YOU'RE GONNA CRY

YOU'RE GONNA CRY
A Solo Theater Work-In-Progress
by PAUL S. FLORES

Directed by Brian Freeman
Videography by Haldun Morgan

Thursday February 19, 2009 @ 7pm*
Friday February 20, 2009 @ 8pm**

RED POPPY ART HOUSE

2698 Folsom Street @ 23rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.826.2402
www.redpoppyarthouse.org

Tickets $7-$10 Sliding Scale available at the door

How could gentrification be violent if artists started it?

Like many young artists, Paul Flores came to San Francisco looking to find a community and establish himself. You're Gonna Cry is about the hard realities of life in San Francisco's Mission District, and the offbeat and humorous characters who also make it a place to love.

*2/19 (Thurs) Also features guest performances in homage to Nuyorican poet Pedro Pietri featuring influential local poets Alfonso Texidor, Avotjca, QR Hand and Marina Lavaille. w/ dj lucha grande

**2/20 (Fri) Also features Youth Speaks with James Kass, local narrator Norman Zelaya and Taco Shop Poet Adrian Arancibia reading from his new book Atacama Poems. w/ dj lucha grande

Check out video of Paul @ http://vimeo.com/2587678

ABOUT YOU'RE GONNA CRY:

You're Gonna Cry is a work-in-progress, original multimedia solo theater piece refelecting on Flores' own relationship to the Mission District Latino community where he spent ten years developing as a community artist and witnessing the force of gentrification that displaced many Latino residents and fellow artists, as the neighborhood went through a cultural shift beginning in 1995 when the SF Chronicle dubbed the neighborhood the "New Bohemia". Flores' story addresses his search for identity as an artist while pursuing an ideal/romantic vision of the Mission District as the Latino cultural oasis that it was famed to be in the 1960's and 70's.

The piece includes spoken word, personal narrative, character monologues, puppets as well as a visual element - with the work of video artist Haldun Morgan -to explore Flores' personal journey as he developed into a Mission based poet, youth mentor, and Latino community activist against the backdrop of San Francisco's "Dot-Com" boom. Flores follows changes in the Mission's Latino community dynamics, including mass evictions, gang injunctions and immigration enforcement raids largely brought on by the affects of gentrification, ultimately leading him to arrive at a wiser, realistic understanding of an artist and his community.

Playwright and director Brian Freeman's expertise in developing solo performance will be instrumental in shaping Flores' first solo theater project. And the two nights of work-in-progress at Red Poppy Art House are designed to get community feedback in preparation for the premiere in May 2009.