Tag Archives: Fordham University

Alberto Vazquez Actors Workshop

November 1, 2009Corrientesactor, Actors Studio, Adelphi University, Alberto Vazquez, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, August Men, Bano de Damas, Barbizon School, Brian De Palma, Buffalo, Bulgaria, Charles Fuller Patrick Tracey, Charles Montoya, Charlie Montoya, Christopher Durang Oriana Navarro, Christopher Presley, Colgate University, Crossroads, Dan Margulies, dance choreographer and director, David Mamet, Deborah Houston, Fear Factor, Fordham University, Friends for Life, Gary Cruz, Gene Frankel, HB, HB Studio, Hoboken Films, Ida Vega, Incorporated, interdisciplinary artist, Judith Shakespeare Company, Karen Contreras, Law & Order, Lorena Jorge, Los Angeles, Luis Guzman, member of the stunt team, Mexican desert, Miguel Pinero, National Sports Academy, NBC, Neil Simon, New York, New York City, Nilo Cruz, Patrick Tracey, Pearl Classical Theatre Company, Plinio Villablanca, Producer & Director, Producerï¿½s Club, Rodney L. Cummins, Salem Ludwig, Sam Shepard Ida Vega, Santo Domingo, Scarsdale, School for Film and Television, screenwriter, Silence, Story, Thalia Spanish, The Black Dahlia, The Producerï¿½s Club, The Regina Opera Company, Third Watch, Tina Satin, Tracy Moore, TROY, Vernonescalona

1st bi-Annual Showcase

January 15

At
The Producer’s Club
358 West 44rd Street @ Crown Theater

Produced & Directed by Alberto Vazquez

Performances @ 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Reception after performances at the in house bar

FOR RESERVATIONS
latinfrommanhattan@earthlink.net
917.286.0466 / 917.331.3850

(eight exciting scenes / seven exciting monologues

BIOS:

Ida Vega: Ida Vega has been dong community theater on and off while
raising a family since the 1980s. She trained with Tina Satin at the
Open Cage Theater in Mt. Vernon, NY and is now training with Alberto
Vazquez. Mr. Vazquez has been training her for a year and a half doing
camera study and scene analysis. She recently performed the Vagina
Monologues at the Greenville Community Theater in Scarsdale, NY and has
auditioned for the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater.
Patrick Tracey: After eight years of being in the industry, which
started off doing some background work, Patrick graduated to being
featured in, Bringing Out The Dead, Oz, Third Watch, Law & Order. He
was a finalist in NBC’s Fear Factor – 100th episode (where he stole the
show). He also made recent appearances in magazines, “D-Mode” and
“August Men”, and since, has auditioned for Independent films, “Friends
for Life” and “Incorporated” which he was cast as Mimms.
Oriana Navarro: Oriana has studied acting at Bellas Artes school in
Santo Domingo for two years. She has performed in three plays at
Bellas Artes and has done numerous commercials. She has studied
modeling and acting at the prestigious Barbizon School. She is
currently studying acting at the Alberto Vazquez Actors Workshop.
Vesellin Todorov: Vesselin Todorov has started to study acting 4 months
ago when he met Alberto Vazquez, but he fell in love with the art in
2003 when by “accident” accepted to be an extra for the movie TROY
(with Brad Pitt). He spent 100 days in Mexican desert learning and
doing stage combats for the movie TROY. When he went back to Bulgaria
he became a member of the stunt team of National Sports Academy. For
the next two years he has done stunts in live shows, commercials and
movies (the last one: The Black Dahlia by Brian De Palma).
Plinio Villablanca: A Bronx native has studied with the Judith
Shakespeare Company and the Pearl Classical Theatre Company. He has
also studied with Gene Frankel for four years and with Salem Ludwig
(Actors Studio) for three years at the HB Studio. Plinio’s theatre
credits include: Othello at LA TEA, Steambath (directed by Gene
Frankel), Miguel Pinero’s The Sun Always Shines for the Cool. Plinio
has also appeared in several independent features: Liberty Kid,
Elevator Weekend and Immaculate Perception. Plinio has also appeared
in various print and television commercials.

BIOS:
Gary Cruz: Gary Cruz studied Acting at gene Frankel Theater Workshop,
The Actors Connection, HB Studios, Tracy Moore Monologues Workshop.
He has performed at The Regina Opera Company, Shakespear In The Park,
Tropicana, Puerto Rican traveling Theater, The Nuyorican Café. Recently
filmed the short film: 9-12 as Peruchin.

Charlie Montoya: Charles Montoya has spent the last 5 years studying
the art of acting at the School for Film and Television. Charles was a
dance choreographer and director for the Latin American Dance Troop at
Colgate University where he would produce a campus wide performance
twice a year. Presently, he is pursuing his love of performance
through acting with Alberto Vazquez. This will be his first live
performance as an actor.

Lorena Jorge: Lorena Jorge is an emerging interdisciplinary artist in
theater and film. She has studied in both Fordham University and
St.John’s Preparatory high school where she received a National
Championship Award within the Forensic League Section of Drama. She has
been featured in Sonny Boy Productions independent short film
“Silence,” and starred in Center City Film and Video’s educational
video. Her theater credits include Fordham University’s A Tribute to
August Wilson, “Ten Cycles of Ten Decades,” where she performed two
lead roles, Thalia Spanish Theater’s Bano de Damas/The Ladies Room and
their most recent play of fall 07′ La Senoritas de Avignon/The Ladies
of Avignon.

Rodney L. Cummins: Rodney L. Cummins: Rodney began his foray into film
& video while studying Film and Television Production at Adelphi
University. Rodney branched off into acting in 2006 and continued his
studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City
where he was trained by acclaimed Theatre Directors Deborah Houston and
Christopher Presley. He has performed in 2 plays at the AADA and has
appeared as an extra in the television Pilot “The Winky Wright Show”
and the Bollywood Feature “Crossroads”.

Karen Contreras: Under construction

SCENES:

1. Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard
Ida Vega / Oriana Navarro

2. The Odd Couple by Neil Simon
Vesellin Todorov / Plinio Villablanca

3. Anna In the Tropics by Nilo Cruz
Charlie Montoya / Lorena Jorge

4. Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang
Oriana Navarro / Gary Cruz

5. Soldier Story by Charles Fuller
Patrick Tracey / Rodney L. Cummins

6. Friends by TV Network
Lorena Jorge / Vesselin Todorov

7. American Buffalo by David Mamet
Plinio Villablanca / Patrick Tracey

8. Collected Stories by Dan Margulies
Karen Contreras / Ida Vega

MONOLOGUES:
(monologues between scenes)

1. Karen Contreras

2. Patrick Tracey

3. Ida Vega

4. Charlie Montoya

5. Gary Cruz

6. Rodney L. Cummins

7. Oriana Navarro

Producer & Director

Alberto Vazquez has been an actor for thirty-two years. He has acted
in over twenty films and forty TV shows, numerous commercials and on
Broadway.

He is a screenwriter and has a film being produced in Los Angeles by
Hoboken Films.

Alberto Vazquez directed his short film called “Naked Cards” with Luis
Guzman in L.A.

He has been teaching in New York since 2002. He teaches group and
privately. This is his first showcase with these very talented actors.

www.actoralbertovazquez.com
(click: bio and credits at the bottom)
CONTACT:917.331.3850

Ask the Locals, Yes, but Which Ones?

May 28, 2008The Forumactor and rapper, advertising campaign, Alan Cumming, Bronx Council on the Arts, Bronx Tourism Council, Brooklyn doesn, chief marketing officer, City Room Blog New York Times, Clara E. Rodriguez, Deborah Harry, designer, East River, Fordham University, Grandmaster Flash, Jane Reiss, janitor, Jennifer Lopez, Kenkeleba Garden, king, King of Calypso, Manhattan Island, Marc Anthony, Marty Markowitz, Mike Amadeo, Mos Def, New York, New York City, New York University, NYC & Company, police officer, President, Professor, Prospect Avenue, public relations agency, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, salsa musician, Samuel Gompers High School, Sean Combs, Sparrow, Staten Island, tourism group, travel tips, Willie Colonescalona

By David Gonzalez
City Room Blog
New York Times (May 27, 2008)

Five celebrities were featured when the “Just Ask the Locals” campaign, with tourism tips, started in August.You know you’re onto something when even Brooklynites extend a compassionate hand to their mainland rivals in the Bronx. Yet that is what happened after my City Room post in mid-May about hotels, tourism and the Bronx. Boosters of both boroughs know they are often seen as provincial outposts that could never rival the imperial majesty of Manhattan Island.

Yeah, right. As they say in some parts of the city — actually, many parts — “Que si que?” That’s Spanish for “Say what?”

Similar phrases are probably being uttered in Mandarin, Urdu, Arabic and any other of the dozens of languages spoken in this city by the locals. Yet, one advertising campaign intended to encourage tourists to “Just Ask the Locals” has a lopsided view of who the locals actually are.

Granted, the campaign (the ads for which can often be seen in the small black-and-yellow rectangular box on the top-right of the City Room blog front) is big on celebrities, fashionistas and people who are famous and fabulous in some circles. And to be fair, some of the advice posted online by nonfamous New Yorkers actually reflects city life and attractions on the other side of the East River (as do a few of the celebrity videos on the site).

But back to those celebrities. According to NYC & Company, which is behind the campaign, 27 people were chosen to participate in the campaign’s first two phases. Of those, six are black, one if half Korean and the rest — about 80 percent — are white (or, appear to be, anyway). That’s non-Hispanic white, by the way.

Mind you, the actual percentage of non-Hispanic whites in the city is 35 percent, according to the 2000 Census. Hispanics, who can be any race, accounted for 27 percent, black/African-American 24.5 percent and Asians accounted for 9.7 percent.

Jane Reiss, the chief marketing officer at NYC & Company, said the campaign was committed to representing more of the city’s diversity in terms of people and places. The personalities featured in the first two phases — “citizens of the city” who donated their time and wrote their own copy — were found through personal connections, a public relations agency and recommendations from partners of the tourism group.

Willie Colon, the salsa musician and sometime politico, has been working with the group for a while now, she said, and he is scheduled to shoot a video for the ad campaign soon.

“This campaign is evolving,” Ms. Reiss said. “We have a list of people we like to reach out to. It is very diverse. Ugly Betty is coming to the city, and we’re reaching out to America Ferrera.”

Ugly Betty is a New Yorker. America Ferrera, however, only plays one on television.

However, the cast of civic boosters was assembled, the travel tips seen on parts of the Web site hew toward the tried-and-trendy in Manhattan, by and large. Alan Cumming suggests a club on the Lower East Side, Sean Combs favors drinks at the Mandarin Oriental. One designer raves about custom-made shirts at Barneys, while another suggests that tourists check out the bargains in the flower district.

And while Deborah Harry recommends a club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, she also promotes Kenkeleba Garden in the East Village as “one of my favorite little-known places.”

By these standards, the other four boroughs could be called “little-known places,” too.

The absence of any Latino celebrities — even Jennifer Lopez, though she and Marc Anthony live on Long Island now — is disheartening but not surprising to those who notice such things.

“Latino culture is invisible in this city,” said Arlene Dávila, a professor at New York University who has written about the intersection of culture, ethnicity and the city. “You have this whitewashed city, a very upscale city, free of ethnicity. This is a city which is more than a quarter Latino, and you cannot find a celebrity who is Latino? Hello!”

If by celebrity you mean someone who appears on television, another scholar has some bad news. Clara E. Rodriguez, a professor at Fordham University, looked at the casts of the most popular prime-time shows and found that even those set in New York featured few recurring Latino characters (as opposed to the janitor who shrugs and keeps sweeping when being questioned by a police officer in some cop show).

“People want to envision New York as Manhattan, where it is white, urban sophisticates and well-to-do,” she said. “It’s an old view of New York City, even if the shows are set in modern times.”

The 21st Century City – Five Borough Edition – has a little more flavor and fun. While the Bronx Tourism Council has yet to return a phone call from two weeks ago, regular e-mail messages from the Bronx Council on the Arts consistently laud dance, theater, exhibits and concerts from the borough that gave the world doo-wop, salsa and hip-hop.

The history of those last three genres can actually be traced, just by walking up Prospect Avenue, starting at Samuel Gompers High School (where Grandmaster Flash got his start), past Casa Amadeo (where Mike Amadeo still presides over a music store that has attracted generations of Latin artists), and into Morrisania (where vocal groups once harmonized on street corners and stairwells).
That’s just one street.

Then there is Brooklyn, whose borough president, Marty Markowitz, apparently never misses a chance to promote its people, neighborhoods and attractions. He thinks the “Just Ask the Locals” is a good start, and he praises the city for promoting tourism in recent years.

But, he added, consider these locals:

Mos Def, the actor and rapper? Brooklyn.
Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist? Brooklyn.
The Mighty Sparrow, King of Calypso? Queens, mainly.

“But he’s got a place in Brooklyn, too!” Mr. Markowitz said. “Whatever Brooklyn doesn’t have, Queens does. Between Brooklyn and Queens, we represent the world.”

Quick, somebody call Staten Island.