FOR RELEASE: Immediate
Contact:
Blanca Lasalle – Creativelink
(212) 684-6001 Ext.101
blanca@creativelinkny.com
Marga Gomez and Bill Santiago:
Star in the First TeatroStageFest
Comedy Bailout Package
The market is on edge. Unemployment is soaring. And bail-out packages seem to be
required everywhere. TeatroStageFest is providing the first-ever Comedy Bail-Out
Package -- three irreverent comedy shows that offer the best (and funniest) bail-out deal
in town since Congress' stimulus package!
Funny Lesbian Latina Marga Gomez and Journalist-turned comedian Bill
Santiago are back in town to spice up the third annual TeatroStageFest
(June 15-28, 2009) with their hilarious take on Latino life in the U.S.A. The
sharp-tongued funny talking duo will present two acclaimed shows as part of
the new Comedy Bailout Package presented in collaboration with the
Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre during New York’s premiere celebration of
Latino Theater for all audiences.
Marga Gomez, who captivated critics and audiences with her Off Broadway
hit Los Big Names, will present the New York premiere of Long Island
Iced Latina, a new show about her awkward adolescence in Massapequa,
Long Island. The show which opened to full houses last January at Miami’s
South Beach Comedy Festival, and later played the National Hispanic Cultural
Center in Albuquerque, pours a long tall drink of cultural confusion, chronic
virginity and mother-daughter instability. Mixing theatrical physicality and
stand-up comedy energy, Gomez begins by recounting a hilariously dark
memoir of the only brown girl in a white high school. She then switches to
deliver an intoxicating manifesto on behalf of Latinos who can’t speak
Spanish, suck at Salsa, and suffer from Blonditis.
“We are everywhere, and we vote!” she exclaims.
Long Island Iced Latina plays June 18, 19, 20 at 8PM, and June 21 at
7PM, at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, 304 W. 47th Street. Running
Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes. Directed by David Schweizer.
The TeatroStageFest Comedy Bailout Package at the Puerto Rican
Traveling Theatre also features award winning-journalist turned stand-up
comedian Bill Santiago. Santiago will present his acclaimed Pardon My
Spanglish ¡Porque Because!, a hilarious observations on bi-culturalism,
the misconceptions and realities of being Hispano in Los United States, based
on his best selling book published by Quirk Books Acclaimed by audiences
nationwide, the show brings to the stage Santiago’s irreverent examination
of the fusion of Spanish and English into “The New American Language”
(aka: Spanglish). As he himself describes: “Twice the vocabulary, half the
grammar.”
Pardon My Spanglish ¡Porque Because! plays June 19 and 20 at 10PM, at
the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre following performances of
Marga
Gomez’s Long Island Iced Latina. Running Time: 1 hour. The audience
can buy discount tickets to both shows on the same night, and get exclusive
access to the TeatroStageLounge, for a complimentary glass of wine.
About the artists:
Marga Gomez is a Puerto Rican/Cuban-American comedian, playwright, and
humorist. Her solo play Los Big Names about her unconventional
upbringing, earned Gomez a Drama Desk Award nomination in 2006. She is
also the recipient of Theater LA’s Ovation Award, The GLAAD Award for OffOff Broadway Theater and The San Francisco Bay Guardian Reader’s Choice
Award for “Best Comedian 2008.” Marga is the author/performer of eight
solo plays and one of America’s first openly Gay comedians. She has
appeared on LOGO, Comedy Central, and Showtime. A workshop production
of Long Island Latina was seen at Joe’s Pub during TeatroStageFest 2008, co
presented by INTAR Theatre.
Bill Santiago is the first born of at least four children. He became a standup
after narrowly escaping a career in journalism, facing the fact that as a
comedian he was funny, but as a reporter he was a joke (although he did
manage to write for the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald,
etc.) With the premiere of his first television special, “Comedy Central
Presents: Bill Santiago,” he won over fans nationwide with his dead-on
observations about Spanglish.
He was a big hit on Comedy Central’s
Premium Blend, and is currently developing and touring his show Spanglish
101.
About TeatroStageFest:
TeatroStageFest (June 15-28, 2009) is New York’s premier two-week
annual artistic, educational, and cultural celebration of Great Theater
for All Audiences. Presented by the Latino International Theater
Festival of New York, Inc. (LITF/NY), it showcases groundbreaking
theater, dance, music and comedy performances alongside workshops,
panels, and lectures featuring artists based in New York, Latin
America, the Caribbean, and Spain.
Long Island Iced Latina and Pardon My Spanglish ¡Porque Because!
are presented in partnership with the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre,
Miriam Colón Valle, Executive Producer. Performances are in English and
Spanglish, respectively. The TeatroStageFest also features Colombia’s
Andrés López in Pelota de Letras and Me Pido la Ventana Con Frutica
Picada, two productions in partnership with Queens Theatre in the Park
(June 26 and 27). Andrés López’s shows are in Spanish.
For complete TeatroStageFest show line-up and ticket information visit
www.teatrostagefest.org.
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
WHAT: TeatroStageFest Comedy Bailout Package, featuring Funny
Lesbian Stand-Up Comedy Artist Marga Gomez in Long Island Iced
Latina (a new solo play about her awkward adolescence in Massappequa,
Long Island), and Journalist-turned comedian Bill Santiago in Pardon My
Spanglish ¡Porque Because! (a hilarious observation on bi-culturalism, the
misconceptions and realities of being Hispano in Los United States, based on
his best selling book). Presented by the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre
in association with TeatroStageFest 2009, the third annual artistic and
cultural celebration produced by the Latino International Theater Festival of
New York, Inc.
WHERE: Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre 304 W. 47th Street at 8th
Avenue Manhattan.
WHEN: Long Island Iced Latina, June 18,19,20 at 8:00 PM, June 21at
7:00 PM. Pardon My Spanglish ¡Porque Because!, June 19 & 20 at 10:00
PM.
TICKETS: $20 each show
Two-show discount + access to TeatroStageLounge: $35
TICKETS AND INFORMATION: www.teatrostagefest.org or 212.695.4010