Peter El Rojo THE GORILLA English PSA

IATI THEATER

PRESENTS

PETER EL ROJO, THE GORILLA

STARRING CARLOS ESPINAL

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT

8pm: Friday 22^nd, Saturday 23^rd April, 2016

3pm: Sunday April 24^th 

"An exuberant Carlos Espinal who became Gorilla."

~José Rafael Sosa | Critic | El Nacional Newspaper.

IATI Theater

64 E. 4^th Street

New York, N.Y. 10003

(212) 505-6757

International award-winner Carlos Espinal returns to the New York stages with his solo Peter El Rojo, The Gorilla.  The play is a stage adaptation of the Franz Kafta’s story of an ape who learns to behave like a human and becomes an immigrant among them.  After rave reviews and awards for its performances in New Jersey and the Dominican Republic, the New York premiere will take place in IATI Theater (East Village, NY), avant-garde Latin Company that for 48 years maintains a solid reputation of quality work.  All three performances, April 22-24, 2016, will be bilingual; for it is preferable the audience speaks English and Spanish.  General admission is $30.00 and $25.00 for students and seniors.

The famous story by Franz Kafka, “A Report to an Academy”, tells the story of an ape who learns to imitate humans and receives a recognition from the Royal Academy of Sciences. His acceptance speech unveils his origins and the reasons for his sound mind.

The stage version, written by Carlos Espinal, forwards the story.  The gorilla becomes a civilized man and represents the voice of the immigrants who abide to rules to feel accepted in a society that rejects them for looking different, or for being a “foreigner”. 

The gorilla in us is awakened by Gorilla Espinal.  This gorilla exposes the burden of a prejudiced and castrating society that doesn’t tolerate what’s “out-of-the-norm”.  Moreover, he holds us responsible for every act and consequences.  He takes us to a place that solely understands the mold established by the mainstream.

Post rigorous researches, Espinal writes this play as an acting laboratory, having as reference his experience as immigrant-emigrant in the United States, and passages from the life of British Writer Quintin Crisp, source of inspiration for the 80’s song “English Man in New York”.

It premiered in 2012 at the Dante Hall Theater in New Jersey.  A production by Amaury Esquea and Victor Alonzo followed in 2013 at the National Theatre inDominican Republic.  In addition to rave reviews from the audience and major press headlines, the play was nominated for Best Production, Best Direction and Best Actor of the Year by the prestigious “Soberano” Awards of the Dominican Republic.

“Returning to East Village is going back to my roots.  For many years, that is where I resided, studied and did the type of theater that molded who I am today.  In fact, this neighborhood inspired me to write this theatrical version of Kafka’s story.  It’s been long since I performed in New York, and it gives me great pleasure to work again with my IATI Theater friends, by bringing this story to an intimate setting,” said the playwright and actor.

IATI  Theater

IATI (International Theater Arts Institute) is a New York-based performing arts organization established in 1968.  Its mission is to address contemporary issues of broad human interest and framing them in a strong cultural context of social impact that motivates introspection and social awareness.  The quality of its work has received over 300 awards and commendations.