SIX: The Musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss

RESIDENT DIRECTOR

In the Fall of 2023, Cristina accepted an offer to join the directing team of SIX: The Musical. As the Resident Director, she joins Associate Director Galia Backal in maintaining the productions of SIX across all of North America including, but not limited to, SIX on Broadway, the SIX National Tour, and SIX Canada.

Our Town by Thorton Wilder

Director

In October of 2023, Cristina is reuniting with designers Rodrigo Escalante, Emma Deane, Olivia Hern, and Germán Martínez to direct a new production of Our Town at the University of Rochester. Our Town will open November 30th, and run through mid-December.

Antiquated Fuckery by Jessica Charles

Director

Alongside High School Play, Cristina worked alongside playwright Jessica Charles to direct, Antiquated Fuckery, with The Pool Plays, a company dedicated to creating a sustainable model of artist-led theater production that breaks down the current processes and puts playwrights at the helm – in support of one another and making way for diverse storytellers of tomorrow.

High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest by Vichet Chum

director

To start the 2023-2024 Season, Cristina directed Vichet Chum’s High School Play at Fordham University. The show opened October 5th, 2023, with Scenic Design by Haley Crawford, Lighting Design by Shaun Suchan, Costume Design by Grace Jeon, and Sound Design by Mellie Way.

Good Blood by Diane Exavier

DIRECTOR

In the Summer of 2023, Cristina collaborated with Diane Exavier on a developmental workshop of her play, Good Blood, produced as part of the Judith Champion MixFest at Atlantic Theatre Company.

Synopsis: The story of a Haitian family living in Brooklyn and their return to Haiti as they work to cure their history in the hopes of securing a future. From the journey of immigrants to the spread of a global epidemic, language, time, and an ocean are crossed in an interrogation of the contracts we make, the conditions under which we live, and what it means to reach for a love that might outlive you.

Quick Service by May Treuhaft-Ali

director

During the Spring and Summer, Cristina reunited with May Treuhaft-Ali to continue the development of May’s play QUICK SERVICE. Westport Country Playhouse produced a two-day workshop of the newest draft of the play, and the creative team is eager to continue work at the Cape Cod Theater Project this summer.

Castillos de Plástico by Daniella De Jesús

Director

In the Spring of 2023, Cristina reunited with longtime friend Daniella De Jesús to direct a reading of her newest play Castillos de Plástico at New York Theatre Workshop’s Mondays @ 3 Series.

Synopsis: The Castillos are a picture-perfect, charming Puerto Rican family or at least that’s what they’d like you to think. Noemi, the only daughter, feels stifled by the outdated beliefs and structures of her “traditional” family unit. She anxiously awaits the college acceptance letter that will whisk her away from her responsibilities as the only daughter, but on the eve of her 17th birthday, Noemi is confronted with a traumatic childhood memory that forces her to challenge the sexist and colorist power dynamics within her family. And if that wasn’t enough, the TV just broke and a bored Gramma who can’t watch her novelas decides to create her own drama by revealing yet another family secret, turning Noemi’s 17th birthday party into the season finale of “Castillos de Plástico”.

Antigonick by Sophocles; translated by Anne Carson

director

In 2023, Cristina returned to Pace University’s BFA performing arts program to direct Antigonick, Anne Carson’s translation of Sophocles’s Antigone.

Synopsis: When her dead brother is decreed a traitor, his body left unburied beyond the city walls, Antigone refuses to accept this most severe of punishments. Defying her uncle who governs, she dares to say ‘No’. Forging ahead with a funeral alone, she places personal allegiance before politics, a tenacious act that will trigger a cycle of destruction.

Baby, I Fell in Love with The Computer By Mara Vélez Meléndez

director

To close out the Winter of 2023, Cristina directed Ars Nova’s Out Loud Workshop of Mara Vélez Meléndez’s newest play, Honey, I Fell in Love with The Computer. This was the first developmental workshop of the piece, and second time Cristina and Mara collaborated together since their workshop of Gárgola at MCC Theater.

Quick Service by May Treuhaft-Ali

director

When Queen of Basel closed, Cristina went to MCC Theater to direct a week-long workshop of May Treuhaft-Ali’s new play, Quick Service. The workshop was presented to the public on March 3rd and coproduced by MCC Theater and The Movement Theatre Company.

Synopsis: QUICK SERVICE is a play about the precarities of food service, set in an empanada shop in Chicago. Four employees try to make it through the dinner rush as something sinister rises up from the basement, ex-coworkers enact their revenge, and the oven has a mind of its own.

Queen of Basel by Hilary Bettis

director

At the start of 2023, Cristina made her regional directorial debut at Theaterworks Hartford by directing Queen of Basel by Hilary Bettis. Performances began on February 3rd, and the show will run through February 26th.

Synopsis: It’s Miami’s Art Basel, where real estate heiress Julie reigns over the blowout her mogul father is throwing at his South Beach hotel. But after tangling with him and a tray of drinks, Julie plots her next move in the hotel’s storage kitchen with Christine, a cocktail waitress who recently fled violence in Venezuela, and Christine’s fiancé John, an Uber driver with ambitions. This explosive elixir of power, class, and race within the Latinx community is a bold and contemporary take on Strindberg’s Miss Julie.

A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller

Associate Director

To conclude 2022, Cristina remounted Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play, directed by Kenny Leon. The production toured nationally throughout the 22-23 season, and began performances in New Haven’s Shubert Theatre on December 8th, 2022.

Ohio State Murders by Adrienne Kennedy

Associate Director

In October of 2022, Cristina reunited with director Kenny Leon to work as the Associate Director on Adrienne Kennedy’s Broadway debut, Ohio State Murders, starring Audra McDonald. Previews began on November 11th, 2022, and we an opened on December 8th at the newly christened James Earl Jones Theatre.

Synopsis: When writer Suzanne Alexander returns to her alma mater as a guest speaker, in which she explores the violence in her works, a dark mystery unravels. Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders is an intriguing and unusual suspense play, as well as a social pertinent look at the destructiveness of racism in our society.

Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine

director

This fall, Cristina directed Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods with Pace University’s BFA Musical Theater Students. Into the Woods opened on October 20th, 2022, with Music Direction by Alexander Tom, Scenic Design by Gabby Mason, Sound Design by Mel Henry, Lighting Design by Sasha Lysenko, and Costume Design by Q Le.

Synopsis: Into the Woods intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood,” "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.

La Carreta (The Oxcart) by René Marqués

Director

As a part of Roundabout’s Refocus Series, Cristina directed a workshop presentation of La Carreta or, The Oxcart in June of 2022. Produced in partnership with the original producers of La Carreta, Pregones/PRTT, Cristina gathered a majority Puerto Rican cast to bring La Carreta to a New York stage for the first time in 25 years.

Synopsis: In 1950s Puerto Rico, matriarch Doña Gabriela and her children await the fateful oxcart that will take them from their mountain home to a new life in San Juan. From the pastoral countryside, to the La Perla neighborhood of San Juan, to the Spanish District of the Bronx, this sweeping story of migration poignantly dramatizes one family’s struggle to find their place and redefine their identity in an uncertain future.

BAKKHAI by Anne Carson

Associate Director

In May, Cristina went to Baltimore Center Stage to collaborate with director Mike Donahue as his Associate Director on BAKKHAI, translated by Anne Carson. BAKKHAI contained original music by Diana Oh, and opened in June of 2022.

Synopsis: This isn’t your English teacher’s Greek tragedy. Dionysus, the god of wine, is totally over everyone’s drama so he’s going to incite the women of the land to raise hell in this immersive explosion of the classic play. Featuring original music, debauchery, and a whole lot of wine, Bakkhai is a cautionary tale about the consequences of a civilization’s fear of the unknown.

The Good John Proctor by Talene Monahon

director

In April, Cristina was invited by Talene and Bedlam to direct a reading of her play, THE GOOD JOHN PROCTOR. The reading starred Sharlene Cruz, Susannah Perkins, Camila Canó-Flaviá, and Tavi Gevinson.

Synopsis: A prequel to Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” through the eyes of the young girls affected by the goings on in 1600’s Salem.

AMANI by a.k. payne

director

In April, Cristina and a.k. reunited to continue the development of her play AMANI through a commissioned workshop presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Synopsis: When Amani's mother dies, the world shakes. Her father vows to make it to outer space, where there are no gangs to take his love's life, no prisons to take Black boys' best years. Amani grows up building a rocket ship with her father. As she moves into adulthood, Amani seeks her voice and her own dreams. Will Amani make it to the 'moon'?

Broadway Women’s Fund Releases 3rd Annual Women to Watch List

director

In March of 2022, Cristina was named one of 50 women to watch by the Broadway Women’s Fund. The Broadway Women’s Fund was founded in 2020 by Valerie Novakoff to promote women in leadership positions by investing in Broadway shows that are written, directed, or produced by women. By elevating the women on the list, the Women's Fund seeks to encourage Broadway industry members to look outside of their networks when hiring, placing more women in top roles.

The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes by Vivian J. O. Barnes

Director

While working on In the Blood, Cristina directed the first developmental workshop of The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes by Vivian J. O. Barnes as a part of Second Stage Theater’s New Voices Reading Series. The workshop was presented at the Tony Kiser Theater in January of 2022.

Synopsis: The Sea Mink-ettes are the best dance team around and homecoming is their time to shine. As the big day creeps closer, petty infighting and the quest for perfection threaten to tear the group apart--and then three of their teammates suddenly go missing. And the darkness around them keeps growing. And the world keeps going and going and going.

In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks

director

After the Holidays, Cristina began rehearsals for In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks at the Tisch School of the Arts, starring NYU’s 3rd Year MFA Actors. In the Blood opened on February 9th, 2022.

Synopsis: In The Blood tells the story about a mother, Hester, and her five children in which the father is not around. She has a reputation in the town as a "slut" on her, which is affecting her chance at making a better life for her kids. She seizes the opportunity to receive help from her children's fathers, with hopes that one may help them.

AMANI by a.k. payne

director

In December, Cristina collaborated with writer a.k. payne on her play AMANI through a developmental workshop presented by Roundabout Theatre Company.

Synopsis: When Amani's mother dies, the world shakes. Her father vows to make it to outer space, where there are no gangs to take his love's life, no prisons to take Black boys' best years. Amani grows up building a rocket ship with her father. As she moves into adulthood, Amani seeks her voice and her own dreams. Will Amani make it to the 'moon'?

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

director

In December of 2021, Cristina directed BFA students in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the New School’s College of Performing Arts that highlighted the ways societal structures rob teenagers of their youth and innocence in today’s America.

Romeo and Juliet opened on December 16th, 2021, and was streamed the following January.

Damocles by A.A. Brenner

director

In November of 2021, Cristina directed BFA students in a production of Damocles by A.A. Brenner at Rutgers Theater Company.

Synopsis: In 1843, a twenty-three year-old intersex man named Levi Suydam asked the town board of selectmen in Salisbury, Connecticut to validate his right to vote in a hotly-contested local election. This play is not about that election. A synthetically-fragmented fantasia about voting rights, elections, American society, and, yes, the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, DAMOCLES follows Levi on his quest for equal rights, and also questions and satirizes the cis-hetero power structures on which our country's founders built our nation.

Bite Me by Eliana Pipes

director

In the Summer of 2021, Roundabout Theatre Company produced an internal reading presentation of “Bite Me” by Eliana Pipes, starring Malika Samuel and Mike Faist.

Synopsis: Melody is a Black girl at an all-white suburban high school, overachieving academically and struggling to battle the isolation — Nathan is a misfit of another kind, a white boy in her grade with a juvenile drug habit and unceasing angst. They collide in a storage closet and form an unexpected bond that transforms and shatters them both, leaving them to pick up the pieces at their high school reunion 15 years later.

UNF*CKWITHABLE at The Drama League

Director

Starting in the fall of 2020, Cristina began pre-production on UNF*CKWITHABLE by Eliana Pipes. Due to a rigorous COVID-19 testing schedule, and vaccination distribution in New York, The Drama League was able to gather a full team of designers and crew members to not only rehearse the show in person, but also film it on a three-camera set up, and work with an editor to piece together the full project to be streamed in June of 2021.

Synopsis: In a society where a chasm has opened up between rich and poor — one Black girl has fallen into the abyss. As a result, GIRL embarks on a cross-country roadtrip in a converted Van: by day she’s lifestyle blogging as a #VanLife influencer, and by night she’s shooting down Amazon delivery drones to loot the contents — desperate to claw her way into American prosperity. But when she shoots down something she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to reckon with the cost of her ambition. She may be able to run from society, but she can’t escape the systems that are ingrained within her.

Representation at United Talent Agency

director

In November, Cristina was signed by Rachel Viola and Ryan Lucas at United Talent Agency. Rachel and Ryan will be her primary representatives within the theater industry, and will begin creating a path towards transitioning Cristina into directing for TV and film as well.

MCC LiveLabs Present ¡GÁRGOLA!

director

In October of 2020, Cristina directed ¡GÁRGOLA! written by Omar Vélez Meléndez, and produced within MCC Theater’s LiveLab One Act series. ¡GÁRGOLA! was the opening program of MCC’s 20-21 Season, and the premiere of their new streaming platform, MCC On Demand. Told by an entirely Puerto Rican cast, ¡GÁRGOLA! told the story of a conspiracy theory shaking up the city of Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, and how far its citizens will go to save themselves and their culture.

Greater Good Theater Festival

DIRECTOR

In the fall, Cristina directed “Entre Dos,” written by Julissa Contreras for the Greater Good Theater Festival.

Coproduced by the Latinx Playwriting Circle and Pregones/PRTT, and Founded by playwright Darrel Alejandro Holnes, the Greater Good Commission offers mini-grants to Latinx playwrights to write short plays, innovative in form, that reflect the times. The Commission’s mission is to help sustain Latinx playwrights and to support their contributions to American theater. The inaugural round in 2020 shined a light on Afro/Black Latinx-identifying writers, and the selection committee chose five women playwrights. The Festival streamed online, and the plays will later live in digital archives.

New York Film Academy

acting instructor

In August, Cristina was also hired at the New York Film Academy’s Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre to teach acting to first year students. She will be staying onboard the adjunct faculty at NYFA through the spring to continue executing her curriculum in both monologue work and scene study.

Roundabout Theatre Company Associate Artist

director

After the culmination of her season-long directing fellowship at the Roundabout, Cristina was offered the chance to stay onboard the artistic team as an Associate Artist. Now, Cristina joins a select group of writers and directors at the Roundabout who develop work and contribute artistic insight into annual season planning.

In the 20-21 season, Cristina also led the Roundabout Directors Group, a cohort of early career directors meeting monthly to connect with established theater artists offering mentorship and workshops on topics ranging from leadership during a global pandemic, the transitioning from assisting to directing, directing for TV/Film, understanding SDC, to self-producing and finding representation.

2020-21 Drama League Directing Fellowship

director

Cristina was awarded the 20-21 New York Directing Fellowship at The Drama League. Founded in 1984, the fellowship brings extraordinary early-career stage directors into an extended program of creative advancement, industry-focused development, professional assistantships, and an opportunity to present their work to the field as part of the Off-Off-Broadway festival DirectorFest, the nation's preeminent festival highlighting rising directorial talent.

Suzan-Lori Parks's "Loving the Living Playwright" at NYU

Teacher’s assistant

For the fourth year running, Cristina returned to NYU to assist Suzan-Lori Parks with her graduate level playwriting class at NYU's Tisch School entitled, “Loving the Living Playwright.” The role consists of managing an actor pool of 50+ people in order to cast two staged readings in class each week along with managing actors' and writers' schedules in order to allocate time for rehearsal. The class ran from January to May of 2020.

Checkmark’s second, annual Galentine’s Day Fundraiser

artistic director

On February 16th, Checkmark hosted its second, annual Galentine’s Day Fundraiser at The Brooklyn Cellar. The night featured a raffle, a silent auction, a live set of original music by Checkmark’s dear friend Niambi Ra, and all proceeds went towards our Spring Reading Series of four, new plays written and directed by underrepresented artists.

Metropolis: An Afrofuturist Musical

director

Directing the first, public showing of “Metropolis,” at Joe’s Pub, produced by the Musical Theater Factory.

Created by AriDy Nox and Brandon Webster, this concert featured songs and scenes from the genre-bending score and time-twisting book of this brand new dystopian musical. The team consisted of Music Director, Deah Harriott; Bassist Tiffany Lloyd, Drummer Mark Bell, and guitarist Mike Smiley Jr, with cast including Danyel Fulton (Broadbend, Arkansas, Jasper in Deadland) and Djoré Nance (Are You Now, Or Have You Ever Been).

“72 miles to go…” at Roundabout Theatre Company

assistant director

For her second of two Assistant Director credits she received during her fellowship at Roundabout, Cristina assisted director Jo Bonney on the off-Broadway Premiere of Hilary Bettis’s play “72 miles to go…” The play follows a splintered family over 10 years of strength, struggle and love, as they face the profoundly personal drama of immigration. The production begins performances on February 3rd, 2020 and will run until May.

“A Soldier’s Play”at Roundabout Theatre Company

Assistant Director

For her first of two Assistant Director credits she received during her fellowship at Roundabout, Cristina made her Broadway debut assisting director Kenny Leon on the Broadway premiere of Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, “A Soldier’s Play.” The production, which starred Blair Underwood and David Alan Grier, began performances on December 27th, and ran until March 2020.

TONI: A New Digital Series

Writer/Director

This Fall, Checkmark expanded its mission to produce work by underrepresented artists on both stage and screen. For our inaugural film project, Checkmark is producing a digital series, TONI, inspired by the life of Marie Antoinette. Checkmark co-produced a Proof of Concept of TONI with our newest collaborators, Talking Back Pictures, a women-run production company guaranteeing the employment of women-identifying artists in 50% or more of their crew positions. We will be using our Proof of Concept to apply to grants and fundraise to produce the first episode in the series in the 20-21 Season.

2019-20 Roundabout Directing Fellowship

director

In June, Roundabout Theatre Company announced that Cristina was awarded the 19-20 Roundabout Directing Fellowship. She joined Whitney White, Miranda Haymon and Kathleen Capdesuner as the fourth, annual fellow in the program, spearheaded by Tony winner Sam Gold. During this season, assisted on Roundabout's Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, worked with the theatre's New Work Development Department, and used RTC's resources to develop her own projects.

Winter New Works Series at NYFA

Director

In August, Cristina directed a workshop of (Un)Sung by the writing duo Natalie Wilson and Kat Sherrell, also known as Nat & Kat for the New York Film Academy’s New Works Series. Cristina was honored to sit at the helm of a new musical for PCMT’s 10th New Works Series, which allowed conservatory students the opportunity to be a part of a new work development process with outside professionals.

Checkmark Presents DREAM HOU$E at Ars Nova’s ANT Fest

director/producer

After 8 months of development, one workshop, and 3 weeks of rehearsal, Checkmark produced the first production of Eliana’s newest play on June 12th. The team consisted of a majority of women of color, and every artist involved was compensated for their time and talent—as is Checkmark’s mission.

DREAM HOU$E starred Amanda Borges, Cindy De La Cruz, and Miranda Rizzolo with Lighting Design by Marie Yokoyama; Scenic Design by Jamie Phanekham, Sound design by Adrian Bridges; Costume Design by Nell Simon, and produced by Ayana Parker Morrison.