ESTO NO TIENE NOMBRE: The Film

FILM PREMIERED OCTOBER 13, 2023

TALLER PUERTORRIQUEÑO • 2600 N. 5TH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19133

This October, don't miss the first screening of the compelling filmed version of Esto No Tiene Nombre. Premiered live in June 2023, Esto No Tiene Nombre is a one-woman show written and performed by Denice Frohman that uplifts the oral histories of Latina lesbian elders and women over 50. Told through a series of vignettes, the show places poet/performer Denice Frohman in conversation with her elders to trace lineages of love, desire and identity. Guided by these first person stories from pre-Stonewall police raids in Philadelphia to first kisses, Esto No Tiene Nombre embraces a powerful living history to chart a path of belonging for the future.

After the film screening, join Denice Frohman, director/co-creator Alex Torra, members of the Esto community, and moderator Nasheli Ortiz González for a one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes panel discussion that highlights the making-of this moving show.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

DENICE FROHMAN is a poet and performer from New York City. A Pew Fellow and Baldwin-Emerson Fellow, she’s received support from CantoMundo, Headlands Center for the Arts, the National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures and Millay Colony. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The BreakBeat Poets: LatiNext, Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, ESPNW and elsewhere. A former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, she’s featured on hundreds of national and international stages from The Apollo to The White House. She lives in Philadelphia.

ALEX TORRA is a Miami-born, Philadelphia-based director, performer, producer, and educator. He is the Co-Founder and Resident Director of Team Sunshine Performance Corporation. Alex is also an Associate Artist and former Associate Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre Company, where he has worked as Performer/Creator and Creative Producer on many of the company’s works over the last 10 years. Alex has received fellowships from the Independence Foundation, the Philadelphia Live Arts Brewery, the Princess Grace Foundation (the Grace Le Vine Theatre Award), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and NY's Drama League. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.F.A. in Directing from Brown University. Alex currently serves a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Swarthmore College, where he directs often and teaches Solo Performance and Acting.

NASHELI JULIANA ORTIZ GONZÁLEZ is a multi-disciplinary creator born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. She is a designer, academic, activist, creative worker, and entrepreneur currently serving as the Executive Director of Taller Puertorriqueño in North Philadelphia. Ortiz González is also the proud owner of her apparel company, Nasheli Juliana (NJ), which investigates the intersection of social justice and fashion. As a founding Board Member of the Philadelphia Fashion Garment and Industry Task Force, she has gained recognition for her work. She has been featured in prestigious publications like Vogue, Netflix, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, and Forbes.

SUPPORT

Support for the filmed version of Esto No Tiene Nombre and its associated public programming has been provided by Independence Public Media Foundation and Silicon Valley Bank Foundation.

Esto No Tiene Nombre was supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The project was also supported in part by the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Southwest Airlines, and the Surdna Foundation through a grant from the NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant Program, and the Charlotte Cushman Foundation

The archival interviews featured in Esto No Tiene Nombre come from the project: I See My Light Shining: Oral Histories of Our Elders by acclaimed author and 2020 MacArthur Fellow Jacqueline Woodson.

We’re grateful to our friends and parters at Taller Puertorriqueño for welcoming us into their beautiful space.