Welcome, Mariló

We’re thrilled to welcome Mariló Núñez as Aluna’s next Playwright in Residence!

Mariló is a Chilean Canadian playwright, director, actor and academic. She was the 2018 recipient of the Hamilton Arts Awards for Established Theatre Artist and was recently nominated for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize.  Her most recent play Huinca was commissioned by Milagro Theatre in Portland, OR and premiered in January 2020. She is the 2021-22 Playwright in Residence at Aluna Theatre (Toronto) and was a member of Natural Resources, Factory Theatre’s playwright’s unit for established writers. She was Playwright-in-Residence at Aluna Theatre in 2016 and was McMaster University’s first Playwright-in-Residence in 2018. She is the only Canadian workshop facilitator using the Fornes Method to teach playwriting at theatres and universities across the country. She was founding Artistic Director of Alameda Theatre Company, a company dedicated to developing the new work of Latinx Canadian playwrights. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Guelph and is currently obtaining her Ph D. in Theatre & Performance Studies at York University.

Mariló will be focusing on a new draft of Foxy: Tales of an Urban Zorra, which she began writing during her MFA in Creative Writing at Guelph.

Foxy: Tales of An Urban Zorra tells the story of Valeria Quintana (a young woman who is turning 15) and her mother Dolores. Dolores has planned an elaborate Quinceañera for her but Valeria doesn’t want to celebrate because she has a terrible secret that she is scared to let out because of what it might do to her family. Her estranged father, Jorge, is hiding in a broom closet, waiting to dance a final waltz with his daughter. And like fairy godmothers, The Chola, The Virgin and The Latina Lover convene at the Quinceañera to help Valeria become the woman she is meant to be.

Mariló says that she wrote Foxy: Tales of An Urban Zorra to better understand her place in the world as a Latina. The play looks at misogyny, racism, stereotypes, and violence within the Latinx community. I will focus on five Latina stereotypes – Latina Lover, Daughter, Mother, La Virgen and Revolutionary/Gangsta/Chola. Why do these stereotypes exist, and what do they represent? What do these very American Latinx stereotypes mean in a Canadian context? Can the coming together of the stereotypes create a whole, real, complex woman?

Mariló’sresidency is supported by the Ontario Arts Council.