Bishop Arts Theatre Presents The World Premiere of WORLD CLASSIC By Nelson Diaz-marcano

The Bishop Arts Theatre Center has announced the upcoming production of World Classic by award-winning Puerto Rican-born playwright Nelson Diaz-Marcano, directed by Dr. Marta Torres beginning May 4 - 21, 2023.

A moving and searing exploration of a family pushed to the brink over one night, World Classic takes the hallmarks of the quintessential American family drama and passes it through the lens of a multigenerational Puerto Rican family with various perspectives falling apart on the day of Roberto Clemente's legendary 3,000th hit.

"We have followed Nelson's career for a while now. It's an honor to deepen our relationship with this playwright and invest in his work on our stage, especially with such universal storytelling," shared Executive Artistic Director, Teresa Coleman Wash while playwright-in-residence Franky D. Gonzalez commented, "Nelson is a fast-rising, vital voice in both to the Latinx theatrical community but more specifically to Puerto Rican diaspora globally. His work is compelling, proudly Puerto Rican, at once hilarious and devastating, all while using familiar tropes to deliver subversion and the unexpected. Nelson creates unforgettable larger-than-life characters whom we come to care for despite their obvious flaws and mistakes. Bringing his work to the Bishop Arts Theatre Center stands as one of the great highlights of my work in advocating for new and exciting playwrights."

Regarding the upcoming production, the playwright shared, "World Classic is a play very dear to my heart. A love letter to me and many other families living in the diaspora, I've been excited about this play being produced one day since before I finished writing it. So, imagine how excited I am that I get to have my debut in Texas with this play and with an amazing company like Bishop Arts Theatre Center who have handled this whole process with incredible care."

Nelson Diaz-Marcano is a Puerto Rican playwright based in New York City. His plays have been developed by Milagro Theatre, the William Inge Theatre Festival, Wordsmyth, Classical Theatre of Harlem, and The Parsnip Ship among others. His work has received awards from the Samuel French OOB FEstival (Rabiosa) the Fresh Fruit Festival (The Diplomats, now published by OWP) and the Downtown Urban Arts Festival (Radical). Other recent credits include: Paper Towels (INTAR,), I Saw Jesus in Toa Baja (William Inge Theatre Festival), Revolt (World Premiere - Vision Latino Theatre Company), El Yunque in English (Citi Theatre Shorts Finalist,) Into The River I Went (Step 1 Theatre Project), and Prison Song (Downtown Urban Arts Festival 2013). World Classic has also been developed and read at Ingenio Milagro 2018, The Parsnip Ship, and The Classical Theatre of Harlem. Nelson's main artistic mission is to raise awareness about the contrasting cultures that form the communities of this nation and in doing so, explore how they all fit together in the American experiment.

World Classic will be directed by Dr. Marta Torres who identifies as Afro-Latina and MexiRican raised in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Making her return to the Bishop Arts Theatre Center stage, Dr. Torres previously directed Curse of the Puerto Ricans by Rosa Fernandez.

The performance will be held in person at the Bishop Arts Theatre Center located at 215 S. Tyler Street, Dallas, TX 75208. Tickets can be purchased online anytime at www.bishopartstheatre.org or by calling the box office at (214) 948-0716, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Individual tickets range from $18 to $40. Discount tickets are available for groups of 15 or more and may be purchased by calling the box office. BATC's 2022/2023 season is made possible by the generosity of our sponsors: City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture, National Endowment for the Arts, Embrey Family Foundation, George & Fay Young Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, Dallas Public Improvement District, Texas Commission on the Arts, Communities Foundation of Texas, and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation.

To post a comment, you must register and login.