Mônica Steuer and Koko De Jesús starred in Rodolfo Santana’s La empresa perdona un momento de locura. Directed by Josean Ortiz, the play was produced at took place at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in the theater district of midtown Manhattan.
A bohemian night where poetry and music unite all the countries of Latin America is what is promised by El poeta y el compositor. Billed as a “Latin American poetic and musical voyage,” the production was conceived and directed César Alejandro and features the works of Latin American poets and composers such as Julia de Burgos, Rubén Blades, Bobby Capó, Rubén Darío, León Felipe, José Martí, Pablo Neruda, Alfonsina Storni and others. Presented at Teatro LA TEA in the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center (home to HOLA) in Manhattan’s Loisaida neighborhood, the evening includes Alejandro, Mateo Gómez, Nelson Landrieu and Jenmary Day in the cast.
"We Are New York" is a local half-hour TV show. The show is intended to help people learn English that will be useful to them. The winner of two local Emmys, the program featured Moisés Acevedo, Jennica Carmona, Ángel G. Clemente, Jorge Pupo and Antonia Rey in its cast. The show was created by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Adult Education and the City University of New York, Office of Academic Affairs. To see the episodes on the internet, click here.
Due to popular demand, Pregones Theater brought back its popular production Aloha Boricua. Conceived and directed by Jorge B. Merced based on the writings of Manuel Ramos Otero, with music composed in collaboration with Desmar Guevara, Rosalba Rolón and Javier Rodríguez Rullán, the story of the migration of Puerto Ricans to Hawai’i took place at Pregones’ namesake theater in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx and featured Sol Marina Crespo, Indio Meléndez and Omar Pérez in the cast.
Rob Santana wrote and directed his play Cheer Up, Jackie as part of the Short PlayLab Festival at the Where Eagles Dare Festival in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. The play, which deals with the events of November 22, 1963 on Jackie Kennedy, featured Yvette Quintero in the cast.
Patricia Carreón performed a monologue as part of the event Si tú no te amas, ¿quién te amará?, sponsored by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Queens. The evening, which also featured musical acts, took place at the Natives Theater in the Jackson Heights section of Queens.
As a young girl, she attended dance classes every day for a few years in a Carnegie Hall complex under the instruction of her uncle Angel Cansino. When she was eight years old, her father moved his family west to Hollywood, where he established his own dance studio. Famous Hollywood luminaries, including James Cagney and Jean Harlow, received specialized training from Cansino himself. Her rise to fame was a silver lining of the Great Depression. The family's investments were wiped out instantly. Musicals were no longer in vogue. Interest in her father's work collapsed as dancing classes were no longer prioritized during difficult economic times. But, when his nephew's dancing partner in a theater play broke a leg, her mother suggested her daughter could replace him: "Margarita can do it!"
Her mother's idea led to her father having an epiphany. He saw his daughter could be his partner in a dancing team called "The Dancing Cansinos." Since Hayworth was not of legal age to work in nightclubs and bars according to California state law, she and her father traveled across the border to the city of Tijuana, Baja California Norte, Mexico, a popular tourist spot for Los Angeles citizens in the early 1930s. She performed in such spots as the Foreign Club and the Caliente Club.
It was at the Caliente Club where she was first discovered by the head of the Fox Film Corporation, Winfield Sheehan. A week later, she was brought to Hollywood to make a screen test for Fox. Impressed by her screen persona, Sheehan signed her (who was now being referred to as Rita Cansino) to a short-term six-month contract.
During her time at Fox, she appeared in five pictures, in which her roles were neither important nor memorable. By the end of her six-month contract, Fox had now merged into 20th Century Fox, with Darryl F. Zanuck serving as the executive producer. Taking little concern for Sheehan's interest in her, Zanuck decided not to renew her contract.
By this time, she was eighteen years old and she married businessman Edward C. Judson, who was twice her age. Feeling that she still had screen potential, despite just being dropped by Fox, Judson managed to get her the lead roles in several independent films and finally managed to arrange a screen test for her with Columbia Pictures. Studio head Harry Cohn soon signed her to a long-term contract, slowly casting her in small roles in Columbia features.
Cohn argued that her image was too much of a Mediterranean style, which caused her to be cast into stereotypical Hispanic roles. She began to undergo a painful electrolysis to broaden her forehead and accentuate her widow's peak. When she returned to Columbia, she had transformed into a redhead and changed her name to Rita Hayworth (Hayworth from her mother's maiden name).
In 1937, she appeared in five minor Columbia pictures and three minor independent movies. In 1938, Hayworth appeared in five more Columbia B films. In 1939, Cohn pressured director Howard Hawks to use her for a small but important role as a man-trap in the aviation drama Only Angels Have Wings, in which she played opposite Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. A large box-office success, fan mail for Hayworth began pouring into Columbia's publicity department and Cohn began to see her as his first and official new star (the studio had never officially had large stars under contract, except for Jean Arthur, who was trying to break out of her Columbia contract). Cohn began to build her up the following year, in features such as Music in My Heart, The Lady in Question and Angels Over Broadway. He even loaned Hayworth out to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to appear in Susan and God, opposite Joan Crawford.On loan to Warner Brothers, she appeared as the second female lead in The Strawberry Blonde (1941), opposite James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland. A large box-office success, her popularity rose and she immediately became one of Hollywood's hottest properties. So impressed was Warner Brothers that they tried to buy her contract from Columbia, but Harry Cohn refused to release her.
Her success in that film led to an even more important supporting role in Blood and Sand (1941), where she played the first of many screen sirens as the temptress Doña Sol des Muire. She acted in two films opposite Fred Astaire in the musicals You'll Never Get Rich (1941), and You Were Never Lovelier. It was during this period that Hayworth posed for a famous pin-up in Life Magazine, which showed her in a negligée perched seductively on her bed. When the U.S. joined World War II in December 1941, Hayworth's image was admired by millions of servicemen, making her one of the top two pin-up girls of the war years, the other being Betty Grable. In 2002, the satin nightgown she wore for the picture sold for $26,888. She was then called the "Love Goddess."
For three consecutive years, starting in 1944, she was named one of the top movie box office attractions in the world. In 1944, she made one of her best-known films, the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. The film established her as Columbia's top star of the 1940s. She was adept in ballet, tap, ballroom, and Spanish routines. Cohn continued to effectively showcase Hayworth's talents in several Technicolor films.Her erotic appeal was most notable in the classic film noir Gilda (1946), with Glenn Ford, which encountered some difficulty with censors. This role–in which Hayworth in black satin performed a legendary one-glove striptease–made her into a cultural icon as the ultimate femme fatale. It is also noteworthy to report that she was also the first dancer to partner with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on film.
She delivered one of her most acclaimed performances in then-husband Orson Welles's The Lady From Shanghai (1947). Its failure at the box office was attributed in part to director/co-star Welles having had Hayworth's famous red locks cut off and the remainder of her hair dyed blonde for her role. This was done without Cohn's knowledge or approval and he was furious over the change.ACCENT REDUCTION SEMINAR
with Glenn Zuraw
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
6:30-9PM
LOS KABAYITOS PUPPET AND CHILDREN’S THEATER
@ CSV Cultural and Educational Center
107 Suffolk Street, 2nd Floor, NYC
(F to Delancey / J M Z to Essex)
Wanna attend a really cool and fun workshop that is geared to helping you sound more “American?” Ya know, the way Americans “sing” when they speak has a reason and you’ll learn the “Why.” If English is your SECOND LANGUAGE or even if you grew up here, in NYC, by attending the workshop, you’ll get some insight on how to sound more “Standard American” and less, well, whatever you sound like now! Sure, that Latin American accent sounds so sexy to us “Americans” and why not learn how to soften it for a role that requires less of it!
Do you know how many different ways you can say: “He likes the color purple” – there are at least six (6) different ways to say that simple phrase and each one is TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Come to the workshop and find out how!
We at HOLA look forward to seeing you on the 28th! Wine and cheese will be served (so that you are more relaxed…
Glenn Zuraw
Certified ESL Teacher
Accent Reduction Coach
Photo of Glenn Zuraw by Tom Zubank.
DO YOU THINK YOU ARE COMPUTER ILLITERATE?
HOLAfábrica Workshops and Seminars
presents
Computers and the Actor
or, how to survive an e-mail picture and
resume submission mailer-dæmon
with HOLA member Francisco Fuertes
HOLA Award recipient Francisco Fuertes is the Director of Computer Operations of a large national apparel company, an actor/singer and the Spanish voice of the New York State Lottery.
If you have a laptop, bring one in.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
6:30-8:30pm
LOS KABAYITOS CHILDREN’S THEATER
@ CSV Cultural and Educational Center
107 Suffolk Street, 2nd Floor, NYC
(F to Delancey / J M Z to Essex)
$25
REGISTRATION UPON PAYMENT
AMEX, MASTERCARD AND VISA ACCEPTED
