121 Project
New Musical Development Program
OUT THERE
Co-Created Directed & Choreographed by William Carlos Angulo
Co-Created & Book by Isaac Gómez
Co-Created Composed and Lyrics by Michelle J. Rodriguez
OUT THERE is a sweeping, intergenerational dance epic about aging, time and memory, and the chaotic beauty of family. Featuring a buoyant, architectural score by Michelle J. Rodriguez and a gripping, hilariously human book by Isaac Gomez, the piece is brought to life with career-defining direction and choreography by William Carlos Angulo.
WILLIAM CARLOS ANGULO – DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER (he/they) is a director, choreographer, playwright, and arts educator based in New York City. Raised in a Bolivian/Texan household in Chicago, his professional work centers the creation of culture, using music and dance to explore, express, and celebrate third-culture identity. He has directed at TUTS, The MUNY, Steppenwolf LookOut Series, Marriott Theatre, Ars Nova ANT Fest, and Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater. He has choreographed at Manhattan Theatre Club, Center Theatre Group, Goodman Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and more. Before serving as Director of Education for Dance Lab New York where he mentors gifted young choreographers, he was a founding instructor for Broadway Across Borders through the US Department of State’s Fulbright Program. He has collaborated with Grammy Award-winning recording artists, and his choreography has been hash-tagged on TikTok and Instagram over 17 million times. He is a proud member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and the Alliance of Latine Theatre Artists (ALTA). Represented by The Gersh Agency.
ISAAC GÓMEZ – BOOK WRITER (they/them) is an award-winning Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter, originally from El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. They proudly identify as “border Mexican” and as ni’wa — the third gender identity marker of the Rarámuri Mexican Indigenous community of which they are a direct descendant. They are currently under commission with LCT3, and their plays have been produced, developed and/or commissioned by Audible Theater, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Primary Stages, Denver Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theatre, the Alley Theatre, and many others. They are the recipient of the 2018 Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award, the 2017 Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award at Primary Stages, and an inaugural 3Arts “Make A Wave” grantee. Television credits include HBO, Netflix, Apple TV+, Paramount+, and FX. Features: Focus Features. Represented by WME, ReDefine Entertainment, and Granderson Des Rochers, LLP.
MICHELLE J. “MICHA” RODRIGUEZ – COMPOSER & LYRICIST (she/they) writes and performs in the worlds of music and theater. 2024-2025 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at the Bushwick Starr, 2023-2034 Vision Resident at Ars Nova, 2022 Helen Merrill Award for playwriting, 2022 NYC Women’s Fund Grant for Media, Music and Theater, 2020 Van Lier Fellow at Ars Nova. Raised in the Pacific Northwest and Kentucky by Puerto Rican parents, Michelle’s work explores kids-of-immigrants stories, divinity, queerness, intuition, joy-as-resistance, healing and spaces in-between.
Her musical PRESENCIA (composer/lyricist/bookwriter/performer) recently premiered at the Bushwick Starr (produced with Sol Project, Oye Group, Musical Theater Factory; developed with BAM and Lincoln Center). In development: OUT THERE; and RAIMUNDA (composer/lyricist) with bookwriter Noelle Viñas (Ars Nova, NYSAF). Her music project MICHA was a finalist for NPR’s 2018 Tiny Desk Contest with her song “Nena Nena Nena,” praised for a “bilingual set spanning laid-back southern soul and Latin pop flare” (NPR). BA Williams College. Represented by WME.