Cornerstone Theater Produces “Pedro Play”

Pedro Play, a theatrical experience created with and for the San Pedro community. Written by Juliette Carrillo and directed by Cornerstone’s associate artistic director, Bruce Lemon, this production is a love letter to San Pedro that holds up its past as a mirror to the present, so that it can joyfully imagine the direction of its future.

When Jessica is sent to San Pedro on a journalistic assignment, she finds much more than the feature story she expected. A romantic comedy with music, Pedro Play explores the meaning of home in a community in the midst of radical change. The show’s cast features Ruth Livier, Larry Bates, and Cornerstone actor Bahni Turpin alongside San Pedro community members. The cast will be accompanied by a six-piece band playing original music by co-composers David Markowitz and Nehal Shahin.

Pedro Play is a part of the company’s ongoing Change Series. In these volatile times, Cornerstone is undertaking an exploration of how societal change across the country and the globe is impacting local communities and, by extension, the very nature of Cornerstone’s work as a company.

This project began in partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles or HACLA and One San Pedro, the collaborative of developers responsible for Rancho San Pedro’s redevelopment, after the successful run of A Jordan Downs Illumination in 2019. That show was part theatrical performance and part installation produced at the Jordan Downs Housing complex in Watts. To build on the success of that project, Cornerstone was invited by HACLA to meet the Rancho San Pedro housing community in 2020, undergoing its own redevelopment that will drastically transform it. A few years later, Cornerstone produced a reading of an original play, Soccer Is Love/El Fútbol Es Amor, written by Jeanette Godoy and created with and for residents of Rancho San Pedro in the cast and in the audience. After this experience it was evident that the greater community of San Pedro was an epicenter of change, and longtime Cornerstone ensemble member Juliette Carrillo was commissioned to learn about, research, and write a script with and for the community.

Juliette reflects: “When we first began our conversations about doing a project in San Pedro, Angela Romero — a self-proclaimed San Pedro historian — was one of our partners. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Angela, as she died before I began my San Pedro journey. This story is (very) loosely inspired by her experience of San Pedro, and contains many lines that she spoke at one time or another. One of her mottos was “Keep San Pedro Cozy” and much of the impetus of this play is based on her wisdom.”

Pedro Play

Performances for all tickets are pay-what-you-can reservable through Eventbrite

Time: 8 p.m., Oct. 19, 20 and 2 and 8 p.m., Oct. 21 

Cost: Free

Details: https://tinyurl.com/Pedro-play-tickets 

Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W 6th St., San Pedro