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The 126 Year Old Artist  By  cover art

The 126 Year Old Artist

By: C. Quintana
Narrated by: Julissa Calderon, Sagan Chen, Zuleyma Guevara, Elise Santora, Rita Wolf
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Publisher's summary

"If this is one of those robocalls, please delete my number,” orders Reinalda Paraíso, a painter whose work lies at the heart of C. Quintana’s new play, The 126-Year-Old Artist. On the other end of the line is Yésica Ortega, a young, queer, Latine curator who “discovers” Reinalda's work at a flea market and becomes obsessively determined to make a name for them both. However, as the women are thrust into the spotlight, this audaciously colorful and engrossing new commission for the Audible Emerging Playwright Fund proves the path to success isn’t always straight and that the truth isn’t always black and white.

Portions of this audiobook contain mature language. Listener discretion is advised.

Playwright C. Quintana was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible-commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop The 126 Year Old Artist.

©2023 C. Quintana (P)2023 AO Media LLC

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About the Creator

C. Quintana, or CQ (she/any) is a queer writer with Cuban and New Orleans roots based on Canarsee and Munsee Lenape land in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. Plays include AZUL (Diversionary Theatre), Scissoring (INTAR), Citizen Scientist (Barrington Stage Company Burman New Play Award), Evensong (Astoria Performing Arts Center), Enter your sleep (Yale Cabaret), and more. CQ is the recipient of grants & fellowships from NYSCA, Café Royal Cultural Foundation, MacDowell, Playwrights Realm, Van Lier/New Voices at The Lark, CubaOne, Lambda Literary, and Queer|Art, as well as commissions from the Carthage College New Play Initiative, The Kennedy Center, The Civilians, and the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Project. Television writing credits include Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC) and The Baker and the Beauty (ABC). CQ is a proud graduate of the now defunct College of Santa Fe (RIP) and holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University. For more, visit cquintana.com or @cquintanatown.

About the Director

Estefanía Fadul is a Colombian-American director, and a co-Artistic Director of NYC’s Ensemble Studio Theatre. She has directed multiple world premieres, including Caridad Svich’s Spanish-language adaptation of Eva Luna, based on the novel by Isabel Allende (Repertorio Español); The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle (Philadelphia Theatre Company); The Same Day by Stefan Ivanov (Theatre Laboratory Sfumato, Bulgaria); Azul (Southern Rep) and Scissoring (INTAR) both by C. Quintana; and the Drama League Award-nominated Carla’s Quince, which she conceived and devised with the Voting Project Ensemble to mobilize Latiné voters to the polls. She has developed work off-Broadway and regionally at the Public Theater, Playwrights’ Realm, NYTW, Chautauqua, Audible, and more, and has guest directed at training programs including Juilliard, Princeton, and NYU. She is a recipient of New York Stage and Film’s Pfaelzer Award, and fellowships including the Drama League Directors Project, O’Neill/NNPN National Directors Fellowship, Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship, Williamstown Foeller Fellowship, and Van Lier Fellowship at Repertorio Español. She serves on the Drama League’s Board of Directors, and is a member of the leadership circle of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, the Latinx Theatre Commons advisory committee, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, New Georges, and SDC. B.A. Vassar College. www.estefaniafadul.com.

Julissa Calderon

About the Performer

Julissa Calderon is an actress, writer, producer, and director from Miami. She is best known for playing the dynamic role of Yessika Castillo, a strong-willed activist, in the MACRO/Netflix series, Gentefied. Prior to that, she was a digital content creator where her videos garnered roughly 100 million views across digital platforms.
Julissa is passionate about illuminating and celebrating Afro-Latinx women and culture – whether it's by speaking at colleges across the country, or through collaborations with brands like McDonald's HACER Scholarship Program - to which she's been an ambassador for the past three years. She is also the founder of Manifest That Sh*t, a journal for passion, gratitude and manifesting one's dreams. Notable career highlights include being named in Adweek's gilitzy, Young Influentials 2022 List, Variety's coveted LATINX Actors to Watch List, and being named in the inaugural, startuded L'Attitude The Latinxt List 2020.
She can currently be seen in the upcoming second season of Gloria Calderon Kellet's Amazon series, With Love.

Sagan Chen

About the Performer

Sagan Chen (they/them) is a Chinese nonbinary multidisciplinary filmmaker and theater artist, and co-founder of Multihyphenate Productions. Their award-winning series  Here We Wait racked up over 30 nominations on the festival circuit, including a win for Sagan as Best Supporting Actress at Brooklyn Webfest. They’ve been seen onscreen on HBO's High Maintenance, Sundance, and TIFF, and onstage at The PIT, Corkscrew Theater Festival, Dixon Place, and more. They can next be seen in NBC’s Grand Crew and HBO's Survival of the Thickest. They strive for their artistry to reflect an awareness of social responsibility and intersectionality of representation.

Zuleyma Guevara

About the Performer

Zuleyma Guevara is a NY based actress whose most recent stage credits include Somewhere by Matt Lopez at Geva Theater, Carla in Grand Horizons at Peoples Theater and this past spring was seen in the NYTimes pick of the week, Bruise and Thorn. Previous theater credits include the New Jersey premier of Water by the Spoonful at Kean University, Columbia Stages La Paloma Prisoner and The Hour of The Star, the world premiere of Seven Spots on the Sun at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Working Theatre's production of La Ruta. TV credits include Sonia's Choice, Legend of the 13 Suns, Gotham, FBI: Most Wanted, as well as Law and Order and the CBS pilot Limitless. Film credits include New York State of Mind, Third Trinity, The Meal, and Tumba Del Mar premiering at the Miami Film Festival this March.

Elise Santora

About the Performer

Elise Santora's first stage appearance at the ripe age of twelve was the starring role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Her first television appearance was as one of the first Latina dancers on the popular syndicated show, Soul Train. She has traveled worldwide as background vocalist/dancer, actor, and voiceover artist before appearing on Broadway in In the Heights, The Capeman and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In addition, she starred as Abuela Claudia in the first National tour of In the Heights in the U.S., P.R. and Japan. TV credits include For Life (ABC), Bull, Tommy, The Code (CBS), NBC's The Manifest, New Amsterdam, Shades of Blue, Netflix's Iron Fist, Orange is the New Black and nominated for the Indie Series Best Comedy Actress Award for her role in FabuLess (webseries). Recent film credits include The Artist’s Wife (starring Lena Olin/Bruce Dern), Swallow and The White Alligator.

Rita Wolf

About the Performer

Rita Wolf Theater: The Michaels, An Ordinary Muslim, Homeboy/Kabul, The House of Bernarda Alba, O, Jerusalem. Other U.S. theater includes several seasons with Lincoln Center Directors Lab, NYC. London theater includes Hanif Kureishi’s Borderline (Royal Court/Joint Stock) and Sanctuary (also for joint stock), *Vigilantes (arts theater); and Othello (Greenwich theater). Regional U.K theater includes Beauty and the Beast (Birmingham), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Manchester), and Dick Whittington, and Enemy of the People (Lancaster). Founding member, London-based Kali Theater Company. Filmwork includes My Beautiful Laundrette directed by Stephen Frears, Girl 6 directed by Spike Lee, Khush, The Chain Directly by Jack Gold, Slipstream, and Wild Justice. Tv includes Law and Order U.K. TV includes Tandoori Nights, Coronation Street (series regular), Wing and A Prayer, Calling the Shots, Kavanagh QC, Taggart, and Second Generation (channel 4, U.K).

What listeners say about The 126 Year Old Artist

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So good!

This was a really captivating story! Thoroughly enjoyable and the production is so well done.

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Absolutely extraordinary!

Wow. There aren’t enough words to describe how poignant, captivating, and powerful this reading is. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! CQ’s bold and powerful writing coupled with the nuanced and graceful performances left me absolutely speechless and wanting so much more. The 126 Year Old Artist is a must-listen.

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Funny and timeless

A wonderful story about authenticity, sacrifice and the things we do for love. Great performances by the actors as well! Bravo C. Quintana!

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CQ shines through her characters

the story was great and made me wish I could ask some of the characters, "Wait, what about this? What about that?" But the imagination is always the realm of the artist. CQ is seen in glimpses within her characters, particularly Jessica and Bai.

I met CQ on a flight a few weeks ago. So glad I met you. I will be getting the word out about CQ and wonderful works that are out there waiting to be discovered and appreciated.

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Queer Quool Quintana

C. Quintana has written a spunky relevant audio play that has a pleasurable hint of an old school Nancy Drew mystery, one brought waaay up-to-date and brimming with color! The appealing and talented Julissa Calderon is a standout in the leading role. This piece is both super fun and thought-provoking. Worth it!

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Great First Audible Play Experience!

I had never listened to a play in this format before, but "The 126 Year Old Artist" was a fantastic introduction to Audible plays! The story is full of mystery and heart, and the sound design beautifully transports you through each scene. Highly recommend anyone curious about Audible plays to start with this one!

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Beautiful play!

I loved this fascinating story of ambition, fandom, and self-actualization. It made me think about aspects of the art world I hadn’t considered before. The actors bring it vividly to life!

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Wonderful Play!

The actors were fantastic and the love story was super moving. A lot of fun.

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Enthralled!

This was my first time listening to an audioplay and wasn't sure what to expect, but I was instantly captivated by CQ's clever narrative. Above all, I loved this fresh new POV on New York's art scene, a setting we've seen before but never through the eyes of a queer Latine curator. CQ gives us a bold protagonist in Yésica, deftly brought to life by Julissa Calderón. It's a must listen!

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Bravo!

I might just listen to more podcasts after this! We need more stories like this, please! Thanks!

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