INTAR Theatre

INTAR Theatre, founded in 1966, is one of the oldest Hispanic theater companies in the United States and is an organization committed to the development of "theater arts without borders." Over the past four decades, INTAR has produced classics, Latino adaptations of classics, cabarets, and 70 world premiers of plays written by Latino-Americans, including 2005 Oscar nominee José Rivera (playwright) and Pulitzer Prize recipient Nilo Cruz.

History

INTAR Theatre was founded in New York in 1966 as Asociación de Arte Latinoamericano (ADAL) by a group of Cuban and Puerto Rican writers and artists. Cuban-born Max Ferrá served as INTAR’s artistic director since its founding until 2004, when Cuban-American playwright Eduardo Machado assumed artistic leadership of the organization.^[1]

In its early years, INTAR focused on producing in Spanish the works of significant European and American playwrights. In the 1970s, the organization began producing works in English by Ibero-American and Latino writers. The theater company has built on this strength and emphasizes in new works that reflect the cultural heritage and concerns of the Hispanic community in the United States. Works have included drama, musicals, children’s theater, collaborative visual arts and theater creations, and traveling productions.^[1]

INTAR has historically focused on four program areas. The theater program has resulted in over 125 theater productions by more than 175 playwrights and composers. The developmental theater program has hosted various writing labs and workshops designed to support the creation of new theater works by Hispanic artists. Almost every Latino playwright working today has participated in one of INTAR’s workshops. Cuban-born, avant-garde playwright María Irene Fornés directed the Hispanic Playwrights-in-Residence Lab from 1981 to 1991. Graciela Daniele ran a Music Theater Lab from 1985 to 1989, and in 1991, INTAR hosted an Actors Lab.^[1]

The New Works Lab was founded in 1994 under the direction of Michael Garces and is designed to support the creative development of emerging directors, writers, actors and other artists from the Latino theater community. Most recently, INTAR launched the Actor’s Collective as part of its developmental theater program.^[1]

Inverna Lockpez founded INTAR’s Latin American Gallery in 1979, serving as curator through the 1990s. The Gallery was established as an alternative space to provide exposure for emerging and established Latino and Latin American artists, producing bilingual catalogs and posters for its exhibitions.^[1]

INTAR also operated an educational program for public school students, including field days bringing students and teachers to INTAR for matinee performances and guided tours; an internship program; and in-school touring productions.^[1]

Today, INTAR focuses on its theater and developmental theater programs with a mission to:^[1]

• Nurture the professional development of Latino theater artists.^[1]
• Produce bold, innovative, artistically significant plays that reflect diverse perspectives.^[1]
• Make accessible the diversity inherent in America's cultural heritage.^[1]

Artistic Directors

Eduardo Machado (Artistic Director, 2004-2010)

Eduardo Machado was born in Cuba and came to the United States when he was nine. He grew up in Los Angeles. He is the author of over forty plays, including The Floating Island Plays, Once Removed, Stevie Wants to Play the Blues, A Burning Beach, Havana is Waiting, and The Cook. His plays have been produced at Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre, Hampstead Theatre in London, American Place Theatre, The Cherry Lane Theatre, INTAR Theatre, Theater for the New City, and Repertorio Español, among many others.

Mr. Machado has previously taught playwriting at Columbia University (where from 1997—2007 he was the Head of Playwriting), the Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Sarah Lawrence College and the Playwrights Center. From 2004—2010 he was the Artistic Director of the off-Broadway INTAR Theatre in NYC. He is a member of the Actors Studio, The Ensemble Studio Theater, and an alumnus of New Dramatists, and has served on the boards of TCG, New Dramatists and Theatre for the New City.^[2]

Max Ferra (Founder/Artistic Director, 1966 – 2004)

Max Ferrá was the Founding Artistic Director of New York City’s INTAR Hispanic American Arts Center, which included INTAR Theater and INTAR Gallery. From its inception until the year 2004, he remained the driving force behind INTAR’s artistic and organizational development. Under his leadership, INTAR became an outstanding Latino artistic institution in the United States, gaining worldwide recognition for its contribution to cross-cultural understanding and the pursuit of excellence, not only in the theatrical world but also in the visual arts.

Throughout his career, Max Ferrá has produced over 150 works by both emerging and established Latino playwrights from the United States, Latin America and Spain. As a stage director, he directed over 80 plays at INTAR, as well as in other venues, both in the US and all over Latin America.

For several years, Mr. Ferrá has served on advisory panels for the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of New York, the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Since 2006, Mr. Ferrá has been the Director of the Actors’ Arena Theater Program at the North Campus of the Miami Dade College.

Programs- Past and Present

Hispanic Playwrights-In-Residence

The Lab ran from July 2014- June 2015. INTAR's Artistic Director Lou Moreno worked individually with each writer on a new script. This year's program was oriented towards the creation of new material proposed by the playwright to Lou. The development of each piece was mapped out in joint meetings between the AD and playwright.

New Works Lab

The New Works Labs encourages experimentation and risk-taking, as it opens exciting new channels for collaborative projects. Artists work intensively for a specified period of time, often one week, on workshop productions/readings scheduled for public presentation. Evaluation of the lab focuses on the productions developed and includes artistic quality, innovation, progress towards work eligible for main stage production, and audience response. Plays are rehearsed and presented as either readings, staged readings, or an Equity Showcase. There were 12 projects presented under the New Works Lab rubric during the 2014-2015 season.

UNIT 52

A company of actors who train one day a week, year round. UNIT52 members have access to several master teachers, theatre artists and special invited guests. Each year, the training is determined by the needs and interests of the company in preparation for a public presentation of a play. Acceptance into this program is free and via interview and audition. Guiding this effort is a need to expose young artists to Intar’s history and to the many and varied artists that have gone thru its doors. Guests artists in 2013: Stephen Adly Guirgis, Daniel Irizarri, Nancy Rodríguez, Julián Mesri. 2013 play: Patience, Fortitude and Other Anti-Depressants by Mariana Carreño-King.

Monday Night Salon

INTAR hosts "Monday Night Salon", an intimate, non-competitive and friendly environment where artists can present anything from a scene they have been working on, or a scene they wrote that they’d like to hear with other actors (they can bring their own actors or pick them from the audience to read), a poem, a character they have been developing, or a monologue. You may also sing, dance, play an instrument, anything to perform in front of a live audience.

The goal is to provide a safe haven where Artists can connect, network, take risks and work on their craft. There is no feed-back (unless requested by the Artists before they begin their work). And this is OPEN to EVERYONE…Not just Latinos.

Works or publications

• A Royal Affair. New York. 1995. OCLC 79468776. 
• Any Place but Here : a Play. 1993. OCLC 49289803. 

• Chronicle of a Death Foretold. New York. 1995. OCLC 79394337. 
• Cuba Libre : a musical celebration. New York. 1995. OCLC 79394911. 

• Don Juan of Seville. New York. 1989. OCLC 212381945. 
• Equinox. New York. 1984. OCLC 54457578. 
• Forever in My Heart. New York. 1996. OCLC 57033869. 
• In the Land of Giants. New York. 1996. OCLC 57033849. 
• Inkarrí's Return. New York. 1996. OCLC 57033814. 
• La Chunga. New York. 1986. OCLC 298253587. 
• Mystery of the Rose Bouquet. New York. 1998. OCLC 56089591. 
• Sancho & Don. New York. 1994. OCLC 79450706. 
• Sarita. New York. 1984. OCLC 56385327. 
• Terra Incognita a New Opera for the Theatre. New York. 1997. OCLC 53968307. 
• The Cuban Swimmer. New York. 1984. OCLC 78968764. 
• The Extravagant Triumph of Jesus Christ, Karl Marx, and William Shakespeare. 1982. OCLC 77741304. 
• The Senorita from Tacna. New York. 1983. OCLC 50106978. 
• The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife. New York. 1998. OCLC 51636461. 
• Three Women Three Islands : Sophie Rivera, Manhattan, Lilia Fontana, Cuba, Freida Medín Ojeda, Puerto Rico. New York, N.Y.: El Museo del Barrio. 1983. OCLC 74666333. 
• Union City Thanksgiving : a Comedy-drama. 1983. OCLC 83446163. 

Notes and references

Further reading

• De la Roche, Elisa (1995). Teatro Hispano! : Three Major New York Companies. New York: Garland. ISBN 9780815319863. OCLC 32431935. 

External links

• The INTAR Theatre records are available at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. INTAR Theatre Records include the organizational records of New York-based INTAR Theatre, one of the oldest Hispanic theater companies in the United States. The collection contains scripts, musical scores, correspondence, financial records, photographs, audiovisual materials, posters, programs, clippings, and other materials related to INTAR Theatre productions from its founding in 1966 to 2004. The collection also includes the records of INTAR's Latin American Gallery.
• Venue page for INTAR in the Cuban Theater Digital Archive