HB Studio Presents MARICELA DE LA LUZ LIGHTS THE WORLD

HB Studio, one of New York's legendary institutions for theater training and practice located in Greenwich Village, will kick off the 2018 BENEFIT SERIES with a special presentation of Academy-award nominated José Rivera's whimsical play, MARICELA DE LA LUZ LIGHTS THE WORLD. Featuring Vanessa Aspillaga - star of the Pulitzer-prize winning drama ANNA IN THE TROPICS on Broadway; and directed by David Deblinger, HB faculty member and co-founder of the LAByrinth Theater Company. A portion of proceeds from this reading will also be donated towards The Hispanic Federation's UNIDOS Disaster Relief & Recovery Program to meet Hurricane Maria-related needs and recovery in Puerto Rico. Tickets are on sale now!

"Aaaaah! My eyes are melting in my face!..."

...so begins José Rivera's fanciful, family-friendly play MARICELA DE LA LUZ LIGHTS THE WORLD*, following the adventures of Maricela and her brother Riccardo as they save the world from a trickster god and impending weather catastrophe. Don't miss Vanessa Aspillaga in this exciting and fun, whirl-wind adventure! Also featuring the talents of Oscar A. L. Cabrera, Paula Pizzi, Johnny Sanchez, Ron Orbach, Glenda Delli, Beethovan Oden, and Satoshi Deleanu.

DATES:
Friday, December 1, 2017 | 7:00 PM
Saturday, December 2, 2017 | 7:00 PM

LOCATION: HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street | New York, NY 10014
TICKETS: $250 Premiere | $125 Priority | $25 HB Student Tickets
- Followed by VIP Reception -

HB STUDIO BOX OFFICE: 212-989-7856
HB STUDIO ONLINE: http://hbstudio.org/giving/hb-benefit-events/

*This presentation of Maricela de la Luz Lights the World by José Rivera is produced by special arrangement with THE Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois.

JOSÉ RIVERA
The first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Academy Award, for "The Motorcycle Diaries," Rivera is also the author of 26 full-length plays including the Obie Award-winning Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, both produced at The Public Theatre, New York. Other plays include Cloud Tectonics (Playwrights Horizons, Goodman Theatre), School of the Americas (Public Theatre), The Maids (INTAR), Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR), Massacre (Sing to Your Children) (Rattlestick Theatre, Goodman Theatre),Brainpeople (ACT/San Francisco), Sonnets for an Old Century (Barrow Group), Another Word for Beauty (Goodman Theatre), Boleros for the Disenchanted (Yale Rep, Goodman Theatre), The Street of the Sun (Mark Taper Forum), Sueño (Manhattan Class Company), and Human Emotional Process (Chaskis Theatre, London). Screenplays include "On the Road," "The 33." "Trade," and "Letters to Juliet." For television, he co-created and produced the NBC series "Eerie, Indiana," and has written pilots for HBO and Showtime. Awards include a Fulbright Arts Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a McKnight Fellowship, a Rockefeller Grant, a Whiting Foundation Award, and New York Council for the Arts grant. Rivera has mentored the Sundance Screenwriting Lab in Utah, Jordan, and India and leads the New York-based Writer's Group.

Vanessa Aspillaga
Vanessa is a founding member of LAByrinth Theater Company and a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop. Broadway: 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Anna in the Tropics" with Jimmy Smits. Off-broadway and Regional: "Daphne's Dive" Signature Theatre, "Domesticated" Lincoln Center Theater, "underneathmybed" Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (Drama League Distinguished Performance Award Nominee, HOLA Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor Award) "Chasing Manet" Primary Stages, "Paradise Park" Signature Theatre, "The Clean House" Lincoln Center Theater, "The Cataract" Women's Project, "As You Like It" Public Theater New York Shakespeare Festival, "Anna in the Tropics" McCarter Theatre, "Two Sisters and a Piano" ALLIANCE THEATRE Company, "Night of the Assassins" INTAR, "Cutting Open Wings" LAByrinth, "They Still Mambo in Havana" The Flea, "Missionaries" Brooklyn Academy Of Music/ LaMama ETC/ New York Stage and Film, "Voir Dire" Long Wharf/ Arena Stage/ Seattle Repertory, "A Park in our House" New York Theatre Workshop/ McCarter, "The Lady from the Sea" Cleveland Play House . Film: "Detours," "Alex of Venice," "Tio Papi," "Gun Hill Road," "Morning Glory," "Love and Other Drugs," "Petty Crimes," "My Best Friend's Wife," "Pyrite," "Stringer," "Mr. Wonderful" TV: Blue Bloods, Falling Water, Flesh and Bone, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Nurse Jackie, Elementary, The Good Wife, Unforgettable, Rubicon, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, The Jury, Deadline, As the World Turns.

David Deblinger
David Deblinger co-founded LAByrinth Theater Company where he acted in new plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning writers John Patrick Shanley and Stephen Adly Guirgis and actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ellen Burstyn. He has appeared in new plays at Labyrinth, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, Vineyard, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the recent Off-Broadway run of A QUEEN FOR A DAY with Vincent Pastore and David Proval. On TV he has appeared on BLUE BLOODS, BROAD CITY, THE SOPRANOS, SEX AND THE CITY, LAW AND ORDER, LAW AND ORDER: SVU, DAMAGES, CLUB LAND and others.