Grupo de Teatro SINERGIA History
Grupo de Teatro SINERGIA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization, founded in 1987 by Anibal Aprile, Yvette Cruz, Rubén Marinccioni, and José Salgado. In 1993, Rubén Amavizca became the administrator and artistic director. In 1994, SINERGIA moved to the William Reagh Photography Center in the Westlake District, a space provided by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. This venue was soon christened the “Frida Kahlo Theater,” in honor of the iconic Mexican painter.
Here, we organize arts programming representing the majority ethnic groups residing within a five-mile radius of our theater: Latinx immigrants from Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mexico, a highly transient, under-served, zero to low-income population.
Signature original works produced by SINERGIA include: Frida Kahlo, which has been reprised several times and toured the U.S., Mexico, Belgium, and Puerto Rico; and The Women of Juarez, based on the mass murders of women in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez. Juarez won instant critical and audience acclaim and sparked a movement in support of the victims of this feminicide. Both works were published in English by Teatro Bravo in 2008 and 2013. Other notable SINERGIA plays include Slaves, I Killed Pancho Villa!, and The Night Of Cuauhtemoc.
In 2012, SINERGIA created the annual “10 Minute Play Festival” to offer new playwrights, directors and actors an opportunity to present their work to the public. Every year, 30-40 short plays, written, directed, and performed by emerging Latino theater makers are selected. These artists produce and stage their own works. Learning to create and produce our own work is essential, given the lack of opportunities Latino artists have on local “mainstream” stages. Following each performance, there is an audience Q&A to assess the impact of the play on our community. The festival has since expanded to three iterations per year.
In 2017, SINERGIA created the free annual Staged Reading Series, offering work by local Latino playwrights. We partner with other Latino companies in L.A., such as Teatro AKABAL, Teatristas de San Fernando, TA'YER, Tierra Blanca Arts Center, and Off the Tracks. Each year, we choose 2 plays from this series which will receive full productions.
In 2020, SINERGIA received confirmation of a new special 5-year contract with the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Since 1994, the Frida Kahlo Theater has been the only Latino theater company in Los Angeles to have a permanent home that offers theatre in Spanish, specifically serving the immigrant population in Los Angeles County.
In 2022, Grupo de Teatro SINERGIA was invited by the Goethe Institut-Los Angeles to stage a 5-week exhibit titled "Frida Kahlo Theater: Disrupting the Mainstream", a retrospective of our 35-year history. It consisted of visual elements (posters, production photos, programs, and props); excerpts from 4 of our signature plays; presentations of our acting, photography, and animation classes; and discussions and Q&As with the audience.
In 2024, SINERGIA was invited to participate in Encuentro 2024, a national Latino Theater Festival. It was hosted by the Latino Theater Company at the Los Angeles Theater Center. SINERGIA presented an original work in Spanish, Ayotzinapa: Situación Desaparecido, about the international uproar caused by the disappearance of 43 student teachers in Mexico following a protest. It played to sold out houses and rave reviews.