The Sol Project Announces Complete Schedule for SOLFEST 2022 in August

The Sol Project, the national theater initiative dedicated to amplifying Latiné voices and building a body of work for the new American theater, has announced full details for the fifth annual SolFest: A Latiné Theatre Festival, produced in partnership with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (Pregones/PRTT). The four-day program runs August 7-10 with both online and in-person events including two evenings of live programming at PRTT in Manhattan (304 W 47th Street, New York, NY 10036). Admission to all events is free with RSVP at solproject.org or pregonesprtt.org.

SolFest Producer and Founding Member of The Sol Project Adriana Gaviria stated, "I am thrilled to be celebrating our fifth year of SolFest with our friends at Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, our collaborators since our inaugural festival in 2018! We will once again keep a hybrid format to continue providing greater accessibility to our audiences and to further cultivate our relationships and collaborations with Latiné artists both in New York and around the world, creating a larger and more expansive familia. This year's festival brings exciting new work in long and short form from a talented group of writers working in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Central/South America, as well as our very first showing of a new virtual reality work that will be available for audiences to experience as an interactive installation before our in-person performances."

This year's festival will kick off with a SolFest Picnic in the Park on Sunday, August 7, followed by three days of Latiné work, including works in progress, short pieces, solo and ensemble work, panels and a VR project. The festival will culminate with two days of in-person readings in the heart of the theater district at Pregones/PRTT theater. This year's four-day program is also realized in collaboration with North Star Projects, a community partner since 2020.

"A jolt of creative energy and global solidarity animates the 5th anniversary of SolFest, joining theater makers and theater lovers online and in person. The four-day program centers Latiné playwrights, ensembles, and film/media artists emboldened by two and a half years of pandemic and racial reckoning," said Arnaldo J. López, Pregones/PRTT's Managing Director. "Our Latiné theater community was quick to respond in 2020 and the surge of creative output reaching for positive social change has no end in sight! We are grateful to again share space/time with The Sol Project and North Star Projects, bringing joy, live performances, and mindful provocations to digital platforms and to the PRTT stage in the heart of Manhattan's theater district."

The programming for SolFest 2022 will include the following:

Sunday August 7 at 4 p.m. ET

SolFest Picnic in the Park

SolFest kicks off the festival with our very first SolFest Picnic in the Park. Catered by our friends at Que Chevere LES, come join us in community in Central Park and celebrate our fifth year of SolFest.

RSVP required.

Monday August 8

North Star Projects: Virtual Art Share Evening

Watch on northstarprojects.org, Facebook Live and YouTube.

Monday August 8 at 7 p.m. ET

DIGITAL PANEL: Latiné Storytellers, Filmmaking in 2022

Moderated by Adriana Gaviria

Featuring members of the creative team of This Boy's Vida (Made in America): Joseph Castillo-Midyett (Creator & Executive Producer), Adrienne Acevedo Lovette (Director/Producer/Editor), Gisela Chipe (Producer/Actor) and Heidi-Marie Ferren (Producer/Actor).

Join us for a conversation with the creative team of This Boy's Vida (Made in America) on filmmaking in 2022 for Latiné storytellers and learn more about their film, set to begin production in August. Based on true events, this coming-of-age story follows Little Joe, a first-generation American Latiné boy growing up amidst extreme poverty and violence. Forced to navigate the underbelly of America to keep food on the table for his family, Will Little Joe become another statistic or achieve the American dream?

Monday August 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET

DIGITAL PANEL: Art and Advocacy

Moderated by Adriana Gaviria

Featuring select members from Black HMU United: Wunmi Fowora (Founder, President, Education & Vetting Team Director) and Nikiya Mathis (Founding Member, Vetting Team Member).

Join us for a conversation with select members from Black HMU United on art and advocacy. Black HMU United provides resources to producers and directors and entertainment professionals who navigate contracts with unions (AEA & SAG AFTRA) and beyond to a database of vetted hair and makeup professionals that can work on all hair and skin types especially Black hair and Black skin.

Monday August 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET

READINGS

Featuring Writers: Adrienne Dawes, Carl(os) Roa, Diana Burbano, Daniela Thome and Nelson Diaz-Marcano.

The evening will include short monologues and a live post show conversation with the artists following the performances.

Tuesday August 9

In person at PRTT (Manhattan) and available via livestream on northstarprojects.org.

Tuesday August 9 at 7:00 p.m.

VR EXPERIENCE: Excerpt of Work in Progress

Co-Created by Gabriel G. Torres (Writer) and Adriana Gaviria (Director)
VR Consulting by Kevin Laibson
Avatars powered by Technodramatist.

"How far are you willing to go to let go of your addictions? Enter an immersive journey to dispose of your addictions. The journey will not be easy, but it will be rewarding for sure."

Work in Progress is a docu-fantastical VR experience, where audiences are invited to journey into 12 different rooms inside of a rehabilitation facility in order to heal the severed bond of their spirits and their human forms. Each of the rooms are based on each of the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.), reimagined through activities created by Fundación La Casa De Bill in Bogotá Colombia.

The experience also highlights stories of substance users in rehabilitation who in their healing journey were forced against their will, to live inside shock therapy rehab facilities in Colombia.

Tuesday August 9 at 7:30 p.m.

READING: SHORT WORKS

Featuring Writers: Franky D. Gonzalez and Nancy García Loza

In person at PRTT (Manhattan)

Excerpt of That Must Be the Entrance to Heaven by Franky D. Gonzalez

A Nuyorican boxer with many losses on his record confesses to his infant son the intense struggles with guilt and shame after failing to lift his family out of poverty.

That Must Be the Entrance to Heaven explores the lives and struggles of four Latino boxers attempting to win a world title. They fight with everything their bodies and spirits will allow against destiny, society, the all-consuming power of a black hole, and ultimately each other in an effort to overcome the roles life has assigned them.

Excerpt of Ascent (or the eighth wonder) by Nancy García Loza.

A co-dependency love story. A mother, a daughter, a mountain.

Nati y Pila have always talked about taking the trip of a lifetime, now they are finally doing it. Anticipation is high as mother, and daughter embark on the four-day trek to reach one of the greatest wonders of the world. But soon, old tensions flare up causing more headaches than altitude sickness and their dream adventure starts going downhill. How far is the bottom when you reach the top? A mother, a daughter, a hike and the vast, jagged wilderness. Ascent (or the eighth wonder) is commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre.

READING: The Jersey Devil Is A Papi Chulo

Written by Iraisa Ann Reilly

Directed by Jean Carlo Yunén A.

In person at PRTT (Manhattan)

The Jersey Devil Is A Papi Chulo is a comedic, bilingual, post-quarantine play. Five American-Latina friends embark on a camping trip in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey for the bachelorette party that should have been. There they encounter two white "papi chulos" ('hotties') who are doing this camping thing right: with running water. The boys hatch a plan inspired by reality television to determine which of the femme-fatales they will save from deportation through marriage. But will the boys be able to save the women from The Jersey Devil?

Wednesday August 10 at 5 p.m.

READING: 1000 Miles

Written by Vanessa Garcia

Directed by Victoria Collado

Watch on northstarprojects.org.

Solis has just arrived in The City from 1000 Miles Across the Sea, searching for family, for a way to carve out a new life, but The City is changing, and the very skills Solis brings with her can either save or help destroy the very place she's trying to call home.

Currently in development for a theatrical immersive experience by Abre Camino Collective, 1000 Miles is about what it means to migrate to a new place. It's about survival, surveillance, nationalism, and the nature of opportunity. About the walls that block our path and the new doors we try to open to save ourselves and those we love.

Wednesday August 10

In person at PRTT (Manhattan) and available via livestream on northstarprojects.org.

Wednesday August 10 at 7:00 p.m.

VR EXPERIENCE: Excerpt of Work in Progress

Co-Created by Gabriel G. Torres (Writer) and Adriana Gaviria (Director)
VR Consulting by Kevin Laibson
Avatars powered by Technodramatist.

"How far are you willing to go to let go of your addictions? Enter an immersive journey to dispose of your addictions. The journey will not be easy, but it will be rewarding for sure."

Work in Progress is a docu-fantastical VR experience, where audiences are invited to journey into 12 different rooms inside of a rehabilitation facility in order to heal the severed bond of their spirits and their human forms. Each of the rooms are based on each of the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.), reimagined through activities created by Fundación La Casa De Bill in Bogotá Colombia.

The experience also highlights stories of substance users in rehabilitation who in their healing journey were forced against their will, to live inside shock therapy rehab facilities in Colombia.

Wednesday August 10 at 7:30 p.m.

READING: Bonnet Blues

Written by Oscar A. L. Cabrera

Co-Directed by Daniela Thome and Adriana Gaviria

In person at PRTT (Manhattan)

Hortencia enjoys her afternoon rituals. After Nadia breaks Hortencia's window with a baseball, things don't seem to settle back down to the normal evenings she is used to with her husband of 50 years and her older children. But something isn't quite right about this neighborhood kid. What starts as a simple magic trick... gives Hortencia reason to question everything. And as Hortencia struggles with what is real or not, they are tested against the clock to fix what is broken before it stays the same forever.

READING: A Musical Excerpt of Aloha Boricua

Conceived and Directed by Jorge B. Merced

Music composed in collaboration with Desmar Guevara

Additional Lyrics by Rosalba Rolón

In person at PRTT (Manhattan)

The rhythms of traditional Puerto Rican music and urban reggaetón collide in Pregones/PRTT's song-driven rendition of the historic migration of Puerto Ricans to Hawaii. Dazzled by the promise of a brighter future, a group of young sugarcane workers embarks on a one-way transoceanic trip. From it they emerge changed but fired up to claim the prize that was promised. Multiple voices overlap in the telling of this unique story, including bigger-than-life Queen of the Hawaiian Islands Lili'uokalani and a younger generation of street-wise poets eager to make sense of it all. Based on a story by famed Puerto Rican writer and gay icon Manuel Ramos Otero. Production conceived and directed by Jorge B. Merced, with music composed in collaboration with Desmar Guevara, and additional lyrics by Rosalba Rolón.

To RSVP for in-person events and for more information on SolFest, visit the Sol Project's website at www.solproject.org. Events are free and open to the general public. All online events will be viewable at northstarprojects.org with certain segments viewable on Facebook Live and YouTube. COVID-19 Visitor Safety: proof of vaccine and face mask required.

ABOUT PREGONES/PUERTO RICAN TRAVELING THEATER

Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (Pregones/PRTT) is a multigenerational performing ensemble, multidiscipline arts presenter, and owner/steward of bilingual arts facilities in The Bronx and Manhattan. Our mission is to champion a Puerto Rican/Latinx cultural legacy of universal value through creation and performance of original plays and musicals, exchange and partnership with other artists of merit, and engagement of diverse audiences. Pregones was founded in 1979 when a group of artists led by Rosalba Rolón set out to create and tour new works in the style of Caribbean and Latin American colectivos or performing ensembles. Established as a Bronx resident company five years later, Pregones remains in the vanguard of an arts renaissance radiating throughout and beyond The Bronx today. Spurred by stage and film icon Miriam Colón, PRTT was founded in 1967 as one of the first bilingual theater companies in all the U.S. It is credited for nurturing the development of hundreds of Latinx theater artists, legitimating creative connections throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and pioneering models for genuine and lasting community engagement. Following the merger in 2014, our New York season plays a decisive role in empowering underrepresented artists and audiences to claim a place at the front of the American theater. Rosalba Rolón, Artistic Director. Alvan Colón Lespier and Jorge B. Merced, Associate Artistic Directors. www.pregonesprtt.org

ABOUT THE SOL PROJECT

The Sol Project is a national theater initiative dedicated to producing the work of Latinx playwrights in New York City and beyond. Founded by Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón and driven by an artistic collective, The Sol Project works in partnership with leading theaters around the country to amplify Latinx voices and build artistic homes for artists of color. Through the writers we champion, The Sol Project aspires to create a bold, powerful, and kaleidoscopic body of work for the new American theater. The Sol Project launched 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 partnered 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 and with LAByrinth Theater Company for the world premiere of Bees and Honey by Guadalís Del Carmen. The artistic collective includes Adriana Gaviria (SolFest Producer), Rebecca Martinez, David Mendizábal (Associate Artistic Director), Julian Ramirez, and Laurie Woolery. Joey Reyes is the Associate Producer and Isabel Pask is the Producing Assistant. Brian Herrera is the Resident Scholar. Stephanie Ybarra is the Resident Dramaturg. Kaelani Burja is the SolFest Dramaturg. Our partners include Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cara Mía Theatre Company, LAByrinth Theater Company, Magic Theatre, MCC Theater, New Georges, New York Theatre Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, The Playwrights Realm, The Public Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Soho Rep., and Yale Repertory Theatre.

 

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