Written and Performed by:
Marissa Chibas
Marissa Chibas is a performer, writer, and educator who has worked in a wide variety of theatrical forms for over two decades. Her American premieres as an actor include: The Keening, a one woman play by Columbian playwright Umberto Dorado at the American Repertory Theater, The Predator’s Ball, directed and choreographed by Carol Armitage at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Democracy in America at the Yale Rep directed by Travis Preston, Judgment Day by Odon von Horvath at Baltimore Center Stage directed by Jackson Phippin, and Two Sisters and a Piano at the McCarter theater directed by Brian Kulick. On Broadway Marissa played opposite Sam Waterston in Abe Lincoln in Illinois directed by Gerry Gutierrez, and was Nora in Brighton Beach Memoirs directed by Gene Saks. Marissa is on faculty at CalArts and director of the bi-lingual initiative Duende CalArts.
Manual Cinema has been presented by, worked in collaboration with, or brought its work to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), BAM (NYC), Arts Emerson, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Kennedy Center (DC), Under the Radar Festival (NYC), La Monnaie-DeMunt (Brussels), The Noorderzon Festival (Netherlands), The Kimmel Center (Philadelphia) The O, Miami Poetry Festival, The Tehran International Puppet Festival (Iran), Davies Symphony Hall (SF), The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Saudi Arabia), The Ace Hotel Theater (LA), The Hakaway International Arts Festival (Cairo), The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and elsewhere around the world. They have collaborated with StoryCorps (NYC), Erratica (London), The Belgian Royal Opera (Brussels), Hubbard Street Dance (Chicago), Pop-Up Magazine (SF), Nu Deco Ensemble (Miami), NYTimes best-selling author Reif Larsen (NYC), three time Grammy Award-winning eighth blackbird (Chicago), NPR’s Invisibilia, Topic Magazine, Grammy Award winning Esperanza Spalding and The New York Times.
In 2020 Manual Cinema celebrated their ten year anniversary and had their South American premiere (at the Santiago a Mil festival).
“Engrossing and moving”
“A family’s complex legacy explored”
— The Boston Globe
“Marissa Chibas has her own unique theatrical voice”
— WBUR - The Artery
“Chibas performs with passion and pride”
“Chibas’s family album brought vividly to life”
— On Boston Stages
“ArtsEmerson continues their trilogy of plays exploring the Latino(a) experience with a poignant one woman show “Daughter of Cuban Revolutionary” by Marissa Chibas.”
“Stories that somehow make you feel you know these people in a way”
“The simplicity of the whole evening is one of the most stunning elements”
— EdgeBoston
“Every family has stories. The ones in Marissa Chibas’s family, though, are particularly dramatic.”
“Marissa has a very particular ability to allow these energies of these people to enter her. I would not hesitate to call it a form of shamanism, where she lets these ancestors enter her and speak through her”
— Boston Globe - Preview
“Ask your parents to tell you the details of their younger days, and you never know what you’ll hear. Especially if you’re Marissa Chibas.”
“Although Chibas sees her family history everywhere when she’s in Cuba, she can’t find Raul or Eddy anywhere. The Castro regime has conveniently erased them from history.”
— Metrowest Daily News Preview
“Chibas manages to keep her story fresh by making it intensely personal as well as passionately political.”
“(Chibas) She hooks us emotionally at the outset, and we’re right with her for the rest of her journey of self-discovery.”
“Chibas has a remarkable gift for impersonation… she embodies her various characters, like Robin Williams but with a purpose.”
“Her spot-on accents and eye for subtle gestures breathe life into her characters, creating an illusion of the documentary she originally wanted to make.”
— LA Times
“Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary is both timely and provocative.”
— PitchEngine
“she takes the audience on a journey of discovery that brings a fresh perspective to the tumultuous political history of Cuba.”
“Chibas is captivating as she takes on the various movement styles of the party guests.”
— TheaterMania
“This terrific, essential show offers a touching tale of a daughter desperate to find her roots and a fascinating insight into the inner workings of a revolution. ¡Cuba! ¡Acuérdate!”
— What's On Stage