HOW TO MELT ICE Limited Run Premiere to be Presented at the Julia de Burgos Performance and Arts Center This Winter

Boundless Theatre Company and New Perspectives Theatre Company will present a limited run premiere of How to Melt ICE by Amalia Oliva Rojas, running Wednesday, February 1 to Saturday, February 11, 2023. Performances are Wednesday-Saturday at 7:00 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, February 11 at 2:00p.m. is an ASL interpreted performance. All performances are at the Julia de Burgos Performance and Arts Center, 1680 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY.

In How to Melt ICE, Rojas weaves together a tapestry of magical realism, Mexican mythology and authentic immigrant experience in a highly stylized framework that explores the demands of familial love and the generational divide between "Dreamers" and those who carried them to the promised land. A chorus of three Tias (aunts) share family secrets and neighborhood chisme (gossip) with audience members, who will find themselves sometimes as allies, sometimes as a threat, while the choices of two cousins play out against the backdrop of what is now a decades-long American Tragedy. Developed in NPTC's Women's Work LAB, the play received a grant from the prestigious NYC Women's Fund for this premiere staging. .

Ground-breaking artists from BTC's design team are collaborating with Elena Araoz, one of the busiest and most sought-after directors working today, to take the audience on a journey from a Mexican village to Jackson Heights, across desert sands and into the bowels of the NYC subway, putting "truth" on stage while honoring the play's lyricism. The design team, many with Broadway credits, includes Raul Abrego (Sets), Maria-Cristina Fusté (Lights), Christopher Vergara (Costumes), Nathan Leigh (Composer/Sound), Omayra Garriga (Props/Assistant Set Designer). Ray Rodriguez is Fight Director; Melody Brooks is Dramaturg.

In keeping with the activist impulses of the full creative team, a series of post-performance conversations will allow audiences from a wide spectrum of backgrounds to engage with the creative and production teams, immigration experts and other artists from the Latinx community. in exploring the legal, political and social realities for today's immigrants.

AMALIA OLIVA ROJAS

is a Mexican playwright, poet, performer and "artivist" based in Nueva York. Her work centers and archivesthe stories, myths, and legends shared by her family and her community, especially fellow immigrant women. Raised by oral storytellers, Rojas is dedicated to creating a body of work across genres that will gift future generations with stories of heartache, radical joy, and hope. She is a proud alumnus of the Vassar College Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Program and CUNY Lehman College. Residencies include Pen America's DREAMING OUT LOUD fellowship, New Perspectives' Women's Work Short and Full-Length Play Labs, NYU Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics, EmergeNYC Program, Culture Hub's Thriving Changemakers, Beam's Center Lighthouse Artist Residency at Governors Island, and The Action Lab's Take A Breath Residency. In November 2022, an excerpt of her play A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Succeed in the Myth-Making Business was produced and spotlighted by Lehman College; she will be in residence in March 2023 at The Cell Theater with her Collective BBQ project. In 2019, an excerpt from Amalia's one-woman show Tonantzin On the 7 Train was published by Pen America. In addition to her playwriting, Amalia has contributed to several online magazines on immigration, policy-making, and personal narratives including City Limits, Popula, and Mexico's renowned La Revista De La Universidad De México. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at Columbia University.

Elena Araoz

directs theater, opera, and multimedia performance, internationally, Off-Broadway, and regionally. Recent productions include Anna in the Tropics (Barrington Stage), Original Sound (Cherry Lane Theatre), The Manic Monologues (McCarter Theatre, Drama League Award nom.), El Matrimonio Secreto (Florida Grand Opera), Mac Wellman's A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds (New York Theatre Workshop Next Door), Fornés' Mud and Conduct of Life (Boundless Theatre Company), Warren Leight's Union Square Incident (24 Hour Plays on Broadway, American Airlines Theatre), El Otro Oz (TheatreWorksUSA), and others at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Opera, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Oregon Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Prague Shakespeare, Walnut Street Theatre, People's Light, Noble Theater Bridge in Beijing, Bucharest International Theatre Platform, Shakespeare Festival St, Louis, Audible, and large-scale events for Anna Deavere Smith's Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, PEN America, and Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Her musical production Sugar Skull enjoyed its fourth national tour in 2022. Upcoming, she will direct the commercial musical Havana Music Hall which will be in residence as an immersive experience in Miami. Forthcoming, is Senator Bill Bradley's documentary film Rolling Along, on which Elena served as a dramaturg. The New York Times has praised Araoz's productions as "striking," "primal," "wild," "stirring," "refreshingly natural," and "form-busting." The Boston Globe as "riveting," "dreamy," and "vivid." She serves as Producing Artistic Director at Princeton University, where she also leads her research lab Innovations in Socially Distant Performance.

BOUNDLESS THEATRE COMPANY

is a designer-led organization seeking to investigate, push and redefine the boundaries of theatrical storytelling. Spearheaded by women, Latinx theatre-makers and other theatre-makers of color, Boundless is committed to creating inquisitive and socially relevant theatre that prioritizes the designer's vision. The company was founded in 2006 and operates simultaneously in New York City and Puerto Rico. Past projects include the Puerto Rico premiere of The Good Body by Eve Ensler, the NYC premiere of Prospect by Octavio Solis, and the NYC premiere of Fur by Migdalia Cruz. Boundless also offers theatre classes for children, community arts programs for older adults, and mentorship opportunities for early-career theatre designers of color. The company produces both Spanish-language and English-language professional theatre, and all community programs are offered bilingually.

NEW PERSPECTIVES THEATRE COMPANY

is an award-winning, multi-racial company performing at its home in the Theatre District, communities throughout NYC and as of 2015, internationally. Now in its 31st Season, notable productions of original works have included Exhibit #9 by Tracy Scott Wilson (Audelco Award); Jihad, The Play by Ann Chamberlain (OOBR Award for Excellence); Admissions by Tony Velella (10 Best Plays Citation, Backstage); the premiere of The Shaneequa Chronicles by OBIE-Winner Stephanie Berry (with Blackberry Productions); Anatomy of a Love Affair by Deirdre Hollman (Optioned by Essence Entertainment); MOTHER OF GOD! by Michele Miller (Princess Grace Foundation Finalist), and She Calls Me Firefly by Teresa Lotz (with Parity Productions, Outstanding Short Play, Innovative Theatre Awards.) The Company's mission is to use theatre as an agent for social change by developing and producing new plays and playwrights, especially women and people of color; presenting classic plays in a style that addresses contemporary issues; and extending the benefits of theatre to communities in need. Our aim is not to exclude but to cast a wider net.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

WHEN: February 1 - 11, 2023

Wednesday-Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

ASL Interpreted performance on February 11th @2:00 p.m.

WHERE: Julia de Burgos Performance and Arts Center

1680 Lexington Avenue (@ 105th Street), New York, NY

TICKETS: $25/$18 for students and seniors; TDF accepted for selected performances

Advance Online Sales will be available beginning January 3, 2023

Reservations: (cash & credit cards accepted at the box office): howtomeltice@gmail.com

AUDIENCES MUST REMAIN MASKED THROUGHOUT THE PERFORMANCE

for more information visit:

www.boundlesstheatre.org