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