HOLA Member Bochinche

Bochinche refers to "gossip". In this sense, we use it to highlight HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Modesto Flako Jiménez, shown at right, and The Brooklyn Gypsies Collective are presenting "Colors", the latest edition in its Ghetto Hors d'Oeuvres series (a series of poetic theatrical performances in which rappers and poets break down borders and collaboratively create an ode to Brooklyn’s gritty streets). The performances will be directed by Jiménez and feature a performance by Tony Award-winning performer Lemon Andersen. The shows will take place at the end of April at the Bushwick Starr (in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood). For more information, click here or here.

José Roldán, Jr. will be performing an excerpt of his self-penned, award-winning solo show Father Forgive Me For I Have Sinned (developed with Dante Albertie and directed by Rosie Berrido) on Friday, April 8, 2016 at the Latino Pride Center in Manhattan's El Barrio neighborhood. For more information, click here.

Caridad de la Luz (also known by her nom de musique et de poésie La Bruja), shown at left, will be performing on a bill with fellow poets Emanuel Xavier and Bonafide Rojas at the Culture Shock event produced by Friends of the High Line. The performance will take place on Saturday afternoon, April 23, 2016 al fresco at the Tenth Avenue Square and Overlook on the High Line elevated public park in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. For more information on the event (or the series, which is curated by Xavier), click here.

The Cuban music group Máxima Alerta (featuring Lucio Fernández) will return in May to the famed nightspot Maxwell's (in Hoboken, New Jersey) after a previous sold out concert appearance there. Their performance, on Friday, May 13, 2016, will also feature special guests Ariacne Trujillo and Olivia Durán. For more information, click here or here.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?

Sonia Manzano, María on "Sesame Street", To Receive Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy

Sonia Manzano, also known as María on the long-running PBS series "Sesame Street", will receive the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ 43rd annual Daytime Emmys on Sunday, May 1, 2016 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites in Los Angeles, California.

Manzano, a former HOLA Award honoree, retired after almost 45 years of being on the show last summer; during her tenure on the program, she has shared in 15 Emmys for her work as a writer on the groundbreaking public television show. She was also nominated twice for Daytime Emmys in the category of Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series.

"Sonia not only brought the life events of marriage, having a baby and being a mother to viewers young and old, she also brought a seldom-seen diversity, a Latin role model, unlike anything on television at the time." –BOB MAURO, President of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences

A community activist and author, Manzano wrote a memoir, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx, that was published in August by Scholastic Press. For more information, click here or here.

HOLA Member Bochinche

Bochinche refers to "gossip". In this sense, we use it to highlight HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Manuel A. Morán, shown at right, was featured in El Blog de Pablo (edited by Pablo García Gámez) as a result of his directing the play Mi superhéroe, Roberto Clemente/My Superhero, Roberto Clemente. Written by Morán and Alejandro Zuleta (with translations by Richard Marino, Kristián Otero Morán and Antonio Valle), and directed by Morán, this musical is currently running at Teatro SEA's namesake theater in the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Theater (home to HOLA), located in Manhattan's Loísaida neighborhood. To read the blog, which is in Spanish, click here.

Rose Gutiérrez is the creator of the webseries "Cornelia". In addition to creating it, she stars as the lead character and also wrote, co-directed, and produced it. Presented by End of Story Productions, the webseries also stars Danny García, J. Santana, Gloria Zelaya, Leticia Castillo and Lisann Valentín, and will be screened at the April edition of the Katra Film Series, taking place on Saturday afternoon, April 9, 2016 at Katra, located in Manhattan's Loísaida neighborhood. For more information, click here.

Ellis Vizcarra, shown at left, is co-starring in Euripides' Andromache. Directed by Steven Barrett, the Love Creek production is taking place in April at the Beckmann Theater at the American Theater of Actors (ATA), located near Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. For more information, click here.

R.Evolución Latina is presenting its 2016 Choreographers Festival. Titled Bountiful: A Teacher's Journey, it was conceived and will be directed by Luis Salgado, and feature the work of choreographers Valeria Cossu, Daniel Fetecua Soto, Gabriela García, Vania Masias, Matthew Steffens, Rebeca Tomás, Rickey Tripp, and Amanda Turner. The festival will take place in April and May at the Manhattan Movement and Art Center (MMAC) in Manhattan's West Side. For more information, click here.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?

HAMILTON Casting Controversy Spotlights the Importance of Diversity

"...as rightly celebrated as [Hamilton] is, it would be shortsighted to assume that it solves the industry’s diversity problem, any more than electing Barack Obama solved America’s. Indeed, the theater is a microcosm of the nation, in terms of the forces at work and the problems that need remedies. Certainly, one should expect that entrenched power brokers throughout the industry may dig in their heels to defend existing paradigms, as power brokers do in just about every other context. Nor should Hamilton and similar shows be expected to satisfy some kind of diversity quota, allowing the rest of the status quo to stand unchallenged. While it could be argued that some diversity is better than none, this is simply not good enough." –KATE SHINDLE, President of the Actors' Equity Association (AEA).

The company of Hamilton.
Photo by Joan Marcus.

Check out Actors' Equity Association President Kate Shindle's guest column in Variety magazine regarding the recent controversy about a casting notice asking for "non-white" actors for replacement cast and touring productions by clicking here.

Cesar Alvarez and Jeanine Serralles Receive 2016 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations

Nominations for the 31st Annual Lucille Lortel Awards, recognizing the best in Off-Broadway theatre, have been announced. Named for actress and theater producer Lucille Lortel, the awards ceremony gives out awards in 18 categories, and has been produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers (by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation, with additional support from the Theatre Development Fund) and awarded since 1986. The voting committee is made up of representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors' Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, as well as theatre journalists, academics and other Off-Broadway professionals.

Jeanine Serrallés.

César Álvarez.

FUTURITY, the Soho Rep/Ars Nova musical (produced in association with Carole Shorenstein Hays) received five nominations, including one for Outstanding Musical. The musical has a book and lyrics by César Álvarez and music by César Álvarez and The Lisps. The other categories in which the show received a nomination included Outstanding Choreographer (David Neumann), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical (Sammy Tunis), Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Kandel), and Outstanding Scenic Design (Emily Orling and Matt Saunders). Also picking up a nomination is Jeanine Serrallés, for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, for her work in the play Gloria (written by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins; directed by Evan Cabnet for Vineyard Theatre). Other nominees this year include Mike Birbiglia, Georgia Engel, Anne Hathaway, Maurice Hines, Leslie Kritzer, Dael Orlandersmith, and Phylicia Rashād.

The 2016 Lortel Awards will be presented on Sunday, May 1, 2016 at NYU Skirball Center overlooking Washington Square Park in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. The event will also benefit The Actors Fund. For more information, click here. 

The Tonys Are Just As White As The Oscars - Here Are The #TonysSoWhite Statistics

Since the awards began– 1929 for the Oscars, 1947 for the Tonys– over 95% of all nominees have been white, with the Tonys recognizing more people of color by less than 1%. The big difference is in the ratios: The Tonys recognize twice as many black artists, but the Oscars recognize three times as many Asians and Latinos. –LEE SEYMOUR, Forbes

[Above, clockwise from top left: The Color Purple, On Your Feet!, Eclipsed, Hamilton. Below, clockwise from top left: Fiddler on the Roof, Shuffle Along, Fun Home, Allegiance.]

Check out Lee Seymour's article in Forbes, which explores the diversity of Tony nominees and winners and contrasts that with those of the Oscars, by clicking here.

HOLA Member Bochinche

Bochinche refers to "gossip". In this sense, we use it to highlight HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Danny Mendoza's documentary Spectrum of Hope is currently online at SundanceNow Doc Club. The documentary (co-produced and directed by Mendoza, shown at right), which deals with ten musical theater students, their families, and their teachers as they go on a journey from their special needs school in New York City's Lower East Side to the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, was posted in commemoration of National Autism Awareness Day. To see the film, click here.

Lucio Fernández is co-starring in the short film Primero muerto (written and directed by Lilybel Powell), which is currently shooting in New York City.

Edna Lee Figueroa, shown at left, in character, was featured in the Héctor Luis Sin Censura blog (written by Héctor Luis Rivera), where her role as actress, co-director, and co-producer in the two-hander Santa Bárbara es una femme fatale was highlighted. Written by Mariana Monclova and Camila Monclova, the two-hander will be co-produced and co-directed by Figueroa and Edmi De Jesús (who also co-stars) for Producciones El Barrio, and will have its NYC premiere in April as part of the first annual Festival de Comedias TEBA, presented by the Teatro Experimental Blue Amigos at the Broadway Blackbox Theater in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood. To read the blog, which is in Spanish, click here.

La Caja de los Prejuicios/The Prejudice Box is presenting Federico García Lorca's Así que pasen cinco años. Directed by Paul Montoya and designed by Alfonso Rey, the play stars Caridad del Valle, Venuz Delmar, Samuel Garnica, Christian López Lamelas,  Juan Villarreal, Sergio Freijo, and Miriam Pinedo, and will be presented in August at the Producers' Club, located in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, click here.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?