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Trinity Rep | Announcing RILA Executive Director to be Artist-in-Residence

Trinity Rep Invites RILA Executive Director to be Artist-in-Residence

PROVIDENCE, RI: Trinity Repertory Company is delighted to announce Rhode Island Latino Arts’s (RILA) executive director Marta V. Martínez has been invited to join the theater as an Artist-in-Residence. As an Artist-in-Residence, Martínez will advise Trinity Rep as they develop theater-based programs by and for the Latinx people of Rhode Island. Martínez will also study how Trinity Rep produces their plays, develops new work, and structures their theater education programs for young people, in the hopes of creating an independent bilingual theater company.

“Over the past three years, we have worked closely with Marta on our initiatives to collaborate with members of Providence’s Latinx community,” remarked Artistic Director Curt Columbus. “I’m particularly thrilled Marta will be around our offices and rehearsal spaces more often, as we look to create more programming about, by, and for the Latinx audiences in Rhode Island.  We hope one day to announce with Marta the creation of bilingual Latinx theater company.”

Rhode Island Latino Arts and Trinity Rep have partnered the past two summers to create a mobile, bilingual production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which featured members of the Providence Latinx community as well as Brown/Trinity MFA students. The production toured to locations around the state, including WaterFire, the South Providence Library, the Steel Yard and the Temple to Music at Roger Williams Park, among others. It was seen by almost 4,000 people.

The two organizations also worked together this past fall to co-host a reading of Just Like Us, a play by Karen Zacarías based on the true story of DREAMers living in the US. The purpose of the reading was to raise awareness of what cancelling DACA will mean for thousands of young immigrants.

“Marta provides invaluable insight and strong connections to the Latinx community of Rhode Island, so I’m incredibly happy to have her on board,” said Tyler Dobrowsky, associate artistic director and producer of the mobile, bilingual summer program. “The programs we’ve partnered with RILA on never could have happened without Marta’s outstanding leadership. The wisest thing she ever said to me was that, as Trinity Rep attempts to strengthen our ties to the Latinx community, we have to view the relationship not just as a one-off, or something that only happens when we do a particular play written by a Latinx writer, but rather a relationship that lasts forever. Having Marta as an artist-in-residence will be a big step toward making that relationship stronger and more long-lasting.”

“This partnership is so meaningful in many ways,” adds Martínez.  “The Latino community of Rhode Island will now have the opportunity to delve more deeply into the art of theater making, to take advantage of the talent and resources that state’s leading theater company has to offer. Since it was founded in 1963, Trinity Repertory Company has been one of the most respected regional theaters in the country. As an artist-in-residence, my main goal will be to connect Latinos with Trinity Rep’s creative team of directors, writers, producers, and actors. The dream of having a bilingual Latino theater company in Rhode Island and Trinity Rep is now closer to becoming a reality.”

In conjunction with Trinity Rep’s next production, Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías, Trinity Rep and RILA are partnering up again. The play is about the hilarious clash of cultures that occurs when a young, recently married Latinx couple moves next door to an older, white couple in a well-off D.C. neighborhood. Martínez is collaborating on Trinity Rep’s Context & Conversation: Native Gardens, which will be held at Radia Herbs Farm in Cranston on April 22, 2018, at 2 pm. And RILA is offering group rate tickets to one performance during the upcoming Encuentro 2018 Latinos in Heritage Conservation convening, being held April 26-28.

TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY

Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater, Trinity Rep has created unparalleled professional theater for and with its community since its founding in 1963. Trinity Rep strives to facilitate human connection and has been a driving force behind the creativity that fuels and defines the region for more than 50 years.

Trinity Rep is committed to reinventing the public square and inspiring dialogue by creating emotionally-stimulating live productions that range from classical to contemporary and innovative education programs for all ages and abilities. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for 40 years and made memories for over a million audience members.

Subscriptions for the 2017-18 season are now on sale. The season includes Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau, Into the Breeches! by George Brant, Othello by William Shakespeare, Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías, and Ragtime by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow.  For more information and to purchase tickets, call the box office at (401) 351-4242 or visit Trinity Rep’s website at www.TrinityRep.com.

 

 

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