CRITIC’S CHOICE
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"A refreshingly unsentimental and hilarious trek. Culture Clash staple Ric Salinas has a field day.
Cris Franco’s knack for funny lines is everywhere, his sense of behavioral specifics acute, and Salinas gives it his all. Whether embodying the chain-smoking American “munchkin with emphysema” whose broken-down VW permits Dad’s initial immigration, or shifting between altar boy Cris and the priest whose rapid-fire Mass permits him to make his golf game, Salinas delivers the aerodynamic goods. Under Valerie Dunlap’s streamlined direction, the piece zips along. "
— David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times
PROFOUNDLY SATISFYING
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"Ric Salinas is magnetic as he rides to the American Dream in 57 CHEVY. The production offers a bracing, funny take on a Latino family’s journey toward middle-class prosperity, as well as the whitewashing effects of cultural assimilation." — Jenny Lower, LA Weekly
RECOMMENDED
"Evoked nostalgia for a grander and gentler mid-20th century America that now is history."
— Deborah Klugman, Stage Raw
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
"The show’s bright exterior doesn’t hide its powerful message: what defines an American isn’t your birthplace, but rather your determination to self-actualize. Smartly directed by the innovative Valerie Dunlap, something ground-breaking is taking place every night that 57 CHEVY is performed."
—Dale Reynolds, Latin Heat
FAN FAVORITE
"Impeccable acting, insightful book, imaginative direction!" — LATC Patron Tweet
BIOGRAPHIES
CRIS FRANCO
playwright, co-creator
Mexican-born, Angelino-raised Cristobal ‘Cris’ Franco has combined his bilingual/bi-cultural roots with his natural comedic bent to achieve his life’s goal: to create engaging, intelligent, humorous works that both entertain and acculturate their audience as to the unique contemporary ‘American-Latino’ experience. The result has been a multi-faceted, award-winning career as a writer, actor, producer, stand-up comedian, talk-show host, TV journalist, and openly gay activist who has broken down barriers and built cultural bridges by way of communication through comedy.
Cris’s career spanning thirty-plus years includes multiple acting and writing credits for both stage and screen, including works important in the history of Latino television—writer for the first Chicano sitcom, “A.K.A. Pablo”; Head of Comedy for first the bilingual talk show, “El Show de Paul Rodriguez”; cast member of the original company of ZOOT SUIT by Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino. Cris has been a part of many award-winning projects—writer/performer for the Emmy Award-winning PBS series, ‘Square One Television’ and writer for the Alma Award-winning children’s series, ‘Puzzle Place’. He has garnered awards for his ten years of work on PBS, especially for his critically acclaimed talk show, ‘The Cris Franco Show.’ In 2011, for his comprehensive and enduring work in documenting the contemporary American Latino experience in “a bold, inventive and truthful manner,” his alma mater, California State University Northridge, requested that Cris donate his papers and original show tapes to their media archives. While compiling, reviewing and cataloguing these documents, Cris began reflecting on his life’s journey and started penning his play 57 CHEVY.
RIC SALINAS
actor
Ric Salinas is an original member of the critically acclaimed performance troupe, Culture Clash—a group who has forged a unique role on the American stage. As a theatre artist, writer, social commentator and activist, Ric and his co-creators, Richard Montoya and Herbert Siquenza, have written over a dozen plays and performed over 5, 000 shows nationwide. The trio made television history twice: being the first Latino comedy troupe to have a nationally broadcast sketch TV show (Fox TV), and to have their serio-comedy historical anthology, Bowl of Beings, presented on PBS’s Great Performances series.
Film and TV credits include: Encino Man, Hero, Mi Vida Loca, Larry Crowne, and “In Living Color.” For the past two years Ric has been starring in a critically successful national tour of Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo. Ric directs for Teatro Zinzanni, a Cirque du Soleil-type show, and is proud to have three published plays: Life, Death and Revolutionary Comedy; Culture Clash in AmeriCCa; and Oh, Wild West: The California Plays. Ric—who graduated with two B.A.s from San Francisco State University—is proud to have taught the course, “Theatre as Pedagogy in Education” at UCLA.
VALERIE DUNLAP
director, co-creator
Valerie’s academic credits include faculty positions in the Drama Departments of San Diego State University and California State University Northridge. As a composer she’s worked with Bette Midler and Marc Shaiman; choreographed “Brooklyn South” (CBS Network); music directed for PBS’s multi-Emmy Award winning “The Cris Franco Show.” She created the musical teen revue, OUR TIME, based on the songs of Stephen Sondheim; was lyricist, co-composer and co-librettist for the ever-popular, rollicking wild west musical THE SILVER SPITTOON SALOON. Valerie is also the sole creator of ECHO/RE-ECHO, an acapella musical that received special recognition at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
