Meet "La Havana Madrid’s" Creative Team

Along with playwright/actor Sandra Delgado, two of the mainstays of the wildly successful Chicago productions of La Havana Madrid, Director Cheryl Lynn Bruce and Music Director Roberto “Carpacho” Marin, lead a talented and experienced creative team into the third summer of Outside SCR at the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano.

A respected presence in the Chicago theatre scene as a director, actor and playwright, Bruce has directed productions at Victory Gardens Theater, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Teatro Vista Theatre, and the universities of Illinois, Indiana and De Paul, along with the renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She helped develop and directed La HavanaMadrid at the Goodman, Steppenwolf and Teatro Vista theatres, along with subsequent productions at The Miracle Center, Navy Pier Lake Stage and The Den Theatre. Most recently, she directed Written By Phillis at the Quintessence Theatre and The House of the Negro Insane at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival and The National Black Theatre Festival.

Marin was a legend in the Chicago music scene even before Delgado immortalized him as one of the characters in La Havana Madrid. A native of Medellin, Colombia who plays the bass, percussion and guitar, as well as being a singer, Marin led La Havana Madrid’s “house” band for its productions at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Goodman and Den Theatres and at Navy Pier in Chicago. His band, Carpacho y Su Super Combo performed at the inaugurations of three Chicago mayors and have appeared at Taste of Chicago, the GranFestival Colombiano, Latin Film Festival and alongside the Chicago Children’s Choir in the Chicagoland area. They’ve also appeared regionally and internationally at the Flower Ball in Atlanta and the Ibero-American Cultural Festival in Holguin, Cuba. Marin’s band has performed alongside Jose Feliciano, Eddy Santiago and Andy Montanez, among others.

Set Designer Efren Delgadillo, Jr. returns to SCR for his seventh production, which includes all three summers of Outside SCR. His recent projects include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Mark Taper Forum), I’m not your Perfect Mexican Daughter(Seattle Repertory), In the Upper Room (Denver Center), QuixoteNuevo (Denver Center) and Scene With Cranes (Cal Arts Center for New Performance). An Assistant Professor and head of Scenic Design at UC Irvine, Delgadillo earned a Henry Award and two LA Weekly Awards for Production Design and Lighting Design and was nominated for Ovation and Barrymore awards.

This is Costume Designer Carolyn Mazuca’s second SCR production, following her 2018-19 design work on Culture Clash (Still) in America. Her most recent works include Two Noble Kinsmen at Kingsmen Shakespeare Company and Nice Fish at Interact Theatre Company. At Oregon Shakespeare Festival she worked with award-winning designer Julie Weiss on Destiny of Desire and her upcoming project, Mother Road. Mazuca’s film and television credits include “The Mindy Project,” “Only You,” My Dinner With Herve and “Coop and Cami Ask the World.”

Lighting Designer Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz brings a rich history of SCR credits to his third season at Outside SCR. He has designed 44 SCR productions since 1994, including Outside SCR productions of Million DollarQuartet, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and American Mariachi. Alcaraz’s other SCR credits include A Shot Rang Out, OutsideMullingar, The Whipping Man, La Posada Magica, CultureClash in AmeriCCa, Doubt—a parable, and My Wandering Boy among others. His recent designs include Little Mermaid (Syracuse Stage), Alma (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Gem of the Ocean (TheatreWorks), Twelfth Night and African Company Presents:Richard III at the Great River Shakespeare Festival, where Alcaraz is Co-Associate Artistic Director. Alcaraz is a professor at UC Irvine, where he heads the lighting design program.

Jeff Polunas (Sound Design) returns for his second Outside SCR production, having designed MillionDollar Quartet in 2022. His other SCR credits include She Loves Me, Shakespeare in Love, The SistersRosensweig, Venus in Fur, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Ella Enchanted, Flora & Ulysses and BetweenUs Chickens. Among his 150 production credits are Les Liaisons Dangereuses(Antaeus Theatre Company), A Doll’s House, Part 2, Silent Sky, Fences, Abigail/1702, A Walk in the Woods and UncannyValley (International City Theatre) and Passion Play, Seminar and A Bright New Boise (Chance Theater). An assistant professor of Sound and Projections at Kent State University, Polunas received Scenic Awards for Sound Design in 2015 and 2017 from StageScene LA and was nominated for NAACP, Stage Raw and Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival awards.

Cristian Amigo makes his SCR debut as La Havana Madrid’s composer. A musician, sound designer and educator, Amigo’s recent works include the world premiere of Octavio Solis’ Scenes With Cranes at REDCAT in L.A., José Rivera’s References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot at Cal State Los Angeles and Tara Ricasa’s The Goddess of Lost Things at the Bocón Theater Festival of New Works in San Diego. His geo-mapped music piece Lives of the New Kind of Saints was a featured American design at the 2023 Prague Quadrennial. A member of the CalArts School of Theater sound faculty, Amigo’s work merited an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

This is Choreographer Jonny Martinez’s first SCR production. A Latinx choreographer, writer and director from Chicago’s South Side, Martinez’s credits include The Buddy Holly Story (American Blues Theater), Murder Ballad, Carrie(Bailwick Chicago), The View Upstairs (Circle Theatre) and numerous regional theatres around the Midwest. His recent work includes providing reimagined choreography for South Bend Civic’s West Side Story featuring the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. He served as associate artistic director for Firebrand Theatre. Martinez is currently collaborating with Delgado and Michael McBride on their new musical, The Boys & the Nuns.

In addition to the director and design team, La Havana Madrid features a five-piece band led by Marin on bass with Nestor Gonzalez (percussion/timbales), Carol Macpherson (trombone), Carlos Ordiano (keyboard) and Jorge Ordiano (percussion/congas).