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64th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards Nominations Announced - Latino Nominees Include Burstein, Cordero, Santiago Hudson and Toledo

April 22, 2014, 12:46 pm
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Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams announced the nominations for the 64th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards, celebrating productions both on and Off-Broadway, on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at New York's legendary Friars Club. 

Productions who racked up nominations include A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which earned 11 nominations, the most of any production of the season; the new Broadway Disney musical Aladdin and the recent, critically acclaimed Public Theater production of Fun Home (starring nominee Michael Cerveris and Judy Kuhn and featuring Joel Pérez)— a Pulitzer Prize finalist — which received, respectively, eight and seven nominations. The Broadway debut of Rocky (starring Andy Karl and featuring Luis Salgado), the new musical based on the film of the same name, earned six nominations.




[Shown above, clockwise from top left: 2013-2014 Outer Critics Circle Award nominees Danny Burstein, Nick Cordero, Rubén Santiago Hudson andIsabel Toledo.]

Latino Outer Critics Circle Award nominees for the 2013-2014 season include Danny Burstein and Nick Cordero (both for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Cabaret and Bullets Over Broadway, respectively), Rubén Santiago Hudson (for Outstanding Solo Performance for How I Learned What I Learned), Isabel Toledo (for Outstanding Costume Design of a Play or Musical for After Midnight).

The Outer Critics Circle's members are affiliated with more than 90 newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, Internet and theatre publications in America and abroad.

Winners will be announced Tuesday, May 12, 2014. The annual Gala Awards Dinner and presentation will be held Thursday, May 22, 2014 at Sardi's, located in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, or to see a complete list of nominees, click here or here.

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2014 Drama League Nominations Announced - Nick Cordero and Rubén Santiago Hudson Up For Distinguished Performer Award

April 23, 2014, 10:53 am
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Nominations for the 80th annual Drama League Awards were announced on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 at legendary Sardi's Restaurant by Judith Light and Christopher Sieber. The awards ceremony will take place on Friday, May 16, 2014 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. The Drama League Awards recognize distinguished productions, performances and exemplary career achievements in Broadway and off-Broadway theater.

As previously reported, the Drama League's 2014 Distinguished Contributions and Achievements in Theatre honors will go to Barbara Cook, director John Tiffany and Broadway.com parent company Key Brand Entertainment/Broadway Across America. One winner is selected for the Distinguished Performer Award. Recipients can only receive the award once during his or her career. 

Nick Cordero (of Broadway's Bullets Over Broadway) and Rubén Santiago Hudson (of off-Broadway's How I Learned What I Learned) are up for the Distinguished Performer Award this year. (Shown above from left to right: Cordero, Santiago Hudson.)

To read about the other nominees, click here or here.
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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 23, 2014, 12:00 pm
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

John Leguizamo's self-penned solo show Ghetto Klown (done on Broadway, as a world tour and, most recently, as a television special on HBO), will presented as part of Central Park's SummerStage. Presented by City Parks Foundation, in association with Westbeth Entertainment) will present Leguizamo, shown at right, performing his solo show, directed by Fisher Stevens, in Central Park's Rumsey Playground for two performances on Monday, July 28, 2014. For more information about the engagement, click here.

Rosa Rodríguez is starring in the webseries "Space Available" (written and directed by Patrick Avella), which is set to premiere in September 2014. For more information, click here and here.

J.W. Cortés, shown at left with his son Jaiden Cortés, will be singing the national anthem before the New York Mets-Miami Marlins baseball game on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at Citi Field, located in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park area of Queens. The event is also in commemoration of Autism Awareness Day, and by his side while he sings the national anthem will be Jonah Cortés (his younger son), who just happens to be autistic. For more information about the actor-singer-filmmaker, click here.

"Pushing Dreams", the webseries written and directed by Adel L. Morales, will be screened at Neirs's Tavern in the Woodhaven neighborhood of Queens on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. The webseries stars Flaco Navaja, Caridad de la Luz, Selenis Leyva, Luis Antonio Ramos, Víctor Cruz, Plinio Villablanca, Angela Cove, Lisann Valentín, Bobby DeJesús, Gabriel Sloyer and Mónica Walter Palmieri and Allen Holloway. For more information, click here or here.

Francisco Ramos, shown at right, is co-starring in the pilot "Pitch" (written and directed by John Henry Soto, who also plays the title character). For more information about the project, read the article in the Bronx Free Press by clicking here.

Emely Grisanty will be performing in a solo show of Sophocles'Edipo rey. Adapted and directed by Walter Ventosilla, Grisanty will play eight characters in the famed Greek tragedy. the Guacamolink Performing Arts production will have a run in May at the Producers Club Theaters, located in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, click here.

José Roldán, Jr. will soon be seen in the film Six String Buddha (written and directed by Fernando Gil). A teaser trailer can be seen below.

Six String Buddha - Teaser Trailer from Fernando Gil on Vimeo.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?
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Netflix To Launch Spanish-Language Original Series From Gaz Alazraki

April 23, 2014, 1:08 pm
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Gaz Alazraki.
The streaming service-cum-online network Netflix has announced it would launch its first-ever Spanish-language original series. Netflix has ordered 13 episodes of an untitled comedy from director Gaz Alazraki, starring Luis Gerardo Méndez. The project marks a reunion for the duo, who both worked on Mexican box office smash Nosotros los Nobles.

Dubbed a satirical effort, from creator Mike Lam and Alazraki Entertainment, the series focuses on feuding heirs of a soccer club after the owner dies. The entire first season will launch in 2015, with shooting set for Mexico.

 Alazraki Entertainment, a new production company formed by Alazraki and former Warner Bros. Mexico production head Leonardo Zimbrón, was also behind Nosotros los Nobles. The company's feature debut raked in $27 million at the box office, making it Mexico's second highest-grossing film of all time. The film's focus on Mexico social-class divide made it a huge cultural phenomenon.

This is not Netflix's first effort in Latin America. The streamer recently committed to a 10-episode order of "Narcos", a drama based on Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel. From Brazilian director José Padilha, the series will shoot in Colombia. However, this Netflix announcement is unprecedented, given the fact that the Alazraki project will be distributed to all users on the Netflix platform, rather than to a specific demographic who tune into a particular channel for a particular type of content.

For more information, click here or here.
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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 24, 2014, 1:13 pm
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Jennifer Mercedes, shown at right, was profiled in the Bella's Fashionista blog, where her career as a sportscaster in her television series "La Chica Deportes" (named after her nickname– the title roughly translates from Spanish as "The Sports Girl") is profiled. The blog named her Bella's Empower– Latina of the Week. To read the blog (which is in Spanish), click here.

Caridad de la Luz (La Bruja); José Roldán, Jr.; and Christina Pagán will star alongside Albania Matos, Graciano Matos and Reyes in Crimes Against Humanity. Written by Reyes and Luis Rosa and directed by Reyes, the play is set to be filmed at the MNN El Barrio Firehouse in Manhattan's El Barrio neighborhood. For more information, click here.

Ruthy Otero, shown at left, was profiled in Examiner, where she was interviewed about her solo show Dancing With My Demons (directed by Kim Ima with additional direction by Loren E. Chadima), which is part of The One Festival, currently running at the 4th Street Theater in the East Village area of Manhattan. To read the interview, click here.

TEBA is presenting Las cenizas de Troya, based on the Euripides play Las troyanas. Directed by J. Edgar Mozoub, the play stars Caridad del Valle, Xiomara Cintrón, Elena Mohedano, Yvette Quintero, Agar García and Héctor Luis Rivera and will have a run in May and June at the Broadway Blackbox Theater in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood.

E3Outlaws Productions is presenting Reyes y Reyes. A musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will, it is written and directed by Enmanuel García Villavicencio and stars Jorge Daniel, Diana Carolina Pou, Enrique Jiménez, Paul Montoya, Zulaika Velázquez, Yanet Betances, Claudio Weisz, Ricki Villar, Albert Peña, Anderson Mendoza, Roberto Adolpho and Edison Carrera. The production will take place in May at the Red Carpet Theater in Manhattan's El Barrio neighborhood.

Teatro SEA and Manuel A. Morán are presenting My Superhero, Roberto Clemente. A new bilingual musical for children, it is written by Morán (book, co-lyrics, co-music) and Alejandro Zuleta (co-lyrics, co-music), it was translated by Richard Marino, Kristián Otero Morán and Antonio Valle and will be directed by Morán, with a run in May and June at SEA's namesake theater in the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center (home to HOLA) in the Loísaida neighborhood of Manhattan. The production features Jorge Castilla, Miranda Childers, Ann Flanigan, Alan González and Jesús E. Martínez in the cast.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?
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HOLAwave: Fame, Acting, and Porn

April 24, 2014, 2:02 pm
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[HOLAwave represents a series of guest blogs by industry insiders giving informative and educational tidbits for the Latino performer. They can range from acting and auditioning advice, tech tips, legal advice, marketing, producing tips, and so on. Get caught up in the wave– the HOLAwave.]

(This blog was originally published here.)

Some people want fame, so they become actors, thinking that it leads to fame. It might.

But I have a better idea for them....



Some people think that if they just get famous, then all of their problems would be solved...

...they'd be rich...
...people would like them...
...and they'd finally get the respect they deserve.

So they want to become an actor.

They think, "Hey, if I become a successful actor, then I'll be famous!" They are wrong of course, because there are many non-famous actors.

And these people [who just want to be famous] are cluttering up the audition rooms with their stupidity.

Instead, I think if you wanna be famous, be a porn star.

That's a lot of work too, but at least you have a better shot at it– you can go directly to the consumer that way too!

Laurence Fishburne's daughter went this route, and it didn't work out all that well for her...  then again so did Kim Kardashian.

You tell me– what do YOU think?


Bones Rodríguez is an actor, author and "entreperformer" who was born and bred in New York City. He can be seen in a bunch of commercials, plays, television shows, and independent films. He is the author of Captain Kirk's Guide To Women, published by Simon and Schuster in 2008, as well as a number of other books, including No More Waiters: How To Build Your Acting Business Without A Day Job and Half-Assed Health: How To Look Good Naked... Without Starving, Suffering or Surgery, among others. As an entrepreneur, he helps people build their own part-time online business, so they can work from home but still earn an income. For more information, click here or here.
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2014 Drama Desk Award Nominations Announced– Nominees Include Burstein, Cordero, Moreno and Santiago Hudson

April 25, 2014, 9:55 am
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[Shown above, clockwise from top left: 2014 Drama Desk Award nominees Bobby Moreno, Danny Burstein, Nick Cordero, Rubén Santiago Hudson.]

Nominations for the 2014 Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced Friday, April 25, 2014 at 54 Below by Academy Award winners Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Fran Drescher.

Nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway during the 2013-14 New York theatre season.

The new musical comedy A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder earned 12 nominations, the most of any production of the season. The new Jason Robert Brown-Marsha Norman musical The Bridges of Madison County also fared well, garnering nine nominations. The Off-Broadway musical Fun Home, which was recently named a Pulitzer Prize finalist (and which featured Joel Pérez in the cast), received eight nominations, while the Broadway musicals Aladdin and Rocky (the latter featuring Luis Salgado in the cast) earned seven nominations apiece.

Drama Desk nominees this year include Bobby Moreno (Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for Year of the Rooster); Danny Burstein and Nick Cordero (both for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Cabaret and Bullets Over Broadway, respectively); and Rubén Santiago Hudson (for Outstanding Solo Show for August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned).

The 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Tony winner Laura Benanti, will take place Sunday, June 1, 2014 at 8pm at The Town Hall in Manhattan. For more information, or to read the full list of nominees, click here or here.
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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 25, 2014, 12:37 pm
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Elaine Del Valle, shown at right in character, was profiled by The Gothic Times, which also reviewed her self-penned solo show Brownsville Bred (directed by Pamela Moller Kareman), which was recently presented at the Margaret Williams Theatre/Hepburn Hall at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, New Jersey. To read the article, click here. For more information, click here or here.

Eduardo Ramos was featured in a fashion layout for the May 2014 issue of GQ Magazine (U.S.).

Emmanuelle Bordas, shown at left, is singing with the Deep Pockets Band on Friday, April 25, 2014 at the Union City Museum at the William V. Musto Cultural Center at Union City. New Jersey, where she will sing a repertoire of Rafael Hernández songs  and jazz tunes for a Puerto Rican Heritage Month celebration and ceremony honoring José De Diego. For more information, click here.

Eileen Galindo will soon be seen in the films Hello, My Name is Frank (co-written and directed by Dale Peterson) and Caprichosas (written and directed by José Solomon). Both films are currently in post-production.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?
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Oscar Hijuelos Childhood Home Honored with Memorial Plaque

April 25, 2014, 2:03 pm
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Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
Oscar Hijuelos.
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (1951-2013), the son of Cuban immigrants who would later become a novelist and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his masterpiece The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love, was honored with a memorial plaque at his childhood home in New York by the city's Historic Landmarks Preservation Center.

Entrance of 419 West 118th
Street in Manhattan.
The Hijuelos family lived
in a first floor apartment
to the left of the front door.
Photo by Claudio Weisz.
The building, located at 419 West 118th Street, in the shadow of Columbia University in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, was fitted with a memorial plaque honoring the writer, who lived in a first floor apartment with his family (father Pascual Hijuelos, mother Magdalena Torrens de Hijuelos and brother José Hijuelos) from 1951 to 1971 (his mother continued living in the same apartment until she passed away at the age of 94).

Memorial plaque in front of Oscar
Hijuelos' childhood home.
Photo by Claudio Weisz.
His second novel, The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love, was released in 1989. After winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1990, it was adapted into a movie in 1992, and a musical in 2005. After Hijuelos, other Latinos who have received the Pulitzer (in various categories) include Nilo Cruz, Junot Díaz, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Rubén Vives and Sonia Nazario.

Other works by Hijuelos include Our House in the Last World, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, Mr. Ives' Christmas, Empress of the Splendid Season, A Simple Habana Melody (from when the world was good), Dark Dude, Beautiful Maria of My Soul, and Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir. In addition to writing, he taught at Hofstra University and was affiliated with Duke University.

Hijuelos on the roof of
419 West 118th Street.
The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) honored Hijuelos in 2001 with the HOLA Raúl Juliá Founders Award, presented to him by Juliá widow, Merel Poloway Juliá. In addition to the Pulitzer and the HOLA, he received an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in 1983, the Rome Prize (presented by the American Academy of Rome) in 1985 and the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature in 2000.

Hijuelos passed away in 2013 of a heart attack after playing a game of tennis (one of his favorite hobbies). He left behind his widow, writer and editor Lori Marie Carlson. 
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The Tío Louie Interview: MANOS SUCIAS director Josef Wladyka

April 25, 2014, 3:22 pm
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HOLA is proud to present the Tío Louie Interview, where filmmaker and bon vivant Louis Perego Moreno (also known as Tío Louie) interviews actors and multimedia-makers in the business.

In this edition, Tío Louie gets his hands dirty with the award-winning director of Manos sucias, Josef Wladyka. 

Though five out of 89 feature films at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival were produced in Latin America, Manos sucias (Dirty Hands) set in Colombia won Best New Narrative Director for Josef Wladyka. In the film, Jacobo, a desperate fisherman and Delio, a naive kid, embark on a journey trafficking millions of dollars of cocaine up the Pacific coast of Colombia towing a submerged torpedo in the wake of their fishing boat. While Jacobo is a seasoned trafficker, young Delio is unprepared for the grim reality.


Manos sucias director
Josef Wladyka.
In my own disarming and non-confrontational manner, I couldn’t resist asking the director,“What’s a Polish-Japanese guy from Brooklyn doing directing and co-writing a film in Colombia?” The first few opening seconds of this brilliant film shine the spotlight on black Colombians in this Pacific port in the western region. What many fail to realize is that 30% of the country is comprised of Afro-Colombians. And when conducting my due diligence researching this story, of course I had to reach out to a native Colombian friend from Barranquilla and ask to describe Buenaventura. Her immediate response was,“A tragedy as to what is happening there.” In March of this year, the Economist named the town the most violent in all of Colombia.

Yet when the Tribeca Film Festival bestowed their award on this film they affirmed, “We have chosen a filmmaker whose journey should truly be an (is an) example to all of us about the commitment to the process of researching and developing a film. Not only did this director spend several years immersed in a marginalized community in order to tell the story in the most truthful way possible, he impacted and contributed to that community. We felt this film was an eye- and mind-opener, that transported us to a different place, stimulating our thinking, allowing us to meditate on the relationship between violence and circumstance.” I couldn’t agree more as I loved this film from beginning to end and here was my interview with Josef that tied the knot.

In this being a story mostly about blacks, was it the story or locale? 
It arose from the reality of all the towns in that region where they are black. Once I cast the film, I realized that there is a lot of social exclusion and racism in this region. In the casting process I heard their stories. I also discovered this beautiful Afro-Colombian culture in casting real people from the region.

Jarlin Javier Martínez and Cristián James Abvincula
in a scene from Manos sucias.
How did the black community receive you or what strategy did you implement to be accepted?
Our film was set in Buenaventura and dealt with narco-trafficking – a town under siege. We came in with no assumptions and open to hearing their story and how narco-trafficking played a role in their lives by shining light on this story. We were always honest and upfront about what the story was about. Buenaventura is a place where a lot of people are promised, but people don’t deliver. So when they saw this guy who was Polish-Japanese from the U.S. that was interested in their story they paused. Plus, when I arrived with a co-writer and Elena, a producer, they saw it was serious.

How did you lure Spike Lee to be an Executive Producer and receive a grant?
I went to the NYU Film Graduate program and he taught in my third year. I was already traveling for several years to Colombia developing this story and I had a script. He always said he loved the narrative of the film. He always did what he could to support this project by lending his name, writing letters of support, and through the school provided a Spike Lee Production grant. After they had shot it and we were editing it, he liked it very much and decided to come on board.

Tell me about the casting and your actors.
The principal actors are from Buenaventura. Most of them were theater students. They do plays traveling around Colombia performing from an Afro-Colombian perspective. It was a teacher from the school who had recommended his students. I wanted to cast them all. These weren’t non-actors, but none of them had acted on camera. The rehearsal was all about preparing them to act for film. I can’t express how much talent exists in Buevanventura among actors, rappers, etc.

 A scene from Manos sucias
How do you respond to Colombians who say they are sick and tired of their country constantly being depicted as infested mainly with narco-traffickers, when they feel there are so many other stories to tell?
Our film is about a specific place that has been historically excluded by the government of Colombia. It is more than drug trafficking. It’s about two brothers. The torpedo that they pull with their motorboat is a metaphor for all the problems going on in that area. We never show drugs in the film. We want to show the reality that they face. Also, as U.S. filmmakers we sacrificed and put ourselves under tremendous risk, but the locals bought into the mission. This is a part of Colombia that a lot of Colombians don’t want to see. In The 54th Cartagena Film Festival, native Colombians had much more of an emotional reaction than we experienced at the Tribeca Film Festival. People cried in Colombia. There’s always positive stories to tell in Colombia. I lived in Cali and Bogotá, but our particular film was about this place and what the residents undergo.

 Manos sucias co-writer/director of photography
Alan Blanco, actor Cristián James Abvincula,
executive producer Spike Lee, director/co-writer
Josef Wladyka. Courtesy of Getty Images.
As a veteran filmmaker, what is the biggest advice you have for a narrative film director?
First of all, I don’t consider myself a veteran. I’m a first-time filmmaker and there’s always a lot to learn. In pre-production when casting actors, give yourself a lot of time and spend quality time with them. Don’t cut corners. Once pre-production starts, you are in over your head if you have not focused on this part of the production.

Does your film translate to a U.S. audience?
Yes, I believe so. The reaction at Tribeca has been so incredible. It’s about survival and brotherhood– these are universal themes. We wanted it to be entertaining and accessible. There were parts where you laughed and found it suspenseful– while not being too esoteric– and more importantly, [there were parts that are there to] leave you thinking. We could have made a documentary, but we chose a narrative.     

For more information about Manos sucias, click here.

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Louis Perego Moreno (Tío Louie) is an interactive content producer and educator who for 32 years has owned Skyline Features, a bilingual multimedia and educational production company developing documentaries, television programming and advertising commercials featuring Latinos, blacks, women, urban youth and LGBT people. He has trained 1,500 Latino and African American youth over 10 years to produce 70 documentary shorts. For documentary features he was the producer and director of Latina Confessions (2010) and co-producer of American Dreams Deferred (2013) on PBS.
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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 27, 2014, 7:24 am
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Héctor Luis Rivera, shown at right with fellow recipient Alma Peralta, received a citation on Friday, April 25, 2014 from Lucio Fernández on behalf of the New Jersey State Senate where he was commended for his work as an actor, director and producer. 

The Linda Nieves-Powell film short Stereotypically Me (starring the all-HOLA member cast of Andrea Navedo, Liza Colón-Zayas and Elaine Del Valle) received an Award of Merit in the Latin American/Latino/Hispanic category at the Best Shorts competition in La Jolla, California. For more information, click here or here.

Robin De Jesús, shown at left, will play Doody in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Grease. Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey (with additional songs by John Farrar, Barry Gibb, Scott Simon and Louis St. Louis), the musical will be directed by Daniel Goldstein and conclude the 75th anniversary season of the theater, located in Millburn, New Jersey. Performances begin at the end of May. For more information, click here.

Vanessa Verduga and her webseries "Justice Woman" won two awards at the Rome Web Awards (out of Rome, Italy)– one for Best Original Score (for TJ Kross) and for Verduga herself, for Best Sexy Actress. For more information about the Rome Web Awards, click here. For more information about the award-winning webseries, click here.

J.F. Seary is in the cast of Latin Lives. Written by Robert Louis Maisonett and Lourdes Cuadrado Cabrera, the play is directed by Lourdes Sepúlveda and will be presented in June at the Producers Club Theaters, located in the theater district of midtown Manhattan.

Cedric Leiba, Jr. is slated to play José (and two other roles) in 50 Shades of F****d Up, an unauthorized musical parody of E.L. James's 50 Shades of Grey trilogy of novels. Written by Tricia Brouk (libretto) and Andrew David Sotomayor (music and lyrics), the production is directed and choreographed by Brouk and musically directed by Sotomayor. Performances begin in May at Sophie's Broadway in the Broadway theater district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, click here.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?
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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 28, 2014, 10:19 am
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Lorraine Rodríguez-Reyes, shown at right, was crowned "The ONE" as her self-penned solo show Mami Confessions (directed by Susan G. Reid) was declared the winner of the solo show festival known as The ONE Festival. The festival, produced by Caicedo Productions and TTO Entertainment took place in April 2014 at the 4th Street Theater in Manhattan's East Village. The winner was declared by audience vote and she will receive a full production of her solo show sometime later in the year as part of her prize. 

Teatro Experimental Blue Amigos (TEBA) is presenting an English-language production of the Spanish play Suicide is Prohibited in Springtime. Written by Alejandro Casona and directed by Héctor Luis Rivera, it will have a June run in the Broadway Blackbox Theater in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood and star A.B. Lugo, Alexandra Manzano, María Richardson, Jennifer Quinn, Dennis Maragliano, Rivera and Ángel Alcántara.

Alejandro Santoni will be acting in the 2014 Industry Showcase from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. The showcase will take place on Thursday, May 15, 2014 at The Actors Studio, located in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, click here.

Rhina Valentín will be mistress of ceremonies at the second annual Bronx Day in Albany event, which highlights the best of the New York State county of the Bronx (the northernmost county of New York City, and the only one of the city's counties not on an island or part of one). The event which takes place on Monday, April 28, 2014 at The Hart Lounge at The Egg building at Empire State Plaza in the capital of New York State is presented by New York State Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, New York State Senator Jeffrey Klein and Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz, Jr., and feature performances by The Bronx Wanderers and Just Nuts. For more information, click here.

Due to popular demand, Teatro Vanguardia USA is presenting Repercusiones en torno a un asesinato, con final orgiástico for a return engagement. Written by Enrique Buenaventura, it is adapted and directed by Iván L. Argudo, and will have a May run at the Royale Theater in the Producers Club Theaters complex, located in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. The play stars Claudio Weisz, Jessica Florí, Ana Montero, Raúl Rivera, Fior Marte, William Pérez, Olga Camil, Carlos Solís and Ivonne Martínez in the cast.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?  



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Tribeca Film Festival Awards 2014: Few Latino Films, But Big Wins

April 28, 2014, 12:05 pm
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The 13th annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by AT&T, announced the winners of its competition categories tonight at a ceremony presided over by Pat Kiernan and hosted at the Conrad New York in New York City.

The world competition winners for narrative and documentary films were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 10 countries. Best New Director prizes were awarded to a first-time director for both narrative and documentary films, selected from a pool of 39 feature films throughout the program. Awards were also given for the best narrative short, best documentary short, and student visionary films in the short film competitions. This year’s Festival included 89 features and 57 short films from 40 countries, programmed by a team led by Tribeca’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore, Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer, Director of Programming Genna Terranova, and Programmer Cara Cusumano.

Of the 89 feature films, only five were from Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezula) and three from the United States (Chef, Food Chains, X/Y), had producers, directors, stars and/or subject matter that was Latino. Of the 57 film shorts, three had producers, directors, stars and/or subject matter that was Latino. 

However, when it came to the awards of the festival, Latinos and films of Latino subject racked up major wins.

Güeros, directed by
Alonso Ruizpalacios.
Güeros (directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios) won Best Cinematography in a Narrative Film for Damián García. Ruizpalacios also received a Special Jury Mention for the film. The film Manos sucias (directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka and written by Alan Blanco and Wladyka), which dealt with Afro-Colombians in the Pacific coast town of Buenaventura, earned Wladyka a Best New Narrative Director award.

Manos sucias, directed by
Josef Kubota Wladyka.
With regard to the Audience Awards, the Heineken Audience Award for Narrative Feature went to Chef (directed by Jon Favreau), which starred John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale and Sofía Vergara, among many other high-level stars. (Wladyka's Manos sucias received second place for that award.) Mala mala (directed by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini) was second place in the Audience Award for Documentary, losing out to Keep On Keepin' On (directed by Alan Hicks).

Finally, the Tribeca Online Festival Best Online Short award was given to Love in the Time of March Madness (directed by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano).

For more information, click here.
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2014 Tony Awards Nominations Announced – Nominees Include Burstein, Cordero and Toledo

April 29, 2014, 6:54 am
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Tony nominee Jonathan Groff and Emmy nominee Lucy Liu announced the nominations for the 68th Annual Tony Awards Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 8:30am ET in the Diamond Horseshoe at the Paramount Hotel in Manhattan.

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known informally as the Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.

The new musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder earned 10 nominations, the most of any production of the season. The revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which stars Neil Patrick Harris, also fared well, nabbing eight nominations. After Midnight, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Glass Menagerie and Twelfth Night earned seven nominations apiece.


Nominees include Danny Burstein (Cabaret) and Nick Cordero (Bullets Over Broadway), both up for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; and Isabel Toledo (After Midnight) for Best Costume Design for a Musical.

[Clockwise from above left: Tony nominees Danny Burstein, Nick Cordero and Isabel Toledo.]

For the first time in Tony Award history, off-Broadway theaters were considered eligible for the annual Tony Regional Theater Award. This year, the Tony will go to the New York-based Signature Theatre.

The Tony Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, June 8, 2014 live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS starting at 8pm ET. The host of the ceremony will be Hugh Jackman. For more information, click here.

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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 29, 2014, 1:30 pm
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Marco Antonio Rodríguez, shown at right, will star as Nino in his play Barceló con hielo. The play, which won the 2012 MetLife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition, will be directed by José Zayas, will premiere in June at Repertorio Español (located in the Rose Hill neighborhood of Manhattan) and will also star Modesto Lacén, Jerry Soto, Iván Camilo, Manny De La Cruz and Fernando Then. For more information, click here or here.

A webisode of Elaine Del Valle's webseries "Reasons Y I'm Single" (the webisode "I Tweet Jay-Z") has been selected to screen at the New York Los Angeles International Film Festival (NYLAIFF) on Saturday, May 10, 2014 at the Producers Club Theater in the theater district of Manhattan. For more information, click here. For more information about the webseries, click here. 

Wanda Arriaga, shown, in character, at left, is performing her self-penned solo show ¡Qué felices son las Barbies! (directed by Mario Colón) in May at Repertorio Español (located in the Rose Hill neighborhood of Manhattan). For more information about the production, click here.

Lisann Valentín can be seen acting in the film short Anonymous (directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green).

José A. Esquea is slated to direct Fred Rohan Vargas'Tide Up The Rift. The play is slated for a run during the run of summer 2014 as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival, slated for July and August at the Abingdon Theatre Complex in the fashion district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, click here or here.

Bones Rodríguez will be joining writer-director-producer Toni Vitale and Tara Moncure and Alexander Neil Miller for two evenings of sketch comedy. Called Laughin' With TV, it will have performances on Monday, May 5, 2014 and Tuesday, May 6, 2014 at The Celebration of Whimsy (The C.O.W.) space located in Manhattan's Loísaida neighborhood. For more information, click here, here or here.

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one? 

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HOLA Member Bochinche

April 30, 2014, 12:40 pm
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Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Johanna Tolentino, shown at right, has completed the pilot episode of her webseries "Whatever It Takes", which is hitting the film festival circuit, and will film additional webisodes this summer. She was also interviewed with Jabari Gray by Uriah Young for The Synergistic Pulse blog. To hear the interview, click here. For more information about the webseries (which also stars Jay Álvarez) click here.

Mondongo cubano (written and directed by Ricardo Bacallao) will have its world premiere screening on Tuesday, May 21, 2014 at the Union City Museum/William V. Musto Cultural Center in Union City, New Jersey. Produced by Bacallao, Marlene Forté and Lucio Fernández (see below). For more information, click here or here.

Pregones Theater-Puerto Rican Traveling Theater is presenting Alvan Colón Lespier's Call Me Esteban Only. Billed as "Part 1 of The Desire of the Astronaut", this new musical thriller is directed by Colón and features original music by Desmar Guevara. The production will run in May and June at Pregones' namesake theater in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx and stars Jesús E. Martínez, Flaco Navaja, Chad Carstarphen, Shadia Fairuz, Antonio Vargas, Yaremis Félix and Meredith Burns. For more information, click here.

Lucio Fernández is the host of the local television show "Live on Stage" (MNN/QPTV), the most recent episode of which featured Emmanuelle Bordas singing with Sirkis and The Deep Pockets and an interview with Héctor Luis Rivera, who performed poetry and also received a citation from the New Jersey State Senate. To see the episode (which is in English and Spanish), click on the video below. Bordas can be seen starting at about 02:24 of the episode (and again starting at 22:36 of the episode), while Rivera can be seen starting at 12:40 of the episode. For more information, click here or here.



If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so, by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?
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WELCOME NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS – MARCH AND APRIL 2014

April 30, 2014, 12:45 pm
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Below is a list of new (and returning) HOLA members who joined between March 1, 2014 and April 30, 2014. (Note that "returning members" refer to those members who have returned to HOLA after having their memberships expire for some time and do not  include renewing members.)

Top row, left to right: Enrique Avilés, Liliana Barrera; second row, left to right: Telba Cavero, Xiomara Cintrón; third row, left to right: María Cotto, Natalia Ivana Escobar; fourth row, left to right: María Fontanals, Stephanie Garay; fifth row, left to right: Bianka Gómez, Emilio González; sixth row, left to right: Nahuel Gorosito, Yvonne King; seventh row, left to right: Doris Lola Mártir, William Pérez; eighth row, left to right: Luis Ramos, Eric Robledo; ninth row, left to right: Lorraine Rodríguez-Reyes,  Rénoly Santiago; tenth row, left to right: Alejandro Santoni, Harry Soto; eleventh row, left to right: Sebastián Stimman, Gisele Torres; twelfth row, left to right: Vivian Varasdi, Mathia Vargas; bottom row: Mariana Vily. 
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All About Becoming an HOLA Member or a Friend of HOLA

April 30, 2014, 1:46 pm
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Wanna be an HOLA member? Wanna know more about HOLA first?

HOLA is a not-for-profit arts service and advocacy organization founded in 1975.

HOLA members get their headshots and resumes on our web directory. In addition, HOLA receives casting notices from various sources that we pass on to our members (or in specific cases, help refer actors to the casting director).

HOLA offers low-cost workshops and seminars, professional counseling, special events and networking activities. We also produce the HOLA Awards which honor outstanding achievement by Latinos in entertainment.

HOLA has a Facebook page and a Twitter page in addition to this blog (imaginatively titled El Blog De HOLA). Whenever a member is doing a project, we can promote via e-mails we send out, through our Members in Performance page on the website or in El Blog on our HOLA Member Bochinche column (only good bochinche, never bad bochinche). It functions as another outlet to promote your work. HOLA is also on YouTube and on Wikipedia.

What if you are not an actor? You can support HOLA by being a Friend of HOLA. For more information, click here.

To become an HOLA member online (New York metropolitan area), fill out the member application form here.

To become an HOLA member (and you don't live within the NYC metropolitan area), call (212) 253-1015 or (888) 624-HOLA and inquire about our Regional Membership.

To become a Friend of HOLA, click here.

If you have any more questions, check out our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page by clicking here.

We like to think of HOLA as "la comunidad del actor latino." We would love for you to be part of that community. 

Become an HOLA member.
Become a Friend of HOLA.

Ya es la hora.
Now is the time.
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Why Join HOLA? Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About HOLA

April 30, 2014, 1:51 pm
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WHY JOIN HOLA?

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is HOLA an agency or management company?
No. While we work similarly to an agency or an artist management company, we do a lot more. In essence, HOLA is a membership organization, a not-for-profit arts service and advocacy organization that offers jobs and casting opportunities, workshops and seminars and special events to its membership.

• Does one have to audition for HOLA?
No. HOLA is a membership organization. Just pay the annual membership and you become an HOLA member.

• I am a new actor. Does HOLA apply to me? (Or conversely, I have a fair amount of experience. How does HOLA apply to me?)
HOLA members range from the beginner to the established and everywhere in between. HOLA will apply to you at every stage of your career.

• Do I have to speak Spanish (or Portuguese) to be an HOLA member?
No. HOLA members speak English only, Spanish only, or both languages fluently. Our Brazilian members speak Portuguese as well as English. There is no requirement for any member to speak Spanish (or Portuguese) to be an HOLA member.

• What kind of casting notices do you receive?
HOLA receives all kinds of casting notices— from union and nonunion, through the disciplines of film, television, theater and voiceover. The majority of our notices are distributed to our membership. There are some instances, whether because of short notice or because of the search for something very specific, that HOLA makes referrals to certain talent.

• I have signed representation. Would that be in conflict with HOLA?
No. In fact, we would put your signed representative’s name and number on your online profile. It would be another way to promote yourself without conflict.

• If I book a job through HOLA, do I owe you a commission?
No. We are not an agency or artist management company. You are under no obligation to give us a commission. (But if you want to show your appreciation with a donation, we’ll be forced to take it, I suppose.)

• I am in the process of getting my citizenship. Could I still join HOLA?
Yes. As long as you can legally work in the U.S., you can join HOLA.

• Does HOLA have a social media presence?
Yes. We are on Facebook, Twitter and have our own channel on YouTube. In addition, we are on Wikipedia and have our own blog, titled El Blog de HOLA.

• What if I am not an actor but I like what you do?
You could support HOLA by becoming a Friend of HOLA and donating to the organization. If you are a producer or director, a Friend of HOLA donation allow us to promote your productions!
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HOLA Regional Membership Available For Those Outside New York Metropolitan Area

April 30, 2014, 1:57 pm
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If you are an actor who lives in an area of the U.S. outside of the New York metropolitan area, New Jersey or Connecticut (HOLA's programming and administrative headquarters region), HOLA is proud to announce its Regional Membership level - for only $65 (versus a $125 regular NYC region membership price) for one full year!

As an HOLA Regional Member, you'll be entitled to the following member benefits:

• Your headshot, resume, reel and voiceover demo*  showcased on the HOLA Pages, the internet's only concentrated source of Latino acting talent. The directory is a trusted resource for casting directors, producers and talent agents receiving, on average, over 5,000 visits per month. (* There is an additional charge of $15 for adding your voiceover demo.)

• Your performances listed and promoted via HOLA's website and social media pages (Facebook and Twitter) that reaches thousands of people in the entertainment industry.

• Casting notices that will alert you to employment opportunities tailored to the Latino actor.

• Advocacy to combat stereotypes of the Latino/Hispanic community in media and entertainment as well as the opportunity to join in solidarity with the Latino/Hispanic acting community.


Application for regional memberships accepted by telephone order only. Call HOLA toll free at (888) 524-HOLA or (888) 524-4652. (VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted.) Please submit your headshot (in .jpg format) and resume in a Word document or in Portable Data Format (.doc or .docx; or .pdf) via e-mail to HOLA.
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