Tintas DC

Oye DC is a night of English, Spanish, and Spanglish storytelling and poetry that celebrates Latine voices from across the Washington metro area.

The performance features a diverse cast of poets each with their own unique style and technique. The poets represent various countries across Latin America as well as the Latine experience in the United States.   The performance will showcase both new and existing work from each of the poet’s respective portfolios. Poets will also have the opportunity to collaborate on new material and do a series of two person plus poetry readings and performances.   The poems will explore a variety of topics and issues, including gender roles and dynamics, family, racism, immigration, language, intimate partner violence, misogyny, and homophobia. The show will balance both the struggles of Latine people with the joys that come from being in community with one another.

The Latine community is super diverse, and we want to make sure that audience members who look and sound like us, feel and recognize that all our stories are worthy to be shared on stage. We want to help jumpstart the necessary dialogue that wrestles with the topics we are often scared to bring to light. This will be done in a thoughtful approach that is not solely focused on the trauma but also celebrates the beauty of being people of resilience.   Every poem will be rooted in the lived experiences of each poet and will reflect their own relationship with the language and culture of having roots in Latin America. The cast will include immigrants, second / third generation, Afro-Latines, Latines with roots in the southwest, the coasts, Spanish, English and Spanglish speakers.

The common thread is that each poet will be a current resident of the Washington metro area. Since D.C. is made up of a wide range of Latine folks – immigrants, transplants, visitors – we want to reflect those experiences and stories on stage because this is what makes our home unique.   Through the use of authentic storytelling each poet will respond, react and share what it means to be Latine. The intention is to help show that we are not a monolith community, but still share some similarities. Oftentimes, we are not given the space to lift up this complicated truth, and we want to do so through storytelling. Stories have the power to help people understand the human impact of being boxed in and lumped together. We want to explore the nuances of what makes us Latine people.

Content Warning: This content includes frequent strong language, mild mentions of self-harm, frequent references to sexual assault, mild references to substance use, frequent depictions of violence, frequent mentions of suicide, frequent themes of grief, mild use and depiction of weapons, mild references to infertility and infant loss, and references to homophobia.

Adrian Gaston Garcia (aka AGG) is a queer Latine storyteller whose mission is to create and share narratives that build community. He hails from the Windy City and has been in the district for the past 13 years. Adrian fuels his creativity via the performing arts, specifically theater, improv, and spoken word poetry. His work is largely based on his experiences and the intersectionality of his identities. It is a shout out to all the queer brown boys who choose joy as their form of resistance. Adrian’s poetry has been featured at a variety of venues and shows, including BloomBars DC, Busboys and Poets, the DC Latino Book Festival, DC Pride Poems, DiVerse Gaithersburg, Homo Stanzas, The Nail Salon, Our Space Experience, and The World Poetry Festival. Adrian was the featured poet at the 2023 District of Pride showcase hosted by the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ affairs. He was also one of the featured storytellers for Story District’s 2023 LGBTQ+ Pride special: Out/Spoken, a celebration highlighting queer voices and stories. In 2022, Adrian collaborated with Gabriel Mata, a local DMV choreographer to produce Joteria: Our Untold Stories… Inspired by the traditional Mexican bingo game, Joteria brings to life a new set of characters, (re)imagined based on their experiences. Each character tells a story that is accompanied by some form of movement, with the purpose of making queer Latine culture seen and heard on stage. Joteria premiered as a sold out show at the Atlas Center for Performing Arts 2022 INTERSECTIONS Festival and also had six runs at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Adrian is the co-host and producer of Los Bookis Podcast, a podcast for queer Latine bookworms who love queer Latine stories. He is currently a student at the Studio Acting Conservatory and a performer with the Washington Improv Theater’s Harold Program: Goth Baby, Out / Loud and Latinx States of America. He is a graduate from the Spanish Sin Pena 2023 Academy and was a Summer 2023 Resident of the DC Mayor’s 202Creates Initiative. In 2022, Adrian co-produced Joteria: Our Untold Stories… Joteria premiered as a sold out show at the Atlas Center for Performing Arts 2022 INTERSECTIONS Festival and also had six runs at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival.