New York Theaters and New York University to Present FESTIVAL IRENE

Hero Theatre announced today that the company's program Festival Irene: Celebrating the Legacy of María Irene Fornés, will transfer to NYC this fall after a successful run in Los Angeles. The festival of plays, presented as staged readings, includes some of Fornés' most celebrated works, in addition to featuring plays written by her award-winning students.

INTAR, Theater for the New City, La MaMa and Mabou Mines are announced as partner theaters for the festival, which is sponsored by New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. "NYC's Greenwich village has always been Maria Irene Fornés' artistic home. It is with great pleasure that we bring Festival Irene to New York City and NYU. We want to celebrate this formative playwright of the American theatre by honoring her work alongside the work of her students, many of whom define the Latinx theatre movement," said Gwendolyn Alker, PhD Department of Drama, New York University.

The full roster of playwrights includes Luis Alfaro, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Migdalia Cruz, Nilo Cruz, Lisa Loomer, Eduardo Machado, Cherríe Moraga, Octavio Solis and Caridad Svich. The festival will run November 6 through November 19 and will be presented free of charge to the public.

This June in Los Angeles, Hero Theatre will also present a full production of Fornés' play, The Conduct of Life. It will be directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company and take place at The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts.

Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis is Chair of Hero Theatre's Advisory Board. Other members include theater notables Bill Rauch, Michael Ritchie, Darko Tresnjak, Michael Wilson, Migdalia Cruz, Lisa Peterson and Lue Douthit.

For more information about Hero Theatre and Festival Irene, visit www.herotheatre.org

Photo credit: James M. Kent