Famed choreographer and director Julie Arenal to receive Raúl Juliá HOLA Founders Award at 2009 HOLA Awards

Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) Press Release
For immediate release, please
Contact: Manny Alfaro/A.B. Lugo (212) 253-1015 holagram@hellohola.org

CHOREOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR
JULIE ARENAL TO ACCEPT
RAÚL JULIÁ HOLA FOUNDERS AWARD
AT 2009 HOLA AWARDS

HOLA honors the original choreographer of the
Broadway premiere of the classic musical Hair

New York, New York – Renowned dancer, choreographer and director Julie Arenal, who made a name for herself by being the choreographer of the Broadway premiere of the musical Hair, will accept the Raúl Juliá HOLA Founders Award at the tenth annual HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6:30pm at The Players, America’s oldest theatrical club, at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan.

The HOLA Awards honor Latino professionals in the entertainment and media industries, as well as hand out award for outstanding work in New York’s Latino theater. The Raúl Juliá HOLA Founders Award is named after the late Puerto Rican actor Raúl Juliá, and is given to someone in the entertainment industry who has shown one or all of the following characteristics for which Raúl Juliá is much revered: commitment to the community, versatility in his profession, the will to make his artistic vision a reality and the creation of a body of work that has had an impact on our culture.

Julie Arenal first became well known when she was selected to choreograph the Broadway transfer of the hit musical Hair. Other Broadway credits include Boccacio and Indians. Additional stage choreography credits include Free to Be... You and Me, The Sun Always Shines for the Cool, I Took Panama, Porgy and Bess, Funny Girl, On the Move and Marat/Sade. As a director, her credits include Isabel's a Jezebel, Funny Girl, Dog Lady, On the Move and The City. In film, she has choreographed sequences in Steal Big, Steal Little; Great Expectations (1998); King of the Gypsies; and Once Upon a Time in America. She has worked with Ballet Hispánico, The Public Theater, Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, New York City Opera, INTAR, Alicia Alonso's Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Duchess Theatre (London), Toho Company (Tokyo), and the Spoleto Festival (Italy).

Also being honored at the 2009 HOLA Awards are Sara Ramírez ("Grey's Anatomy," Broadway's Monty Python's Spamalot) with the HOLA Ilka Award; David Álvarez (star of Broadway’s Billy Elliot: The Musical), Ricardo Gómez (star of TV Española’s “Cuéntame cómo pasó”), Pregones Theater (for their 30th anniversary) and Univisión 41 (for 41 years of service to the community) with special recognition awards; and actor/producer Silvia Brito and actor René Sánchez for lifetime achievement. For a complete list of awardees, click here.

Sara Ramírez, of the hit TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” will accept the HOLA Ilka Award at the tenth annual HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6:30pm at The Players, America’s oldest theatrical club, at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan. Tickets for the 2009 HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit are $95 and can be bought through calling HOLA at (212) 253-1015 or online at www.hellohola.org.

# # # #

HOLA Member Bochinche

Bochinche refers to "gossip." In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members who are getting acting gigs.

The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, in collaboration with the Society of the Educational Arts, is presenting their 42nd annual summer tour production, a bilingual musical version of Cinderella. Titled Cenicienta/Cinderella, the play was adapted and directed by Manuel A. Morán with music by Morán and Iván Alexander Bautista. Touring the NYC metropolitan area, the cast includes Blanca Vásquez, Tom Schubert, Lina Sarrello, Jesús E. Martínez, Paola Poucel, Yaremis Félix and Viviana Fusaro. For a complete schedule, click here.

Julissa Román and Renzo Ríos will appear in the production Crossings as part of the New York International Fringe Festival (also known as fringeNYC). Written and directed by Amy Sabin Barrow and Shannon Michael, the show is slated for an August run at the Flamboyán Theater located in the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center (home to HOLA) in the Loisaida section of Manhattan. To buy tickets, click here.

A.B. Lugo will be appearing in two productions of the same play: one in English and on Spanish. The productions are called Angels Without Wings/Ángeles sin alas. Written by Pam Rea, the plays will take place for a September run at The Producers' Club in the theater district of midtown Manhattan and will be directed by Lina Sarrello (English version) and 2009 HOLA Award recipient José A. Esquea (Spanish version). The shows will alternate between English and Spanish dates with both shows being performed for the weekend performances.

Noemí de la Puente spent the summer performing opposite Carlo Rivieccio and Charles F. Wagner IV in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Directed by Mary McGinley and Willie Sumner, the Carolinian Shakespeare Festival production took place at the Athens Theater/New Bern Civic Theater in New Bern, North Carolina.

If you are an HOLA member and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail at holagram@hellohola.org. If you are not an HOLA member, why not join?

Stage and TV star Sara Ramírez To Accept HOLA ILKA AWARD at 2009 HOLA Awards

Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) Press Release
For immediate release, please
Contact: Manny Alfaro/A.B. Lugo (212) 253-1015 holagram@hellohola.org

STAGE AND TV STAR SARA RAMÍREZ
TO ACCEPT HOLA ILKA AWARD
AT 2009 HOLA AWARDS

New York, New York – Sara Ramírez, of the hit TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” will accept the HOLA Ilka Award at the tenth annual HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6:30pm at The Players, America’s oldest theatrical club, at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan.

The HOLA Awards honor Latino professionals in the entertainment and media industries, as well as hand out award for outstanding work in New York’s Latino theater. The HOLA Ilka Award is named after HOLA’s founding president, actor, lawyer and activist, Ilka Tanya Payán, and is given out to those performers who give back to society through humanitarian works.

Sara Ramírez can be seen as a series regular on ABC’s top-rated television drama “Grey’s Anatomy” reprising her award-winning role as orthopedic surgeon Dr. Callie Torres. Prior to “Grey’s Anatomy,” she won the Tony Award for her role as Lady of the Lake in the Broadway smash-hit Monty Python’s Spamalot. She recently worked with youngsters in narrating Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf in performances by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Her concerts have included Martinis at the Martin, Sara Ramírez with Hollis Resnik at the Ravinia, Bravo Bernstein (MTW’s 20th Anniversary Gala Concert) at the Hudson Theatre and The Barrington Stage Company Gala to name a few. She has started a liver foundation in memory of her best friend, the late actor Al D. Rodríguez, who passed away from liver cancer in 2008. Please visit www.aldrodriguezliverfoundation.com for more information.

Also being honored at the 2009 HOLA Awards are David Álvarez (star of Broadway’s Billy Elliot: The Musical), Ricardo Gómez (star of TV Española’s “Cuéntame cómo pasó”), Pregones Theater (for their 30th anniversary) and Univisión 41 (for 41 years of service to the community) with special recognition awards; and actor/producer Silvia Brito and actor René Sánchez for lifetime achievement. For a complete list of awardees, click here.

Sara Ramírez, of the hit TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” will accept the HOLA Ilka Award at the tenth annual HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6:30pm at The Players, America’s oldest theatrical club, at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan. Tickets for the 2009 HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit are $95 and can be bought through calling HOLA at (212) 253-1015 or online at www.hellohola.org.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of The Heart Truth.]

# # # #

Photos from the HOLApanels event (co-presented with SAG) at HBO as part of the New York International Latino Film Festival - July 31, 2009

HOLA and Screen Actors Guild presented an HOLApanels event titled "The Changing Face of Latinos in Media." Part of the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF), it took place at HBO on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 3pm and featured Dr. Clara E. Rodríguez of Fordham University as moderator with panelists Emilio Delgado (PBS' "Sesame Street"), Rogelio Douglas (Broadway's The Little Mermaid), Adrián Martínez (from the films The Ministers and The Taking of Pelham 123) and Tony Plana (of ABC's "Ugly Betty"). The event was filled to near capacity. Adam Moore, Director of Screen Actors Guild Affirmative Action and Diversity Department, gave opening remarks while HOLA Associate Director A.B. Lugo gave closing remarks. Photos shown here were taken by A Ruiz Photography.

2009 HOLA Awards On Sale Now

The 2009 HOLA Awards will take place on Monday, October 26, 2009 at The Players overlooking Manhattan's Gramercy Park. For a list of the 2009 HOLA awardees, click here. There will be a tapas reception at 6:30pm, followed by the awards reception at 8pm. Tickets are $95 for the HOLA Awards and Benefit and can be bought online here.

Photos from the HOLAawards Announcement Ceremony at Repertorio Español - 21 July 2009

The recipients of the 2009 HOLAawards were announced in a press conference at Repertorio Español in New York on Tuesday, 21 July 2009. The awards ceremony will take place on Monday, October 26, 2009 at The Players, overlooking Manhattan's Gramercy Park. To see the list of awardees, click here.

Photo 1: HOLA Administrative Assistant Dahlia Valle Peterson, HOLA event co-announcer Mónica Delgado, HOLA Associate Director/event emcee A.B. Lugo, 2009 HOLA awardee Sunilda Caraballo, HOLA member Emmanuelle Bordas; Photo 2: HOLA Board President Manolo García Oliva, 2009 HOLA awardee Rosie Berrido, Fernando Then, Ana Margarita Martínez-Casado; Photo 3: HOLA Executive Director Manny Alfaro, 2009 HOLA awardee Gerardo Gudiño, HOLA Board Chairman Francisco G. Rivela, HOLA Advisory Board Member Melchor Auñón; Photo 4: 2009 HOLA awardee David Ponce, event announcer/HOLA member Jean-Marc Berne, HOLA member Dominique Pérez, 2009 HOLA awardee Gabriel Gorcés; Photo 5: Ricardo Barber, Ana Margarita Martínez-Casado, 2009 HOLA awardee Silvia Brito, 2009 HOLA awardee René Sánchez. All photos by Facundo del Hoyo.

HOLA members at the New York International Latino Film Festival

The tenth annual New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) concluded on Sunday, August 2, 2009 and HOLA members were ever present-- at the parties, at the panels and, especially on the screen.

In addition, HOLA hosted a panel (with Screen Actors Guild) called The Changing Face of Latinos in Media in the 21st Century that will be highlighted in an upcoming blog entry (complete with photos).

Patricia Carreón acted in Lalo, a short directed by Daniel Maldonado. The short wound up winning the Best Short Award at the festival.

George Ruiz acted in the short film Dead in the Water, a short film directed by Marco Aguilar.

Mônica Steuer starred in the short film One Night Stand, directed by Mr. Moe.

Moisés Acevedo, Laura Patalano and Teresa Yenque appeared in the Cruz Ángeles film Don't Let Me Drown opposite Raúl Castillo, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Gina Torres, Selenis Leyva, Adrián Martínez, R.N. Rao and Fidias Reyes.

Teresa Yenque also appeared in the Ron Daniels film The War Boys opposite Peter Gallagher and Víctor Rasuk.