The Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble (BOFLTE) celebrates the book release of The COVID Monologues.

The COVID Monologues was a video project presented by the Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble honoring people who have died from COVID-19. (View on YouTube)

The series premiered online on January 26, 2021.

BOFTLE Literary Director Diana Burbano launched the project in August 2021, faced with the sheer volume of people in the Latino/a/e/x theater community dying from the coronavirus. Data on those who had died from the virus continued to mount, but she failed to see that the people behind those numbers were being honored.

As of this writing, more than 986,545 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the United States alone. The sheer magnitude of the numbers can feel incomprehensible, but Santa Ana’s Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble found a beautiful, intimate way to put a face to these devastating statistics. They called on writers to write living altarpieces for the deceased, 54 writers from around the world responded and their works are collected here.

Simply called The COVID Monologues, each piece illustrates the life of an ordinary person who has died from COVID-19 and commemorates their daily struggles and achievements in a tapestry woven with grounding, intimate detail and inspiring in their reflective insight.

Entries came from Orange County, but also from Latin America, New Zealand and England.

Although the project, like the company itself, is based on volunteers, part of the donations and book sales benefit Doctors Without Borders.

The authors are Robert Weibezahl, Maria Enriquez, Cris Eli Blak, Roy Conboy, Samantha Chagollan, Meghan Covington, Elizabeth Sophia Strauss, Mercy Vasquez, Desireé York, Lora Danley, Mark Whicker, Richard Soto, Jose Hernandez, Lindsey Bouchard, Carla Hargrove, Sara Guerrero, Donna Latham, Leilani Squire, Ayanna Stevenson, Jasmine Butler, Jacquleen Stevenson, William Butler IV, Rex McGregor, Kate Rich, Brian David Walker, Dinah R. Tutein, Marj O’Neill-Butler, Jennifer O’Grady, Susanne Pinedo, Philip Middleton Williams, Cynthia Rodriguez, Emma Goldman-Sherman, Sienna Serrano, Roberta H. Martínez, Peter Dakutis, Scott C. Sickles, Wendy Graf, Laura Rohrman, Blanca Velazquez, Jeremy Kehoe, Lisa Alvarez, Xavier Serna, Margo Rofé , Mary Crescenzo, Aaron Higareda, Marla E Schwartz, Eloise Coopersmith, Diana Burbano, Jordan R Young, Elizabeth Isela Szekeresh, Jennifer Ju, John Mabey, Xiomara Ossorio, Ruben Carbajal.