A playwright is commissioned to write Django, a happy story; unfortunately, his main character wants to die.
A “table top theatre” piece, Django in Pain follows the adventures and misfortunes of a man and a three-legged dog. The piece explores the possibilities of creation limited by the constraints of depression and self-isolation. Ultimately: it’s a play about a playwright trying to write an uplifting show about a guy who wants to kill himself.
The PlayCo commission will showcase a few scenes from a work in progress that Ana Graham & Antonio Vega will later develop into a neat, one-hour charming little play the size of a drafting desk.



ABOUT ANA GRAHAM
Ana Graham is a director, actor, translator and costume designer born in Mexico City, where she studied drama at the Núcleo de Estudios Teatrales. She is Artistic Producer and Founder of the Mexico-based Por Piedad Teatro where she has developed most of her work. She is also a member of the adviser committee for the US/MEXICO exchange program at The Lark and has been a recipient of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and Arts performers grant. In 2012 Graham was appointed Mexico’s Art, Culture and Tourism Ambassador by former President Felipe Calderón. Aiming to expand the activities of her theatre company and to open international opportunities for Mexican theatre artists, she moved to New York in 2009. She splits her time producing work in Mexico City and New York City. Ana and collaborator Antonio Vega partnered with The Play Company to present Ettore Scola’s Working On a Special Day in New York at 59E59 (2013) and The Duchamp Syndrome at The Flea (2015). In 2018 she was a resident artist at Berkeley Repertory Ground Floor program. In Mexico she recently directed Samuel Beckett’s El Final (The End), Maria Milisavljevic’s Abismo (Abyss) and co-directed with Antonio Vega El Ensayo (10 Out of 12) by Anne Washburn and Winter Solstice by Roland Schimmelpfennig. As an actor she has performed in more than twenty plays, including Woody Allen’s Interiors and Terror by Ferdinand Von Schirach. In 2005 she received an Ariel nomination as Best Actress for her role in the movie Mezcal directed by Ignacio Ortiz. She is currently collaborating with New York playwright Andy Bragen on the development of a new play called Summit and rehearsing William Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra where she has been cast as Anthony on an all-women Mexican production.



ABOUT ANTONIO VEGA
Antonio Vega is a director, actor, playwright and translator born in Guadalajara, Jalisco where he graduated from ETX Jalisco School of Theater. He has also trained with Teatro Estudio (TEES) in Guadalajara; the Mexican Improvisation League in Mexico City; Odin Teatret in Holstebro, Denmark; American Institute of Comedy, HB Studio in NYC, and the Actors Center in London. In 2004, Vega joined Por Piedad Teatro, he became the company’s artistic director in 2012. In 2013 Vega and collaborator Ana Graham partnered with The Play Company to present Ettore Scola’s Working On a Special Day in New York at 59E59. In 2015 he created, co-directed and starred in The Duchamp Syndrome which premiered at The Flea in New York City. He has been a resident artist at Tofte Lake Center, Blue Mountain Art Center and at Berkeley Repertory Ground Floor. In Mexico he recently directed Terror by Ferdinand Von Schirach, and co-directed Anne Washburn’s El Ensayo (10 Out of 12) with Ana Graham as well as Winter Solstice by Roland Schimmelpfennig. As an actor he has performed in more than thirty plays. Last year he was cast as Iago in Mexico City’s production of Shakespeare’s Othello and as Saturninus in Titus Andronicus. He is currently collaborating with New York playwright Andy Bragen on the development of a new play called Summit.
Django in Pain
Created by:
Ana Graham & Antonio Vega
A Mini-Commission presented as part of #Playfrom6FeetAway