Cast Announced For  Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater's ALOHA BORICUA

Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater announces the ensemble cast for its musical Aloha Boricua, the epic saga of the first mass migration of Puerto Ricans to Hawai'i. Acting ensemble members include Joel Acosta, Yasmin Carden, Gilberto Gabriel, Kimberly Gómez, Tristan Alek Hernández, Luis Herrera, and Anna Cristina Malavé. The music ensemble includes Álvaro Benavides, Anthony Carrillo, Camilo Molina-Gaetán, Raymond Flores and Desmar Guevara (musical director). Aloha Boricua is directed by Jorge Merced and will run Off-Broadway and for the first time at Miriam Colón's historic Puerto Rican Traveling Theater on west 47th street, Manhattan, on December 1-18.

Pregones/PRTT's Aloha Boricua (2022) acting ensemble and director, from left to right: Joel Acosta, Yasmin Carden, Gilberto Gabriel, Kimberly Gómez, Tristan Alek Hernández, Luis Herrera, Anna Cristina Malavé, Jorge B. Merced (director).

Aloha Boricua dramatizes the one-way transoceanic trip to the Hawaiian archipelago made by poor sugarcane workers and families whose lives were upended by the devastation of Category 4 San Ciriáco Hurricane and the U.S. military invasion of Puerto Rico in 1899. The rhythms of traditional bomba y plena, urban reggaetón, and música jíbara collide in this song-driven theater production based on the literary account by influential queer author Manuel Ramos Otero. Performed in English and Spanish with titles by an ensemble cast of 12 Latine actors/musicians. Tickets start at only $25 and are available online at www.PregonesPRTT.org or by phone at 718-585-1202.

"Aloha Boricua is urgently of this moment in both form and content," says Merced, winner of the 2022 Simón Bolívar Lifetime Achievement Award from The City University of New York. "The musical is about the plight of displacement, the cold forces that push people away from their place of origin, and the will to hacer de tripas corazón - to buoy from hardship with a big heart. This has been and continues to be the story of so many migrants and immigrants everywhere. Music and stories shore up their collective resolve and express their gratitude for each other and for whoever offers shelter, comfort, and hope."

Based on the short story "Vivir del cuento" and the poetry of Manuel Ramos Otero. Book and lyrics by Jorge B. Merced. Music by Desmar Guevara and Jorge B. Merced. Additional music and lyrics by Anthony Carrillo and Rosalba Rolón. Directed by Jorge B. Merced. Costumes by Oriana Sofia. Digital Projection Design by Eamonn Farrell. Lights by Emmanuel Delgado. Sound design by Milton Ruiz.

Ensemble (in progress): Anna Cristina Malavé, Kimberly Gómez, Tristan A. Hernández, Yasmin Carden, Joel Acosta, Camilo Molina-Gaetán, Anthony Carrillo, Desmar Guevara.

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