21st annual Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration to host tribute to Carlos Morton

Acclaimed playwright Carlos Morton will be the subject of a career tribute during the 21st annual Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration (BLPC) Aug. 28-Sept. 3 at Texas State University.

The Texas State Department of Theatre and Dance hosts the annual event in collaboration with Humanities Texas. The BLPC will celebrate Morton as the 2023 Distinguished Achievement honoree. Additionally, BLPC will host a playwriting workshop and two staged readings of new works: “Escobar’s Hippo” by Franky D. Gonzalez and “Hurt People” by LaDarrion Williams.

Morton has written more than 100 theatrical productions, both in the U.S. and abroad. His professional credits include the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Denver Center Theatre, La Companía Nacional de México, the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre and the Arizona Theatre Company. He is the author of The Many Deaths of Danny Rosales and Other Plays (1983), Johnny Tenorio and Other Plays (1992), The Fickle Finger of Lady Death (1996), Rancho Hollywood y otras obras del teatro chicano (1999), Dreaming on a Sunday in the Alameda (2004) and Children of the Sun: Scenes for Latino Youth (2008). A former Mina Shaughnessy Scholar and Fulbright Lecturer to Mexico and Poland, Morton holds an M.F.A. in drama from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in theatre from the University of Texas at Austin.

Morton has lived on the border between Mexico and the United States since 1981, teaching at universities in Texas, California and Mexico. He is currently professor emeritus of theater at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The tribute to Morton will take place on Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Patti Strickel Harrison Theatre. The event is open to the public with free admission.

The new play development reading presentation of “Escobar’s Hippo” will take place Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center Recital Hall, followed by a talkback. A homage to the works of Eugène Ionesco (namely “Rhinoceros” and “The Killer”), this play explores through absurdity and comedy the very serious and deadly consequences that come with the surrendering of humanity in favor of bestial urges and self-gratification. Tickets are $10 for the public and $7 for students.

The new play development reading presentation of “Hurt People” by LaDarrion Williams will take place Sept. 3 at noon in the Performing Arts Center Recital Hall, followed by a talkback. This coming-of-age story takes on the art of Black masculinity and sexuality, and examines how true the saying “hurt people, hurt people” is.

Tickets are $10 for the public and $7 for Texas State students.

The BLPC celebrates the voices of Black and Latino playwrights by work-shopping new plays in collaboration with professional directors, actors and university students. For more information, visit https://blpc.finearts.txst.edu/.