Casting Announced For Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Nilo Cruz's Newest Work EXQUISITA AGONIA

EXQUISITA AGONÍA -- the newest work by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz (ANNA IN THE TROPICS) - has announced casting for the play's world premiere engagement at the esteemed Off-Broadway theater, Repertorio Español (138 E. 27 St.) in Manhattan, according to the company's Executive Producer Robert Federico. Preview performances begin May 25 prior to official press opening on May 30. Repertorio Español performs in Spanish, with English simultext optional at every seat in the company's 140-seat theater.

Directed by José Zayas, the cast of EXQUISITA AGONÍA will feature Hannia Guillen (PROBATION at Repertorio Español, Nilo Cruz's BATHING IN MOONLIGHT at McCarter); GERMAN JAMARILLO (now starring in Repertorio's hit NO ONE WRITES TO THE COLONEL); Gonzalo Trigueros (JULIAN & ROMERO/NYC Fringe Fest), LUZ NICOLAS (DIGITAL EYE in DC), GILBERTO DIAZ (LA LLAVE DE MI CORAZON film), and Pedro De Leon (Off-Broadway's THAT BACHELORETTE SHOW).

Commissioned by Repertorio Español - now celebrating its 50th anniversary as NYC's one true repertory company that presents 300-plus performances of over a dozen plays and musicals each year - EXQUISITA AGONÍA is the fourth new work by Mr. Cruz to debut at Repertorio: previously, the company produced the world premieres of LORCA IN A GREEN DRESS and THE COLOR OF DESIRE, along with a production of ANNA IN THE TROPICS.

EXQUISITA AGONÍA is a love story that depicts a middle-aged woman's obsessive quest to find love with a young man who has been transformed by the gift of life when he receives a new heart.

Nilo Cruz, 2003 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Drama for his play, Anna in the Tropics, is a Cuban-American playwright whose work has been produced widely around the United States and Europe. His plays are many and include, Night Train to Bolina, Dancing on her Knees, A Park in Our House, Two Sisters and a Piano, A Bicycle Country, Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, Lorca in a Green Dress, Beauty of the Father, and translations of Lorca's Doña Rosita the Spinster, which have been seen at the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey, at New York's Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre, at South Coast Rep, the ALLIANCE THEATRE in Atlanta, and New York Theatre Workshop, among others. Nilo has also been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including two NEA/TCG National Theatre Artist Residency grants, a Rockefeller Foundation grant, San Francisco's W. Alton Jones award and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award. He taught playwriting at University of Iowa, Brown University, NYU Gallatin School and Yale University.

José Zayas (Director) began working with Repertorio in 2004 when he was selected as a fellow of the Van Lier Young Directors Project. Ever since, he has directed seven productions for the company and was named Resident Director in 2013. His production of Caridad Svich's "The House of the Spirits", based on Isabel Allende's novel, at Repertorio Español, won multiple ACE and HOLA awards, including best production and director. Other credits with Repertorio include "Madre, el drama padre"; "Letters to a Mother"; "Nowhere on the Border"; "No Better Friend", "No Worse Enemy"; "In the Time of the Butterflies"; "Love in the Time of Cholera", "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter", "Burudanga", "In the name of Salomé" and "Blind Spot". Outside of Repertorio Español Zayas has participated as director and assistant for a number of productions.

Design credits for EXQUISITA AGONÍA are: set design by Raul Abrego; lighting by Manuel Da Silva; Sound by David Lawson; and costume design by Fernando Then.

Already this 50th anniversary season, Repertorio Español has added three new works to its wide-ranging productions in rep: this fall, the company presented the U.S. premiere of Ana Caro's 17th century Spanish comedy of manners, COURAGE, BETRAYAL AND A WOMAN SCORNED; the world premiere of a stage adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's NO ONE WRITES TO THE COLONEL this winter; and most recently a new comedy EL CREDITO by Jordi Galceran.

Now in its 50th season, Repertorio Español was founded in 1968 by stage director René Buch and the late producer Gilberto Zaldívar, and joined by Robert Weber Federico in 1971, who now serves as Executive Producer. REPERTORIO has presented an unparalleled body of theater that promotes and divulges the rich heritage of Hispanic theater. Spanish masters like Calderón, Lope De Vega and García Lorca, renowned playwrights from Latin America and the growing body of American writers who capture the Latino experience in the U.S.-from Portland, LA, NYC, Washington DC, Texas, Washington Heights, Denver and Chicago-- are all at home in REPERTORIO's programming. As well, the company has presented acclaimed translations of plays by Edward Albee, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Giancarlo Menotti and Noël Coward.

Mr. Federico notes that many of the company's most popular plays have been written by women: Gloria González (CAFÉ CON LECHE), Dolores Prida's BOTÁNICA, Carmen Rivera's LA GRINGA (now in repertory for 22 years), along with plays by Caridad Svich, He also notes that the first staged reading of Lin-Manuel Miranda's first Tony-winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS was held at REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL.

With more than 250 original productions since the company's inception 50 years ago (averaging 4 new shows per season), the company has toured extensively in the U.S. and overseas, earning a host of awards including the Obie, Drama Desk, ACE, HOLA and ENCORE Awards.

Education is instrumental in REPERTORIO's mission, embodied in its education arm, ¡DIGNIDAD! (dignity and self-esteem) that presents 100 school day performances each year, along with in-school residencies, family workshops and teacher training. Dedicated to the next generation of Latino artists, the company's annual MetLife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition has helped generate new Latino theater since 2000.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL's lead sponsor. Additional anniversary season sponsors include The Gilman Foundation, Lawrence M. Small and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

TICKET PRICES range from $17 to $70 premium; Discounts for Groups, students, seniors, armed forces, first responders.

For more information visit: www.repertorio.nyc