About the writers of the 2013 HOLAfestival

Mario Golden is a playwright, actor, teacher, and director. For ten years, he has been a proud member of PRTT’s Playwrights Unit (which he co-directs with Andreas Robertz), and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Village Playwrights, Around the Block, and the Queer Latino Artists Collective. His full-length plays include The Love of Brothers and The Boxer’s Son, and his solo show Confessions of a Sex Addict. He co-authored the play Luna’s Bracelet, which was produced in 2010 in Berlin as part of Intimate Relations, a reconciliation theatre project dealing with the impact of the Holocaust on third generation German and Jewish women. His play One Less Queen was published in Positive/Negative: Women of Color and HIV. Other plays he has written have been showcased and produced, and several have been finalists in competitions and selected for festivals, such as the MetLife Foundation Nuestras Voces competition, the Pregones Theater Asunción competition, the International AIDS Theater Festival, the Strawberry Festival, and the Samuel French One-Act Festival. He is founding co-director of OneHeart Productions and holds a B.A and M.A. from Stanford University. In addition to being an artist, he is a spiritual guide who supports the conscious transformation of individuals and communities. For more information, click here or here.

His play in the 2013 HOLAfestival is Mine of Crystals and it will be directed by Andreas Robertz. It will be presented on Sunday, December 8, 2013 at 7pm at IATI Theater.

A.B. Lugo is an actor-writer-director. He has written several plays (Banjee, Branches/Emboscada, Manchild Machismo, Geneva, Ramble, among others), most of which have been produced (or workshopped) in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Puerto Rico. As a performer, he has performed throughout the United States and Puerto Rico (including Vieques). His work is published in the poetry anthology Me No Habla With Acento (Rebel Satori Press/El Museo del Barrio), edited by Emanuel Xavier. TSTQ

He will be performing his work at the 2013 HOLAfestival's Evening of Poetry on Monday, December 9, 2013 at 7pm at IATI Theater.


Francis Mateo is an actor and writer from the Dominican Republic. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Hunter College and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Brooklyn College. His collection of poetry, Ubre Urbe, was published in 2013. He is a member of Actors' Equity Association (AEA). He currently works at the Book Review section of The New York Times. For more information, click here, here or here.

He will be performing his work at the 2013 HOLAfestival's Evening of Poetry on Monday, December 9, 2013 at 7pm at IATI Theater.

J.F. Seary is a Nuyorican poet and actor. Her performance career began at Binghamton University. Since then she has performed at the Nuyorican Poets Café, the Bowery Poetry Club, and (le) Poisson Rouge. She has performed in NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Grand Rapids, Orlando, London, and San Juan. In addition, she has toured colleges across the country with her solo poetry show and with Urbintel's HerStory. She just concluded a theatrical run of Odd Girl In Entertainment's Soledad Speaks. She is grateful for all of the people who have supported her journey and for this opportunity. For more information, click here.

She will be performing her work at the 2013 HOLAfestival's Evening of Poetry on Monday, December 9, 2013 at 7pm at IATI Theater.

Raquel Almazán is a writer-performer. She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from University of Florida and is an M.F.A. Playwriting Candidate from Columbia University. Selected plays include La Migra Taco Truck (Off-Broadway/Theatre Row), La Paloma Prisoner (LaMama, The Lark table read, INTAR and Labyrinth Theatre Company, WPIC Stockholm), The Hopefulness (Theatre Row Reading-Rising Circle Theatre Company- Recipient of the Kate Neal Kinley Playwriting Fellowship). Solo Shows include She Wolves: Women in Sex, Death and Rebirth (P.S. 122, NYC Fringe Festival) and Porning the Planet (Dixon Place). She is the Artistic Director of La Lucha Arts Group, which is dedicated to her new works. Member of Dramatists Guild and League of Professional Theatre Women, SAG-AFTRA. For more information, click here.

Her play in the 2013 HOLAfestival is La Negra and it will be directed by Mei Ann Teo. It will be presented on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at 7pm at IATI Theater.


For more information about the 2013 HOLAfestival, taking place at IATI Theater, click here.