Django in Pain

October 5, 2021
MexicoWorld Premiere
A playwright is commissioned to write Django, a happy story. Unfortunately, his main character wants to die.
Meet the Artists

Antonio Vega (Author, Director, Actor, Set Designer) is a theatre artist born in Guadalajara where he graduated from ETX Jalisco School of Theater. He continued his training in Mexico, London and NYC. In 2013 Vega and collaborator Ana Graham partnered with PlayCo to present Ettore Scola’s Working On a Special Day. In 2015 he created, co-directed and starred in The Duchamp Syndrome. His most recent collaboration with PlayCo was Django in Pain which he wrote and directed.

Ana Graham (Director, Actor, Translator and Costume designer) born in Mexico City, where she studied drama at the Núcleo de Estudios Teatrales. She is Artistic Producer and Founder of the Mexico-based Por Piedad Teatro where she has developed most of her work. She is also a member of the adviser committee for the US/MEXICO exchange program at The Lark and has been a recipient of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and Arts performers grant. In 2012 Graham was appointed Mexico’s Art, Culture and Tourism Ambassador by former President Felipe Calderón. Aiming to expand the activities of her theatre company and to open international opportunities for Mexican theatre artists, she moved to New York in 2009. She splits her time producing work in Mexico City and New York City. Ana and collaborator Antonio Vega partnered with The Play Company to present Ettore Scola’s Working On a Special Day in New York at 59E59 (2013) and The Duchamp Syndrome at The Flea (2015). In 2018 she was a resident artist at Berkeley Repertory Ground Floor program. In Mexico she recently directed Samuel Beckett’s El Final (The End), Maria Milisavljevic’s Abismo (Abyss) and co-directed with Antonio Vega El Ensayo (10 Out of 12) by Anne Washburn and Winter Solstice by Roland Schimmelpfennig. As an actor she has performed in more than twenty plays, including Woody Allen’s Interiors and Terror by Ferdinand Von Schirach. In 2005 she received an Ariel nomination as Best Actress for her role in the movie Mezcal directed by Ignacio Ortiz. She is currently collaborating with New York playwright Andy Bragen on the development of a new play called Summit and rehearsing William Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra where she has been cast as Anthony on an all-women Mexican production.

Cristóbal MarYán (Composer) was born in Mexico City to a family of Yaqui and Spanish descent. He started playing the piano when he was eight and not long after began composing at twelve. He completed his B.A. in Music at NYU Abu Dhabi, and also spent a year studying at NYU Steinhardt. Upon his return to Mexico, MarYán joined the Núcleo Integral de Composición in Mexico City, where he has workshopped his latest pieces. In 2017, he was invited to participate in a weekend-long artist intensive with the Bang on a Can All-stars in Abu Dhabi. His works have premiered and played in New York, Italy, Finland , Canada, Mexico, Abu Dhabi and Sri Lanka. He has written music and designed sound for plays devised by the Theatre Mitu, Zoukak Theatre, and Por Piedad Teatro. In 2019, he received the Metropolitano award (Mexico’s equivalent of the Tony award) for best sound design in the play “10 out of 12” by Anne Washburn at Por Piedad Teatro. He has scored a number of short films and commercials, wrote the score for the horror movie “Desde el Más Allá.” (Macabro Film Fest), and acted as music supervisor in the film “Of Many” produced by Chelsea Clinton. In 2016 he co-founded Element Audio Group (a scoring and audio post-production company) with Samuel Nacach.

A day will come when you might need to kill a wolf; a mad wolf out there, or a wolf inside of you…do you understand?

Django in Pain chronicles the misfortunes and adventures of a man and a three-legged dog, in a multi-layered tale of despair, loyalty and hope. Exploring the possibilities of creativity and collaboration within the constraints of depression and isolation, Ana Graham and Antonio Vega use hand-made puppets and found objects to create a marvelous world the size of a drafting desk. Featuring original music composed by Cristobal MarYán.

IMPORTANT TRIGGER ADVISORY: This story is about a character who is dealing with depression, and contains strong images and language associated with suicidal thoughts and actions. There are also images of injured animals in distress (not photographic).

Resources are listed at the end of the film.

Digital Program

Written by

Antonio Vega

Co-Created by

Ana Graham & Antonio Vega

Original Music by

Cristóbal MarYán

A Co-Production with

Por Piedad Teatro

Originally presented as part of PlayCo’s #PlayFrom6FeetAway mini-commission program, Django in Pain is a co-production of PlayCo and Por Piedad Teatro, and was developed with support from 59E59 Theaters/The Elysabeth Kleinhans Foundation in New York, NY. Presented as part of 59E59 Theaters Plays In Place program.