TeatroStageFest (Teatro Stage Fest) — International Fall Season

Photo credits: See Practical information below.
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Festival Story:

TeatroStageFest, produced by the Latino International Theater Festival of New York, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that promotes Latino Theater in New York and provides a window to Iberian-American and Caribbean Theater, has featured nearly 1,000 local and international artists in theater, dance, music, puppetry and circus-theater performances in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx since 2007. TeatroStageFest 2012’s year-round program includes a series of multicultural and multigenerational performances, readings, workshops, and TalkBacks with artists. TeatroStageFest’s International Fall Season 2012 features Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla, two jazz-tango fusion concerts in tribute to Astor Piazzolla, master of New Tango, by Argentina’s Escalandrum, Amarillo, a multimedia and physical theater production by Teatro Linea de Sombra from Mexico.

Festival Events:

Schedule 2012:

• October 4-9
  
  • Music, Conference, Exhibition and Master Class
  • Celebrating Argentinian World Icons
  • Jorge Luis Borges and Astor Piazzolla
• October 18-20
  
  • Amarillo by Mexico’s Premier Multimedia Theater Company Teatro Línea de Sombra, a Theater Workshop and TeatroStageFest Encuentro
• October 22
  
  • Latin American Cultural Leaders Conference
  • Panel discussion with Cultural Leaders from Colombia, Argentina and Brazil

Fall programming 2012:

• October 4-20: Atlas by Borges
  Opening October 4 at 6pm, followed by a reception
  
  • A touring exhibit of photos taken by María Kodama during her world travels with her husband, the great writer Jorge Luis Borges. The photos will be shown alongside texts by Borges. At Instituto Cervantes, 211 East 49th Street, Manhattan. FREE.
• October 5: Borges and Piazzolla in New York
  7pm, followed by a reception
  
  • A panel discussion featuring Jorge Luis Borges’s wife María Kodama; Daniel Piazzolla, acclaimed drummer and founder of the Argentinian jazz sextet Escalandrum and grandson of Astor Piazzolla, father of New Tango (“Nuevo Tango”); and Hernán Lombardi, Minister of Culture of Buenos Aires. The panelists will share personal stories about the two great Argentinian artists who had major impact in world literature and music – Jorge Luis Borges and Astor Piazzolla, while Minister Hernán Lombardi will discuss the decision of the Ministry of Buenos Aires to sponsor two world tours that project the innovative forces of these acclaimed artists. At the Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, Manhattan. Tickets: Free for Americas Society members; $10 for non-members.
• October 6: Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla at Birdland
  5:30pm
  
  • Renowned Jazz sextet Escalandrum, founded by Daniel Piazzolla, introduces its critically acclaimed album Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla to New York audiences, infusing the legendary Astor Piazzolla’s classic “New Tango” compositions with the band’s contemporary jazz sound. Featuring special guests Paquito D’Rivera and Ute Lemper. 5:30PM at Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Manhattan. Tickets: $30, with an additional $10 food or drink minimum per person. Watch the trailer here: http://youtu.be/9FQL_kpTxC0
• October 7: Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla at LeFrak Concert Hall
  3pm
  
  • Renowned Jazz sextet Escalandrum introduces its critically acclaimed album Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla to New York audiences, infusing the legendary Astor Piazzolla’s classic “New Tango” compositions with the band’s original Jazz sound. Presented in partnership with the Kupferberg Center for the Arts. 3:00PM at Lefrak Concert Hall, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing. The concert venue is located within the Queens College campus, near the intersection of Reeves Avenue and 61st Road. Tickets: General admission $35. Seniors, Queens College alumni, faculty and staff $33.
• October 9: The Percussive Rhythms of Tango and Folklore: a Master Class for Drummers, Percussionists and Musicians with Daniel Piazzolla
  6pm
  
  • Drummer Daniel Piazzolla, founder of the world-renowned Escalandrum jazz sextet, leads a Master Class on contemporary drumming with a focus on the distinctive tango and folkloric rhythms of Argentina. In Spanish with English interpretation. 6:00PM at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing. The venue is located within the Queens College campus, near the intersection of Reeves Avenue and 61st Road. FREE.
• October 18 – 20: Amarillo by Teatro Línea de Sombra
  8pm
  
  • A man departs for the U.S.-Mexican border and vanishes. Amarillo, Texas, is the destination he never reaches. In the distance, a woman yearns for his return and reconstructs his probable journey. The performance unfolds amongst an assortment of sacred, displaced objects artfully arranged in the sand that covers the stage. As the performers travel imagined landscapes of both geography and cultural identity, the absent man comes to symbolize the thousands of disillusioned immigrants who have suffered a similar fate. Amarillo, a provocative and stimulating work, touches on the complex nature of individual and national identity in a time of exodus—both for those who leave, and those who are left behind. The NY performances of Amarillo mark the start of the national tour of Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America to NY, NJ, DC, and the State of Washington.
• Multimedia theater performed in Spanish with English super-titles. Directed by Jorge Vargas. At Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan. Tickets $30. Students and Seniors $15. Watch the trailer here:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQngfvy3uow&feature;=player_embedded

Amarillo Performance Schedule 2012:

• October 18th at 8:00pm — Opening Night
• October 19th at 8:00pm — Followed by a TalkBack with the performers and director.
• October 20th at 8:00pm – Preceded by The Poetics of the Object from 9:00am – 12:00pm, a theater workshop with Amarillo director Jorge Vargas; and “Encuentro” from 12:00pm – 6:00pm, an afternoon conference that will include:
  
  • 12pm: Registration
  • 1-1:15pm: Welcome address by Jose W. Fernandez, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Energy & Business Affairs in President Obama’s Administration, and former Board Chair and Co-Founder of the Latino International Theater Festival of New York.
  • 1:15-3pm: U.S. Latino Artists Reinterpret the Border. Screening of Alex Rivera’s documentary The Sixth Section followed by a Q&A; and presentations by Margarita Espada and German Jaramillo, two New York theater directors who developed new stage works on the theme of border crossing in collaboration with professional actors and day laborers living in Long Island and Staten Island.
  • 4-6pm: At the Crossroads of A Dream: Panel discussion on the impact of the deferred action status and the Dream Act on a new generation of young Americans with NYC Commissioner on Immigrant Affairs Fatima Shama; Oscar Chico, a twenty year old “Dreamer” from the New School and activist at Make the Road New York; Allan Wernick, CUNY’s Citizenship and Immigration Project Director; and Joel Magallan, Director of the community based grassroots organization Tepeyac.
• October 22: Latin American Cultural Leaders Conference – At 7pm
  
  • This conference will culminate the second edition of the Latino International Theater Festival of New York’s International Cultural Engagement Partnership, following TeatroStageFest´s two-week tour of Amarillo by Teatro Línea de Sombra in Colombia, Brazil and Argentina. The panel discussion will feature a revealing conversation with three of the most visionary cultural leaders in South America: Sandra Meluk, Programming Director of Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Bogota (Colombia); Alberto Ligaluppi, Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires (Argentina); and Danilo Santos de Miranda, SESC Sao Paulo (Brazil), with Margaret Ayers, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation President (USA). 7:00PM at the Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, Manhattan. FREE for Americas Society members, $10 for nonmembers.

Other Sources:

Podcast interviews:

• If you like this festival — listen to…
  
  • Karina Casiano, actress and director of La Criatura Theater http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=1763
  • Susana Tubert, executive director and producer — Latino International Theater Festival, and TeatroStageFest in NYC.
    http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=1246
  • Claudia Norman, Director of the Chase Latino Cultural Festival
    http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=937
  • Shoshana Polanco, Producer and Performer from Argentina
    http://kadmusarts.com/blog/?p=832
  • Wallace Edgecombe, Director of the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture
    http://kadmusarts.com/blog/?p=844

Practical Info:

Photo slideshow credits:

• In order of appearance
  
  • The Orphans at the 5th Teatro StageFest in June 2011, staged at the Connelly Theater in New York City. Written, directed and performed by Karina Casiano for La Criatura Theater, and also starring Renzo Ampuero. Photos by Jorge Dieppa.
  • The Orphans at the 5th Teatro StageFest in June 2011, staged at the Connelly Theater in New York City. Written, directed and performed by Karina Casiano for La Criatura Theater, and also starring Renzo Ampuero. Photos by Jorge Dieppa.
  • TeatroStageFest 2012 (NY) Jimmy Smits & Jen Colella in the staged reading of Deadline by Sabina Berman (Photo Gustavo Mirabile)
  • TeatroStageFest 2012 (NY) Amarillo by Teatro Linea de Sombra (Photo Roberto Blenda)
  • TeatroStageFest 2012 (NY) Argentine jazz band Escalandrum presents Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla at Queens College (Photo Susana Tubert)
  • Lauren Vélez in They Call Me La Lupe, photo by Michael J. Palma
  • Limon Dance Company, photo by Scott Groller
  • Quijote, photo by Samuel Domingo
  • American Airlines — travel sponsor for José Luis Ramos-Escobar
  • The Orphans at the 5th Teatro StageFest in June 2011, staged at the Connelly Theater in New York City. Written, directed and performed by Karina Casiano for La Criatura Theater, and also starring Renzo Ampuero. Photos by Jorge Dieppa.

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