Cast Complete for MCC Theater's 'PlayLabs' Reading of EL HURACAN Tonight

MCC Theater today announced the complete cast and creative team for Charise Castro Smith's El Huracán, the second of the 2017 PlayLabs readings, which will be held tonight, Monday, September 25th at 7pm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street).

Written by Charise Castro Smith and directed by Laurie Woolery, the cast of El Huracán will include Alejandro Hernandez, Irene Sofia Lucio, Tony Award nominee Olga Merediz, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Flor De Liz Perez, and Triney Sandoval.

Hurricane Andrew is quickly approaching Miami, and three generations of women prepare for the storm while the matriarch Valeria battles her quickly advancing Alzheimer's disease. Held captive to her debilitating condition, Valeria's memories and inner world are revealed in a journey both tragic and dreamlike. Thirty years later, the family is again threatened by rising waters and an impending disaster as they face each other in the wake of an unforgivable mistake. With allusions to Shakespeare's The Tempest, El Huracàn is a magical exploration of one family's multi-generational battle with acceptance and forgiveness.

The PlayLabs reading series invites audiences to engage directly with playwrights as they develop new works for the theater. Each reading includes a post-show reception with wine and snacks, offering a chance to discuss the work and mingle with the playwrights, actors, MCC leadership, and other audience members.

As previously announced, the 2017 PlayLabs reading series will also include Happiness and Joe by 2017-18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence Jocelyn Bioh (October 2), and Dear by MCC Theater Youth Company alum Lily Houghton (October 16). Full casting will be announced shortly. All readings are at 7pm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street). Tickets on-sale now are $15, and include a post-reading reception with the artists and MCC leadership. For tickets and more information, visit www.mcctheater.org.

Past PlayLabs playwrights include MCC's Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis, Tony-winning Dear Evan Hansen book writer Steven Levenson, Pulitzer Prize finalist Anthony Rapp, and MCC mainstage alums John Pollono (Small Engine Repair and Lost Girls) and Stephen Belber (Don't Go Gentle), among others.

In addition to the PlayLabs series, the 2017-18 MCC Theater Season includes the NYC premiere of Charm (currently running until October 15, 2017), a play by Chicago-based, Jefferson Award-winning playwright Philip Dawkins and directed by Helen Hayes Award winner and 2017 Lucille Lortel Award nominee Will Davis; School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (November 2 - December 10, 2017) by 2017-2018 Tow Playwright-in-Residence Jocelyn Bioh and directed by 2017 Tony Award® Winner Rebecca Taichman, developed last year at MCC's PlayLab series;Relevance (February 1 - March 11, 2018) by JC Lee and directed by Tony® nominee Liesl Tommy; Transfers (April 5 - May 13, 2018) by MCC Youth Company Playwriting Lab Director Lucy Thurber and directed by Jackson Gay; and the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, Reasons to be Pretty Happy (August 16 - September 23, 2018), to be directed by MCC alum Leigh Silverman.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Charise Castro Smith (Playwright) is a playwright, television writer and actor originally from Miami. Her playwright credits include Feathers and Teeth (Goodman Theatre/developed at Atlantic Theater Company), Estrella Cruz (Ars Nova/Halcyon Theatre), The Hunchback of Seville (Washington Ensemble Theatre/Trinity Repertory Company), Washeteria (Soho Rep), and Boomcracklefly (Miracle Theatre). Smith is a recipient of a Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists, and is an alumna of Ars Nova's Play Group and The New Georges Jam. She is currently a Supervising Producer on "The Haunting" and prior to that, she was a Producer on "The Exorcist" for FBC/20th. Her pilot "The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez" was shot for ABC/ABCS with Fazekas & Butters Executive Producing. She holds an M.F.A from Yale School of Drama.

Laurie Woolery (Director) is the Director of Public Works at The Public Theater and has worked at theaters across the country such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theater, Goodman Theater, South Coast Repertory and many others. Woolery has directed world premieres of plays by Tanya Saracho, Marisela Trevino Orta, Aditi Kapil among others. Most recently, Woolery created a 200 person musical adaptation of As You Like It with Shaina Taub that had its world premiere at the Delacorte Theater. Her solo play Salvadorian Moon/African Sky was commissioned by Cornerstone Theater Company where she was the former Associate Artistic Director. She is also the former Conservatory Director at South Coast Repertory. Woolery has taught at Princeton, NYU, Brown, to name a few and serves on the Board of the Latino Producers Action Network. She is also one of the founding members of The Sol Project and recipient of the Fuller Road Fellowship for Female Directors of Color.

Alejandro Hernandez (Fernando/Theo) stage credits: Between Riverside and Crazy at Pittsburgh Public Theater, Have you been? Orpheus in the Berkshires, and The First Immigrant at Williamstown Theater Festival, Wondrous Strange at the 40th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays, Peter and The Starcatcher at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Film/TV credits: "Sneaky Pete", "Gotham", "Madam Secretary", Monster, "Elementary", "Blue Bloods", Set it Up, "Instinct" (upcoming). Native of Trenton, NJ, he holds a BFA in Theater from Montclair State University and was member of the professional training company at Actors Theatre of Louisville and the non-equity company at Williamstown Theater Festival.

Irene Sofia Lucio (Miranda) Broadway: Wit. Off Broadway: Orange Julius (Rattlestick), The Undertaking (BAM/Theatre de la Ville), King Liz (Second Stage Uptown), Love and Information (NYTW), We Play for the Gods (Women's Project), Estrella Cruz the Junkyard Queen (Ars Nova). Regional Credits include: Bad Jews (Studio Theater DC- Helen Hayes Nomination), Pygmalion (Cal Shakes),Romeo and Juliet (Yale Rep), Master Builder (Yale Rep), Amadeus (Chautauqua Theater Co.), After the Revolution (Williamstown Theater Festival). Television: "Madam Secretary" (CBS), "Gossip Girl" (CW), "Stranded in Paradise" (Hallmark), "Casi Casi" (HBO Latino). She is Co-Creator, Producer, and Actor for BUTS Webseries (www.butswebseries.com) recently nominated for an Imagen Award. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Princeton University. Irene is a proud member of the Actor's Center and a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Olga Merediz (Valeria). A 2008 Tony Award® nominee for her work in In the Heights and a 2007 Drama Desk recipient, Olga has also appeared on Broadway in Reckless, Man of La Mancha, Les Miserables and Mamma Mia. Also, an accomplished Film/Television actor Olga can currently be seen recurring on such hit shows as "Orange is the New Black", "Shades of Blue", and as a series regular on the upcoming UK Sky television series "BounTy Hunter".

Maria-Christina Oliveras (Ximena) Broadway: Amelie; Machinal; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Off-Broadway World Premieres: Here Lies Love (The Public); Pretty Filthy (The Civilians); Taylor Mac's 24 Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann's Warehouse); And Miles to Go (PCP); Reading Under the Influence (DR2); The Really Big Once (Target Margin); After (PCP). Other Off-Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Public); Romeo and Juliet (The Public); Zorba! (City Center Encores!); Night Sky (BPAC). Selected Regional: Amélie (Berkeley Rep-World premiere); Here Lies Love (Williamstown); January Joiner (Long Wharf); Boleros for the Disenchanted (Huntington); Fabulation (Baltimore Center Stage); Macbeth in Macbeth and Jacques in As You Like It (Hudson Valley Shakespeare); among numerous others. Selected Film/TV: Manhattan Night, St. Vincent, The Humbling, Time Out of Mind, "Nurse Jackie", "Law & Order: SVU". Education: B.A.-Yale; M.F.A.-NTC.

Flor De Liz Perez (Alicia/Dr. Kempler/Val). International: The Motherf**ker with the Hat (National Theatre, London). Off-Broadway: Dolphins and Sharks (Labyrinth Theater); Seven Spots on the Sun(Rattlestick Theater/The Sol Project); Comedy of Errors, Pericles (The Public); Sense and Sensibility (Bedlam); Los Monologos de la Vagina (Westside Theater); In the Time of the Butterflies(Repertorio Español). Regional: The House That Will Not Stand (Berkeley Rep/Yale Rep); A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage); Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Two River Theater);In the Continuum, Pride and Prejudice, Nicholas Nickleby (PlayMakers Rep). Film: The House That Jack Built. TV: "The Good Wife," "Madam Secretary," "Elementary" (CBS). www.flordelizperez.com

Triney Sandoval (Alonso). Broadway: Marvin's Room, Macbeth, A Free Man of Color, A Man for All Seasons, Frost/Nixon. Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Old Globe Theatre, The Wilma Theatre, Denver Theatre Center, Round House Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The ALLIANCE THEATRE, Two Rivers Theatre Company, Virginia Stage Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Yale Rep., Milwaukee Rep., Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Great Lakes Shakespeare, Idaho Shakespeare, Alabama Shakespeare, California Shakespeare, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and six seasons with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. TV: "The Sopranos", "Lights Out", and recurring roles on both "Law & Order" and "Law & Order; SVU".

MCC Theater's playwright development program, PlayLabs, helps foster the MCC artistic community by providing writers intensive dramaturgical support, as well as the opportunity to work alongside professional directors and actors to engage public audiences in the development of new work. The PlayLabs reading series incorporates informal post-show gatherings for conversation between artists and audiences that enliven and stimulate the often solitary and insular writing and development process. Plays developed as part of PlayLabs have gone on to full productions at MCC, as well as at other nonprofit theaters in New York and overseas, adding vibrant new works to the contemporary theatrical canon.

The company's education initiatives serve more than 1,200 public school students throughout New York each year through a mix of programs for students and teachers inside and outside the classroom. Employing the tools of theater alongside traditional academic and career-readiness, the programs empower young people to find and express their own voices, and become engaged citizens throughout and beyond their academic careers. Dedicated mentors provide students with support as they explore acting, writing, directing, and theater production alongside professionals in the field, and provide college- and career-readiness opportunities to complement the theater-focused initiatives.

The centerpiece of the institution's education programs is the MCC Theater Youth Company, the first free, after-school company of its kind associated with a professional theater. Since its founding in 2001 as an eight-member ensemble, the Youth Company has grown to serve more than 100 students each year and now includes a flagship Youth Company and satellite groups developed in partnership with schools in Washington Heights and Brooklyn.

MCC Theater is one of New York's leading nonprofit Off-Broadway companies, driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Founded in 1986 as a collective of artists leading peer-based classes to support their own development as actors, writers and directors, the tenets of collaboration, education, and community are at the core of MCC Theater's programming. One of the only theaters in the country led continuously by its founders, Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, and William Cantler, MCC fulfills its mission through the production of world, American, and New York premiere plays and musicals that challenge artists and audiences to confront contemporary personal and social issues, and robust playwright development and education initiatives that foster the next generation of theater artists and students.

MCC Theater's celebrated productions include Penelope Skinner's The Village Bike; Robert Askins' Hand to God; John Pollono's Small Engine Repair; Paul Downs Colaizzo's Really Really; Sharr White's The Other Place (Broadway transfer); a fully reimagined version of the legendary musical Carrie; Jeff Talbott's The Submission (Laurents/Hatcher Award); Michael Weller's Fifty Words; Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride; Bryony Lavery's Frozen (Broadway transfer; four 2004 Tony Award nominations including Best Play, Tony Award for Best Featured Actor); Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone; Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living (2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Margaret Edson's Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize); and ten plays by Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, including Reasons to Be Happy, reasons to be pretty (Broadway transfer, three 2009 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play), Some Girl(s), Fat Pig, The Mercy Seat, and most recently All The Ways To Say I Love You. Many plays developed and produced by MCC have gone on to productions throughout the country and around the world.

Blake West joined the company in 2006 as Executive Director. MCC will open its first permanent home in 2018 in Manhattan's Clinton neighborhood, unifying the company's activities under one roof for the first time and expanding its producing, artist development, and education programming. The theater is currently in the midst of a $35 million campaign to support its expansion and growing artistic operations, with $30 million raised to-date.

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