Borinquen Vive en El Barrio (Borinquen Lives in El Barrio) is a portrait of a Puerto Rican family in East Harlem forced to reexamine the past, present, and future of their home island when an unexpected visitor challenges their cultural identity. Through each family member, the audience gets a moving glimpse of the most important moments in history influencing the destiny of Puerto Ricans in New York and in their homeland, starting in the 1950’s. Borinquen, the proud matriarch, carries the native Taíno Indian name for Puerto Rico; her Americanized daughter Minerva has uprooted and made Connecticut’s suburbs her new home; her ex-boyfriend Carlos, a former Young Lord, holds on to his youthful idealism for the island’s independence – along with his unrequited love for Minerva. This bilingual show features English and Spanish language dialogue. Written by Tere Martinez and directed by Angel Morales, Borinquen Vive en El Barrio has been praised as an unbiased and brutally honest document delving into Puerto Rican immigration in New York and the complex issue that has torn apart many Puerto Ricans for generations: the status of their home as a U.S. territory.
Peopled by junkies, pimps, drag queens, sweatshops workers, crooked, cops, prisoners, lovers, and dreamers, Melvin Van Peebles’ Ain’t Supposed To Die A Natural Death is a tradition-shattering and trendsetting work that reinvigorated artistic explorations of urban life through new forms, including spoken word and rap music. Ain’t Supposed To Die A Natural Death was a huge hit on Broadway in its original inception, running for 325 performances and garnering seven Tony nominations, including Best Musical. This production, interpreted vividly by The Classical Theatre of Harlem, remains raucous, irreverent, and as participatory as ever
Posted on August 12, 2008 by D. Bell