LOS NUTCRACKERS Gay Latino Holiday Show Returns To BAAD!

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance proudly presents Los Nutcrackers: A Christmas Carajo, written by Charles Rice-González and directed by Fernando Vieira. This year marks the play's 16th year at BAAD!, and the second time that Vieira helms the work. The play interweaves two holiday classics, The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol, to create a queer, Latino play about a couple who go on a psychedelic trip through their lives one Christmas Eve.

The playdates are December 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, and 20 at 8pm; Saturday, December 14 at 3pm and the closing night show on December 21 is at 7pm with a post-show party.

All performances are at BAAD!, 2474 Westchester Avenue in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx. Tickets are $25 with discounts offered for seniors and students. For tickets call 718-918-2110 or visit www.BAADBronx.org. BAAD! can be reached by the #6 train to Westchester Square or Zerega Avenue.

This gay, Latino comedic play centers around a couple, Carlos and Gabriel, who have been together for 15 years. Their arguing and fighting has reached the queer heavens from which comes a diva spirit who guides them on a trip through their lives. They travel to the first time they met, and this year the play rewinds back to 1978 to the height of disco, then the couple moves through scenes that include a catastrophic trip to City Center to see The Nutcracker, a dinner party with Martha Stewart fanatics, and more.

The play features a talented and sexy cast of actors. Returning from previous years are Robert Maisonett, Yosvany Reyes and Jesse Vega. Returning from last year's production is Manny Lopez and joining the cast for the first time is Danny Arguello. Los Nutcrackers spent three years in development at BAAD!, then had its premiere production in 2004.

Charles Rice-González has written several plays including Pink Jesus, The Artist and I Just Love Andy Gibb published in Blacktino Queer Performance: A Critical Anthology (Duke Press). His lauded debut novel, Chulito, is about a 16 year old, Latino thug coming out in the South Bronx and he co-edited the anthology From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction. He has won several awards, including the 2014 Emerging Writers Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

Fernando Vieira is an Ecuadorean-born, New York City-based award-winning director, actor and writer who works both on the stage and screen. In 2016, Vieira wrote and directed a monologue titled "Me voy porque puedo." Other directing credits include "Enrique," "Las Sirvientas," Jean Genet's "The Maids," "Pensamientos," "Las cuarentonas tienen derecho a amar," and in 2018 and 2019 participated as a director in "48 Hour in...El Bronx" a theatrical collaboration produced by Harlem9 and Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. He wrote and directed a Spanish-language short film titled "La sospecha" in 2010. That same year, he debuted on the stage in an adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca's "Bodas de sangre." His television debut was in the Telemundo telenovela "Alguien te mira." Other credits acting credits include "La casa de al lado," "El fantasma de Elena" and "Corazón valiente."

Crowned "a funky and welcoming performance space" by The New York Times, BAAD presents cutting-edge and challenging works that are empowering to women, people of color and the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community. BAAD! is home to Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, The AATT Academy and the Bronx Dance Coalition. In 2013, BAAD! moved from Hunts Point to Westchester Square and in December will mark 21 years of being BAAD!