Maribel Martinez & Xavier Pacheco to Star in BEES & HONEY at MCC Theater

MCC Theater, in collaboration with The Sol Project announced casting for Bees & Honey by Guadalís Del Carmen (Not For Sale) and directed by Melissa Crespo (Espejos: Clean). Bees & Honey will begin previews on May 4, 2023 with an opening night set for Monday May 22 for a limited run through June 11, 2023 at MCC Theater's Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater (511 W 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019).

The cast of Bees & Honey will include Maribel Martinez (Will You Come With Me?) as "Johaira" and Xavier Pacheco (The Tempest) as "Manuel."

Bees & Honey will feature set design by Shoko Kambara (Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical), costume design by Devario D. Simmons (Thoughts of a Colored Man), lighting design by Reza Behjat (English), sound design by Germán Martínez (soft) and original music by Dilson ("The Bachatú EP"). Teniece Divya Johnson (Public Obscenities) is the Intimacy and Fight Director. R. Christopher Maxwell (Guys and Dolls) is the Production Stage Manager. Casting is by Destiny Lilly, CSA of The Telsey Office.

Inspired by Juan Luis Guerra's Como Abeja Al Panal, Bees & Honey is a Washington Heights love story that follows married couple Manuel and Johaira as they enter new phases in their lives. But as the challenges of life and marriage mount, the young and ambitious couple must answer the age-old question: Is Love enough?

Bees & Honey is produced in collaboration with The Sol Project and is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the R&S Shulman Fund.

The performance schedule for Bees & Honey is as follows: Tuesdays-Sundays at 7:00PM and Saturdays-Sundays at 2:00PM.

Exceptions: There will be no matinee on Saturday May 6. There will be a 1:00PM student matinee on Wednesday May 17. The Sunday May 21 performance will be at 6:30PM. There will be no evening performances on Sundays May 28 and June 11. There will be additional 2:00PM performances on Thursdays May 25 and June 8.

MCC will also offer audience conversations after the following performances: May 11, May 20, and June 7. A talkback with the cast will follow the performance on May 12, and there will be a conversation with Guadalís Del Carmen and Melissa Crespo after the show on May 16. An open caption performance will be announced at a later date. To receive a notification as soon as it is announced, please email audienceservices@mcctheater.org.

Tickets begin at $39 and are available at mcctheater.org/tix/bees-honey. The first five preview performances on May 4-7 will have all seats at a special price of $35. $35 rush tickets and $25 student rush tickets will be available on the day of for each performance.

Memberships start at $62 and include the three productions at a discounted rate of $45 per play, up to three free ticket exchanges per production, 10% off guest tickets, waived ticket fees, and access to tickets ahead of the general public. A no frills Flex Ticket package will also be introduced starting at $232. Subscriptions, memberships, and flex packages are available for purchase at mcctheater.org.

Please note: Beginning March 21, 2023, masks will be optional (but encouraged) for all audience members. We continually update our COVID-19 policy with guidance from the CDC and NYS Department of Health. Visit mcctheater.org/covid-safety for the most up-to-date information.

MCC Theater is currently presenting Soho Rep's Wolf Play, in collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater Company. Wolf Play, by Hansol Jung and directed by Dustin Wills, is playing a twice-extended run in the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater through April 2, 2023. MCC will also present their annual gala, Miscast23, on Monday April 3, 2023 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit the company and its educational programs. In May 2023, MCC will co-produce the World Premiere production of Wet Brain by John J. Caswell, Jr (Man Cave) and directed by Dustin Wills with Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Adam Greenfield, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater. MCC will later present the 22nd Edition of Uncensored, an MCC Youth Company Production, in Spring of 2023.

ABOUT MCC Theater

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 by Bob LuPone (1946-2022) and Bernie Telsey, and later joined by co-Artistic Director Will Cantler, as a collective of artists leading peer-based classes to support their own development as actors, writers and directors, MCC fulfills its mission of 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 Kate Nash's Only Gold with a book by Andy Blankenbuehler and Ted Malawer, Donja R. Love's soft; Ross Golan's The Wrong Man; Aziza Barnes' BLKS; Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play; Penelope Skinner's The Village Bike; Robert Askins' Hand to God (Broadway transfer; five 2015 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play); John Pollono's Small Engine Repair; Paul Downs Colaizzo's Really Really; Sharr White's The Other Place (Broadway transfer); Jeff Talbott's The Submission (Laurents/Hatcher Award); Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty (Broadway transfer, three 2009 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Play), Some Girl(s), Fat Pig, The Mercy Seat, and All The Ways To Say I Love You; 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 musicals including Alice by Heart, Ride the Cyclone, Carrie, and Coraline. Many plays developed and produced by MCC have gone on to productions throughout the country and around the world.

Over the years MCC has worked with thousands of students through the innovative MCC Youth Company, school partnerships, and student matinee programs.

Executive Director Blake West joined the company in 2006. MCC opened the doors to its new home in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, on January 9, 2019, unifying the company's activities under one roof for the first time and expanding its producing, artist development, and education programming. MCC founding Co-Artistic Director Bob LuPone sadly passed away on August 27, 2022. MCC continues to honor his fierce need for engagement with the art, the artists, and the audience and remember the profound impact he had on everyone who entered its spaces.

ABOUT THE SOL PROJECT

The Sol Project is an Obie-award winning national theater initiative dedicated to amplifying the voices of Latiné playwrights in NYC and beyond. Founded by Jacob G. Padrón and driven by an artistic collective, The Sol Project works in partnership with leading theaters to center Latiné dramatists and nurture a growing community of Latiné theater artists. With the writers we champion, The Sol Project aspires to create a bold, timeless, and kaleidoscopic body of work for the new American theater.

The Sol Project launched in 2016 with the world premiere of Alligator by Hilary Bettis in collaboration with New Georges, followed by the New York premieres of Seven Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) and Oedipus El Rey by Luis Alfaro (The Public Theater). In the fall of 2018, The Sol Project collaborated with Yale Repertory Theatre to produce the world premiere of El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith and in early 2020 partnered with Baltimore Center Stage and The Playwrights Realm to produce the world premiere of Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally by Noah Diaz. In 2022, The Sol Project partnered with Soho Rep for the world premiere of Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members by Mara Vélez Meléndez. And in spring of 2023, The Sol Project will partner with MCC Theater for the world premiere of Bees and Honey by Guadalís Del Carmen, as well as WP Theater and Latinx Playwrights Circle for the Off-Broadway premiere of Sancocho by Christin Eve Cato. In addition to productions, The Sol Project advances its mission by producing a yearly new play festival, SolFest, in partnership with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, while also supporting writers through readings, workshops, a podcast (SolTalk), and ongoing symposia. In 2023, The Sol Project was awarded an Obie Grant, Off-Broadway's highest honor, for their unprecedented championing and support of Latiné voices in the theater and in recognition of outstanding achievement in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theater during the 2020-2022 season.

The artistic collective includes Adriana Gaviria (Co-Artistic Director), Rebecca Martínez, David Mendizábal, Jacob G. Padrón (Co-Artistic Director), Julian Ramirez, and Laurie Woolery. Isabel Pask is the Producing Associate. Brian Herrera is the Resident Scholar. Stephanie Ybarra is the Resident Dramaturg. Kaelani Burja is the Student Intern and SolFest Dramaturg. For more information, visit solproject.org.

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