FULL CASTING
ANNOUNCED FOR
SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS
By José Rivera
Directed by Mark Wing-Davey
Featuring
Karina Arroyave, Raúl Castillo, Nathan
LeBron,
John Ortiz, Felix Solis and Patricia
Velasquez
JUNE 20 – JULY 23
A CO-PRODUCTION OF LABYRINTH THEATER COMPANY
AND
THE PUBLIC THEATER
LAByrinth Theater
Company (Co-Artistic Directors Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz and
Executive Director Steve Asher) and The Public Theater (Artistic
Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus) are pleased to
announce that casting is complete for the world premiere of José Rivera’s
play School
of the Americas. The cast includes Karina
Arroyave, Raul Castillo, Nathan LeBron, John Ortiz, Felix Solis
and Patricia Velasquez. They will be
directed by the previously announced Mark Wing-Davey. The limited-run
production will begin performances June 20th with an official
opening of July 6th. The final performance is July 23rd. A co-production between LAByrinth Theater
Company and The Public Theater, School of the Americas is a new play
from the Academy Award®-nominated author of The Motorcycle Diaries.
In the Bolivian jungle, Che Guevara is captured and held in
a one-room schoolhouse. For two days, no one – not the Bolivian
President nor the U.S. State Department—is able to decide his fate. The
young schoolteacher of the village insists that she be given permission to
speak to the famous revolutionary. Her conversations with Che—based on
historical fact—are the heart of School
of the Americas.
OBIE Award winner and LAByrinth Co-Artistic Director John
Ortiz will portray Che Guevara. The
young schoolteacher, Julia Cortes, will be played by Patricia Velasquez, who is
making her professional U.S. stage debut.
Karina Arroyave plays Lucila Cortes and Felix Solis assumes the role of
Felix Rodriguez. Cast as the two guards
are Raul Castillo and Nathan LeBron.
José Rivera’s plays have been translated into
seven languages and seen at New York’s Public Theater (Marisol), South
Coast Rep (References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot), the Mark Taper
Forum (The Street of the Sun), Playwrights Horizons (Cloud
Tectonics), Manhattan Class Company (Sueno), The Ensemble Studio
Theatre (The House of Ramon Iglesia, The
Promise, and Slaughter in the Lake),
Circle Rep Theatre (Each Day Dies with
Sleep), Hartford Stage Company (Marisol), the Goodman Theatre (Cloud
Tectonics), INTAR (Giants Have Us in Their Books), the La Jolla
Playhouse (Adoration of the Old Woman
and Maricela de la Luz Lights the World), Berkeley Rep (Cloud
Tectonics), the Greenway Court Theatre (Sonnets for an Old
Century), and the Lee Strasberg Theatre (Brainpeople), among
others. Honors include Obie Awards in Playwriting for Marisol and
References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot as well as a Fulbright Arts
Fellowship, a Rockefeller Grant, a Berilla Kerr Award, and a Whiting Foundation
Writing Award. Mr. Rivera’s first produced screenplay, for The Motorcycle Diaries, directed by
Walter Salles, produced by Robert Redford, and featuring Gael García Bernal,
earned him an Academy Award® nomination In October 2005, LAByrinth produced a
developmental production of his play Massacre (Sing to Your Children)
to open the current season. Mr. Rivera
serves on the boards of the Independent Feature Project and the Sundance Institute,
and is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company.
British director,
actor and teacher Mark Wing-Davey first
came to prominence in the US with his internationally award-winning production
of Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest, for which he won an
OBIE Award. His Public Theater credits
include 36 Views by Naomi Iizuka (2002 Lucille Lortel Award
nomination); The Skriker by Caryl
Churchill (Drama Desk Award nomination)
and Silence, Cunning, Exile by
Stuart Greenman; as well as Henry V and Troilus and Cressida for
Shakespeare in the Park. His
other credits include The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Carson Kreitzer (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Small Tragedy by
Craig Lucas (Playwrights Horizons); The Lights by Howard Korder
(Lincoln Center – Drama Desk nomination); Angels in America by Tony Kushner
(ACT – Bay Area Critics Circle Award); and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
by Caryl Churchill (Royal National Theatre).
Mark Wing-Davey has been Artistic Director of London’s Central School of
Speech and Drama, visiting professor in NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and Chief
Executive of The Actors Centre in London.
LAByrinth Theater’s Co-Artistic Director, John Ortiz was born and raised in
Brooklyn, New York. On stage, he most
recently played the role of ‘Jesus’ in the world premiere of The Last Days
of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis, a co-production between
LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater. In 2004 he appeared as
‘José Solo’ in LAByrinth’s production of Guinea Pig Solo by Brett C.
Leonard. Other LAByrinth Theater credits include Jesus Hopped the ‘A’
Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis in London and New York (Drama Desk
nomination, Drama League Award), Where’s My Money? written and directed by John Patrick
Shanley, Moonlight Mile by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Roughhouse by
Lilian Ann Slugocki and Dreaming in Tongues by the LAByrinth
Ensemble. In 2003, Mr. Ortiz made his Broadway debut in Nilo Cruz’
Pulitzer-Prize winning play Anna in the Tropics. Additional theater
credits include The Rose Tattoo directed by Kate Whoriskey at the
Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and three world premiere plays by José Rivera: The
Adoration of the Old Woman at La Jolla Playhouse, Sueño at MCC
Theater and The Street of the Sun at Mark Taper Forum. He was also
featured in two New York premieres of Rivera’s plays: References to Salvador
Dalí Make Me Hot at the Public Theater (OBIE Award) and Cloud Tectonics at
Playwrights Horizons. He was featured as a series regular on television in
Clubhouse, The Job and Lush Life. His film credits include Narc, Before Night Falls, Amistad,
Carlito’s Way, Side Streets, Ransom, 3 AM, Riot, Sgt. Bilko, The Opportunists,
Take the Lead, and the forthcoming Miami Vice, El Cantante
and Pride and Glory.
Patricia
Velasquez was born in Maracaibo,
Venezuela where she studied theater, dance, engineering and business
administration while growing up. Her
early career as a model in the United States led to her first film role
opposite Jean Reno in Le Jaguar. Most recognized for her role as ‘Anck Su
Namun’ in the films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, Ms. Velasquez has
also starred in Zapata, Mindhunters, Fidel, Committed, No Vacancy, Eruption, and San Bernardo. On television, she has also appeared in CSI: Miami, 12 Days of Christmas (MOW), Arrested
Development, Rescue Me, Ed, and American Family. Ms.
Velasquez is an UNESCO Artist for Peace, and an active charity worker; she
recently established The Wayuu Taya Foundation which is dedicated to improving
the living conditions of Latin American indigenous groups while respecting
their cultures. Her speeches to young
Hispanic audiences during her time as a spokesperson for Cover Girl inspired
the organization to create a college scholarship in her name. Ms. Velasquez’ appearance in School of the Americas is her
professional stage debut in the US.
An ensemble of more than ninety
multicultural and multidisciplinary theatre artists led by co-Artistic
Directors Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz, LAByrinth Theater Company has produced 42 new American plays over
the last fourteen years. As LAByrinth continues residency at The Public for a
third season, School of The Americas marks the third collaboration
between the two theaters to develop new work—following Guinea Pig Solo
(2004), and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005). For more
information on LAByrinth Theater Company, visit www.labtheater.org.
Founded by Joseph Papp as the Shakespeare Workshop and now
one of the nation’s preeminent cultural institutions, The Public is an American theater in which all the country’s
voices, rhythms, and cultures converge. Under the leadership of Artistic
Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus, The Public's mandate
to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and
through its extensive outreach and education programs. Over 250,000 people
annually attend Public Theater-related events at its six downtown stages
including Joe's Pub, and at Shakespeare in the Park. www.publictheater.org
Additional cast
member biographical information and photos are available upon request.
