NOTE: This article has been updated from the original print edition.
A play about San Pedro, performed (mostly) by community members, will premiere at the Warner Grand Theatre, running October 19-21 (Thurs-Sat).
The aptly titled Pedro Play, written by Juliette Carrillo and directed by Bruce Lemon, is the culmination of a project that began in 2018 as part of Cornerstone Theater Company’s Change Series, which sought to explore the rapidly changing city of Los Angeles.
The project began as a partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) and One San Pedro, developers behind Rancho San Pedro’s upcoming redevelopment project. After a successful run of A Jordan Downs Illumination in 2019 in Watts, HACLA invited Cornerstone to meet with the Rancho San Pedro housing community in 2020. That meeting eventually culminated in a reading of an original play, Soccer is Love/El Amor es Fútbol, written by Jane Godoy and produced with and for the Rancho San Pedro housing community.
Realizing major changes were happening not only at Rancho San Pedro but throughout the entire community, Cornerstone commissioned ensemble member Juliet Carrillo to research and write a new play capturing the town’s current climate as it weathers the effects of a significant redevelopment project like West Harbor and the influx of mixed-use apartment buildings in Downtown San Pedro, which are expected to bring thousands of new residents to town.
Pedro Play, a romantic comedy with music, tells the story of Jessica, who is sent to San Pedro on a journalistic assignment. She finds more than she bargained for as she travels through San Pedro’s rich and colorful history and quickly discovers a community in the midst of radical change.
The show’s cast includes professional actors Ruth Livier, Larry Bates, Bahni Turpin, and San Pedro community members. The cast will be accompanied by a six-piece band playing original music by David Markowitz and Nehal Shahin.
“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,” Carrillo said in a statement. “But during the hunting-and-gathering stage of this process, I’ve listened to her podcasts, read her articles, watched Zoom recordings, and spoken to many of her friends. I feel like she’s been by my side throughout the writing of this play. 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.”
Carrillo, a Yale School of Drama grad living in Long Beach, began developing the script in early 2022 by interviewing several San Pedro locals to capture the unique characteristics that make San Pedro what it is.
“I find [San Pedro] so much more interesting than Long Beach,” Carrillo said in an interview last month. “The complexity, the character, the geography of it… and, of course, the gentrification. It is such an interesting time [in San Pedro]. I feel lucky to be a part of its evolution and transition.”
Pedro Play is produced in partnership with the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District, with funding provided through a Creative Corps Grant funded by the California Arts Council and administered by the Arts Council for Long Beach.
Pedro Play will have four performances at the Warner Grand Theatre (478 W. 6th St.): Thursday, October 19, at 8 p.m.; Friday, October 20, at 8 p.m.; and two performances on Saturday, October 21, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can with a suggested donation of $20 and available at cornerstonetheater.org. spt
(Note: There are no Sunday performances. This article has been updated from the original print edition.)