Modesto Flako Jimenez Tackles Gentrification, Race and Morality In Autobiographical Elegy

Direct from sold-out preview performances at The Public Theater's 2018 Under The Radar Festival, Abrons Arts Center is pleased to present the world premiere of ¡Oye! For My Dear Brooklyn (March 15-31) by rising-star Modesto Flako Jimenez, "whose acerbic wit is as sharp as his performance style" (American Theatre). Directed by Artem Yatsunov, ¡Oye! For My Dear Brooklyn chronicles Jimenez's fractured immigrant journey from his native Dominican Republic to Bushwick to Bennington College and up to present day.

In this bilingual, autobiographical elegy, Jimenez uses his Spanish-speaking, black body to navigate both the rapidly gentrifying streets of Bushwick and the white privileged world of small-town college and downtown theater. Using video projections, music, lyrical brilliance, and irreverent play, ¡Oye! For My Dear Brooklyn complicates our perceptions of race and language. It calls the audience to be truly present by asking, "What is our moral worth?"

Jimenez is a Dominican-born actor, producer, writer, and arts educator raised in Bushwick, Brooklyn. While still in high school, he co-founded the now-defunct Real People Theater, a company best known for reworking classical plays by incorporating street slang and Spanish. Real People Theater toured North America and Europe to great acclaim. Jimenez is an associate member of The Wooster Group and also a founder of the Oye group. He serves as Vice-President of the Brooklyn Poets Board of Directors. His recent focus has been on his writing, and on addressing the social and political changes affecting the Latin American communities in his neighborhood.

Performances of ¡Oye! For My Dear Brooklyn will take place March 15-31 (see schedule above) at Abrons Arts Center, located at 466 Grant Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of Thursday, March 15th for an official opening on Sunday, March 18 at 5pm. Tickets, priced at $20, can be purchased by visiting abronsartscenter.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

About Abrons Arts Center

The Abrons Arts Center is the OBIE Award-winning performing and visual arts program of Henry Street Settlement. Abrons supports the creation and presentation of innovative, multi-disciplinary work; cultivates artists in all stages of their practice with educational programs, mentorships, residencies and commissions; and serves as an intersection of engagement for local, national and international audiences and arts-workers.

Each year the Abrons offers over 250 performances, 12 gallery exhibitions and 30 residencies for performing and studio artists, and 100 different classes in dance, music, theater, and visual art. The Abrons also provides New York City public schools with teaching artists, introducing more than 3,000 students to the arts. For more information: www.abronsartscenter.org.

Photo by: Aaron "RadioSilence" Jaker