Repertorio Español Names 2026–2027 New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellows

Repertorio Español will showcase the work of two bold and innovative emerging directors as part of the 2026-2027 New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship.

Through this program, the selected fellows will have the opportunity to develop and present fully realized productions with the support of Repertorio's artistic and technical resources, working alongside the Company and staff.

The Van Lier Directing Fellowship, sponsored by The New York Community Trust, is designed to support emerging Latinx/Latiné directors living in New York City. The program provides mentorship, guidance, and a professional platform to mount a full production, fostering the next generation of theater-makers and amplifying diverse voices within the field. As part of this expanded initiative, the 2026 fellows will direct contemporary works, followed by a second cycle in 2027 dedicated to staging classical plays from the Spanish Golden Age.

WINNERS OF THE 2026-2027 NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST VAN LIER FELLOWSHIP

BT HAYES

BT Hayes is an artist from Pittsburgh, PA / Richmond, VA, now based in New York City. Select directing credits include The Dears (Caveat), Press Delete (Sound Bites XII), Masha Eats What She Cannot Understand (The Tank), 13th Morning (Caveat, Edinburgh Fringe), Ghost Quartet (Princeton Summer Theater), First Daughter Suite, and Mary Stuart: a New translation (Princeton University).

As a playwright, Hayes participated in the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals (2024) and the Moxie 2025 Incubator with 500 Rats: A Love Story. Their Princeton senior thesis, an adaptation and translation of Schiller's Mary Stuart, received the Robert & Lynn Fagles Translation Award in the Department of Comparative Literature.

GEO RIVERA

Geo Rivera is a queer, first-generation Honduran/Salvadoran-American multidisciplinary artist based in New York City, working across producing, directing, acting, singing, and playwriting. Rooted in lived experience, Rivera's work centers on the belief that existence itself is a political act and that art is a powerful tool for collective change.

As founder of Geo Rivera Productions, he collaborates with a network of artists to create work grounded in BIPOC storytelling, accessibility, and chosen family. His productions prioritize representation and aim to bring transformative theater back to the communities that shaped him.

GENERAL INFORMATION & TICKETS