Pa’lante Theater Company Unveils New Theater, New Artistic Director, and New Season
Isaiah Santiago Announced as Afro Latine Theater Company’s New Artistic Director
Pa’lante Theater Company (PTC) has announced the imminent opening of its own black box flexible theater space in downtown Waterbury, CT.Connecticut’s first and only theater company dedicated to Afro Latine arts and artists has also announced the hiring of Isaiah Santiago as the company’s new artistic director. Santiago’s first season, programmed in concert with Pa’lante founder Rafael Feliciano-Roman, is an ambitious and diverse array of offerings including five plays, a New Works Festival, an Afro Latino Film Festival, and even a hip hop musical!
A New Theater for Connecticut
Pa’lante is currently building out a black box auditorium at 158 Grand Street (the former John Bale Book Co. & Cafe) in the Brass City’s historic downtown. The first floor will be home for a flexible theatre space that can be reconfigured based on the individual production’s needs. Being constructed with an eye for multiple uses, Pa’lante will also feature a café and art gallery. In addition to being the home for the company’s theatrical offerings, the space will be available for event rentals and community gatherings. The second floor of the building will be home to the affiliated Afro Caribbean Cultural Center, a non-profit dedicated to preserving and promoting the culture of the Afro Caribbean Diaspora. The construction of the 158 Grand Street space is supported by Main Street Waterbury (Downtown MicroBusiness Grant), City of Waterbury, Connecticut Office of the Arts, and the Afro Caribbean Cultural Center, Inc.
A New Artistic Director
Having launched Pa’lante with a hit statewide tour of Juan Ramirez’s Calling Puerto Rico, the First Annual Afro Latino Film Festival, and a well-received musical revue Viva Broadway at Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre, Feliciano-Roman is stepping aside as the company’s first artistic director to focus his energies on the activities of the Afro Caribbean Cultural Center, overseeing the business aspects of the theater company and building, other community initiatives, and directing select productions. He has announced the hiring of Isaiah Santiago as the artistic leader of Pa’lante Theater Company.
Santiago recently worked as the Managing Director of Waterbury’s Shakesperience Productions. He received his BBA from The College of Westchester and studied technical theater, directing, and acting at the Bronx Theatre High School and the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York.
Santiago states, “I am extremely grateful to Rafael and the whole Pa’lante team for not only welcoming me to their family, but trusting me to execute and grow their vision for a fearless and inclusive space where we can tell the stories of Afro-Latine creatives.”
A New Season
Of course, a new theater and a new artistic director also means a new season. Curated by Feliciano-Roman, the company’s diverse lineup of productions will be overseen by Santiago. The season includes:
October 17th – 27th, 2024
Broadway Of The Bronx: A Juan Man Show
Written and performed by Juan Ramirez, Jr. Directed by Candido Tirado
Broadway of the Bronx: A Juan Man Show is about Juan Angel, a Bronx street corner hustler and tour guide, educating gentrifiers on the neighborhood with the real facts about the history of his home. When discovering his longtime girlfriend is pregnant, he realizes he has got to make some changes of his own. This lively new play is written and performed by Juan Ramirez, Jr., the playwright of last year’s hit Calling Puerto Rico!
November 14th – 24th, 2024
World Classic
Written by Nelson Diaz-Marcano
Directed by Zelest Caraballo
World Classic is what happens when you take the quintessential American domestic drama away from white suburbia. The play explores the identity issues created by assimilation through the eyes of two generations of an immigrant family. Like The Humans or August: Osage County before it, it all takes place during one night, but unlike them, this play focus on those that had to sacrifice their homeland and in the process, compromise their heritage.
January 8-15, 2025
2nd Annual Afro Latino Film Festival
Pa’lante Theater Company’s new venue transforms into a cinema screening dozens of short films and features that highlight the stories and filmmakers of the Black/Latine/Puerto Rican/Afro Caribbean cultures and communities throughout the world.
February 14th – 23rd, 2025 Foxes – U.S. Premiere
Written by Dexter Flanders
Directed by Rafale Feliciano-Roman
Foxes follows Daniel, a young black man trying to keep up with his life, which is moving fast. When his relationship with best friend Leon brings an unexpected change it creates turmoil, bringing a taboo into his family home that has the power to tear the closest and most loving relationships apart. Shortlisted for the 2018 Alfred Fagon Award, Dexter Flanders’s debut play explores masculinity and identity within London’s Caribbean community and Black street culture.
March 13th – 16th, 2025 New Works Festival
Pa’lante’s New Works Festival is an exploration and celebration of exciting new voices in American Theater with staged reading workshops, a panel discussion and talk-backs. The festival is the newest arm of Pa’lante’s committment to the development of important new plays and musicals.
April 10th – 20th, 2025
Don Juan
Written by Juan Ramirez, Jr.
Directed by Rafael Feliciano-Roman
Francesca has been proposed to by Juan, but she’s unsure of his true commitment. Francesca decides to use a grad school film exercise as an excuse to meet his exes and find out everything there is know about her prospective fiancé. In doing so, she uses the audiences as a sounding board to gain insight. A new dramedy by the playwright of Calling Puerto Rico.
May 15th – 23rd, 2025 Quarter Rican
Written by Gabriel Diego Hernandez and Rachel Elmer
Thirty-something Danny visits the local kids’ playground —super cute baby in tow— and engages in hilarious banter and park bench philosophizing with another parent. The conversation is peppered by wild asides with Daniel’s superlative and musical alter egos, MC Plátano and the Beatboxer.
June 6th – 15th, 2025
Misfit, America – World Premiere
Written by Nelson Diaz-Marcano
Directed by Blayze Teicher
Combining the magical realistic influences of Latin American literature with the Western genre popularized in the twentieth century, Misfit, America follows a diverse community led by an interracial couple as they are forced to protect a Native American teen from a brotherhood of supremacists. Before they can fight, they must become at peace with their past and learn to trust the future on each other. Living on the outskirts of the last free place in America, this band of misfits must prepare to give it all or run.
All performances will be at the Pa’lante Theater Company’s new venue at 158 Grand Street in downtown Waterbury, CT. For performance schedules, individual event pricing, tickets and 2024-2025 Pa’lante Season Passes, and more information about Pa’lante Theater Company, visit PalanteTheater.org.
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