What would you say to them if you were to bring someone back from the dead?
In the spring of 2023, with a nervous hand, I signed a Deed of Gifts to my alma mater, California State University, Los Angeles Library. These gifts included over 800 drawings, documents, prints, and paintings, all created during my residency at Self Help Graphics & Art and my graduate studies at CSULA. That signage affirmed my place as an artist during the time of Sister Karen Boccalero, a Franciscan nun who founded Self-Help Graphics, a nonprofit art center located outside the city limits and blocks from where I was born.
My next feeling of nervousness was when I began writing "Charity and Penance." Healing with Our Stories was an opportunity for Sister Karen to fully open up and ask, "Did I do the right thing?" The last time I saw her was in 1995; she passed away two years later, and the Self-Help Graphics organization relocated within city limits.
After writing Charity and Penance, I suddenly felt my nervousness lift.
Sister Karen had always had faith in me, heaven not in mind, but as an artist. With my words in hand, I brought back the legendary Sister Karen Boccalero to ask her, "What if I never left this place, Self-Help Graphics?"
Charity and Penance
A ten-minute screenplay, written and performed at CASA0101
En Mi Jardin: Healing With our Stories, April 19-May 12, 2024.
Directed by: Emmanuel Deleage
Sister Karen - Vanessa Bolanos
Arturo - Martin Morales
I want to thank everyone at CASA0101, crew, stagehands, lighting, and sound for making our stories come to life.
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