236 East 3rd Street Between Ave B & CReverend Pedro Pietri Way
New York City
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Shango de Ima by Pepe Carill: 1994Left to Right: Geisha Oterio as Oya, Maralyn Sanabria as Oshun, Georgina Corbo as Obba, Kenshaka Ali as Shango
Photo: Gregory Mink
Julius Caesar Set in Africa/Adapted by Miguel Algarin & Rome Neal: 1998Left to Right: Gloria Savve as Calpurnia, Renauld White as Caesar, Robin McClamb as Portia, Rome Neal as Antony
Photo: Gregory Mink
Life During Wartime by Wesley Browne: 1998 / Photos: Stacy Zaferes
Debra Waller, William Williams
Sandra Hamlin, Charmaine Lord, Susan Wallack, Alphonso Johnson, Jackie Brown
Adenrele Ojo
How Ya Doin' Franky Banana by Peter Spiro: 1993Read the full text of these plays in "Action: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theater Festival"
The Nuyorican Theater Tradition
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theater Program has been evolving since 1969 when Miguel Algarin and fellow Nuyorican Poets were given space by Joseph Papp at 4 Astor Place to have their theater rehearsal and workshops. Once a permanent home for these poets was established on East 6th Street, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theater Program became a breeding ground and showcase for some of the most original plays and performance pieces in the country. Lois E. Griffith, (one of our founding poets), fervently attests to the purpose of our theater program in her Foreword for ACTION, our theater anthology publication: Our theater exists to document the history of our passions...To entertain and instruct becomes the mission...
The idea of the coincidence of life and art has been a hallmark of our theater productions at the Cafe. The reality of our circumstance – that we are located on the Lower East Side, a neighborhood that is an intersection point for Latino, African American, Asian, Italian, and Eastern European peoples – necessitates the making of our presentations relevant to these diverse communities.
- Lois E. Griffith, from the Introduction to Action: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theater Festival
