MANIFEST DESTINY by Manuel Ortiz to Premiere at Teatro LATEA in June
Performances will run from June 12-29.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz May. 15, 2025
What happens when a murdered father demands revenge, Cold War ghosts rise from the grave, and "Missus America" takes the stage as a living character? Welcome to Manifest Destiny, the searing new play by Manuel Ortiz, premiering June 12-29 at Teatro LATEA as the centerpiece of its 2025 season.
This isn't your high school Hamlet. Part political thriller, part telenovela, part documentary theater, Manifest Destiny collides the past and present in a darkly comedic interrogation of U.S.-Latin American relations. Rooted in a real 1970s car bombing in Washington D.C. that killed both an American and a Chilean dissident, the play spirals outward into a theatrical fever dream of spies, beauty queens, Cold War specters, and a tragically familiar prince navigating grief and empire.
Directed by Ortiz himself and produced by split/decision (co-founded with Rachel Shuey), Manifest Destiny is the second installment in the American Mythology trilogy-an ambitious project exploring the foundational myths of the U.S. through a Latine immigrant lens. The trilogy began with the sold-out 2022 hit American Dream and will conclude in 2026 with Founding Fathers.
"We're proud to host this trilogy at LATEA," says Executive Director Miguel Trelles. "Ortiz and Shuey are raising the stakes for what's possible on our stage-politically charged, culturally resonant, and artistically bold."
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