UCLA alumnus and playwright Rickérby Hinds penned what he says will be his very last play.

“The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds” will see its world premiere at the Los Angeles Theatre Center on April 26th. The production will take the audience on a metatheatrical journey through his creative process, calling upon characters from his previous works for guidance. As an Afro-Latino playwright, he said his connection to his identity was thematically integral to the writing of his play. Hinds was commissioned by the Latino Theater Company to create a work addressing the complexities of Latinidad – the shared sense of identity between Latin-identifying communities.

“Having a production team also understand that there are going to be bilingual elements to this play, there are going to be hip-hop elements to this play … has been just invaluable,” Hinds said.

[Related: UCLA Film & Television Archive will present “On the Air” series as tribute to filmmaker David Lynch]

The play’s title points to Hinds’ particular approach to his authorship, as he said he wrote this play as if it were his very last. Hinds added that this perspective forced him to reckon with his work as an artist. He said this creative process required him to interrogate what elements he would need to include for this work to feel truly final.

Hinds added that his feelings of exasperation were the genesis of this play’s concept. He said he was suffering from writer’s block while drafting two previous works before he began to write.

“Out of that frustration … I thought, ‘What if I write a play about not being able to write a play?’” Hinds said.

Once he was able to formulate the concept, Hinds said he tried his best to step back from the work and ensure that an audience could engage with the story he was trying to tell. He said he wanted to be sure that audiences could connect to his work, especially if they are not traditionally theatergoers, he said.

“I’m writing for people who do not go to the theater, and therefore, my job is to get them interested, keep them interested – and after the show is done, hopefully have them talk about what they just saw,” Hinds said.

Rogelio Douglas III, a fellow UCLA alumnus, plays Kique, Miguelito and B-Boy in “The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds.” Douglas said he was struck by how unapologetic Hinds was in his language upon his initial reading of the text. He said Hinds’ words are intentional, yet he still has felt creative freedom to explore throughout the rehearsal process. Douglas added that his time working on the play has stretched his abilities as a performer, as he and his fellow actors are onstage for the show’s entire run.

Another alumnus, Khalif J. Gillett – who is a former student of Hinds – is portraying the playwright himself. After working with Hinds during his time in college, Gillett said the playwright’s artistic voice has continued to influence him to this day.

“His (Hinds’) shows do have spectacle, but at the end of the day, the language is the thing. And that has made its way into my own work,” Gillett said.

Gillett said the show has a rhetorical style that could be described as “hip-hop poetry,” which resonates with him deeply. He added that as an Afro-Latino creative, in the past he has felt the need to explain his identity in many theater spaces, but this production has alleviated that concern.

“Here in this room, there was no need to explain it because half of our cast is Afro-Latino,” Gillett said. “We’re used to being of multiple worlds. … We understand just how diverse the diaspora of Blackness is and can be.”

[Related: Caroline Sierk’s ‘To Be’ uncovers what it means to be a filmmaker, actor in LA]

Gillett added that “The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds” expands how one might conceptualize Latino identity. Working on this production has made him more courageous, he said, influencing how he carries himself as a performer. He added that the rehearsal environment has allowed a substantial amount of freedom to move throughout the work.

“I think people are in for a treat with how explosive the energy is,” Gillett said. “There is so much movement and dance and song. … They definitely won’t be bored. They might even learn something.”