JT PRESENTS & THEATRE RHINOCEROS present Goat Blood by Mark-Eugene Garcia, a west coast premiere June 25 - July 19, 2026

Casey Spiegel (left) as “Owen” and Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez as “Pablo” in the upcoming Theatre Rhinoceros/JT Presents production of Mark-Eugene Garcia’s Goat Blood, June 25-July 19 at 4229 18th St. in San Francisco’s Castro District. Photo: Scott Sidorsky

 Following the critically acclaimed, sold-out run of A Guide for the Homesick in 2023, JT Presents and Theatre Rhinoceros bring Mark-Eugene Garcia’s hit play Goat Blood from New York to San Francisco. Garcia takes the legend of the chupacabra, a figure of fear in many Latinx and Southwest American cultures, and mixes it with the queer desire and ancient truths we carry inside. Goat Blood focuses on two coworkers, Pablo and Owen. In the heart of a dense forest, nestled in the bed of a pickup truck, they find themselves waiting for their double dates. What starts as a casual debate about tacos, friendships, sexuality, and heritage gradually transforms into something deeper – an undeniable attraction simmering beneath their banter. However, their unexpected connection is soon overshadowed by the arrival of a menacing Chupacabra, threatening to shatter the tranquility of their evening. Owen's terror at the creature's appearance pales in comparison to his shock when he learns that the Chupacabra has been a constant presence in Pablo's life. ​

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After successful runs at MEXFEST and FRIGID in New York City, Mark-Eugene Garcia’s Goat Blood makes its West Coast premiere as the final show of Theatre Rhinoceros’s 2025-26 season, co-produced with JT Presents. The play takes the legend of the chupacabra, a figure of fear in many Latine and Southwest American cultures, and mixes it with queer desire and ancient truths we carry inside. Two young men hang out in the flatbed of a pickup truck, waiting for their double dates, when they are pursued by the bloodsucking chupacabra. Before their night of terror ends, they are forced to face the creature of legend and their own buried desires. Alejandro Emmanuel Torres directs a cast of Bay Area actors. The cast features Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez (“Pablo”), Raye Goh (“Creature Creation”), Adrian Nava (“Mr. Sanchez”), and Casey Spiegel (“Owen”). Production team: Adriana Gutierrez (Costume Design), Colin Johnson (Lighting Design), Colin H. Johnson (Video and Projections Design), Kyle McReddie (Fight Choreographer), Wesley Murphy (Sound Design), Noah Rojas-Domke (Scenic), Noah Luce (Intimacy Director), and Raphael Buenaventura (Stage Manager)

A full reading of Goat Blood, directed by Rodrigo Ernesto Bolaños, was presented at MEXFEST—a festival celebrating Mexican culture through theatre, dance, and arts— held at The Tank in New York City in September 2024. A full production of the play was also featured in FRIGID New York’s Days of the Dead Festival, curated by Resident Artistic Director Martha Lorena Preve. Alejandro Emmanuel Torres directs a cast of Bay Area actors at Theatre Rhinoceros’ performance space in the heart of The Castro, June 25 - July 19, 2026. The cast features Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez (“Pablo”), Raye Goh (“Creature Creation”), Adrian Nava (“Mr. Sanchez”), and Casey Spiegel (“Owen”). Production team: Adriana Gutierrez (Costume Design), Colin Johnson (Lighting Design), Colin H. Johnson (Video and Projections Design), Kyle McReddie (Fight Choreographer), Wesley Murphy (Sound Design), Noah Rojas-Domke (Scenic), Noah Luce (Intimacy Director), and Raphael Buenaventura (Stage Manager).
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Mark-Eugene Garcia (Playwright) is a Chicano playwright, storyteller, and theatremaker, blending cultural legacy, and theatrical grit in every work. A 2025 Candela Playwright’s Fellow and a 2025/2026 Resident Artist at FRIGID New York, he is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a graduate of the City College of New York. He honed his craft in book and lyric writing with the Academy of New Musical Theatre and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Mark-Eugene’s work has earned the 2021 Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Musical Theatre, the 2018 UnFringed Festival Best of Festival Award, a 2016 Vancouver Ovation Award nomination for Outstanding New Work, a 2013 Planet Connections nomination for Outstanding Book of a New Musical, and the 2012 Jacob Weiser Playwriting Award for a Fully Realized Drama. Through plays and musicals that center Latine voices, queer identity, and emotional truth, Mark-Eugene creates stories that are unapologetically theatrical, deeply personal, and vibrantly alive.

Alejandro Emmanuel Torres (Director) is a proud San Francisco native and theatre director/producer. He holds a B.A. from UC Davis in Dramatic Art and Film Studies with additional training with the Moscow Art Theatre School. His work as a director has been featured at The Overcast Theatre, Pianofight's Shortlived, The Exit, Bindlestiff Studio, The San Francisco, and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, and at Awesome Theatre. More recently, he directed the sold-out run of Jake Brunger’s Four Play for JT Presents. Alejandro uses the medium as a tool for experimentation, discourse, and exposing audiences to new experiences. He is deeply excited at realizing this contemporary piece of queer theatre and hopes it speaks to you. 

JT Presents began producing in 2022 with Ken Urban’s A Guide for the Homesick for the Theatre Rhinoceros 2022-2023 Season. The production prompted Bay Area Reporter critic Jim Gladstone to declare that “Rhino [has] got its groove back.” JT Presents next produced Four Play by Jake Brunger in 2024, which Theatrius called “brilliant.” In between, they brought Joe DiPietro’s Fucking Men to the Nectar Social Club in Oakland for three sold-out performances. The most recent production of JT Presents was Andrew Bergh’s The Radicalization of Rolfe at Safehouse Arts in 2025.

​Theatre Rhinoceros was founded in 1977 and is the longest running LGBTQ+ theatre in the nation. They develop and produce works of theatre that enlighten, enrich, and explore both the ordinary and the extraordinary aspects of our queer community. Our emphasis is on new works, works about under-represented members of the larger queer community, and revivals of lesser-known queer classics. Over the years Theatre Rhinoceros has received many awards of recognition including: Theatre Rhinoceros Day in the City Proclamation from Mayor Gavin Newsom, State Assembly Certificate of Recognition from Senator Mark Leno, recognitions from Congressperson Nancy Pelosi and Assembly Persons Tom Ammiano and Carole Migden, numerous Cable Car, BATCC and TBA Awards and Nominations, and the GLAAD Media Award for Best LGBT Theatre.