Activating Communities in Performance
Our panelists, Rose Portillo, Giovanni Ortega, and Sefa Aina, will join the Department of Performance Studies in a conversation about how they activate communities through their own disciplines and positions in the community. They will further examine the importance of activating marginalized communities in artistic spaces as well as the role of building community through performance as activation. “Activation” of being present, being vocal, being visible, being human. How does one galvanize their own identities for the impact of many? What power can be found in this engagement?
This event was curated by M.A. Candidate and Graduate Assistant Fluffy Andres Aguilar.
Bios:
Rose Portillo - Rose is a 40 yr Veterana of theater, film and television. Her career began with a lead role in Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit creating the role of Della (original L.A. production, Broadway, and film), and more recently appeared in its LA revival as Mama Reyna. Other highlights in a long career include starring in the award-winning film …and the earth did not swallow him based on the ground-breaking novel by Tomás Rivera; performing in the San Francisco Symphony’s production Peer Gynt, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; performing at Disney Hall with the LA Philharmonic in the 2-character play Mother Goose, and performing the lead role in Cherrie Moraga’s The Mathematics of Love at Brava Theater in San Fransisco. Her voice-over work includes narrating the award-winning documentary Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle by Phillip Rodriguez. She developed the role of Abuela Alma and voices Señora Guzman in Disney’s Oscar nominated Encanto. She will soon open in Anna in the Tropics at A Noise Within.
As Associate Director of LA’s acclaimed theater company About…Productions (1992-2016), Rose partnered with Theresa Chavez on more than 9 critically acclaimed theater productions as co-author/co-director and actor. Other collaborators included Alejandro Escovedo, Luis Perez of Los Lobos, and many other well-known artists.
A respected master teaching artist, Rose also founded About…Production’s Young Theaterworks, creating programs which target youth in Continuation/Options schools; the program has been featured in the LA TIMES and on NPR. In addition, she has developed program content for Shakespeare Center LA’s Will Power to Youth and Veterans in the Arts programs, California Institute of the Artsʼ Community Arts Partnership (CAP), Plaza de la Raza, and LACER - all received the Nation’s Coming Up Taller Award. Currently, she is developing a community-based work about Highland Park for Outside In Theatre.
At the invitation of Pomona College (2007-present), Rose designed, and continues to teach and direct ‘Theater with Young Audiences’ in which college students engage with middle and high school students from the city of Pomona to create original work and witness the power of theater to transform. She has also created devised work with youth through Pomona College’s P.A.Y.S. program and Pitzer College’s Native Youth to College program.
She has been a California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence recipient, Writer-in-Residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts and was the first Artist-in-Residence (with Theresa Chavez) at the University of California, Merced.
Honors include: The Los Angeles Womens Theater Festival’s Maverick Award;
La Opinionʼs Mujeres Destacadas Award; Playwrightsʼ Arena Lee Melville Award for outstanding contributions to the L.A. Theater Community; Recognitions by the City of Los Angeles for various artistic contributions.
Rose’s home and visual artwork have been also been featured in the LA Times, local television, and on the podcast Home: Stories From LA.
Giovanni Ortega was recently commissioned by San Diego Rep to write The Butterfly of Chula Vista. In 2016, Ortega started The Body Series at the Haque Centre of Acting and Creativity in Singapore. The devised plays include Creation of My Body, Words of My Body, Thoughts of My Body and Map of My Body. They have also been workshopped at the National Theatre of Parramatta (Sydney) and East West Players (LA). Written commissions include National Poetry Festival Singapore - Benches, Palindromes, Belonging (film) & Atlas (film) as well as East West Players' Criers for Hire & ALLOS, The Story of Carlos, Bulosan. Directing credits include: Scrimmage (East West Players), Lena Passes (Pasadena Playhouse), The Secret Sharer (DNA Works) Pogi Boy, The Hotel Play (Associate Director, Center Theatre Group/ Playwrights’ Arena), La Madre de Todos los Exilios (Bogotá), Cabaret, The Musical, The House of the Spirits, Spring Awakening, Urinetown, In the Next Room, The Government Inspector, Convergence Zone, Siti Rubiyah (Singapore). Directing Film Credits: Kanto Cuentos: Stories from the Pandemic, Cuentos from My Barrio, A Hero of Our Time, Upon the Fragile Shore (LA Asian Pacific Film Festival). As an actor he originated the role of President Marcos in Imelda, The Musical (East West Players), Romance of Magno Rubio (Inside the Ford - LA Weekly award nomination), Dogeaters, The Refugee Hotel (Center Theatre Group). He performed as Tumao in the operetta Aswang, Ibrahim in Zenaida (AFI) and the Dance Theatre piece Lakbai Diwa (Kularts). Giovanni is currently an Assistant Professor in Pomona College’s Department of Theatre for the Claremont Colleges and the Artistic Director for FilAm Arts Teatro.
Sefa Aina The 8th of 9 children born to parents from the US (colonial) Territory of American Samoa, Sefa was a first-generation low-income college student raised in Southeast San Diego. Upon graduating from Sweetwater High School, Sefa attended the US Naval Academy on a football scholarship, but ultimately finished college at UCLA. Once at UCLA, Sefa became actively engaged in the struggle to create access to education opportunities for Pacific Islander youth in Inglewood, Carson, Compton and Long Beach. This program today, PIER (Pacific Island Education and Retention), has institutional support from UCLA and has been a constant in the struggle to educate overlooked and underserved Pacific Islander youth for nearly two decades.
Sefa is currently the Associate Dean and Director of the Draper Center for Community Partnerships at Pomona College. Professionally, he has served as an academic and student-organizational advisor, as well as an instructor for Asian American Studies programs at UCLA and California State University, Fullerton. Sefa has taught courses in contemporary Pacific Islander issues, community engagement, and has done countless workshops and talks at colleges and universities throughout the country.
In the community, Sefa is a founding member and current Board Chair of EPIC (Empowering Pacific Islander Communities) and has been active on the advisory boards of the PIHCP (Pacific Islander Health Careers PIPELINE) Project, NHPI (Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander) Alliance for Health, Pacific Islander Cancer Control Network (PICCN) Samoan Community Advisory Board, and The AIGA (All Islands Getting Along) Foundation. Sefa is also a founding member of NPIEN (National Pacific Islander Educators Network) and the UCLA PIER Project. During the pandemic, Sefa has organized with other Pacific Islander leaders, some of whom are also UCLA alums, in the Inland Empire to address the disproportionate impact that COVID 19 has had on the Pacific Islander community. Together, they’ve formed the PIECE (Pasefika Inland Empire Coalition for Empowerment ).
In September of 2010, Sefa was appointed by President Obama to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Sefa served as the Vice-Chair of the Commission from 2010 - 2014. He has also been a Reader for the APIASF (Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund), and AIGCS (American Indian Graduate Center Scholars) Gates Millennium Scholarship. Through his work on college campuses and in the larger community, Sefa has demonstrated his commitment to increasing the support and opportunities for non-traditional, marginalized, first generation students.
Sefa married his high school sweetheart and fellow UCLA Alum, Belinda Aina ‘95; and together they have 3-children, Marina, Marcus and Malie.