2/19 Panel with Cruz, Etc. Leads Up to TeatroStageFest

The panel "Latino-American Voices," featuring acclaimed playwrights such as Nilo Cruz, will be presented at the Instituto Cervantes on Feb. 19th.

The panel anticipates a new Latino theatre festival, TeatroStageFest, that will run from April 30 through May 13.  Joining Pulitzer Prize-winner Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) will be Eduardo Machado (The Cook), Carmen Rivera (La Gringa), Edwin Sánchez (La Bella Familia), and Carmelita Tropicana (Milk of Amnesia). Theatre journalist Patrick Pacheco will serve as moderator for the discussion.

Another upcoming TeatroStageFest panel - "Latinas at the Helm" - will focus on Latinas who work as directors and producers in a male-dominated industry.  It will feature Rosalba Rolon, Miriam Colón Valle, Shoshana Polanco, Claudia Norman, Veronica Caicedo, Vivian Deangelo, with Susana Tubert as moderator

According to the TeatroStageFest website, "the inaugural TeatroStageFest will wake up New York in the spring of 2007 to an artistic, cultural, and educational celebration that will spotlight center stage groundbreaking Latino and Iberian theater from New York, Latin America, and the Caribbean."  Pregones Theater, INTAR, Teatro Circulo and Teatro IATI will present productions as part of the festival.

It is produced by the Latino International Theater Festival of New York, Inc. (LITF/NY), a non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting year-round the work of Latino artists and theater companies, and fostering artistic and cultural exchange around the world.

Visit www.teatrostagefest.org for more on the panels and on other upcoming festival events.

Photo of Nilo Cruz by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.