Samantha Vargas

Playwright, Dramaturg, Actor, and Director from the Inland Empire of California.

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A first look at TEATRX’s production of The Garden of Night Blooming Flowers, a part of their 6th annual La Vida es Cortos short play and film festival.

Photos by Danielle Villasana for Houston Landing

Director - Jasminne Mendez

Asst. Director - Melissa Herrera

Cast

Montserrat “Montse” Montalbán - Michelle Sosa

Maria Eufémia Mas Santos - Laura Del Angel

Maria Ofélia Mas Santos - Kitzia Madrigal

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Sibylla - LIBER IV: Descents and Ascents

Tensions boil over in the office following John and Nate’s previous attempt to change the past with the Sibyl. John, Nate, and Marianne launch one final attempt to set things right, but upon John and Nate’s return to the present, they find reality has become something they no longer recognize. John tries one last time to talk with the Sibyl, leading to startling and tragic revelations.

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Sibylla - LIBER III: Where is Your Axe?

Following a tragedy within the office, John, Nate, and Marianne enact a plan to set things right again. Chris and Nate discuss their personal lives, while John and Vic discuss grief and other private emotions. After their original plan fails, John, Nate, and Marianne contrive and enact a new plan to set things right, leading to new troubling information from the Sibyl.

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Sibylla - LIBER II: Black as Death

Marianne, John, and Nate face minor difficulties as they prepare to execute their plan. John and Vic discuss time-traveling and prophecy. Marianne and Chris send Jess out to restock their Tylenol supply. John and Nate undertake their mission to recover the remaining Sibylline Books from the Sibyl, yet her appearance only portends troubles for both. Chaos ensues in the office once John and Nate return to the present.

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Sibylla - LIBER I: What's It Like to Go Back?

John and Nate go back in time to Rome in 79 AD and talk with a Shepherd on his way to Pompeii. Marianne, Chris, and Jess discuss the affairs of office and home life. Nate’s simple mishap while time-traveling earlier has greater ramifications than he ever expected. Vic proposes a new research mission for John and Nate: a recovery attempt of the missing Sibylline Books. Marianne, Nate, and John come up with a plan to fix Nate’s mistake.

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Guerrilla Shakespeare Episode 6: Rosalind

In a Shakespeare play, the epilogue is often used as an apology of sorts to the audience. After all, the people did pay their two pennies to get in the door, and the troupe showed a rowdy spectacle full of profanity and vice. The actor is speaking both as the character and himself; his lines are full truth yet they are still wrapped in the world of the play. Here, Rosalind asks us to embrace the layers of meaning in both the play and our world, and to take the story with us as we play on. - To do something “guerrilla” is to use our home turf to our advantage. To do “Guerrilla Shakespeare” is to bring classic Shakespearean characters into our lives and to perform these stories in our homes. With this web series, we aim to make Shakespeare accessible to us, a classic that is our own.

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Guerrilla Shakespeare Episode 5: Imogen

This monologue is Imogen’s fierce declaration of yearning- for agency, for love, for trust. The people Imogen has given her life to, her father and her lover, Leonard’s Postumus, have scorned and imprisoned her. Although Imogen is talking to Pisanio, a servant she has known all her life, she still feels lonely. Sometimes isolation is more than being physically alone; it’s being misunderstood and mistreated by others. - To do something “guerrilla” is to use our home turf to our advantage. To do “Guerrilla Shakespeare” is to bring classic Shakespearean characters into our lives and to perform these stories in our homes. With this web series, we aim to make Shakespeare accessible to us, a classic that is our own.

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Guerrilla Shakespeare Episode 4: Hamlet

Hamlet, the play, is all about coming to terms with meaning. What is the purpose of life? What will her father’s death mean if Hamlet cannot kill Claudius? What kind of person will Hamlet become if she cannot do what must be done? Hamlet asks us: why, when we have the power to do something, do we stand in our own way? She has spent a lot of the play feeling powerless, like she’s walking in circles, but after seeing Fortinbras, Hamlet discovers that she actually does have power, but she has been afraid to use it. - To do something “guerrilla” is to use our home turf to our advantage. To do “Guerrilla Shakespeare” is to bring classic Shakespearean characters into our lives and to perform these stories in our homes. With this web series, we aim to make Shakespeare accessible to us, a classic that is our own.

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Guerrilla Shakespeare Episode 3: Edgar

Edgar is literally running for her life. Her father was tricked by her brother into believing Edgar is murderous and dangerous. To save her life, she decides to hide in plain sight and creates an alternate persona, Poor Tom. There’s something freeing about recreating the self and escaping the clutches of a society trying to control us and our actions. This becomes even more important when the society we are running from lacks justice and truth, as Edgar’s does. In the text, Edgar finds freedom in nature, and as Poor Tom, she will live on to save the ones who have done her wrong. - To do something “guerrilla” is to use our home turf to our advantage. To do “Guerrilla Shakespeare” is to bring classic Shakespearean characters into our lives and to perform these stories in our homes. With this web series, we aim to make Shakespeare accessible to us, a classic that is our own.

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Guerrilla Shakespeare Episode 2: Lady Macbeth

In this scene, Lady Macbeth discovers that three witches gave her husband a prophecy, promising them the throne. Looking back on this play, we must ask ourselves how we have changed. We live in a world stained with the blood of war, monarchy, and witch-hunting. In this monologue, where Lady Macbeth is totally alone at home, we see how these legacies cast seeds of doubt within her. Despite this, she ultimately accomplishes along Duncan’s murder and earns the crown she feels she deserves, and we are left to ask if the risk is worth the reward. - To do something “guerrilla” is to use our home turf to our advantage. To do “Guerrilla Shakespeare” is to bring classic Shakespearean characters into our lives and to perform these stories in our homes. With this web series, we aim to make Shakespeare accessible to us, a classic that is our own.

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Guerrilla Shakespeare Episode 1: Prospero

The Tempest is one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote, so that is where we will begin. In Act IV, Prospero suddenly remembers, in the midst of his daughter’s wedding, the plot against his life, which inspires this famous speech. Shakespeare knew all too well what it’s like to create worlds inside your head, only to let them go. So here, it’s not just Prospero talking to us- it’s Shakespeare himself, and he’s asking us to question what is means to be a writer and an artist, especially when the curtains close and the theaters are shut down. How do we carry on our art within ourselves? - To do something “guerrilla” is to use our home turf to our advantage. To do “Guerrilla Shakespeare” is to bring Shakespearean characters into our lives and to perform these stories in our homes. With this web series, we aim to make Shakespeare accessible to us, a classic that is our own.

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Madonna

Written and Performed by Samantha Vargas

Directed by Debra de Liso

CW: Blood and Gore.

Performed April 27, 2022 at USC's Scene Dock Theatre.

This performance uses audio from "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by The Carpenters. I do not own the rights to this music.

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Embark on a trip to ‘Virgin Creek’ - Daily Trojan

SDA student Samantha Vargas’ original work grapples with the intersectionality between queerness, femininity and religion

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Virgin Creek

Directed by Samantha Vargas

Photos by Jade Crenian

Director - Samantha Vargas

Asst. Director - Kaila Tacazon

Stage Managers - Farah Hosseini & Ronnie McFarlane

Technical Direction - Min Ju Kim & Bailey Youn

Lighting - Yajayra Franco

Sound - Will Forker

Set - Tania Apshankar & Samantha Vargas

Costuming - Julianne Pagayon

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Virgin Creek

Directed by Samantha Vargas

Photos by Jade Crenian

Santa Maria Cast

Marisol “Mari” Mejia - Mad Anderson

Valeria Martinez - Sophia Lyman

Rina Aoki - Sun Jin

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Virgin Creek

Directed by Samantha Vargas

Photos by Jade Crenian

Santa Barbara Cast

Marisol “Mari” Mejia - Sam Gajardo

Valeria Martinez - Alexis Cruz

Rina Aoki - Mikealla Wegner

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"Two lovers, Eufémia and Montse, meet in a secluded garden in the aftermath of an anarchist attack on members of nobility. While the two share a desire for equality amongst their people, it becomes clear that they differ in their actions and a wedge begins to form in their relationship."