J. Julian Christopher Named Director of INTAR's UNIT52

INTAR today announced that longtime INTAR artist J. Julian Christopher would become the Director of this year's UNIT52. UNIT52 is a company of actors who train one day a week, with a public presentation by the end of the season, which is an important element of the program.

UNIT52 members work with several master teachers, theatre artists and special invited guests. UNIT 52 was established in 2010 by Lou Moreno and Daniel Jáquez, director and educator. Each year, the training is determined by the needs and interests of the company in preparation for a public presentation of a play. Acceptance into this no cost program is determined by interview and audition. Guiding this effort is a need to expose young artists to INTAR's history and to the many and varied artists that have called it their artistic home over the years. Guests artists have included Stephen Adly Guirgis, Daniel Irizarry, Nancy Rodríguez, Julián Mesri, and many others.

In 2014 UNIT52 was invited to perform their commission, Patience, Fortitude and Other Anti-Depressants by Mariana Carreño-King, at Encuentro the largest Latino Theater festival in the US, hosted and produced by the Latino Theater Company at the LATC.

"The most exciting part of returning to INTAR has been nurturing new voices, offering diversity to the American theater as well as finding the diversity within the community our institution has been supporting since 1966," Moreno said. "This year, Unit 52 will focus on the creation of new work through ensemble building. I'm so excited to work with this diverse and extremely gifted group of young artists. They are fearless," added Christopher.

J. Julian Christopher (a.k.a Christopher Julian Jiménez) received an MFA in acting from The Actors Studio Drama School at the New School (now called The New School for Drama). There he studied acting and appeared in various productions including TBA, Holiday Movies (directed by Liz Swados), and The Karaoke Show (directed by Diane Paulus). Awards include The 2009 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group Fellowship, a 2015 Queens Arts Council Grant, and The 2014 Best New Work Motif Award. Julian is an internationally produced playwright with productions in NYC, Chicago, Montréal, and Melbourne. He has workshopped his plays at LAByrinth Theater, TerraNova Collective, Fuse Theatre, Horse & CArt Theatre, and The Working Theatre. In November of 2015 his play, Animals Commit Suicide, received its world premiere at First Floor Theater in Chicago. His latest play, Locusts Have No King, had its world premiere in March at INTAR Theater. Some of his other plays include Alligator Mouth, Man Boobs, Nico was a Fashion Model, and ¡OSO FABULOSO! & The Bear Backs (music by Steve Sclafani). He is also the co-producer and co-writer of the hit web series "Bulk- The Series" and half of the electronic rock duo RUBBER. Julian is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Queensborough Community College.

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 continues to raise standards of the theater arts. INTAR brings to the public vital and energetic voices of both promising and accomplished Latino theater professionals, replacing stereotypes while giving expression to the diversity and depth of today's Latino-American community.

For more information about UNIT52 and other INTAR programs, visit INTAR on the web at www.intartheatre.org.

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