WORKS
Andares
Andares
Andares
Woven from ancestral myths, personal anecdotes, and traditional music, Andares reveals the extraordinary spirit of Mexico’s past and present through the perspective and astonishing stories of three indigenous actors from the Maya, Zapotec, and Wixarika nations.
Makuyeika Colectivo Teatral is a theatre company dedicated to creating original works currently centered on the narratives and theatricalities of Mexico’s Indigenous people, touching themes of social, cultural, and human value with keen, artistic sensibility.
By Makuyeika Colectivo Teatral. Directed, music directed and playwriting (in collaboration with original cast): Héctor Flores Komatsu. Original cast: Josué Maychi, Alexis Orozco, Luciano Maxa Temai & Raymundo Pavón Lozano (Music). Also with: Lupe de la Cruz, Domingo Mijangos, Javier Soriano, Kevin Elí Leyva, Kaleb Oseguera y Tania Chan. Assistant: Christian Lara. Scenic conceived by Héctor Flores Komatsu, constructed by Jesus Giles. Lights: Bryan Guerrero. Artisanal, clay masks: Josué Maychi & Juliana Cruz (Tlapazola, Oaxaca). Lyrics for Aguanieve: Arantxa Peláez Cházaro. Created through the The Julie Taymor World Theatre Fellowship. Premiere: August, 2017. Cuernavaca, México.
USA: The Public Theatre’s Under the Radar Festival, NYC; Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Chicago. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Miami-Dade County Auditorium, Historic Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, FL. Georgetown University, Washington DC. Texas Performing Arts, Austin, TX. Williams College, Massachusetts. Duke University, NC. Virginia Tech, VA. Europe: Thalia Theatre, Hamburg; Amsterdam and Utrecht, the Netherlands; Paris, France. Theatre der Welt, Dusseldorf, Germany. South America: Santiago a Mil, Chile. Asia: Wuzhen Theatre Festival, China.
Mexico City: Centro Cultural del Bosque INBA. Benito Juarez Theatre, Sistema de Teatros CDMX. Teatro La Capilla, Coyoacán. Centro Cultural del Bosque INBA, Teatro Sergio Magaña for the Muestra Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre Showcase) of 2018. Yucatan: Teatro La Rendija, Mérida & Tecoh. Chiapas: San Cristobal de las Casas, Zinacantán& Lacanjá Chansayab (Selva Lacandona). Campeche: Teatro Juan de la Cabada, Campeche. Tinún. Morelos: Centro Cultural Teopanzolco, Cuernavaca. Oaxaca: Santo Domingo Tehuantepec, Juchitán de Zaragoza, Teotitlán de Valle, San Pablo Guelatao, Tuxtepec, & at La Locomotora Escénica in Oaxaca City. Veracruz: Tlacotalpan, Catemaco, Xalapa y Córdoba. Chihuahua: Norogachi, Sierra Tarahumara, & Chihuahua. BC: CECUT Tijuana. Tamaulipas: METRO Tampico. Michoacán: Pátzcuaro & Cherán.
Aguascalientes: Feria de San Marcos. Querétaro: Festival de la Joven Dramaturgia. Tijuana, Baja California: Encuentro de Teatro CECUT, Tamaulipas: Espacio Cultural Metropolitano, Tampico. Chihuahua: Teatro Bárbaro, Chihuahua; Teatro Experimental Octavio Trías, Ciudad Juarez.Chiapas: Teatro de la Ciudad, Tapachula.
With the support of the National Fund for the Culture and Arts (FONCA): Norogachi, Chihuahua (Rarámuri village). Patio Petul, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. Casa de la Cultura, Zinacantán, Chiapas (Tzotzil village). Sak Nok, Lacanjá Chansayab, Chiapas (Lacandon village). Universidad del Papaloapan, Tuxtepec y Loma Bonita, Oaxaca. Centro Cultural Luz de Noche, Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Reserva Nanciyaga, Catemaco, Veracruz. Foro Teatral Area 51, Xalapa, Veracruz. Centro, Cherán, Michoacán.. Antiguo Ex-Convento Jesuita, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.
“All of us astonished by the marvel we’d just witnessed…“ - MILENIO
“SHATTERINGLY BEAUTIFUL… born in joy, lives in anger, and ends in hope.” - New City Stage, Chicago:
“a finely woven narrative that leads you from laughter to tears, from reflection to catharsis.”- National Theatre Showcase.
“Capable of revealing the audience unsuspecting sorrows...“ - El Universal
Emigrantii
Emigrantii
By Sławomir Mrożek, translated into Romanian by the team. Directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu. With Răzvan Frunză & Stefan Vatasoiu.Scenic and Costumes: Maria Alexandra Ivan. Lights: Ruxandra-Nicoleta Ilie. Presented and produced in Bucharest, Romania by UNATC I. L. Caragiale. Assistant directors: Mattei Dumitrú & Denis Duma. Production team: Fabian Ciobanu, Silvia-Alexandra Bem & Paul Pristavu. Photography: Amanda Whitely & Virginia Berbece.
Two emigrants sharing a small basement room in a foreign country spend New Year’s Eve far from home—one an anguished intellectual, the other a pragmatic laborer. As the night unfolds, their opposing life philosophies collide in a gripping confrontation filled with humor and drama, revealing the fragile dreams that brought them so far from home.
Chinglish
Chinglish
By David Henry Hwang. Directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu. With: Graham Techler, Caitlin Cisco, Avery DiUbaldo, Jingchen Wu,
Isa Zhang, Justin Wong, Ping Guo, Tian Tian, & Linsen Li. October 2013. Duderstadt Video Studio – Ann Arbor, MI.
“In this sharp, cross-cultural comedy, an American businessman desperately seeks to land a lucrative business deal in booming China. Through shady politics, linguistic misunderstandings, and an affair with a secretive Chinese woman, he learns that there is much that can be lost, and found, in translation.”
Yaqi Ge (Director of Photography), Clarisza Runtung (Asst. Director), Gerui Wang & Yu Yan (Cultural Consultants), Yiwen Zhou (Linguistic Consultant), Shuai Niu (Chinese Drama Consultant), Kayleigh Laymon (Stage Manager), Alexis Breese (Asst. Stage Manager), Peter Shin (Poster Designer), Mayumi Kimura (Music Composer), Liz Williams (Lighting Designer), Isaac Levine (Sound Designer), Chen Hao (Chinese Watercolors), Peter Leonard (Music Recording Engineering).
Sponsored by Prof. Joseph Lam at the Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan.
Associate Producer – Carlos Chou
Check out our Kickstarter campaign!
Original music composed by Mayumi Kimura, featuring traditional Chinese instruments:
With: Victor Huls (Cello), Xiaodong Wei (Erhu & Guzheng), Gabriel Wilk (Guitar), Evan Dahan (Vibraphone) & Evan Saddler (Percussion), Noniko Hsu (Dizi).
The Game, or the eternal rematch
(based on the Mayan epic of the Popol Vuh)
The Game, or the eternal rematch
(based on the Mayan epic of the Popol Vuh)
Directed, music directed and playwrighting by: Héctor Flores Komatsu. With: Andranik Castañon K, Josué Maychi, & MIDI_Pipe (music & live looping). Assistant director: Gianinna Ferreyro. Production Design: Emilio Zurita. Production Assistant: Cristian Lara. Coproduced and presented by : Centro Cultural Teopanzolco y Makuyeika Colectivo Teatral. Premiere: Cuernavaca, Morelos, México, 2019.
“A stage adaptation of the tale of the Ahpú twins, prodigious ballplayers who confront the oppressive lords of Xibalbá, rulers of the underworld. A mythical journey of revenge and an exploration of the eternal game between virtue and malice in human nature, whether in ancient civilizations or in our present day.
Experimental in form, it incorporates live-looping of electronic and pre-Columbian music, and is centered on the athletic body as a medium of expression. Performed in Yucatec Maya and Spanish. ”
grandmother/bathtub
grandmother/bathtub
By Brian Dang. Directed by Sarah Machiko Haber and Héctor Flores Komatsu (Associate). With: Nancy Yao and Christopher Thomas Pow. Stage Manager/Props Designer JL Hagmann-Lopez, Assistant Stage Manager Gaby Rodriguez. Scenic: Silin Chen. Lighting: Theo Sung. Costumes: Micah Ohno. Sound and Original Music: Emilee Biles. Projections: Ein Kim. Technical Director Yun Wu. Intimacy Director Andrew Aaron Valdez. Translator: Ramona Li. Produced by Maya Louise Shed, Mia Van de Loo & Sarah Machiko Haber at the Yale Cabaret. January, 2025.
“Grandmother won’t leave the tub, even though it’s on a fault-line ready to blow. Nat comes home sometimes to give her a bath and keeps vowing to leave for good. They don’t speak the same language but they try to reconcile every death and every word. The world keeps splitting open. They keep trying.”
Ix-kik:
blood, moon, sister
Ix-kik:
blood, moon, sister
By Makuyeika Colectivo Teatral. Directed, music directed and playwriting (in collaboration with original cast): Héctor Flores Komatsu. Original cast: Luvia Lazo, Sarah Ontiveros, Beatriz Cadena y Tania Chan (Music). Later with: Nicté Valdés. Asst. Director: Ana Lucia Altamirano. Administrative Asst.: Josué Maychi. Costume Design: Andrea Velasco. Scenic & Lighting Design: Emilio Zurita. Created with the Jóvenes Creadores grant (Directing) from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), Mexico, 2020.
Ix-kik: blood, moon, sister unites three indigenous women (Zapotec, Tzotzil, Raramuri) and a musician into a living, theatrical tapestry where the feminine territory of native Mexico is evoked through body, music, and language. Ix-kik reveals and intertwines the deeply personal voices of these present-day women, while connecting them through time and space with their lineage. Together, their hidden song resonates as echo of both womanhood and humanity. From the Mayan prefix “ix” [pronounced “sh”], referring to all that belongs to the feminine, and “kik,” blood, moon, or sister.
Stay in Mexico
Opera 360°
Stay in Mexico
Opera 360°
Produced by Stage of the Arts Mexico. Stage directors: Yuriria Fanjul, Damian Cervantes & Héctor Flores Komatsu. Choreographers: Henry Torres, Angel Árambula, Raulito Osuna. Cast: identity intentionally undisclosed. Composer: Arturo Fuentes. Conductor: Rodrigo Cadet. Production Coordinator & Lighting Designer: Erika Gómez. Assistant Director: Randú Ramírez. Orchestra: Antiqva Metrópoli. Video Footage & Production: María Espinoza. Line producer - Tijuana: Daniel Martínez. Music Production: MúsicaUNAM, NAFF. Production Assistant: Andrea Cruz-Meléndez.
“360º video/dance/opera performance with a cast of 30 asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. Original compositions performed by a Mexican Baroque orchestra and a choir.”
El Traje
El Traje
Basado en The Suit de Can Themba, a partir del montaje de Peter Brook y Marie-Hélène Estienne. Dirección en México: Héctor Flores Komatsu y Sebastián Espinosa Carrasco. Con: Jesús Delgado (Philemon), Khristina Giles (Matilda), Francisco Pita (Maphikela), Andranik Castañon K (Keké), Sebastián Espinosa Carrasco (Piano), Carlos Bañales (Trompeta) y Jorge Zaldívar (Guitarra). Diseño de Iluminación y Supervisión Escenográfica: Emilio Zurita. Coordinadora de Producción: Rosa Maria Trujillo.
“Bajo el opresivo régimen del apartheid en Sudáfrica, el escritor Can Themba contó por vez primera vez la historia de Philemon, quien ante la infidelidad de su esposa, impone en casa la presencia de un misterioso traje para provocar en ella una constante y dolorosa humillación, llevando su relación a los limites del amor y la crueldad.”
Canek:
alguna vez supimos leer las estrellas
Canek:
alguna vez supimos leer las estrellas
By Josue Maychi (actor) & Héctor Flores Komatsu (director), inspired by the historical figure of Jacinto Canek.
An original theatre creation tracing the pathways of indigenous revolutionary movements across classical, colonial, and contemporary times. Performed by Maya actor Josué Maychi, the play connects the life story of Jacinto Canek, leader of the failed Maya rebellion of 1761, with the current fight towards decolonization and indigenous sovereignty across borders. A poetic journey through the collective memory of the Maya people as they recognize their past, live their present, and fight for the destiny of their future. Performed in Yucatec Maya and Spanish.
“You see that child? His face is Maya, but his eyes are Spanish... He no longer understands his grandmother’s words...”
Sotto Voce
Sotto Voce
By Nilo Cruz. Directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu. With: Larissa Marten, Aaron Weinstein, Anastasia Zavitsanos, & Julian Bridges (Music). Mardheanna Yasin (Artistic Collaborator), Bruna D'Avila (Asst. Director), Brian Antonio Garcia (Scenography), and Kula Batangan (Movement). Photography by Erica Gavan. April 2016. Arthur Miller Theatre – Ann Arbor, Michigan
“Bemadette Kahn, an eighty-year-old German-born writer, spends her days in her New York apartment, trying to forget the past. Until Saquiel Rafaeli, a young Jewish-Cuban artist, appears on her doorstep, forcing her to confront those haunted memories. He’s eager to learn about Bemadette’s long-lost lover, Ariel Strauss, who set sail in 1939 aboard the St. Louis, never to be seen again. With layered lyrical language and vibrant intimacy, Sotto Voce is an imaginative exploration of the power of memory, love and human connection.”
Herencia
Herencia
By El Colectivo at DGSD. Co-directed by Juliana Morales Carreño and Héctor Flores Komatsu. Cast & devisers: Abraham S.E. Rebollo-Trujillo, Andrew Aaron Valdez, Claudia Campos, Erik Manuel Robles, Héctor Flores Komatsu, Jeremy Alejandro Fuentes, Juliana Morales Carreño, Karen Loewy Movila & Rebecca Rivera. Associate Director: Karen Loewy Movila. Reherasal Stage Manager: Caileigh Potter. Stage Manager & Producer Adrian Alexander Hernandez. Producers: Alesandra Reto Lopez, Gaby Rodriguez & Claudia Campos. Scenic: Jennifer Yuging Cao. Lighting: Yung-Hung Sung. Sound: Eun Kang (강은영). Projections: Dwight Bellisimo. Costumes: Caroline Tyson. Technical Director: Constanza Etchechury López. Intimacy Coordinator: Andrew Aaron Valdez. Presented at the Yale Cabaret 57, October 2024.
The Motherfucker with the Hat
The Motherfucker with the Hat
By Stephen Adly Guirguis. Directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu. With: Lucas Kane, Caitlin Cisco, Phil Rice, Melissa Golliday, and Josh Aber.
Elliot Cruz (Fight Director), Trevor Griffin (Stage Manager), Nikki Horowitz (Photography). February 2014, Walgreen Drama Center – Ann Arbor, Michigan. Arts@Michigan's Accolades – Winner for Best Theatrical Performance
“Struggles with addiction, friendship, love and the challenges of adulthood are at the center of the story. Jackie, a petty drug dealer, is just out of prison and trying to stay clean. He’s also still in love with his coke-addicted childhood sweetheart, Veronica. Ralph D. is Jackie’s too-smooth, slightly slippery sponsor. He’s married to the bitter and disaffected Victoria, who, by the way, has the hots for Jackie. And then there’s Julio, Jackie’s cousin...a stand-up, “stand by me” kind of guy.”
Short works
Short works
Interdisciplinary collaboration between dance, music, theatre.
December 2013
Betty Pease Studio Theatre
Ensemble creation: Christine Hedden, Dee Thomasetta, Kula Batangan, Héctor Flores Komatsu, Kaliana Basoukeas, and Sam Naples.
Photo by Kirk Donaldson
Inspired on the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos.
November 2014
Ensemble creation, directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu.
With: Nicole Patrick, Kiri Chapman, Aline Mayagoitia, Woody Buck, Brian Antonio Garcia, Caitlin Cisco, Gabriel Wilk Mizrahi, and Paty Solorzano.
Created for or the inaugural Wall-to-Wall Theatre Festival.
April 2014
Ensemble creation, directed by Héctor Flores Komatsu.
With: Aline Mayagoitia, Alexandria Strother, Liesl Collazo, Christine Hendden, and Kula Batangan.