Oye Group, New York Theatre Workshop and The Bushwick Starr, In Association with The Tank, Present TAXILANDIA

Oye Group, New York Theatre Workshop and The Bushwick Starr, in association with The Tank present Taxilandia by NYTW Artistic Instigator & Bushwick Starr Season Artist Modesto Flako Jimenez.

Taxilandia, created and written by Oye Group's Modesto Flako Jimenez, is a site-specific play-within-a-tour of a city. The piece immerses its audience in the flavors, sounds, sights and dynamic history of a neighborhood confronting social stigmas and the realities of gentrification. Weaving a dramatic, performative 'tapestry' that interconnects generations, social classes, races and cultures, Taxilandia complicates our notion of what it means to be a local, an immigrant or a resident of a place, challenging us to answer: "What is my personal roadmap of home?"

Originally developed in Jimenez's own neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, the piece was inspired and drawn from his nine years driving a taxicab and his documentation of conversations with passengers, residents, locals, and immigrants to the neighborhood. The Oye Group now works with companies all over the country to develop local versions of the piece specific to each city.

Taxilandia will offer three experiences for the New York City run:

• VIRTUAL SALONS: Flako will host four salons with local artists from each borough whose work intersects with gentrification.
• TEXTILANDIA WITH FLAKO: An interactive solo walking tour guided by text messages delivered right to your phone. Flako will guide you as you navigate through Bushwick with stops including the Taxliandia gallery-an AV installation distributed across five storefronts in Bushwick.
• TAXI TOURS WITH FLAKO: A single pod of up to three people become passengers in Flako's cab for a personal tour of Bushwick.

The schedule for the virtual salons is as follows:

Salon 1 with Ben Gassman - Monday March 8 at 7PM EST

Salon 2 with Merlixse Ventura - Thursday March 11 at 7PM EST

Salon 3 with Marisa Tornello - Tuesday March 16 at 7PM EDT

Salon 4 with Sandie Luna - Saturday March 20 at 2PM EDT

Tickets to the Taxilandia salons are $10 and are available at Taxilandia.com. Members and supporters of Oye Group, NYTW, The Bushwick Starr & The Tank, as well as members of the community, will be able to access the salons for free.

Tickets to the Taxilandia taxi and text tours in Bushwick, Brooklyn will be available soon at Taxilandia.com. Taxi and text tours will be available to the general public from April 5-May 3, 2021.

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