[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Greenway Arts Alliance will present the world premiere production of THE CIRCLE, A TragiComic Play written by Stacey Martino Rivera, directed by D.W. Jacobs, with original music composed by Germaine Franco.About THE CIRCLE
Three generations of Medinas and Mahoneys come together over one absurd weekend in Texas. Chaos ensues, echoing the brutality of the 2016 election season and the pain felt across the country.
Things take a wild turn when he accidentally “kidnaps” a drunken Trump supporter at the deadly Dallas protest against police brutality. Things turn from bad to worse when his younger brother, Ronnie, an out-of-work actor, descends from L.A. unannounced after years of estrangement. With him is his 12-year-old daughter, his very pregnant girlfriend, and her newly widowed mother, who is insisting they get married before Eva passes.
The chaos in Medina’s home reflects the absurd brutality of the 2016 election season and the pain pouring into streets across the country. The Medinas learn the Circle is much more than a name for their neighborhood in South San Antonio. The Circle is a place where they will either heal themselves or tear each other apart.
Playwright Stacey Martino Rivera said: “I wrote THE CIRCLE because I’m hungry to share ways of engaging with harm and conflict that focus on reconciliation, rather than punishment. My husband, René Rivera and our two daughters, Ava and Luna, are in the play, and our youngest, our son Jai, is a fixture at rehearsals. It’s what you might call A Family Affair. I wrote this play as a way to heal parts of myself and our family, but in these divisive times, the circle of healing has grown exponentially. My play is a darkly comic exploration of three generations’ worth of intergenerational and intercultural conflict, but it’s also rooted in a lot of healing and hope. It is not lost on me that much of the action of the play centers on a kidnapping that held one context when I began writing this play and a deeper one in our current political climate. The themes the story touches upon include: Racial Justice, Environmental Justice, Immigration and Restorative Justice, but at its heart, this is a play about a grief-soaked family and the universal search for belonging.”
D.W. Jacobs, Director, said: “For decades, really half a century, I’ve worked on Charles Dickens, Bucky Fuller and now, in recent years, Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Says Director D.W. Jacobs. “Stacey Martino Rivera’s THE CIRCLE explores exactly the same imaginative and thematic landscapes. Almost everything I’ve done is a variation on circles, circle dances (a Christmas carol means a circle dance), and memory plays that journey through past, present and future. Dante calls it the Book of Memory. We’re all susceptible to surprise pilgrimages down to the deepest circles of Hell, up the spiral mountain path of Purgatory, and finally, if we’re lucky, we expand out into the greatest spheres of Paradise. THE CIRCLE is serious, passionate, potentially tragic,” and wildly funny, as most families turn out to be… a mixed bag of twists and turns. When Stacey suddenly asked me, ‘What’s the action of the play?’ Without thinking, I said, ‘Give to the Light.’ It surprised both of us.”
“THE CIRCLE is a moving reflection of who we are as a society,” says Mohammed Ali Ojarigi, producing director of Greenway Arts Alliance and Greenway Court Theatre. “We are proud to produce Stacey Martino Rivera’s work, which innovates compassion, understanding and meaningful dialogue.”
The Cast
Michael Brainard (of Los Feliz, CA) as Bud Ireton, Jeanette Godoy (of Pasadena, CA) Mary Padrón, Alma Martinez (of Cypress Park, CA) as Eva Medina, Victoria Ratermanis (of Angeleno Heights, CA) as Molly Medina, Lisa Richards (of Los Angeles, CA) as Maeve Mahoney, Ava Rivera (of Los Feliz, CA) as Anna Medina at 16, Luna Rivera (of Los Feliz, CA) as Anna Medina at 12, René Rivera (of Los Feliz, CA) as José Medina and Lakin Valdez (of Glendale, CA) as Ronnie Medina.
This play is dedicated to the late C. Raul Espinoza, a Posthumous Producer of the play. The performance of THE CIRCLE on Saturday, January 31, 2026, will be dedicated to the memory of the late C. Raul Espinoza. Greenway Arts Alliance will make a special financial donation in Espinoza’s memory to La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, www.lapca.org, a community hub where people gather to celebrate Latinx culture through transformative exhibitions, music, dance, culinary arts and multigenerational artmaking and storytelling experiences.
About C. Raul Espinoza
The late C. Raul Espinoza was a beloved theatre marketing consultant, community liaison and producer who passed away from cancer on Monday, June 2, 2025, at the age of 63. Espinoza was slated to be a producer of THE CIRCLE, but he passed prior to the production’s premiere, so now the play is dedicated to his memory.
Born on October 31, 1961 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Espinoza immigrated to the U.S. in 1968 to join his mother, who had remarried and was living in California. He attended Fishburn Elementary School in Maywood, Nimitz Jr. High School in Huntington Park, and Bell High School in the City of Bell. According to Espinoza, it was a lonely existence – until he discovered music and art. By the age of 10, he had become a “theater nerd,” acting in school plays and community theater productions. His family had little money, but in 1975, Espinoza’s mother bought them tickets to see the first national tour of A Chorus Line. “It was life-altering,” Espinoza was fond of telling friends.
Raul Espinoza had moved to Texas and established a lucrative career in the tech industry, when, in 1999, he made the decision to follow his heart and try to make a living in theater. He returned to Los Angeles in November of that year and immersed himself in the L.A. theater scene, joining the LA Stage Alliance and volunteering with the Ovation Awards.
Espinoza’s good friend, Debra De Liso, was in the room one afternoon when Raul received a call from an IT firm in Dallas offering him a six-figure salary to return to IT. He turned it down on the spot, turning to her with tears in his eyes… “I can’t believe I just did that.”
Espinoza’s first professional opportunity came when he was hired by the Mark Taper Forum as a Marketing Consultant for Luis Alfaro’s play Black Butterfly, and he knew immediately that he had found his calling. That job evolved into a seven-year-long staff position with Center Theatre Group (CTG) doing targeted outreach and audience development for the Ahmanson, Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre.
Beginning in 2009, when his agreement with CTG ended, until his death in 2025, Espinoza enjoyed a thriving freelance career in audience development, community engagement, and theatrical marketing that saw him partnering with some of the most recognizable theaters, theater companies, and independent productions in L.A., including the Hollywood Pantages, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within, Independent Shakespeare Company, Rogue Machine Theatre, Skylight Theatre, Boston Court Pasadena, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Interact Theatre Company, Latino Theatre Company, Caltech Public Programming, About Productions, Sierra Madre Playhouse, and The Actors’ Gang, just to name a few.
He spent three years in New York City, where he worked for The Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, Mobile Shakespeare Unit, the 5th Anniversary Broadway reunion concert of In The Heights, and was an adjunct member of the Broadway League’s ¡Viva! Broadway initiative. For numerous years he mentored interns from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Summer Intern Program and conducted marketing roundtables for their Arts Tune Ups.
Espinoza sat on the boards of the L.A. Stage Alliance, Furious Theatre Company, and National Repertory Theatre Foundation. He was a member of the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble as well as an Associate Artist of Interact Theatre Company.
In 2024, Espinoza was honored by Playwrights’ Arena with the Henry Ong Community Leader Award for outstanding leadership in the Los Angeles theater community. Raul Espinoza is survived by his mother, Fanny Teresa Almaguer; his brothers, Jorge Roque Almaguer and Jose Omar Almaguer; and by his dear friend, Steve Curtis, who was Raul’s caretaker and angel until the end.
The Team
Mohammed Ali Ojarigi (Producing Director, Greenway Arts Alliance and Greenway Court Theatre); Pierson Blaetz (Co-Founder, Greenway Arts Alliance and Greenway Court Theatre), Whitney Weston (Co-Founder, Greenway Arts Alliance and Greenway Court Theatre); Alma Martinez (Producer); Stacey Martino Rivera (of Los Feliz, CA) (Playwright); D.W. Jacobs (of Highland Park, CA) Director; Jessica E. Williams, Assistant Director; Pam Noles, Stage Manager; Graciela “Gracie” Rodriguez (Assistant Stage Manager); Germaine Franco (Composer, Music Producer and Sound Designer); Thomas A. Brown (Set Designer; Greenway Court Theatre Technical Director and Facilities Manager); Carolyn Mazuca (Costume Designer); W. Alejandro Melendez (Lighting and Projections Designer); Carlos Cano (Painter of on set images of The Virgin and Tonantzin); Ellora Gordon (Graphic Designer, Playbill and Greenway Arts Alliance and Greenway Court Theatre Audience Services Coordinator); Steffany Ayala (Director of Operations, Greenway Arts Alliance); Elisawon Etidorhpa (Greenway Court Theatre House Manager); Tara Culp and Lori Kaye (Production Videographers); Erik J. Goodrich (Production Video Editor); Nick C. Graves (Production Photographer); and Steve Moyer Public Relations (Press Representative, Publicity and Marketing).
More About Greenway Arts Alliance
Greenway Arts Alliance is a community-based partnership of professional artists working in Los Angeles for over 20 years. Greenway Arts Alliance was founded by professional artists committed to forging a deep connection with the surrounding area including the public school community. Greenway Arts Alliance unites communities through art, education and social enterprise. Through our professional theatre productions, educational programs and the Melrose Trading Post, Greenway Arts Alliance has built a vibrant artistic community. Learn more at: https://greenwayartsalliance.org
More About Greenway Court Theatre
Greenway Court Theatre was initially built by Fairfax High School students in 1939 as a class project and used as a Social Hall by both students and faculty. It sat virtually unused for many years until it was finally renovated into a professional 99-seat theatre by Greenway Arts Alliance in 2000, to benefit both the school and the surrounding community.
Greenway Court Theatre believes in the power of the arts to inspire and stimulate; it commits to passing on knowledge and experience to the next generation; it seeks a genuine, deep engagement with its community by producing and presenting theatre, spoken word, media arts and dance performances that represent and reflect the unheard voices and rich diversity of Los Angeles.
Greenway Court Theatre has a rich history of presenting and producing diverse bodies of work. Greenway has opened its door to many main-stage productions, weekly open mic poetry, festivals and world premieres that have moved to larger venues and toured across the country. Greenway also hosts student productions, internships and workshops through the Greenway Institute for the Arts. Learn more at: https://greenwaycourttheatre.org