NYC Congressman Adriano Espaillat Endsorses New York Theatre Barn

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month Congressman Adirano Esppaillat of New York's 13th Congressional district kicked off New York Theatre Barn's third installment of A Seat at the Table roundtable series which featured A Panel of Latinx Theatre Creators. The program was recorded on September 22nd and is now available to the public free of charge on New York Theatre Barn's YouTube Channel.

This robust conversation was co-moderated by Afro-Latina director/choreographer Maria Torres (Swing, On Your Feet, In the Heights, Enchanted) and NYTB's Héctor Flores Jr. Panelists included Broadway stars Andréa Burns (In The Heights, On Your Feet!), Shereen Pimentel (West Side Story) & Natascia Díaz (Passion), writers Jaime Lozano (Songs By An Immigrant), Robi Hager (Little Duende) & Vanessa Garcia (Sesame Street), director Victoria Collado (Latin History For Morons) and Tony-nominated costume designer and chair of the American Theatre Wing Emilio Sosa.

This fundraiser helped support a developmental residency of Sueños: Our American Musical, written by Mexican-American writer Jesse J. Sanchez. The show has additional music and orchestrations by Jeff Chambers. The residency, directed and choreographed by Torres, featured a predominantly Latinx cast which included Míchel Castillo, Mariela Dorado, Nicole Fava, Christian Galvins, Adriel García, Joriah Kwamé, Bianca Medina, Bryan Menjivar, Josephine Phoenix, Nathalia Raigosa, Danelle Rativera and Amanda Robles. Take a glimpse inside the process of the residency with Inside The Incubation: Sueños.

Additional creative team members included associate director/choreographer Héctor Flores Jr., music director Nevada Lozano (Ramona), lighting designer Zach Pizza, percussionist Renato Thoms, stage manager Molly Conklin, casting associate Pauls Macs, and assistant to the writer Kimberly Lara. Produced in association with Nicole LaFountaine (Straighten Your Crown Productions), Jim Kierstead (Kierstead Productions, Broadway United), Kyle Beckley (Full Out Creative), and Maria Torres Productions, the residency was also supported in part by the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals - a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (www.namt.org).

Under the direction of Joe Barros (Artistic Director), Kate Trammell (Managing Director), and Jen Sandler (Associate Artistic Director), New York Theatre Barn incubates original musicals and believes that there is no formula for musical theatre, except authenticity. The anti-racist, non-profit organization has served as a home for original culture shifting musicals during incubation since 2007. Over the past year, the company presented 96 original musicals, lifting up the work of over 180 writers, while making space for over 600 artists. The company recently launched Theatre Barn Records - a new imprint of Broadway Records and dedicated to new musicals in development, and a new podcast from Broadway Podcast Network called The Musicals of Tomorrow. For more information, visit New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.