INTAR to Honor Legacy of Founder Max Ferra with Spring Reading Series

INTAR will present a reading series of plays, both new and old, to honor the life and legacy of Max Ferrá, founder and first Artistic Director of INTAR, who died on February 4th in Miami after a battle with pneumonia. Ferra was 79 and retired from INTAR since 2004.

Lou Moreno, Artistic Director of INTAR said, "Max Ferrá was an original. He has been quoted, revered, loved and sometimes tortured by every actor, writer, director and designer that has ever worked at INTAR. When I browse the posters of INTAR on our walls, there is no show or name that doesn't evoke the memory of Max's perfect voice saying 'Oh Baby let me tell you...' followed by a beautiful story or hilarious anecdote attached to that production. A simple memorial for Max would never do. We decided to celebrate Max with a retrospect of plays and artists from Max's time here alongside a newer generation of voices that may not have known Max but appreciate the path he blazed for their artistic development."

The series will consist of 8 full-length plays and 6 short plays by artists who have worked closely with INTAR and Max over the years. The celebration begins Friday, May 19th, and culminates on May 25th with the reading of a new play and a community remembrance and acknowledgement of Max's extraordinary life and achievements.

The line-up (subject to change) is as follows:

MIRIAM'S FLOWERS by Migdalia Cruz - Friday May 19th at 7pm

ANY PLACE BUT HERE by CaridadSvich - Saturday May 20th at 3pm

SWEEP by Georgina Escobar - Saturday May 20th at 7pm

REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT by José Rivera - Sunday May 21st at 2pm

FOREVER IN MY HEART by Oscar Colon - Sunday, May 21 at 7pm

STEEP: A SALON AT INTAR featuring 10 minute plays by emerging artists Ashley Thomas, Oscar Cabrera, Christina Nieves, Christopher Moncayo-Torres and Julissa Contreras - Monday, May 22 at 7pm

THE LADY FROM HAVANA by Luis Santeiro - Tuesday, May 23rd at 3pm

THE COOK by Eduardo Machado - Tuesday, May 23rd at 7pm

THE NEXT STOP by Carmen Rivera - Wednesday, May 24th at 7pm

ALLIGATOR MOUTH by J. Julian Christopher and Community Celebration - Thursday, May 25th at 7pm

According to Michael John Garcés, INTAR Board member and lifelong INTAR artist, "Max imbued in those around him-and his charisma was such that there were always people around him-a fierce sense of passion for beauty. Beauty that shook you out of your received assumptions. Be the work tragic or comic, his concern was with beauty as a political act, as resistance, and also as radically individual expression. He aspired to fully live this passion, and succeeded to a remarkable degree."

Ferrá founded INTAR in 1966 to provide opportunities for Spanish speaking actors and directors. Although not conceived as an organization for social change, it quickly came to realize its responsibility as part of the New York Hispanic community. By 1968 INTAR began providing free classes in acting, diction, dance and make-up, culminating with at least one full production by students each year. An effort was made to include different genres: in addition to theater, there was an art gallery, cinema INTAR showcasing Latin American films, and a late night Café INTAR, offering free form entertainment. In an effort to reach a wider audience, INTAR began concentrating on English language performances in 1975. In 1981 the Hispanic Playwrights in Residence Lab was created to develop new voices mentored by Maria Irene Fornés. The Hispanic Music Theater Lab was created in the same mode to create musical compositions by Hispanic playwrights, lyricists, and composers. By 1985 INTAR was commissioning new works from such writers as Fernando Arrabal, Manuel Puig, Fornés, Tito Puente, and Luis Valdez, among others. These works were performed in English, a tradition that continues at INTAR to this day, offering works to the widest possible audience.

INTAR, one of the United States' longest running Latino theatres producing in English, works to:

- Nurture the professional development of Latino theater artists;

- Produce bold, innovative, artistically significant plays that reflect diverse perspectives;

- Make accessible the diversity inherent in America's cultural heritage through an integrated program of workshops, productions of works-in-progress, and mainstage productions. INTAR brings to the public vital and energetic voices of emerging and accomplished Latino theater professionals, giving expression to the diversity and depth of today's Latino-American community.

All events are free, open to the public, and will be held at INTAR THEATRE (500 West 52nd Street, corner of 10th Avenue). Seating is limited. To reserve a spot at any event, email your request to reservations@intartheatre.org.

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