interdisciplinary artist | Puerto Rico and the American Dream

The Boston Latino International Film Festival (www.bliff.org) the Boston
Area Spanish Exchange – BASE present:

Latinos in US Media
(panel *mostly* in Spanish)
Saturday October 20, 2pm, Howard Thurman Center at Boston University (FREE)
775 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
www.bu.edu/thurman

“Boston area Spanish-speaking media, film and arts experts meet to discuss in Spanish the present state of Spanish language (and bilingualism) in these U.S. media. The media have played an active role in the creation of many of the stereotypes related to the Latino community in the United States. By addressing the role of language in the inscription, and subversion, of these stereotypes, this panel seeks to provide a space for reflection about how these issues affect the very communities represented in the screen and other media, as well as their relationship with other
communities in the US.”

Moderator:
Carmen Oquendo-Villar

Panelists:

-Ernesto Livon-Grosman, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies and Director of Graduate Studies of the Dept. of Romance Languages & Literatures at Boston College; he has also made the documentary “Cartoneros”, about the paper recycling process in Argentina, and how many people become trash pickers to be able to make a living.

-Cristina Kotz Cornejo, Associate Professor, Director of the BFA Program, Department of Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College; who has made several films. The last one, titled “3 Americas”, about the relation between an Argentinean-American girl, her anti-American grand-mother in Argentina, and America.

-Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard
University; her work focuses mainly on issues of bilingualism and cultural agency.

-Marisol Negron, Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Latino Studies, Department of Romance Studies and the Program in Latin American & Latino Studies, Brandeis University; her dissertation is “Salsa as commodity and cultural signifier: an analysis of nuyorican musical form.” Her research interests are migration and diaspora, popular culture and comodification, and Cuban-American, Dominican-American, Chicano and Puerto Rican cultural production.

-Jose Barriga, He is a social psychologist by training and specializes in Latino media in the U.S. He has worked in Los Angeles with Telemundo, Fox Latin America, La Opinion newspaper, and Enigma Entertainment in different executive positions. He attended: la Universidad Catolica de Lima, la Universidad Ricardo Palma de Lima, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Armando Robles Godoy Filmmaking School.

-Carmen Oquendo-Villar, (Harvard Ph.D) is a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist and writer-scholar of Puerto Rican and Spanish descent, educated in Latin America, West Africa and the United States. She has been lecturing, exhibiting, and curating internationally since 2004.

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