Abre Camino Collective
About
Abre Camino Collective is an entertainment company comprised of visual, theatre, literary, and performing artists redefining the American narrative through radical storytelling. Together as artists and collaborators, Victoria Collado and Vanessa Garcia, co-founders of Abre Camino, have worked in theatre, TV, journalism, the visual arts, academia, radio, the literary arts, and film. They have Masters degrees, doctorates, and have worked on Broadway. Most recently, they created The Amparo Experience, the immersive hit play that People en Español called “Miami’s Hottest Ticket” and had a sold-out 8 month run in 2019.
Our Mission
We believe that great storytelling is specific enough to be, just that — specific. That the word “universality” is overrated. We all have a connective humanity, but we won’t always “relate” to a particular experience. Our goal is not to start from a unifying place, but to end in one. After you see our work, it is the knowledge of the work that creates the human connection, not an “innate” universality. We do believe the process of experiencing good art has the power to transcend race, gender, class and create change.
Victoria Collado
Co-founder / Director
VICTORIA COLLADO is a Cuban-American director living and working in New York City and Miami. She has an interest in merging the movement world with naturalist plays in order to create exciting theatrical experiences. She recently directed the immersive theatre piece, AMPARO, written by Vanessa Garcia in partnership with Havana Club by Bacardi. Her work has been seen in Repertorio Español, MCC Youth Company, Sheen Center, IATI theatre, Miami New Drama, Microteatro Miami, Columbia University and others. Her production El Burlador de Sevilla received various nominations from the ACE awards, and won for Outstanding Ensemble. She was a Van Lier Directing Fellow with Repertorio Español, part of the Directing Corps in the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a recipient of the SDCF Observership. She is part of the current WP Theatre Lab 2018-2020 cohort. Victoria was the assistant director to Tony Taccone in John Leguizamo's Latin History For Morons on Broadway. She received her BFA from Florida International University. Victoria is an Associate Member of SDC.
Vanessa Garcia
Co-founder / Writer
VANESSA GARCIA is a multidisciplinary artist working as a novelist, playwright, and journalist. Her debut novel, White Light, was published in 2015, to critical acclaim. Named one of the Best Books of 2015 by NPR, it was also listed by Al Dia, Flavorwire, and numerous other publications and institutions, and won an International Latino Book Award. Her plays have been produced in Edinburgh, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and other cities around the world. These include The Cuban Spring (a full-length Carbonell Award nominee for Best New Play, 2015), The Crocodile’s Bite (a short included in numerous anthologies such as Smith & Kraus’ Best Ten Minute Plays of 2016; the City Theatre Anthology 2015; and the Writer’s Digest Annual Award Anthology, 2015), and Freek!, a short play for Young Adults (anthologized in The Applause Acting Series’ 5 Minute Plays For Teens). As a journalist, feature writer, and essayist, her pieces have appeared in The LA Times, The Miami Herald, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Narrative.ly, The Huffington Post, and The Southern Humanities Review, among numerous other publications. She holds a PhD from the University of California Irvine in English (with a focus in Creative Nonfiction), an MFA from the University of Miami (in fiction), and a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University (English and Art History). Most recently she was a Sesame Street Writer’s Room Fellow. She’s currently a WP Theatre Lab fellow and Professor of Writing at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).