Crossroads
THEATRE
Hollywood Fringe Festival
Los Angeles, CA | June 2026
Written by Carlos Solórzano
Directed by Francisco Rodriguez
Deborah Cortez as Woman
At a desolate crossroads where no train ever stops, movement is constant yet leads nowhere, and the feeling of waiting lingers for something that never arrives. Here, we follow three figures: the seeker (the Man), the sought (the Woman), and the indifferent observer (the Linesman), as they circle one another in an absurd, desperate attempt at connection. Knowing each other only through letters and photographs, the Man and Woman cannot reconcile their expectations with reality, ultimately failing to recognize one another when they finally meet, revealing how the illusions we create prevent us from seeing what stands right in front of us.
The Brecht Project Round 2:
FEAR AND MISERY OF THE FOURTH REICH
ONLINE THEATRE
The Brecht Project
Los Angeles, CA | Apr 2026
Live streaming premiere performances of new short plays.
Play 1: JUDICIAL PROCESS, inspired by Scene 6, Judicial Process. A JUDGE FACES AN IMPOSSIBLE CASE.
Written By Reg Clay
Directed by Susan E. Evans
Play 2: THE ALIEN WIFE, inspired by Scene 9, The Jewish Wife. A WIFE SEES HER HUSBAND’S TRUE COLORS.
Written By Sean Michael McCord
Directed by Cynthia Lagodzinski
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich was one of the first documentary theatre pieces. Nearly a century ago, Brecht asked the world: "How did this happen? How did Germany come to be ruled by the National Socialist dictatorship? How are the people's actions or inactions allowing the regime to thrive? How and when will Resistance manifest? Will it be the misery that eventually defeats the fear?” The Brecht Project Round 1 playwrights transported these same questions to 2020 America. The first live virtual performances of the first five plays in The Brecht Project, entitled The Private Life of the (Not So) Master Race, premiered in October 2020. And, now, 2026 we are in a new America and it is time to ask these questions again. Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s 1938 documentary portrait Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, FEAR AND MISERY OF THE FOURTH REICH will have four live streaming virtual performances, with the plays split into two series, on April 16, April 17, April 18 and April 19, 2026.
14/48 Hollywood Festival
Day 1
THEATRE
14/48 Hollywood
Los Angeles, CA | Feb 2026
Festival Theme of the night: THE RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT
Title of the Play: Dead Can Dance (Comedy)
Written By Jessica Erin Martin
Directed by Richard Kenyon
In the span of 48 hours, 14 new plays are written, cast, directed, rehearsed, scored, designed, & premiered. The festival kicks off with the selection of a theme the night before, and seven writers each write a 10-minute play based on the randomly drawn theme. The plays are then drawn at random by seven directors who cast their plays by randomly drawing the names of actors from the 2023 Actor Roster. Directors meet with musicians from the 14/48 Band and designers from the 14/48 Design Team to create the worlds of each play on stage. Each play undergoes a quick tech rehearsal with our stage crew before it is performed for audiences at 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM. The whole process repeats itself the next day, producing 14 new plays in 48 hours.
14/48 Hollywood Festival
Day 2
THEATRE
14/48 Hollywood
Los Angeles, CA | Feb 2026
Festival Theme of the night: THE PATH LESS TRAVELED
Title of the Play: Road Rules
Written by Jessica Erin Martin
Directed by Emma Cort
In the span of 48 hours, 14 new plays are written, cast, directed, rehearsed, scored, designed, & premiered. The festival kicks off with the selection of a theme the night before, and seven writers each write a 10-minute play based on the randomly drawn theme. The plays are then drawn at random by seven directors who cast their plays by randomly drawing the names of actors from the 2023 Actor Roster. Directors meet with musicians from the 14/48 Band and designers from the 14/48 Design Team to create the worlds of each play on stage. Each play undergoes a quick tech rehearsal with our stage crew before it is performed for audiences at 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM. The whole process repeats itself the next day, producing 14 new plays in 48 hours.
Frida Kahlo Play
THEATRE
Frida Kahlo Theater
Los Angeles, CA | Sept 2025
Written and Directed by Ruben Amavizca-Murua.
Deborah Cortez as Frida Kahlo and Paula.
The iconic play based on the life, art and philosophy of FRIDA KAHLO, the internationally renowned feminist Mexican painter.
Dance Partner
THEATRE
Hollywood Fringe Festival
Los Angeles, CA | June 2025
Directed by Blake McCormack
Deborah Cortez as Uma
When an anxious young man befriends a dancer seemingly his opposite in every way, it emboldens him to pursue his secret dream to dance. A young couple must navigate unforeseen hardships during their pregnancy, and an overbearing mother must learn to relinquish her grip on her adult children's lives.
Hollywood Fringe Festival
THEATRE
Hollywood Fringe Festival
Los Angeles, CA | June 2025
Each June during the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the arts infiltrate the Hollywood neighborhood. Hundreds of productions are mounted in fully equipped theaters, parks, clubs, churches, restaurants and other unexpected places by local, national, and international arts companies and independent performers.
14/48 Hollywood Festival
THEATRE
14/48 Hollywood
Los Angeles, CA | Nov 2023
Directed by Various
Deborah Cortez as ensemble
In the span of 48 hours, 14 new plays are written, cast, directed, rehearsed, scored, designed, & premiered. The festival kicks off with the selection of a theme the night before, and seven writers each write a 10-minute play based on the randomly drawn theme. The plays are then drawn at random by seven directors who cast their plays by randomly drawing the names of actors from the 2023 Actor Roster. Directors meet with musicians from the 14/48 Band and designers from the 14/48 Design Team to create the worlds of each play on stage. Each play undergoes a quick tech rehearsal with our stage crew before it is performed for audiences at 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM. The whole process repeats itself the next day, producing 14 new plays in 48 hours.
Domestica Realidad
THEATRE
La Lengua Teatro en Español
San Francisco, CA | Aug 2023
Directed by Virginia Blanco
Deborah Cortez as Monica/Mariana/Coach
Doméstica Realidad is a captivating piece where comedy and social awareness merge into an unforgettable theatrical experience. It’s a collective creation about the unresolved conflict between women and the domestic space. Three domestic situations explore hierarchical relationships, contradictions, and conflicts in an activity historically relegated to the female universe. A nauseating smell, the source of which is unknown, reveals that something in the house is rotting. Three possible variations of a state of affairs, with no temporal order, no apparent succession. A house, which is maintained as background, gives a general framework to the story, the place that enables these contradictions, dominations, and abuses: "What happens indoors, stays indoors", says one of the characters. These stories come from a documentary work that included interviews with employees and employers, telephone surveys, readings, and discussions of research on domestic employment. Doméstica Realidad deals with intimate, generational, and political dilemmas that come into play in the ‘domestic’ arena.
CONVOY 31000
THEATRE
Theatre Lunatico
Berkeley, CA | Nov 2019
Directed by Tina Taylor
Deborah Cortez as Josefa
CONVOY 31000 is the story of the resilience, determination, and immense sacrifice of a group of women who worked together to resist Hitler’s occupation of France during World War II. Based on the true histories of 230 women who were arrested and sent to Auschwitz as political prisoners for their brave stand against Nazi forces, this original Theatre Lunatico production takes audiences from a small cafe on the banks of the Seine to the forest hide outs of the Maquis and the horrors of Auschwitz. Only 49 of the women survived, but their actions were essential to the war on fascism, and their compelling and all too timely story cries out to be heard.
Strange Ladies
THEATRE
B8 Theatre Company
Concord, CA | September/October 2019
Directed by JanLee Marshall
Musical direction by Becky Potter
Deborah Cortez as Lucy
Susan Sobeloff’s captivating world premiere drama, Strange Ladies, tells of the hazards and punishments suffered by one group of intrepid advocates, the women’s suffrage supporters of the early 20th century. Their efforts would ultimately lead to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, but not before much societal division, pain, and loss. Based on real participants in the suffrage movement, the playwright depicts six characters who reflect the whole spectrum of women.
Drunk Theatre | Bread & Butter
WEB SERIES
Co-produced by Deborah Cortez in association with 51st Street Theatre Company
Oakland/Martinez, CA | Spring/Summer 2019
Directed by Kenneth Matis
Deborah Cortez as Drunk Narrator
Inspired by Drunk History from Comedy Central, this web series is based on the play Bread & Butter by Eugene O’Neill. Deborah tells the plot of the play in a drunk state leading to funny re-enactments by other actors and actresses from around the Bay Area.
No Quiero Verte
SHORT FILM
DPLawlorArts
Oakland/San Francisco, CA | October 2018
Written and Directed by Douglas Lawlor
Deborah Cortez as Silvia
Hiding away from her aggressive history, Silvia is ready to start a new life when she receives an unexpected call to her hotel room. Pieces of her past are in desperate need of her.
The Rover
THEATRE
Role Players Ensemble
Danville, CA | April 2018
Written by Aphra Behn
Directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
Deborah Cortez (Murphy) as Angellica Bianca
The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers is a play in two parts that is written by the English author Aphra Behn. It is a revision of Thomas Killigrew's play Thomaso, or The Wanderer (1664), and depicts the amorous adventures of a group of Englishmen in Naples at Carnival time. According to Restoration poet John Dryden, it "lacks the manly vitality of Killigrew's play, but shows greater refinement of expression." The play stood for three centuries as "Behn's most popular and most respected play." The Rover features multiple plot lines, dealing with the amorous adventures of a group of Englishmen and women in Naples at Carnival time.
Dead Man’s Cell Phone
THEATRE
Ross Valley Players
Ross Valley, CA | Mar 2018
* Helen Hayes Award - Outstanding New Play
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Chloe Bronzan
Deborah Cortez (Murphy) as Jean
Dead Man's Cell Phone explores the paradox of modern technology's ability to both unite and isolate people in the digital age.
