←Recommendations of Beheading Columbus

We read this for the Perlberg Festival of New Plays at Palm Beach Dramaworks, and were really moved by the characters and intriguing story Burbano is taking on. Big questions in this play, none of which have easy answers. Challenging in the best ways!

The political is always personal and I highly enjoyed the wild ride Burbano takes us on through two sisters reckoning with identity, and what secrets DNA testing unleashes. Through the sisters, we experience both the humor and pain of complex narratives of colorism in families, discovering DNA relatives on Facebook, and dating the well-intentioned white man. This play will leave audiences asking questions of what happens after we open the chaotic box of family history, and how it transforms us.

This is a great play about ancestry and what it means when your whole sense of self is upended. A funny and moving play about two sisters navigating some shocking realizations. Loved all the different interactions with Lana's relatives. Big questions are being asked here in a very intimate way. With how obsessed our culture is with DNA ancestry testing these days, this is a perfect play to produce and stir up some relevant dialogue.

Sharply satirical piece that explores the multitudes within the Latinidad, the complexity of identity and ownership over it, thorny and often painful family conversations about love, self-worth, and beauty, and a lot more! Lana and Susi's parallel journeys are compelling to watch, from Susi grappling with the family inheritance that she believes will betray her health early to Lana's often amusing reunions with half-siblings and poignant reflections on the ways her own sense of self worth and success have been wrapped up in her perceived and then newly revealed heritage. I'd love to see a production of this soon!

The community of national & local readers for the 45th Bay Area Playwrights Festival (summer 2022) enthusiastically recommends BEHEADING COLUMBUS as a Semi-Finalist. We were deeply moved by this play's unpacking of what makes identity - DNA, family, culture, - as it all comes into question for two sisters navigating a new understanding of who they are as the play investigates the colonizer and colonized. We were compelled by this play's assuredness with technical skills, as well as Burbano's ongoing artistry with several plays she's sent BAPF. We hope this play finds dedicated collaborators and moves swiftly towards production. #BAPF2022

Beheading Columbus centers on the consequences of DNA testing and artificial insemination, yet its edges draw us into ideas of racism, colonization, invasion of privacy, wokeness, patriarchy, religion, and being BIPOC. The characters draw one in immediately, and the use of Spanish dialogue lends realism. Surprises are kept secret until the right time, and then some are not fully revealed. I savor a play touching on issues without resolving them or delivering a singular viewpoint so I’m left figuring things out for myself. I love this play. For some reason at the end I felt like crying.

Beheading Columbus is a very funny and poignant look at our access to our own DNA. How much information is too much information and what does it mean to find out all these scientific things about ourselves in the world today. I highly recommend this play for Burbano's ability to write fantastically entertaining characters in theatrical moments while always keeping it real. Brava!