Estelita Mi Estrellita
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Directed by Megan Frigerio
Written by Marielle Vizcarra
Cast:
Estela: Kelly Donlan
Eugenia: Moira Benabaye
Designers:
Sound Designer: Ben Philapart
Lighting Designer: Kate Schneider
Project Directed for the Spring 2025 JMU Director’s Fest
Vision/Moodboard
Used by designers and actors when deciding textures, colors, and overall “vibe”. Curated by me via Pinterest.
Leading with the phrase “I support women’s wrongs and rights” was key when finding the core of this piece. It’s a show about the unconditional love between two women who, while not related by blood, are sisters. They’ve seen and experienced a vast amount of struggles as two Latinas who grew up on the streets and still relapse into dangerous patterns. How do they pull each other out of these dark times and why do they make that decision?
Image Credits (left to right): Maria la Del Barrio, The Burnouts, Gousse Studio, Ny Feonao
Production Trailer
Edited by Megan Frigerio, Footage by Kate Arecchi | Song “Dos Gardenias” Buena Vista Social Club
Promotional Material
Curated by Amy Jo Lee, this graphic from the play festival Estelita Mi Estrellita was featured in showcases the cast, designers, playwright, and my reasoning for selecting the piece.
“When I saw a Spanish title in a sea of plays within the DFest folder, I knew I had to pick it. When I saw that it was a bilingual play that highlighted a very specific community experience, I also knew that I had to stage this and highlight it.”
Ground Plan
For this particular festival, directors were in charge of creating a ground plan and sourcing furniture & props for their piece. Used by designers when creating a lighting plot and by actors to visualize the space.
It was meant to emulate a NY-style apartment that is cramped. In a full budget production, I would suggest the concept of “immigrant clutter-core” to my designers. As a Latina myself and the daughter of immigrants, this interior design aesthetic of filling one’s house with relics and items that hold significant cultural or familial ancestry value is crucial to my lived Latine experience. It’s important to me that this aesthetic reflects the emotional turmoil of the two women onstage while highlighting cultural identity.