Reina by Augusto Bitter
Support Materials and Tour Information
Description
Reina envisions the many lives of the anonymous woman depicted on a bag of Harina P.A.N. corn flour. A movement-centric hybrid between theatre, dance, and performance art that resists categorization, it invokes and celebrates personal femininity through a collection of poems, sculptures, and sensual choreographies in conversation with music by Y Josephine.
She taps her foot, in line for food. She gets elbowed in the kidney, she studies, she sips soup, she makes arepas, she puts on makeup. She studies, she sips soup, she makes arepas, she puts on makeup. She tugs on her Adam’s apple - can she remove it? - and flings her jaw across the room. It boomarangs around her and slaps her across the face. She and her jaw are dis-located.
Reina recreates the intimacy and immediacy of sharing a meal. From her dark and cavernous cabinet, Reina invites audiences to her desert hometown of Punto Fijo, invoking the women in our lineage surviving solitude and instability. This project deepens our commitment to raising awareness of the Venezuelan crisis, exposing human rights abuses and starvation. Reina expounds about love and food with childlike wonder as she simultaneously laments the femiphobia and malnutrition her family has faced in Venezuela.
Photo by Fran Chudnoff, graphic design by Katie Clarke for Reina’s world premiere at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Teaser
Teaser by Drew Berry
Archival Footage
Click here for footage from our world premiere at Buddies in Bad Times.
Promotional Materials
Production photos by Eden Graham, featuring alt performer Jaime Lujan. Graphic design by Claren Grosz, featuring Augusto Bitter.
Reviews & Accolades
“Reina is a celebration … Jaime Lujan’s performance masterfully brings life to the titular character … Nathan Bruce’s lighting is immaculate.”
- NEXT Magazine
“[Claren Grosz and Augusto Bitter’s] set beautifully mirrors the multiplicity of potential lives and stories that Reina discusses, while lending a cozy and familiar feel”
“Lujan is dazzling”
- A View from the Box
“Wildly tantalizing”
“Lujan … utterly mesmerizes.”
“Sultry compositions by Y Josephine”
“Sexy, deeply charismatic.”- Istvan Dugalin
“Reina walks big and wild into the hypnotic space … eating, kissing, climbing, grunting, and gyrating towards an unbinding”
“catchy and captivating music by composer Y Josephine”- Front Mezz Junkies
Audience Response
“You cut open a package of Harina PAN containing a vivid trip to your roots, my roots, OUR roots. Every image, every movement, sound and smell moved through my body and made me instantly prouder of being Venezuelan and of the beauty, pain and glory that lives inside of me because of it.” - Adriana Vazquez @adrivasqz
“Unmissable!” - Humberly Gonzalez @humberly
“This is one of the best things I’ve seen this year.” - Wayne Burns @wayne.burns
“One of my favorite performers of all time!” - Lilia Leon @leonarts.ca
“Reina is a wonderful work.” - Denise Fujiwara (Fujiwara Dance Inventions)
“The audience seems immediately won over.” - Manuela Camponovo (Osservatore, Switzerland)
Image by Fran Chudnoff
Ancillary Activities
Creator and performer Augusto Bitter is also available to facilitate the following offerings:
“Writing with the Body” - writing, choreography, and creation workshop for emerging artists
Solo Perfomance - writing and performance workshop for artists at any level
Cooking Class - make arepas and carne mechada (pulled beef) while learning more about the process of creating Reina
Artists
Creator, Co-Director, Co-Scenic Designer, Performer - Augusto Bitter
Co-Director, Co-Scenic Designer, Producer - Claren Grosz
Composition - Y Josephine
Alternate Performer - Jaime Lujan
Sound Designer - Mickey Rodriguez
Lighting Designer - Nathan Bruce
Festival Plot Designer - Shawn Henry
Stage Manager - Taylor Zalik-Young
Deaf Interpreter - Courage Bacchus
Deaf Consultant - Juan Jaramillo
Touring Company
Creator/Performer Augusto Bitter
Producer/Tour Manager Claren Grosz
Technical Director/Stage Manager TBD
Augusto Bitter is a Venezuelan-born, Dora Award-winning actor and writer for stage and screen based in Toronto. Select film/TV/theatre credits include: Billy the Kid (MGM+), Star Trek: Section 31 (Paramount+), Hudson & Rex (CityTV), Hotel for the Holidays (Amazon), Coroner (CBC), Craze (Tarragon), The Monument (Factory), Anywhere But Here (Electric Company Theatre), CHICHO (TPM/Pencil Kit Productions), and Lear (Groundling Theatre Co.) Augusto's work spans theatre, animated series, and films developed in-residence at the Canadian Film Centre, Reelworld Screen Institute, Canadian Stage, Factory, Aluna Theatre, TPM, and the city of Toronto. He has also been an educator with Soulpepper, Paprika Festival, Story Planet, and Project: Humanity. Augusto's love language is food. www.augustobitter.com
Development Support
Theatre Passe Muraille & hub 14 reasearch residency
b current performing arts recommender grant for theatre creators (Ontario Arts Council)
Aluna Theatre Ontario Arts Council Playwright-in-Residence (2020)
Teatro delle Radici International Laboratory (Lugano, Switzerland): work-in-progress presentation
Radio Aluna Theatre Studio Series: click here for an experimental radio play adaptation
Canadian Stage RBC Emerging Creator Residency
World Premiere at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as part of Genrefuck. (May 2025)
