She's With Me fka Victoria

A selfish woman has a long lost sister thrust upon her after Hurricane Maria. Victoria grows from a woman trying to unload her burden to a woman fighting to protect family and others caught in a bureaucratic limbo.

  • Sol Marina Crespo
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Family Drama, Coming of Age, Coming to America
  • Number of Pages:
    120
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Spanish
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Step Up
    Bronx, NY
    September 7, 2017
    Project Fellow
  • NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship
    New York, NY
    June 10, 2019
    Screenwriting Fellow
Writer Biography - Sol Marina Crespo

Sol Marina is a Bronx based actress, writer, director and producer. Originally from Caimito Alto, Puerto Rico, Sol graduated from New York University earning a BFA in Drama and a BA in Latin American Studies. She trained at Tisch School of the Arts’ Experimental Theatre Wing where students were encouraged to explore all acting methods, as well as creating and producing their own work with a focus on physical theater and ensemble. As a writer, Sol has been commissioned by Pregones Theater/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater; Flux Theatre Ensemble and others. Her short play “Old Maid” was a finalist in American Globe Theatre’s 15 Minute Play Festival 2008. It was later turned into a short film produced by Tutsitala Films. Available for viewing upon request. Sol has worked with countless theatre companies both in New York City and regionally. Awards include: The Eben Demarest Trust by The Pittsburgh Foundation (2016); Person of the Year by NYTheatre.com (2012); Ford Foundation Fellowship for Career Advancement (2007) and the HOLA Award for Outstanding Performance of a Featured Actress (2005). Notable theater credits include: John Leguizamo’s Kiss My Aztec! (The Public, NY); Water by the Spoonful (PittStages); Brewed (No Name Players); Ajax in Iraq, Salvage (Flux Theatre Ensemble), Red Rose, Aloha Boricua, Game Over (Pregones Theater). Film/TV: Stage 5 (Dir. Jamal Solomon); Unsane (Dir. Steven Soderbergh), Old Maid (Tutsitala Prods); New Amsterdam (NBC), Tell Me A Story (CBS All Access), Sea Oak (Amazon). She is currently writing a feature-length film about a Bronx woman dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, and a buddy cop web-series that explores mental health in the black and Latinx communities with actor Chinaza Uche. www.solmarina.com

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Writer Statement

As a Puerto Rican, I was deeply affected by Hurricane Maria. I saw thousands of my people arrive in the US seeking long-term shelter. I read countless stories of young people moving in with distant relatives in the Bronx just so they could enroll in colleges here and continue their studies. Their resiliency is incomparable. But I often wonder how many of them are more than willing to leave and how many are in voluntary exile. In my feature length screenplay, we follow Victoria, a selfish and apathetic Puerto Rican woman who has a sister she’s never met thrust upon her in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. My work tends to explore women who are faced with challenging decisions in high-stakes situations and in this story Victoria needs to either except guardianship of the girl or release into state custody with all its repercussions. Set entirely in The Bronx, it explores the intricate relationship of the Puerto Rican diaspora and the islanders, and the complex idea of Puerto Rican identity which is its own bureaucratic limbo. I want to know what happens when we are willingly disconnected from our roots, and what happens when we are torn from them. The draft I have submitted is a rough, first draft that I have been working on for the past six months.