The Center for Fiction and Theatre Communications Group Present Story/Teller Arts: Quiara Alegría Hudes on MY BROKEN LANGUAGE

The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old literary nonprofit that has created an immersive home for readers and writers in downtown Brooklyn, and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, will co-present Story/Teller Arts: Quiara Alegría Hudes on My Broken Language: A Theater Jawn on Monday, May 13 at 7pm ET at The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, and via livestream. 

The evening will celebrate the publication of My Broken Language: A Theater Jawn. In this memoir-turned-play, Hudes showcases a handful of key life moments that mark subtle changes in her sense of self and her place in the world. Interlaid between these vignettes are moments of song, dance, and ritual that evoke her boisterous girlhood in a house run by the Perez women. Featuring performances by members of the original cast (Yadira Correa, Yani Marin, Samora la Perdida, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Marilyn Torres) and a rich discussion with Hudes on her coming of age, the craft of book-to-stage adaptation, and the communal nature of autobiography, this is a can’t-miss event. After the event, Hudes will sign copies of the play.

The event will take place at The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 on Monday, May 13, 2024 at 7pm ET. In-person and livestream tickets are $10. All registrants will receive a link to livestream the event. Learn more and acquire your tickets here. For press tickets, please contact Corinna Schulenburg at cschulenburg@tcg.org. 

This event represents the thirteenth collaboration between The Center for Fiction and TCG, with past events featuring Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Jocelyn Bioh; Tony Kushner and Isaac Butler; James Ijames and Jonathan McCrory; Will Arbery and Chloé Cooper Jones with Leslie Jamison; Jackie Sibblies Drury and Claudia Rankine; Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; Heidi Schreck and Paula Vogel; Sarah Ruhl and Matthew Aucoin; Aleshea Harris and Nissy Aya; Lynn Nottage and Damon Tabor; Martyna Majok and Naveen Kumar; and Taylor Mac and Laura Collins-Hughes. Recordings of many of these previous events are available to view on The Center for Fiction’s YouTube channel.

Since its founding in 1984, TCG Books has grown to become North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama on its booklist. The book program commits to the lifelong career of its playwrights, keeping all of their plays in print. TCG Books’ authors include: Annie Baker, Nilo Cruz, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Larissa FastHorse, Athol Fugard, Quiara Alegría Hudes, David Henry Hwang, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Young Jean Lee, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, Heidi Schreck, Stephen Sondheim, Paula Vogel, and August Wilson. TCG Books events are supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Follow TCG Books on X and Instagram at @BooksTCG.

Quiara Alegría Hudes is the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Water by the Spoonful; author of the memoir, My Broken Language; and screenwriter of Vivo. For Broadway, she wrote the book for the Tony Award–winning musical In the Heights, as well as the screenplay for its film adaptation. Her essays have appeared in The Nation, The Cut, New York Times, Washington Post, and American Theatre. With her cousin, Hudes co-founded Emancipated Stories to help incarcerated people share one page of their life story with the world.

The Center for Fiction is a literary nonprofit that brings diverse communities together to develop and share a passion for fiction. Founded in 1821 as the Mercantile Library of New York in Manhattan, the organization is now based in the heart of the Brooklyn cultural district, with an 18,000 sq. ft. facility that offers New Yorkers an immersive cultural experience centered on reading and writing. Throughout the year, The Center for Fiction provides a vast array of public programming, reading groups, and writing workshops. The First Novel Prize and Emerging Writer Fellowships help build literary careers, and KidsRead/KidsWrite programs inspire an early love of reading and writing in public school students with author-led events. In recent years, the organization’s programming has expanded to include storytelling in all its forms, integrating music, theater, dance, film, television, and the visual arts into its exploration of the best of fiction throughout history and today.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 500 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the biennial TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by Interim Chief Growth Officer LaTeshia Ellerson and Interim Chief Executive Officer Karena Fiorenza.  www.tcg.org.