VIDEO: Natascia Diaz Performs Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Burn' in Concert

By: Jul. 26, 2016
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Fresh from her recent knockout cabaret performance at Feinstein's/54 Below, two-time Helen Hayes Award winner Natascia Diaz returned to Washington D.C. to put her own spin on Lin-Manuel Miranda's searing HAMILTON ballad, "Burn" at the Signature Theatre Open House.

Diaz is now preparing for her September opening in the Wooly Mammoth Theatre's production of Jen Silverman's COLLECTIVE RAGE.

Visit natasciadiaz.com and woollymammoth.net.

Born in Lugano, Switzerland to Puerto Rican opera singer Justino Diaz and Italian ballerina Anna Aragno, Natascia Diaz began her training at The School Of American Ballet, going on to receive a BFA with Honors from Carnegie Mellon University. After dancing the role of Anita with the New York City Ballet for their 'West Side Story Suites' helmed by Jerome Robbins, she was hand picked by Robbins and Laurents to perform the role in the subsequent National and International touring production of West Side Story. Her breakout performance as Anita was met with critical acclaim across the country and internationally, winning her a Chicago Jeff Award and St. Louis's Kevin Klein Award.

Among New York credits are the Broadway companies and cast albums of Seussical (Bird Girl) and Man of La Mancha (Antonia), where she covered the role of Aldonza, performing opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell. Off-Broadway, she played opposite Patrick Wilson in Bright Lights, Big City (Vicky) directed by Micheal Greif (Dear Evan Hansen), Saturday Night at Second Stage, tick, tick... BOOM! (Susan) opposite Joey McIntyre, and in the 2006 hit revival of Jacques Brel.

At the 2009 Helen Hayes Awards in Washington DC, her performance as Scottish punk-rocker Monica in Rooms won her her first Helen Hayes Award for Best Actress in A Musical in a tie with theatre legend, Chita Rivera. Later that year, she was featured in the Broadway documentary film, Every Little Step. Returning to NY, Diane Paulus cast her in the central role of Esmeralda Agron in The Public Theatre's re imagined production of The Capeman at the Delacorte, where she captured the attention of The New York Times giving a performance that was, "heartbreaking...one of the most magnetic musical theatre performances of the year."Michael Riedel of the NYPOST wrote, "The cast was indeed exceptional, the standout being Natascia Diaz as Agron's long suffering mother. Diaz is a remarkable performer, as anyone who saw her in the fine documentary "Every Little Step," about the casting of "A Chorus Line," can attest.

Recent highlights: 2013, Natascia was cast by Fun Home producer Mike Issacson as Velma in Chicago in his inaugural season as head of The St. Louis MUNY. In 2014, her performance as Jenny in The Threepenny Opera garnered the Washington Post headline, "At Signature, Threepenny Opera's heart beats strongest with Natascia Diaz's Jenny onstage". This year, she went from a sold out run of West Side Story, receiving her third Helen Hayes Award nomination for her "mesmerizing" turn (Peter Marks, Washington Post) as Anita at Signature Theatre, to Othello at the Shakespeare theatre.



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