Bilingual ROMEO AND JULIET and More Announced For Teatro Vista's 2019 High School Student Theater Series

Every spring, Teatro Vista, Chicago's professional Latinx theater company, introduces Chicago-area high school students to classic and contemporary plays framed in a Latinx filter.

Teatro Vista's 2019 student matinee series, presented at The Miracle Center, 2311 N. Pulaski Rd. in Chicago's Logan Square/Hermosa neighborhood, kicks off with the classic of all classics, Romeo and Juliet, March 19-May 9.

In addition to Teatro Vista's already popular student version of Shakepeare's tale of star crossed lovers, for the first time, Teatro Vista will also present select performances in a new bilingual, Spanish/English staging this spring.

In this new version, Verona's powers that be are English-speaking, as are Juliet's family, the Capulets. The hired help is bilingual. Juliet has learned Spanish from her Nurse. Romeo, his family, the Montagues, his friends and Friar Laurence are native Spanish speakers who can speak English.

Latinos in the U.S. navigate between two cultures the one we inherited from our families and modern American society. Being bilingual is a result of this situation and is a big part of what defines us both individually and collectively, said Teatro Vista education outreach director Ram n Cam n. Teatro Vista's decision to present Romeo y Julieta bilingually is based on a desire to reflect this reality through a classic piece of theater.

Both productions will be directed by Sebastian Arboleda, a Colombian-American actor/writer/director new to Chicago, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. The diverse, 11-person cast is led by Ilse Zacharias as Juliet opposite Diego Zozay as Romeo

26; Tuesday, April 2; Tuesday, April 9; Thursday, April 25; Monday, April 29; Monday, May 6; and Monday; May 9.

Bilingual performances are Wednesday, March 27, April 2 and April 10.

All shows start at 10 a.m. and include a pre-show meet-and-greet and post-show discussion.

Tickets are $9; free for teachers and chaperones. Curriculum-enhancing study guides are also available.

Next, Teatro Vista spins from ancient Verona to modern-day Chicago with Sound + Fury by ensemble members Marvin Quijada and Gabe Ruiz.

Built by to be theater for a YouTube generation, Sound + Fury packs hilarious, heartfelt, and action-packed stories into sketches that deconstruct assumptions of what theater can do, while highlighting universal themes weaved through electronically driven Latin, house, and hip-hop music.

Quijada and Ruiz tell original stories and present experiments using technology most of us carry in our pockets and backpacks everyday. With a cellphone and an iPad, these iOS musicians bridge the distance between immersive technological environments and the most classic analog format: theater.

A sold-out audience at Steppenwolf Theater's LookOut series leapt to their feet after a show that was part hip-hop concert, house music concert, neo-noir radio play, physical/clown story telling, poetry reading, even opera.

Performances of Sound + Fury are Monday, April 1 and 8 at 10 a.m. Tickets are $9.

Tickets for teachers and chaperones are free.

The Miracle Center, 2311 N. Pulaski Road, is within easy walking distance of the intersection of Fullerton and Pulaski in Chicago's Logan Square/Hermosa neighborhood. It is served by CTA's 74 Fullerton and 53 Pulaski bus lines. For more information, visit themiraclecenter.com. In addition to its student matinee series, Teatro Vista's 2019 mainstage performances launches with the world premiere of Stephanie Alison Walker's The Abuelas, a sequel to her acclaimed play The Madres, February 9-March 17, 2019 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. For tickets and information, visit teatrovista.org, victorygardens.org or call (773) 871-3000.

Next, back by popular demand, Chicago Latinx playwright, actor and Teatro Vista ensemble member Sandra Delgado's smash hit, all-immersive live theatrical event, La Havana Madrid, returns next spring in a co-production between Teatro Vista and Collaboraction. Inspired by real stories of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Colombian immigrants who found refuge in the actual 1960s Chicago nightclub, La Havana Madrid, Delgado, director Cheryl Lynn Bruce, a cast of top Chicago Latinx actor/musicians and the live band Carpacho y Su Super Combo will recreate a special time and place in Chicago history by immersing audiences in the lively music of that decade, from mambo to salsa. Performances are May 11-June 23 at the Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. For tickets and information, visit thedentheatre.com or call the Den at (773) 697-3830.

Teatro Vista produces, develops and commissions plays that explore the wealth and variety of the human experience from a Latinx perspective. The company provides work and professional advancement opportunities for Latinx theatre artists, with special emphasis on the company's ensemble members, and seeks to enhance the curricular goals of Chicago students through theater. Teatro Vista was celebrated as one of Chicago's Cultural Leaders by the Arts & Business Council of Chicago and received the League of Chicago Theatre's Artistic Leadership Award.

Teatro Vista's primary focus is producing new works by Latinx theatre artists and presenting classic plays featuring artists of color. Its artistic vision is shaped by the company's ensemble members, a group of multi-generational, multi-ethnic and multi- disciplinary artists. They inform Teatro Vista's artistic aesthetic by devising original works as well as by selecting plays with themes that are engaging and relevant to Chicago's diverse population.

Teatro Vista is led by Ricardo Guti rrez, Executive Artistic Director, and Sylvia Hevia, Managing and Development Director. Purple Group is Teatro Vista's Headline Season Sponsor. Teatro Vista is supported by Alphawood Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events of the City of Chicago, Art Works, Illinois Arts Council, Lester and Hope Abelson, The Shubert Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, the Bayless Family Foundation and Vidal & Associates.

For more information, visit teatrovista.org.

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