KST Presents Fall 2022 Freshworks Artist Alyssa Velazquez: It is from her these seeds are sown
EAST LIBERTY, PA (September 26, 2022) — It is from her these seeds are sown is a mango-infused story about second generation Latinx family building, personal desires, and mother daughter relationships by emerging playwright and KST Fall 2022 Freshworks resident artist Alyssa Velazquez. A deeply personal exploration of gender, pregnancy, autonomy, and choice, Velazquez’s work balances cultural critique with an expression of love that expands the canon of Puerto-Rican representation in theater.
It is from her these seeds are sown follows a young wife in Brooklyn, New York who is expecting her first child and craving a mango, but what begins as an infatuation or a pregnancy craving gives way to an obsession. As her bodily hunger for mangos — a fruit that originally made its way to Puerto Rico from India by way of colonialism — grows, so too do the external tensions to become a mother. Ultimately, the protagonist is pushed to reimagine the nature of the life she wants to create, and the audience is asked to reconsider whether the eventuality of motherhood is really as “natural” as we’ve come to believe.
“No one is going to look at a mango the same way again.” — Alyssa Velazquez
This Freshworks showing of It is from her these seeds are sown is an immersive and participatory excerpt of the longer play. Set in the rehearsal room, audience members can opt into the world of the play by volunteering to read one of the roles aloud. In doing so, not only are audience members invited to experience the work, but they are encouraged to participate in bringing it to life. Audience members who would like to participate can express their interest during ticketing at kelly-strayhorn.org.
“I thought, what about taking the next step, that closed reading between loved ones and friends, and opening it up to the audience? What if you were to allow the audience into the process, a peek behind the curtain, if you will, of what it takes to make a play?” — Alyssa Velazquez
KST presents It is from her these seeds are sown on Friday & Saturday, October 7 – 8 at KST’s Alloy Studios, 5530 Penn Ave. For press comps, please contact lizrudnick@kelly-strayhorn.org
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Alyssa Velazquez is a writer specializing in the material culture of gender, performance, and women’s studies. Prior to living and working in Pittsburgh, she was the Curatorial Research Associate at Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina. She also assisted in the development of exhibitions at Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York. Velazquez holds a MA in decorative arts, design history, and material culture from the Bard Graduate Center and a BA in history and anthropology from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. She organized Locally Sourced, highlighting new work by the Pittsburgh region’s most talented present-day makers of functional goods and furnishings at Carnegie Museum of Art. Other projects include Extraordinary Ordinary Things and Sharif Bey: Excavations. She has published articles in AutoStraddle, GRLSQUASH, The Establishment, Women’s History Magazine, The Fashion Studies Journal, and Votive Project. Velazquez was selected in 2021 to participate in María Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop, sponsored by the Latinx Theatre Commons that included writers from India, Mexico, Argentina, Canada and Puerto Rico. In 2022 she was writer in residence at City Books, Pittsburgh’s oldest bookstore.