Recent Alien Abductions
by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
directed by Jaime Robledo
NOVEMBER 1-22, 2026
Sun, Nov. 1 @ 6pm (Opening Night & Party!)
Mon, Nov. 2 @ 8pm (Industry Night)
then Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm
& Sundays @ 3pm
plus Thurs, Nov. 19 @ 8pm
Tickets: $45
(Nov. 2 - Pay What You Can)
Buy Tickets
Now
Masking policy below.
WEST COAST PREMIERE! Part family drama, part examination of personal and cultural alienation, RECENT ALIEN ABDUCTIONS follows Álvaro, a queer Puerto Rican artist who believes he has unraveled a real-life conspiracy embedded in an early episode of The X-Files. Years later, a close friend arrives at Álvaro's family home hoping to get permission to publish his plays. What she uncovers while there means Álvaro might have been right all along.
Please be advised: This production contains depictions and discussions of sexual assault and non-consensual sexual behavior.
Digital Program
"WOW! ...sets a high bar for Sacred Fools Theatre's 30th season... There are plays you see and enjoy and that's about it, but few stick with you so deeply that you find yourself thinking about them hours and even days after they're over. Recent Alien Abductions falls smack dab into category number two." -StageScene LA
"...beautifully acted and skillfully directed..." -ArtsBeat LA
"...incredibly well-executed by an excellent cast... HIGHLY RECOMMENDED" -Gia on the Move
Performing on the Broadwater Mainstage (Entrance at 1076 Lillian Way)
MASKING POLICY
THE USE OF MASKS IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. THE BOX OFFICE WILL BE ABLE TO OFFER SOME MASKS FOR FREE BUT PLEASE COME PREPARED.
STAY HOME IF YOU ARE ILL: If you or someone in your group doesn't feel well, has exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 or has been in contact with someone with COVID-19 in the previous 10 days, we ask that you make alternate arrangements to attend at a later date.
The Broadwater's performance spaces have been upgraded to MERV filtration to comply with clean air standards.
Playlist
Playlist created by Jaime Robledo
Video
Photos
Photos by Scott Leggett & Jaime Robledo
Cast
Thais Menendez as Ana
Crystal Diaz as Beba
Lynn Adrianna Freedman as Patria
Peter Pasco as Álvaro
Alexis DeLa Rosa as Néstor
Erica Ortega as Olga
Crew
Produced for Sacred Fools by Sidney Edwards & Scott Leggett
Stage Manager
- Jonathan Strebe
Fight Choreographer / Intimacy Coordinator
- Jo Ann Mendleson
Music by autodealer
Set Designer - Colin Lawrence
Costume Designer - Mylette Nora
Prop Designer - Joyce Hutter
Lighting Designer - Brandon
Baruch
Sound Designer - Jaime Robledo
Master
Carpenter/Builder - Beth Scorzato
Master Electrician - Michael
Franco
Builder - Jack Cox
Run Crew - Madaleine Schnack
Key Art - Michelle
Hanzelova
Reviews
StageScene LA
WOW!
A pivotal episode in the sci-fi series The X-Files that may or may not have actually aired in the mid-1990s becomes a metaphor for childhood trauma in Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas's Recent Alien Abductions, a West Coast Premiere that sets a high bar for Sacred Fools Theatre's 30th season.
...as powerful as Cortiñas's play comes across on paper, written words alone can't compete with director Jaime Robledo's masterful staging at the Broadwater, beginning with an Act One scenic design by Colin Lawrence that conceals the second act's more realistic walls, doors, furniture, and set pieces under a bunch of metallic, light-fracturing space blankets and transports us to an otherworldly limbo.
Add to that the ingenious way Robledo and lighting designer Brandon Baruch illuminate the stage with a cold, phosphorescent glow during scene changes as actors move robotically off and back onto the stage like the alien abductors or abductees they just might be, and the result is positively inspired.
So is Pasco's most impressive performance to date, the L.A. stage vet not only mastering the 30-minute monolog that opens Recent Alien Abductions but digging deep into the childhood wounds that still scar Álvaro, even in an alien version of the world that grew up in.
Supporting performances are uniformly splendid, from DeLa Rosa's brutal, volatile Néstor to Freedman's fierce, tenacious Patria to Ortega's frail but still cantankerous Olga to Diaz's guardedly cheery Beba to Menendez's astute but subjugated Ana, and costume designer Mylette Nora gives each of them precisely the the right outfits to wear.
Add to that Joyce Hutter's pitch-perfect props, Robledo's dramatic-effects-spiced sound design, and autodealer's sci-fi-ready original music and you've got an all-around Grade A production design, with additional snaps due Jo Ann Mendleson, whose dual roles as fight choreographer and intimacy coordinator are put to shattering use.
There are plays you see and enjoy and that's about it, but few stick with you so deeply that you find yourself thinking about them hours and even days after they're over. Recent Alien Abductions falls smack dab into category number two.
--Steven Stanley
Ⓒ 2026 StageScene LA
ArtsBeat LA
The west coast premiere production by Sacred Fools Theater Company at The Broadwater Theater Complex is beautifully acted and skillfully directed...
Pasco does a nice job portraying the subtleties of Álvaro's character, revealing things about himself beneath the surface of a conspiracy theory about an X-Files episode. Freedman excels as Patria, a woman thrown into the deep end of another family's issues but who's able to stand up for herself surprisingly well. Diaz is charming and sympathetic as the gossipy Beba, and Menendez shows a steely resilience as Ana. Ortega impresses as... the unwell Olga (switching between helplessness and lashing out)... DeLa Rosa is terrific as the intimidating Néstor, whose jealousy and anger toward his brother blazes out at all around him.
Director Jaime Robledo, known previously for his fantastic visual and staging sense, gets great dramatic work from his cast, demonstrating his skill with more delicate material as well. He still brings creative flair to the show, however, from the stylized scene changes to a cool set reveal. Cortiñas is clearly a talented writer with something unique to say, and all of his material with the family works brilliantly. The characters are detailed and compelling, and the story goes somewhere I wasn't expecting.
--Terry Morgan
Ⓒ 2026 ArtsBeat LA
Gia on the Move
RECENT ALIEN ABDUCTION's production values are high in this enigmatic West Coast Premiere. It is incredibly well-executed by an excellent cast. Director Jaime Robledo draws on his own Puerto Rican heritage to explore the themes of identity and reinvention. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
--Guy Picot
Ⓒ 2026 Gia on the Move
Press
Voyage LA
Conversations with Jaime Robledo
Today we'd like to introduce you to Jaime Robledo.
Hi Jaime, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Well, I suppose my story starts as most people's do... as a wide eyed kid with dreams of Tinseltown in their eyes. But the thing was, I didn't have the chiseled looks of a model, I wasn't the son of an Academy Award winning director, and I didn't go to a powerful Ivy league school with all the connections that come with it.
I was just some guy who knew a little bit about everything and had a deep huger to learn. In that vein, I tried a little of everything. I acted in commercials and low budget indie films, I did extra work, and consumed as much media as I could: Film, TV, reality, and yes, my first love... theater.
I found a creative home at Sacred Fools Theater that allowed me to experiment, to learn, to try and fail with artists of every level. And eventually I found out who I was creatively. I learned to write, direct, perform, and design for live audiences on a weekly basis with their late night shows Crime Scene and Serial Killers. I expanded upon what I learned and wrote my first play "Watson: The Last Great Tale of the Legendary Sherlock Holmes." And since then I haven't stopped working (well, COVID did put a damper on things for a while). Which brings me full circle to today, where I'm about to open the first show of Sacred Fools Theater's 30th Anniversary season: Recent Alien Abductions by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas.
It's a show near and dear to my heart; one that challenges me as an artist and delves into parts of my Puerto Rican heritage I never dealt with on stage before.
Would you say it's been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you've faced along the way?
I don't think, even for the most charmed of careers, one's road can be especially smooth. I'm a late bloomer. Always have been. I didn't know who I was or what I wanted for myself creatively until I was 30. My mom was a postal worker and my dad was a fire fighter. They didn't know anything about show business nor how to foster the creativity of a kid a little too advanced for his public school in the Bronx.
I moved out to LA as soon as I turned 21 with no plan, no money, and no connections. So of course, I got stuck in a survival job until I was able to work my way out of one. I was able to build up steam and kind of catch up. I built a reputation as a director in town and consulting for companies like Disney and Dreamworks. I even got a steady writing gig..,and then the whole world was confined to their living rooms.
My last pre-COVID job was as the head sketch writer for the Razzie Awards, which was set to broadcast globally. It was supposed to be it's biggest production ever and 24 hours before we were supposed to air... the country locked down.
My art needed an audience and it wasn't there. You could play sports in a bubble, but you couldn't do theater in one. I actually watched a university in Texas perform a virtual reality production of one of my plays. I applauded the effort from my laptop but it wasnt the same.
During that time we had other upheavals. Theaters across the country shut down for good. Funding dried up. #METOO shook loose a lot of institutional rot. And unrealistic financial restraints were put on the theater community I called home with laws like AB5. Could I move? Sure. But things were tough all over. I'd just be choosing a different shit show to navigate.
If I was gonna make it anywhere, it would be where I already had all my stuff.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I'm a director, writer, and designer living and working in Los Angeles who specializes in live theater. I suppose I'm best known as a two time Saturn Award nominee (and one time winner) for best local stage production. I'm also a writer for the Wondery network.
My theatrically creative stage work sets me apart from most of the directors in town. There is an expectation with my work, that you'll see imaginative staging, design, and a strong ensemble. You'll also get to live in a world you've never seen before on stage.
We'd be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it's played for you?
I really can't quantify how much luck has to do with my career. There have been huge opportunities I never was able to capitalize due to sheer dumb luck. Like, for instance, I missed out on one of my shows going to Broadway because my producer got gravely ill and wasn't able to continue with the production. And then three years later, a director had to drop from a huge production due to illness and I took their place.
In the end it evens out, you know? The coin will flip heads or it will flip tails. I know some wildly successful people, good friends of mine, close collaborator. Their coin flipped heads over and over and over for them. But it's a gambler's fallacy to think your proximity to their success means you'll never succeed or, conversely, your success is around the corner.
You just have to keep flipping the coin for yourself.
Ⓒ 2026 Voyage LA
LAexcites
'Recent Alien Abductions' Delves Into an 'X-Files' Mystery at Sacred Fools Through Nov. 22nd
Questions once associated with science-fiction television have increasingly found their way into congressional hearing rooms. In 2023, former intelligence officer David Grusch testified about alleged secrecy surrounding unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), while retired Navy commander David Fravor recounted a puzzling encounter off the Southern California coast in 2004. Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo added his perspective in the 2024 book Imminent, and lawmakers including Chuck Schumer and then-Senator Marco Rubio have supported efforts to make government records more accessible. None of these developments establishes extraterrestrial visitation, but they have helped renew public curiosity about what might remain unexplained.
That fascination takes an unexpectedly personal turn in Recent Alien Abductions, a play by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas currently receiving its West Coast premiere at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage. Presented by Sacred Fools Theater Company as part of its 30th-anniversary season, the production continues through Sunday, November 22nd. Although inspired by The X-Files, the drama looks beyond extraterrestrial speculation to examine family relationships, cultural identity, and the difficulty of confronting an uncertain past.
The story centers on Álvaro (Peter Pasco), a queer Puerto Rican artist living in New York who becomes convinced that an early episode of The X-Files was mysteriously altered after its original broadcast. The episode is set in Puerto Rico, and Álvaro suspects the discrepancies conceal a real-life conspiracy, though no one believes him.
Years later, his friend Patria (Lynn Adrianna Freedman) arrives at his family home in Puerto Rico, hoping to secure permission to publish his writings. Her visit brings her into contact with Álvaro's older brother, Néstor (Alexis Dela Rosa), and a household where longstanding grievances complicate her seemingly straightforward mission. Thais Menendez portrays Néstor's wife, Ana, while Erica Marie Ortega plays the brothers' mother, Olga, and Crystal Diaz appears as Beba, a neighbor with close ties to the family.
What begins with a possible television conspiracy gradually raises questions about whose memories can be trusted and what happens when someone's account of the past conflicts with the version accepted by those closest to them. The play's notion of alienation also extends to the experience of being misunderstood or estranged within one's family and culture. Cortiñas uses the familiar conventions of science fiction as an entry point into more intimate territory, leaving the relationship between Álvaro's suspicions and his personal history for audiences to unravel.
Recent Alien Abductions premiered at the 2017 Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville after being commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, and subsequently received a New York production in 2019. Directing the Sacred Fools staging is Jaime Robledo, whose previous work with the company includes Watson and Stoneface. Robledo, who shares Álvaro's Puerto Rican heritage, has spoken about recognizing aspects of his own upbringing in the playwright's exploration of family and belonging.
The creative team includes Colin Lawrence on scenic design, Brandon Baruch on lighting, Mylette Nora on costumes, Matt Richter on music, and Joyce Hutter on props, with Robledo also overseeing sound design. Sidney Edwards and Scott Leggett serve as producers.
For theatergoers drawn to The X-Files, psychological mysteries, or stories about identity and complicated family histories, Recent Alien Abductions presents an intriguing intersection of those interests. The possibility of visitors from another world may provide the initial mystery, but the play's deeper questions lie much closer to home.
--Imaan Jalali
Ⓒ 2026
LAexcites
