Linedy Genao and Sasha Merci to Star in LA EGOISTA Industry Presentation

Edgewood Entertainment will present an industry presentation of La Egoista, a new play from Dominican American playwright, performer and theatremaker Erlina Ortiz (Las Mujeres, Morir Sonyondo), featuring Linedy Genao (Broadway: Bad Cinderella, On Your Feet!) and Sasha Merci (Film: Righteous Thieves), and directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo (Vámonos). 
 
The invitation-only presentation will take place on Friday, February 9 at 1:00 pm at Manhattan Theatre Club, 311 West 43rd Street. 
 
La Egoista, Ortiz combines stand-up and theater to explore the universally familiar story of the bond among siblings, the cost of caregiving, and the hilariously fine line between selfish and selfless.
 
The world premiere of La Egoista was produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming. The play was commissioned and developed by Live & In Color and received a reading at the 2022 Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) Comedy Carnaval.
 
La Egoista won the 2022 National Latine Playwrights Award
 
Edgewood Entertainment is a producing entity focused on supporting works by historically marginalized people, including the BIPOC and LBGTQIA+ communities, female artists, and other stories not often told on stage. In addition to La Egoista, Edgewood’s projects as lead producers include the new musicals Gun & Powder (April 4-May 5, 2024 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ), Long Way Down (May 22-June 23, 2024 at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, MD and October 2024 at The Apollo’s Victoria Theater in Harlem), and the original musical, Grace, currently in development.

Linedy Genao

is a fast-rising superstar on Broadway. With high school musical theater experience and a Business degree from UConn, she bet on herself and auditioned for the first open call for Gloria & Emilio Estefan’s On Your Feet! After receiving her first Broadway bound show offer for On Your Feet!, she went on to play the Alana/Zoe understudy role in Dear Evan Hansen prior to its closing on Broadway, as well as joining the 1st National Tour in the same roles. Most recently, Linedy starred in the titular role of Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella and was named to Variety’s 10 Broadway Actors to Watch List. Full theater credits include Broadway: On Your Feet! (OBC), Dear Evan Hansen, Bad Cinderella (OBC); Tours: Dear Evan Hansen; Regional: Passing Through, West Side Story, Havana Music Hall, A Taste of Things to Come, In the Heights. Instagram: @linedygenao 

Sasha Merci

is a first-generation Dominican American actor, comedian, and viral digital creator. She most recently starred in the heist comedy feature, Righteous Thieves (Lionsgate) opposite Lisa Vidal and Cam Gigandet. In 2020, she co-hosted her own comedy talk show, “Like, Share, Dimelo” (FUSE), a series exploring pop culture, politics, dating, and everything Latinx. Prior to that, Sasha starred in the critically lauded feature film, De Lo Mio (HBO) and in the popular web series, “Group Therapy” (Complex). She was recently honored as one of Freeform TV’s #YoungBlackAndFreeform recipients alongside entertainers including Coco Jones, Ziwe Fumudoh and Ian Lara, and been featured in Refinery 29, Pop Sugar and the LA Times among other publications. Sasha is currently host of 3G’s, a weekly podcast from mitú Studios co-hosted by comedians Erik Rivera and Jesus Sepulveda. She is originally from the Bronx, New York and is currently living in Los Angeles. Sasha created El Teteo, a massively popular Dominican-themed party in Downtown L.A. bringing east coast Caribbean culture to the west and cultivating a community of Latinx comics and creatives.

Erlina Ortiz

she/her/ella (Playwright) is a Dominican American playwright and theatre maker from Reading, PA. Her heartfelt and humorous plays have been presented across the US and with Power Street Theatre where she is proud to be Resident Playwright and Co-Artistic Director. In 2018, her play Las Mujeres received The Bonaly Award for Creation of Community Joy and in 2019 Morir Sonyando was nominated for six Barrymore Awards including Outstanding New Play. In Fall 2021, Young Money premiered at Azuka Theatre and went on to receive the ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Citation. In 2022. her play La Egoista was selected for the LTC Comedy Carnaval in Denver going on to win the 2022 National Latine Playwriting Award and premiering at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Skylight Theatre. Erlina has embarked on the Amtrak Writer’s residency where she traveled across the US in an Amtrak sleeper car, the Signal Fire Residency Outpost Residency where she lived on the side of a mountain for a week, and in 2019, she gave the Keynote Address at the Delaware Writer’s Conference on the importance of nurturing your artistic community. Erlina was a member of NEXUS with New York Stage and Film and is a two-time recipient of the Leeway Art and Change Grant and the 2021 Leeway Transformation Award. In 2023, she was named as a Dramatist Guild Catalyst Fellow. Erlina has taught playwriting with the University of the Arts, Power Street Theatre, and Blue Stoop. She currently serves as secretary of the board for Theatre Philadelphia. Her new musical, Siluetas, was developed for the O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference and will be premiering with Power Street Theatre in 2024. Erlina believes being an artist is a superpower, and she believes in using her powers for good. 

Tatyana-Marie Carlo

she/her/ella (Director). Named a “Broadway 2023 Industry Woman to Watch” by Broadway Women’s Fund, Carlo is a Latiné director from Miami. Her work is focused on joyful bilingual theater making, crafting experiences in spaces brimming with the full human emotional experience that resonate with both collaborators and audiences alike, including Off-Broadway production of Vámonos at Intar Theatre. She is currently the Resident Director of Trinity Repertory Company. Tatyana has collaborated with many theaters across the United States, including Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Everyman Theatre, Children’s Theater Company, Intar Theatre. Past fellowships include: 2019 Matt Harris Directing Fellow at Williamstown Theater Festival, 2021 Drama League Public Works Fellow. Tatyana is an alumni of Brown University’s Directing MFA program (where she now teaches directing) and the New World School of the Arts’ Acting BFA program. SDC. Instagram: tatyanamariec 

Dale A. Mott

(Producer) is a leading producer of critically acclaimed and award-winning productions including the Tony Award-nominated musical New York, New York, the Tony Award-nominated revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, and the Tony Award-winning musical A Strange Loop. Other seminal Broadway productions include Thoughts Of A Colored Man and The Lifespan Of A Fact. Mott is also a three-time Telly Award recipient, winning the Best Social Impact Video Bronze Prize for “I Have A Right To Vote,” which garnered over 1.2 million views during the 2020 national election cycle; Best Online Non-Scripted Series Bronze Prize for the #ByGrace Live Chat Series hosted by celebrity chef Carla Hall and producer/composer Nolan Williams, Jr. and featuring guests Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award winner Dr. Jessica B. Harris, and others; and Best Food & Beverage Online Series Bronze Prize for the #ByGrace Live Chat Series. Prior to producing, Dale enjoyed a thirty-year non-profit fundraising career serving in leadership roles with the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, CARE, The Phillips Collection, Arena Stage, Halcyon, Penumbra Theatre Company, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Mott serves on the board of directors for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and is an associate member of The Broadway League. He is also a preliminary judge for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, more commonly known as the Jimmy Awards, given annually to recognize musical theatre performances by high school students in the United States. Mott and his husband, Ken Hyle, split their time between New Orleans and New York.  
 

Charles D. Urstadt

(Producer) has over 40 years of experience in the real estate business. Throughout his life, he has been a steadfast supporter of the performing and visual arts and cultural causes. Urstadt is currently chairman of the board of directors of Urstadt Biddle Properties, Inc, a real estate investment trust traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company, based in Greenwich, CT, owns 77 properties containing approximately 5.3 million square feet. Since 1989, he has led Urstadt Property Company, Inc., a privately held real estate investment corporation. He currently serves as chairman and president. His past real estate experience includes positions as executive vice president of Brown Harris Stevens Inc. and senior vice president of Pearce, Urstadt, Mayer & Greer, Inc. As a resident of New York, Urstadt was a board member of The Ensemble Studio Theater, the Friends of WNET/Thirteen, and the New York State Board of Historic Preservation. More recently, he served as chairman and trustee of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and is currently president and board member of the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans. He now resides in New Orleans with his husband David Bernard and their Boston Terrier Dolly. 
 

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