Event

YOU'RE GONNA CRY by Paul S. Flores

HBO Def Poet and Youth Speaks co-founder Paul S. Flores captures the abrupt changes seen throughout the Mission District brought on by the dot-com boom and bust, the real estate bubble, constant immigration and forced evictions. Portraying a literal neighborhood of offbeat, vibrant characters of different ages, genders and ethnicities, Flores goes beyond the facade improvements and puts a human face on the effects of gentrification in the Mission. Directed by Brian Freeman.

Paul S. Flores is one of the most influential Latino performance artists in the country. A published poet, playwright and co-founder of Youth Speaks, his work explores the intersection of urban culture, Hip-Hop, Spanglish and transnational identity. Raised in Chula Vista, California, Flores spent much of his youth between Tijuana and San Diego developing a consciousness of border identity. Flores' performance projects have taken him from HBO's Def Poetry to Havana, Cuba, Mexico City, and El Salvador. He is author of the novel Along the Border Lies, and his most recent play REPRESENTA! was directed by Danny Hoch and presented by the Hip-Hop Theater Festival 2007. He was recently awarded the NALAC Fund for the Arts 2010 grant for his newest play Wounds of the Izote, directed my Michael John Garcés, premiering in 2011-2012 in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He teaches Hip-Hop Theater and Spoken Word at the University of San Francisco. He is married with two children and lives in San Francisco.