FLOWERS FOR ALBUQUERQUE

1998, Screenplay Reading, Multimedia Presentation

P David Ebersoleʼs award-winning script FLOWERS FOR ALBUQUERQUE (Best Screenplay, Outfest 1998) was chosen by the American Cinematheque as the debut project for its staged reading series. Performed at the Chaplin Theater in Raleigh Studios, the cast included Tony Ward as Al, Joe Dallesandro as Bill, Yvette Sirker as Lupe, Matty Stofenmacher as Jesus, Mary Woronov as Brigitte, Roma Maffia as Paula, Amy Hill as Beverly, and the stage instructions were read by Taylor Negron. Sponsored by a Los Angeles Cultural Affairs grant, it was turned into a multi-media presentation and screened at the American Film Institute.

THE STORY: Told from the point of view of ten year old Jesus Marquez, the boy has been told his whole life that his father is dead. When Albuquerque “Al” Smith returns to his hometown on the eve of his Hollywood High School mega-reunion, Jesus truly believes a miracle has occurred. But this “family” holds a dark secret that no one but his mother truly knows. Ten years ago, Guadalupe Maria Marquez told her high school sweetheart Al that she was pregnant with another manʼs child, but her faith compelled her to give birth.

Angry and hurt, Al left town that night, swearing he would never return…but the question has never failed to haunt him. What if Lupe was wrong, or worse, what if she lied to him, all those years ago? What if, in a broken-hearted moment of uncertainty, he left behind a son or a daughter?

Rising to the occasion and assuming responsibility for the mistakes of his youth, Al finds himself caught in a confused love triangle between his current “best friend” Bill Robinson and his long-lost love Lupe.

With Al on a dual mission to heal Bill of his demons and confront the secrets of his own past, the film is part road trip, part vision quest, and it tests the boundaries of loveʼs power to heal all wounds in an increasingly complicated
America. FLOWERS FOR ALBUQUERQUE follows the struggle of these four main characters – the sexy drifter Albuquerque, the charismatic but heroin-addicted Bill, the Prom Queen turned stripper Guadalupe and the still young and idealistic Jesus – as they struggle to find guidance in a world that has lost its connection to a higher system of meaning.

ALSO SEE: DALLESANDRO/WARD photo essay.

PRESS: INDEX MAGAZINE