HAMLET IN HARLEM is Now Playing at Theater for the New City

This spring there will be more than one adaptation of Hamlet to chose from, but Theater for the New City (TNC) will have the funniest one. Hamlet in Harlem, a new play written and directed by Alberto Ferreras is a politically incorrect comedy that promises murder, mystery, offensive stereotypes and cultural appropriations. Hamlet in Harlem is the story of an empathetic caucasian filmmaker Jason Harriman who dreams about producing an all-Latino version of Hamlet that takes place in "el Barrio". The only problem is that he doesn't know much about Latinos, he doesn't know much about Harlem, and he doesn't know much about Hamlet either. When his father -shrewd commercial filmmaker Claude Harriman- finds him a potential investor, Jason will have to reenact his script with a group of actors who won't be thrilled with the way he represents Hispanics on the screen.

Hamlet in Harlem is an immersive, laugh-out-loud, politically-incorrect, I-can'tbelieve-this-is-Shakespeare comedy that addresses important issues of media representation, gender roles, cultural appropriation, and the relevance of classic literature. The cast includes-in order of appearance- Ardes Quinn, John David West, Cole Ortiz-Mackes, Barbra Herr, Kyle Kankonde, Michael Vazquez, Robert Gonzales Jr, and Hector Lincoln. The show is produced by Myrna Duarte with the assistance of Maria Fernanda Rodriguez. Alex Bartenieff will be in charge of the light design, and Wincho Schafer of the original music-courtesy of Altamira Artists.

Alberto Ferreras (playwright and director) is a Spanish-Venezuelan American author and filmmaker known for his award winning novel B as in Beauty (Hachette 2009). He is the creator of Habla, an HBO documentary series about the US Latino experience (2003-2022), and Somos, a new video installation about Latino identity. Ferreras made his debut as a screenwriter in Sundance 2015 with Dynamo's feature film Que Viva La Música. His short film series The Lessons by Alberto Ferreras has been presented in countless film festivals. His work as a photographer has been presented at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota.