Repertorio Español Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with 4th Anniversary of OSCAR WAO and More

Repertorio Español, the multiple award-winning Latinx theater company, will celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with the 4th anniversary of the acclaimed adaptation of La breve y maravillosa vida de Oscar Wao (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) by Pulitzer Award winner Junot Díaz. The popular production is directed by Marco Antonio Rodríguez and premiered on October 12th, 2019, on Repertorio's stage. The thrill and excitement of performing La breve y maravillosa vida de Oscar Wao on that evening was not only because it was a new production but also because the play highlights the rich culture of the Dominican-American community as well as a celebration of their Afro-Caribbean roots.

The company will present a special performance on Thursday, October 5th at 7 pm, where it will have the honor of the presence of Junot Díaz followed by a Q&A session after the performance.

But the celebration will not end there. La breve y maravillosa vida de Oscar Wao will be on tour for the first time in the "Festival de Teatro Internacional" of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña in Puerto Rico on October 13th,14th and 15th at the Francisco Arriví Theatre. The production will also be touring to the Dominican Republic as part of the "XI Festival Internacional de Teatro RD 2023" with performances on October 27th and 28th at Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito in Santo Domingo. This engagement is supported in part by Mid Atlantic Arts through USArtists International, a program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.

"Four years and counting? I cannot express how grateful I am to the brilliant, hard-working actors, producers, and supporters who made the Oscar Wao show fire. New Yorkers are blessed beyond words to call Repertorio Español their own. Repertorio is the dream of a better artistic world, made real." - Junot Díaz

ABOUT THE PLAY

Oscar is a naive "nerd" from New Jersey who has finally left the grips of his imposing Dominican mother and is attending his first semester of college at Rutgers with his rebellious sister. He dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the "fukú"-a curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explores the endless human capacity to persevere-and risk it all-in the name of love.

JUNOT DÍAZ - AUTHOR

Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. He is the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award. A graduate of Rutgers College, Mr. Díaz is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MARCO ANTONIO RODRÍGUEZ - PLAYWRIGHT & DIRECTOR

Dominican-American, bilingual writer. Named Top 50 Figure in LatinX and Latin American Theatre by Routledge. Double MFA-acting/television and screenwriting. Award-winning plays Ashes of Light and Barceló on the Rocks performed all over the world. Both published by NoPassport Press (available on Amazon.com & lulu.com). His acclaimed stage adaptation of Junot Díaz' The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is celebrating four years of performances at Off-Broadway's Spanish Repertory Theatre. Recent play, Bloom-acclaimed run at New York's IATI theatre. Winner - New York Independent Theatre Award (ATI) for outstanding achievement in playwriting. Horror screenplay, Suffer the Children, named Finalist-Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition and Creative World Awards. Half-hour dramedy pilot, Our Friendly Neighbors, released as a short film by DominiRican Productions. National Hispanic Media Coalition Scriptwriters Program Fellow. The Movement Theatre Company x Black List Playwriting Commission winner. New York Stage & Film Residency. Space on Ryder Farm Residency. Currently voices "Uncle Nestor '' in Emmy nominated PBS Kids animated series, Alma's Way. www.marcoantoniorodriguez.com

ABOUT REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL

Repertorio Español was founded in 1968 by Artistic Director René Buch and Producer Gilberto Zaldívar and has become one of the most successful Off-Broadway theatres. The Company was founded with the mission of producing the finest Spanish-language theatre from Latin America and Spain as well as plays written by Latinx artists. The Company presents a rotating repertory of plays, musicals, and dance concerts every year. Its productions are seen by over 50,000 people annually at its home, the historic Gramercy Arts Theatre, and on tour. Every year, approximately 18,000 students are introduced to the heritage of Spanish language theatre through its education program, ¡DIGNIDAD!

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