Plays

I am moved to create work that amplifies the voices of those who are notoriously underrepresented on stage: first-generation/immigrant, impoverished/working class, native New ‘Yawker’, POC, etc. My plays explore how these populations are in an inexorable cycle with poverty and adversity; how hard work doesn’t always materialize social mobility for those born into generational poverty and/or come to this country in deficit. I examine how social systems designed to assist them, fails and oppresses them. Through poetic language and NYC imagery, I capture these communities’ limitless hope, fierce perseverance, and a loneliness exclusive to their struggle.

APPLE BOTTOM

The plastic surgery procedure, Brazilian Butt Lifts ( BBL’s), are sweeping the wallets of the women in Miami. And the staff at the post-BBL recovery house, Apple Bottom Spa, hopes to ride on this wave. Krissy, Winnie, and Caro are just regular women, with their own experiences with butt augmentation, who are responsible for the caretaking of multiple patients that walk through their doors. When a humble childhood neighbor, Andrea, and a high-strung black-fishing social media influencer, Belinda, arrives as new patients, Apple Bottom Spa struggle to keep both women and the house afloat. An intimate examination of female-to-female caregiving, body dysmorphia, and what it means when the brown/black female body is both ostracized and commodified by the masses.

Cast: 5               Genre: comedy, drama

    • La Jolla Playhouse - Latinx New Play Festival 2023 (Staged Reading)

    • Fault Line Theatre Irons in the Fire Fellowship 2022

    • Ensemble Studio Theatre/ Sloan Foundation Commission 2021

    • 2023-25 The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group Fellowship

    • Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center NPC Conference Finalist (Top 15) 2013

    • NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellowship Finalist 2023

    • Fault Line Theatre Irons in the Fire Fellowship 2022

AH SWEETER LIME (currently in revision)

Cast:  10–20            

Genre: comedy, drama, movement/physical

Trinidadian-American community leader, Keami La Croix, has made a name for herself in Crown Heights’s West Indie community as the "Black Robin Hood." But when she decides to create a campaign to reform the violence-stricken, yet very popular Brooklyn J’ouvert — the pre-dawn celebration that originated from slaves impersonating their masters’ masquerade balls — she is met by severe resistance from the black community that once loved her. Ah Sweeter Lime is a poetic and gritty examination of cultural identity, gentrification, and the extent we will take to preserve where we come from.

    • 2018 The New School for Drama, New Voices

BECOMING LUCY

Cast:  4

Genre: comedy, drama, movement/physical

Lucia de Los Santos has traded her strict homeland, The Dominican Republic, for little “Russia by the Sea”— Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. And only one thing seems to make her happy: watching “I LOVE LUCY” returns for the irresistible Lucille Ball. Soon enough, Lucia only goes by “Lucy,” only wears her hair in a bright red updo, and is in a constant pursuit for fame and the American Dream. But money and men keep getting in her way—there’s Ramon, her Puerto Rican Ricardo and Maxim, a Chernobyl survivor and Lucia lover. A poetic and lifelong exploration of what it means to be an immigrant woman trying to be seen in a country larger than life.

    • Teatro Vivo’s Austin Latinx New Play Festival - 2022 (Staged Reading)

    • Ensemble Studio Theatre Development Commission 2022

    • WP’S 22-24 WP Lab/ Semi-Finalist 2022

    • New Harmony Project Conference/Writer in Residence 2022

    • June Bingham New Playwright Commission Semi-Finalist 2022

2144 SOUTH ST

It is the year 1998. Hurricane Georges has devastated the Dominican Republic, and Dominican immigrant, Dr. Leo Domenech, has finally opened his first "fancy Manhattan" medical office in Washington Heights. However, when he fails to build a clientele, Leo turns to drastic measures to make "American Dream money" at the expense of his license, the Hurricane Georges victims, and his loving family.

Cast: 8        Genre: drama

    • The New School/ Cherry Lane Theatre 2018 (Staged Reading)

    • Pipeline Theater’s PlayLab Member 2021

    • Gingold Theatrical Group Speakers Corner Member 2019

    • Barrington Stage’s Bonnie and Terry Berman’s New Play Award Finalist 9Top 5) 2019

    • Ensemble Studio Theatre Young Blood 2018-2021

    • NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellowship Finalist 2019

FADED: A CALYPSO

Cast:  4–7             Genre: drama

News reporter Kalia Pierre is moving up from Brooklyn Twelve to Jet-5, where their stories are bigger, brighter, and hitting the nation. She is ready to impress her new co-workers, until they start to bump up against her Trinidadian roots. Will she fight for the spotlight or fade into the background?

    • Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Finalist (Staged Reading) 2018

    • Teatro LATEA (Staged Reading) 2017

    • Williamstown Theatre Festival (Workshop Production) - 2018

    • The New School of Drama - 2017

    • Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Finalist 2018

YEAH MAYBE

Punta Cana. Boys Trip. Three lonely I.T. technicians from America go on a quest to find themselves a "hot Dominicana" to take back with them to the States.

Cast:  3             Genre: comedy, drama

    • Ensemble Studio Theatre Young Blood 2018-2021

    • EST Marathon One Act Plays 2019

ALL THE HELIUM HEARTS OVER BELT PARKWAY

(in process of developing into full length)

Cast: 4              Genre: Drama

Sammy and Amena can't leave each other the hell alone. They've tried. Are they destiny or bad habit?  Brighton Beach and their unborn baby want to know. Sammy drives a runaway Uber, but today, Amena refuses to leave his car. A Brooklyn love story about joy rides and a boundless loneliness only the end of the world can bring.

    • Ensemble Studio Theatre Radio Play development commission 2021

Radio Plays

written by Karina Billini, directed by Andrés López-Alicea
featuring Susanna Guzman & Luz Ozuna

Hay plantas que curan y hay plantas que matan. There are plants that cure you and then there are plants that kill you.  And lucky for the ailing Dominicans who frequent her botanica, Trinidad knows the difference. She hasn't had a single complaint about her herbal remedies and Papa Jesus-verified consultations. Until Paola and Mount Sinai come knocking at her door.

Sound Design: Jack Mullin | Sound Engineer: Caroline Eng

by Karina Billini, directed by Peter J. Kuo
featuring Jimmy Cintron, Rishi Mukherjee, Camila Moreno, & Lipica Shah

Sammy and Amena can't leave each other the hell alone. They've tried. Are they destiny or bad habit?  Brighton Beach and their unborn baby want to know. Sammy drives a runaway Uber, but today, Amena refuses to leave his car. A Brooklyn love story about joy rides and a boundless loneliness only the end of the world can bring.

Sound Design: James Kogan, Lawrence Schober | Sound Engineer: Caroline Eng