the greatest and least known dramatist of our time. She’s written over 40 plays, won nine OBIE awards, and mentored thousands of playwrights across the globe. Off-Broadway’s
But Fornes did not set out to become a playwright. After arriving in New York City from Cuba in 1945, she worked mostly in textiles and even traveled as a painter to Paris in the 1950s. Not until the 1960s did Fornes write what she considered to be her first real play—Tango Palace—which catapulted her into the vanguard of the nascent Off-Off Broadway theater movement and a downtown DIY aesthetic that continues to thrive today. Often referred to as the American theater’s “Mother Avant-Garde,” Fornes steadfastly refused to adhere to any rules or formulas in playwriting, choosing instead to follow her characters’ lead in order to better get at her core question: What does it mean to be a human being?
As a teacher and director of the INTAR Hispanic Playwrights in Residence Lab in the 1980s, she mentored a generation of Latino/a playwrights, including Cherríe Moraga, Migdalia Cruz, Nilo Cruz, Caridad Svich, and Eduardo Machado. In 2005, while presenting Fornes with the Theater Practitioner Award at TCG’s conference in Seattle, Machado said: “She told us that we were going to change the theater, that we were going to create a world where Latino writers in America had a voice, and she willed it into all of us. And none of us would be here without her. She is the architect of how we create theater, how we teach, and the way we lead our lives.” Fornes celebrated her 88th birthday on May 14th, 2018.
There is a The Rest I Make Up Facebook page where you can follow the film’s progress; after #BAPF2018, it will be returning to MoMA from August 23th. Watch the trailer and come join us for this special screening. Get your festival tickets today.
The Rest I Make Up (US, 2018, 79 minutes, Color, English ) – Friday, July 27, 4pm @ Potrero Stage – 1695, 18th Street, San Francisco
Screening sponsored by the Dramatists Guild.
Distributed by Women Make Movies
WINNER! Audience Award, Best Documentary: Frameline Film Festival 2018
“The film’s title, The Rest I Make Up, is taken from lyrics to one of Irene’s songs in Promenade: “I know everything. Half of it I really know. The rest I make up.” It is a testament to the way life can creatively increase even as it is cognitively disappearing, and to the way a teacher can continue to lead a student even as the student begins to lead the teacher. Over the past fifty years, there have been thousands of artists and writers who have worked with Irene or taken her legendary workshops. And each of them has an Irene story to tell. The Rest I Make Up is mine.”
“This film can be thought of as the last great work of Fornes’s prolific career.”
Gwendolyn Alker, Theatre Topics
“A story of spontaneity, creativity, genius and madness. It showcases the life, inspiration and virtuosity of Fornes.”
Miami Herald
“The film’s overarching theme of life’s ephemeral nature paired with the deep friendship and vital creativity that percolates between this young writer-turned-filmmaker and the iconic playwright offer a much-needed and refreshingly loving take on aging and illness.”
Artburst Miami
“Memran’s documentary is as untraditional and unpredictable as the woman herself. In it, Memran manages to take us through Irene’s extraordinary life, while capturing the essence of what made it extraordinary – all while transitioning into an impressive artist in her own right.”
NBC News Latino
“A tender exploration of Fornes’ life and the meaning of memory.”
Conde Nast’s them
“Fabulous. The Rest I Make Up is as inspiring as its subject.”
San Francisco Bay Times
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