Photo by @thehomelesspimp
(RED BANK, NJ) -- Two River Theater has announced casting for their highly anticipated Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) Festival of new plays by Latine playwrights, set to run Thursday, August 3 through Sunday, August 6, 2023 in Two River’s Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater.
Since Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) launched in 2011, five productions developed in the festival have gone on to mainstage productions at the theater, the most recent being their 2022/23 season production of Living & Breathing by Mando Alvarado. Upcoming in their 2023/24 season, A Thousand Maids by Tony Meneses will be the sixth Crossing Borders production to have a mainstage production.
“Crossing Borders is an incredible celebration of community,” says Artistic Director Justin Waldman. “It is thrilling to welcome this stellar group of artists to Two River and to share their immense talents with Red Bank.”
The Festival begins with the Community Kick-Off event on Thursday, August 3 on Two River’s Plaza, with live music from local musician Gil Cruz, delicious eats from neighborhood restaurants and tables hosted by a variety of community partners. There will also be a limited number of free tours available for community members to explore the Two River Theater spaces. Sign up for a tour here.
In addition to the free play readings, Colombian singer-songwriter Alea will perform a free concert on Saturday, August 5 on Two River’s Plaza. Alea’s in-person performances are powerful encounters of the spirit, passionate travelogues that link downtown New York to a tropical Colombian cantina. Her most recent album, 2021’s Alborotá, was shortlisted as among the Best Latin Music of the year by both Rolling Stoneand NPR.
This year’s festival is once again curated by the award-winning José Zayas (Two River’s Pinkolandia and El Coqui Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom) and is the first Crossing Borders Festival under the new leadership team, Artistic Director Justin Waldman and Managing Director Nora Deveau-Rosen.
Thursday, August 3 at 7:00pm - A Thousand Maids, written by Tony Meneses (Two River’s The Hombres and Guadalupe in the Guest Room) and directed by May Adrales (Two River’s In This House, Vietgone), will feature MaYaa Boateng (Exception to the Rule, Merry Wives), Tina Chilip (A Delicate Balance, Netflix’s Jessica Jones), Yadira Correa (Truckers, Mala), Zabryna Guevara (Water by the Spoonful, X-Men: Days of Future Past), and Denise Manning (What To Send Up, HBO’s Vinyl) A Thousand Maids will be a part of Two River’s upcoming 30th anniversary season, running from April 6 – April 28, 2024 on the Marion Huber Stage.
Friday, August 4 at 7:00pm - VOS!, written by Christina Pumariega (Turner & Hooch, Her Math Play) and directed by José Zayas (Two River’s Pinkolandia and El Coqui Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom), will feature the playwright herself and Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live, Love’s Labors Lost).
Saturday, August 5 at 3:00pm - Rebecca Oaxaca (Lays Down A Bunt), written by Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Pulitzer Prize finalist) and directed by José Zayas (Two River’s Pinkolandia and El Coqui Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom) will feature Maggie Bofill (Devil of Choice, NBC’s Smash), Kalyne Coleman (What To Send Up When It Goes Down, AMC’s Interview with a Vampire), Jorge Cordova (2019 Crossing Borders reading of Optional Boss Battle, Netflix’s Black Mirror), Hiram Delgado (Two River’s Two Sisters and a Piano, Broadway’s Take Me Out), Jose Gamo (Two River’s Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing), Irene Sofia Lucio (Broadway’s Slave Play, FX’s The Americans), Luis Moreno (Paramount +’s Evil, Epiphany), Jason O’Connell (Two River's Cyrano and Noises Off), Brian Quijada (Wolf Play, CBS’s Blue Bloods), Christopher M. Ramirez (Two River’s Living & Breathing, As You Like It), and Alexandra Silber (Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof, NBC’s Law and Order).
Sunday, August 6 at 3:00pm - Black Beans Project, written by Melinda Lopez (Yerma, Mala) and Joel Perez (Broadway’s Fun Home, Netflix’s tick, tick…Boom!) and directed by Lopez, will feature and the playwrights themselves and Hechter Ubarry (Broadway’s Man of La Mancha, Crocodile Dundee II).
PARTNERS: Two River Theater is proud to partner with Project Write Now, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Red Bank, transforming individuals, organizations, and communities through writing. Through our Voices of Hope outreach program, PWN students will perform their own original work before every play in the Crossing Borders Festival. The Voices of Hope Storytellers are (in order of their readings): Nathalia Garcia, Mar Mejia, Samantha Martinez, and Edith Lozano Lane.
Crossing Borders Festival audiences are encouraged to participate in an interactive lobby display curated by coLAB Arts. The art, featuring images from the festival’s four readings, has been created by artist Amrisa Niranjan, but it requires the audiences’ help. This community-driven piece will be completed and revealed over the course of the festival weekend. coLAB Arts engages artists, social advocates, and communities to create transformative new work and facilitate conversation, to challenge perceptions and inspire action.
Two River Theater is deeply grateful to the following community partners for their participation in the Community Kick-Off Event on August 3, and for their support of the Crossing Borders Festival: Brookdale Community College, JBJ Soul Kitchen, Lunch Break, Monmouth Arts, No Limits Café, Parker Family Health Center and the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center.
Tickets are free and all plays run between 90 minutes and 2 hours. There will be a brief reception with light refreshments following each reading.
FREE TICKETS/ACCESS: To register for all festival events, visit: https://tworivertheater.org/whats-on/crossing-borders-2023
SPONSORSHIP: Two River Theater’s 2023/24 Season Sponsor is Hackensack Meridian Health/Riverview Medical Center. The Production Sponsor for the Crossing Borders Festival is Bank of America.
Two River Theater is supported in part by public support through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Private support includes Bank of America, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Helen Clay Frick Foundation, The Merrill G. and Emita E. Hastings Foundation, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Investors Foundation, Jewish Communal Fund, The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Inc., Manasquan Bank Charitable Foundation, Monmouth University, OceanFirst Foundation, PNC Foundation, Springpoint Senior Living Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, Stolfe Zeigler New Jersey Family Law Group, UMAMI Girl, Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey, Zager Fuchs, PC, Zynergy Retirement Planning, and many other generous foundations, corporations and individuals.
Two River Theater produces American and world classics, new plays and musicals, programs for young people, and festivals of new work. Each year, we serve over 20,000 students, families and community members through our 4-6 show season, and 40+ events that reflect our diverse community of Monmouth County. Two River produces work on two stages—the 350-seat Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater, and the flexible 110-seat Marion Huber Theater. In 2020 we expanded our campus to 80,000 square feet with the opening of the Center for New Work, Education and Design. Two River Theater has commissioned and premiered original projects including Be More Chill by Tony Award nominee Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz (the theater’s first Broadway production) and Hurricane Diane by former Playwright-in-Residence Madeleine George (which won an Obie Award for its Off-Broadway run), and in June 2019, Two River was nationally recognized by USA TODAY as one of “10 great places to see a play.” Two River Theater is led by Artistic Director Justin Waldman and Managing Director Nora DeVeau-Rosen.
