Recent Alien Abductions

February 21–March 24, 2019
USAU.S. Premiere
Álvaro is certain that an episode of The X-Files he saw while growing up in Puerto Rico has been mysteriously altered since its broadcast, but no one believes him. A darkly compelling tale about the dread of having no one to trust — and how families, and nations, keep circling the places that haunt them.
Meet the Artists

Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas (Writer, Director) plays include BIRD IN THE HAND (Fulcrum Theater, New York; New Theatre, Miami; NY Times Critics Pick), BLIND MOUTH SINGING (National Asian American Theater Company, New York; Teatro Vista, Chicago; NY Times Critics Pick), and SLEEPWALKERS (Alliance Theater, Atlanta; Area Stage, Miami; Carbonell Award for Best New Play). Awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York Foundation for the Arts (three years); Helen Merrill Award; Anschutz Distinguished Fellowship at Princeton University; and the Robert Chesley Award. His plays are published by Playscripts, Dramatic Publishing and TDR. Other works include a solo performance entitled BACKROOM (Whitney Museum of American Art in New York) and an interactive "play without a script" entitled PICK A CARD (GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.) He is the founder of the Obie-winning Fulcrum Theater, a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, and an alumnus of New Dramatists.

Daniel Duque-Estrada (Actor) Trinity Rep: Segismundo, Sueño; Sydney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities; Abel, Fade; Pablo Del Valle, Native Gardens; Lodovico, Othello; Alonso/King Ferdinand of Aragon, Like Sheep to Water, or Fuente Ovejuna; Lysander, A Midsummer Nights’s Dream; A Christmas Carol. Off-Broadway: WP Theater, Second Stage, PlayCo. Other Theaters: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center (former Brierly Resident Acting Co. member), Shakespeare Dallas, Brown/Trinity Playwright’s Rep, California Shakespeare Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Shotgun Players, Intersection for the Arts/Campo Santo, The Cutting Ball Theater, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company. TV: Second Chance. Other: Daniel has been a counselor and teaching artist with Trinity Rep’s Young Actor’s Summer Institute. He is also an associate producing artist at the Magic Theater in San Francisco. Graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting program; BA from UC Berkeley. 

Vivia Font (Actor) is a performer and theater maker. She performed in Recent Alien Abductions and Villa with Playco. She has worked on very new and very old plays at CSC, Rattlestick, NYClassical, The Huntington, NJ Rep, Merrimack, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Denver Center, and more. She has worked on a variety of voiceover projects including commercials and audiobooks. She teaches at Princeton, Marymount Manhattan College, and NYU, and produced/directed/created many different projects. TV/Film: FBI: Most Wanted, For Life, Love, Repeat, Sarbanes Oxley. NYClassical Associate Artist and Actors Center member.

Yetta Gottesman (Actor) An actor and director of Puerto Rican and Jewish heritage, Yetta was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Brazil. She is completely fluent (native fluency) in Spanish, English and Portuguese. She is a Lifetime Member of the prestigious Actors Studio and LAByrinth Theater Company. Yetta has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway plays including originating roles written by John Patrick Shanley and Stephen Adly Guirgis. She has performed extensively on stage, both in New York and regionally, with such luminary directors as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joe Bonney, and Lisa Peterson. In 2010, she received a Best Actress Ovation Award Nomination for her performance in "Mariela in the Desert" at The Denver Center Theater. Her TV work includes guest appearances on "Nurse Jackie" , "Sex and the City" and "Law and Order: Criminal Intent." Some of her film work includes "Sex, Death and Bowling," "Rabbit Hole", "Lucky You", and "27 Dresses".

Some of her favorite portrayals include a Mexican artist in 1950's Mexico ("Mariela in the Desert", Denver Center Theater), a grieving mom in Long Island (Rabbit Hole with Nicole Kidman), a down on her luck limping actress ("Where's My Money?" written and directed by John Patrick Shanley), a blue collar Queens girl on a disastrous first date (Steak Knife, Nurse Jackie), and Mary Magdalene (no explanation necessary!) in "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot", written by Tony nominated Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman at The Public Theater in New York.

She has also voiced numerous audiobooks.

She splits her time between New York, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico.

Mia Katigbak (Actor) is the Artistic Producing Director and co-founder of NAATCO. She has acted extensively in New York City with Target Margin, Intar, New York Theatre Workshop, the Public Theater, Ma-Yi Theater, Women’s Project, Pan Asian Rep, New Federal Theater, Henry Street Settlement, and in several productions with NAATCO including the most recent world premiere of Leah’s Train by Karen Hartman. Other productions with NAATCO include Antigone (as Creon), Ivanov, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The House of Ber-
narda Alba, Village Wooing among many. Regionally she has acted at Berkeley Repertory Theater (CA), Swine Palace (LA), and the Guthrie (MN). In 2006, she and NAATCO were the recipients of the Rosetta LeNoire Award, given by Actors Equity Association in recognition of their “artistic contribution to the universality of the human experience in American theater.” She received New Dramatists’ Charles Bowden Actor Award in 2006 and the Distinguished Award for Artistic Excellence from Ma-Yi in 1999. She is on the Steering Committee of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA) and chairs its Strategic Planning Committee. She was one of the organizers of the First National Asian American Theater Festival in 2007 and will spearhead the Second Festival scheduled for the fall of 2009, along with Second Generation of NYC. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A.
from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Ronete Levenson (Actor) NY: Our Town (Barrow Street Theater); What Once We Felt(LCT) dir. Ken Rus Schmoll; Origin Story (The Public) dir. Hal Brooks; Stunning (NY Theater Workshop ); Regional: Argonautika dir. Mary Zimmerman (Berkelely Rep, Shakespeare Theater of DC, McCarter); TV / Film: Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Guiding Light , Possible Side Effects (pilot) dir. Tim Robbins (Showtime) and Taking Woodstock dir. Ang Lee.

Rafael Sardina (Actor) In his career he has had the fortune of working with personal heroes like Steven Spielberg, Jodie Foster, Dylan Baker, and Vincent D'Onofrio, among others. "I remember taking the morning pass van from Manhattan to New Jersey, chatting with Amy Ryan and Lenny Venito as we approached the massive set of the opening aria of a Spielberg movie, talk about a pinch me moment!" Rafael lives in Queens, New York with his wife Rachel and daughter Teresa, whose favorite movie, by the way, is The Karate Kid.

Adam Rigg (Set Designer) 2015 Princess Grace Award and a three-time Henry Hewes Design finalist. Recent: The House That Will Not Stand (New York Theater Workshop), Is God Is (SOHO REP); Actually (Williamstown Theater Festival) Henry IV Parts 1&2 (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Breaking The Waves (Opera Philadelphia). Other credits include: The Public Theater, The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Mark Taper Forum, REDCAT, Cincinnati Symphony, Manhattan Theatre Club, Yale Rep, A.R.T., Oper Zurich, The Foundry Theatre. BA UCLA, MFA Yale School of Drama. Upcoming: Fabulation (Signature Theater), Recent Alien Abductions (PlayCo), Continuity (Manhattan Theater Club), Blue Ridge (Atlantic Theater Company) Faust (Opera Omaha) and Prism (LAOpera) www.adamriggdesign.com

“A play that examines the many meanings of ‘alien’.”
The New York Times

“Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas’s heartbroken thriller Recent Alien Abductions weaves a delicate spider’s web.”
Time Out

“The cast is unfailingly strong. A striking work.”
Lighting and Sound America

Listen to The American Theatre’s Podcast Review

Community Partners

New York Law School

With

Daniel Duque-Estrada Vivia Font Yetta Gottesman Mia Katigbak

Set Design

Adam Rigg

Costume Design

Fabian Fidel Aguilar

Lighting Design

Amith Chandrashaker

Sound Design

Mikaal Sulaiman

Intimacy Director

Katie Pearl

Production Stage Management

Genevieve Ortiz

Production Manager

Jenny Beth Snyder

Artwork

Ignacio González-Lang

Venue

Walkerspace 46 Walker St. New York, NY 10013