Photo Flash: First Look at SpeakEasy Stage Co.'s IN THE HEIGHTS, 5/10-6/8

Winner of four 2008 Tony Awards including Best Musical and a 2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, IN THE HEIGHTS is a potent reminder of the importance of home, family, and finding out where you belong. Set in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, this exhilarating musical fuses hip hop, salsa, and jazz with traditional Broadway rhythms to tell the stories of the everyday lives of a close-knit Latino community on the brink of change.

IN THE HEIGHTS was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the first incarnation of this show during his sophomore year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In addition to writing the Tony-winning score, Mr. Miranda also received a Tony nomination for portraying the IN THE HEIGHTS' lead character Usnavi on Broadway. Mr. Miranda has also contributed new songs to the 2011 revival of Stephen Schwartz' Working and collaborated with Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim on Spanish translations for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. Most recently, he participated in a fifth anniversary concert version of IN THE HEIGHTS held in New York City on Feb. 11, 2013.

SpeakEasy Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault will direct this regional premiere production of IN THE HEIGHTS. Mr. Daigneault has directed over forty plays and musicals for SpeakEasy, and has twice been named Best Director by the Boston Theater Critics Association. In addition, he serves on the faculty at The Boston Conservatory.

Music Director Nicholas James Connell and choreographer Larry Sousa round out the artistic team. Both men recently collaborated to SpeakEasy's production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and are also on staff at The Boston Conservatory.

Boston Conservatory senior Diego Klock-Perez will portray Usnavi in the SpeakEasy production, which will also feature Anthony Alfaro, Jorge Barranco, Christian Denzel Bufford, Tony Castellanos, Sarah Crane, Lauren Csete, JarEd Dixon, Merissa Haddad, Sean Jones, Jasmine Knight, Melanie Porras, Chris Ramirez, Adrian Ruz, Nicole Paloma Sarro, Carolyn Saxon, Santina Umbach, and Alessandra Valea.