![]() If we’re going to put a show onstage that is celebrating this culture, the people putting that onstage have to feel the organization has their back.” Initiatives in diversity, equity, and inclusion, including adoption of the Chicago Theatre Standards, had to be created to make policies that would allow people of color “to come here and feel like they can be who they are. “They had to feel safe, to be able to be vulnerable and do all the things it takes to put on a play.” ![]() “We had to internally be ready to invite a cast predominantly of people of color into an organization,” Torres notes. The community theater would also have to reexamine and redefine its relationships with communities in the area it had historically ignored. We knew there had to be a moment where there’s an intentional invitation, an intentional opening up-saying we recognize these are the stories we’ve been telling, and we want to tell new and different stories.” “But we also had to be willing to say our history has largely existed in white culture. “We’re all very proud of our history as a company,” Torres says. And Raleigh Little Theatre, which had never staged work by a Latinx playwright in its first 80 years, would have to have a reckoning with its own past. Having just moved from Austin, Torres would have to connect and develop his own relationships with the Triangle’s Latinx community. ![]() He also knew that he and his company were nowhere nearly ready to do so. The best of INDY Week’s fiercely independent journalism about the Triangle delivered straight to your inbox. “And I really hadn’t thought about that before.” “It was just this moment, seeing-‘Oh, it can be different,’” he says. He also sensed a dawning opportunity for change in an art form that historically had mainly reflected the concerns and sensibilities of the dominant culture. “I remember being emotionally overwhelmed that a musical featuring people that looked like me was on Broadway,” Torres recalls. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical fused hip-hop lyrics and salsa with more conventional Broadway song forms, as it probed the stories of three generations of Latinx emigrants in the tightly knit neighborhood where the composer grew up, in north Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Patrick Torres knew he was witnessing a cultural hinge moment, one night in June 2008, as he watched In The Heights sweep the Tony Awards, taking four awards-first for best orchestration, then best choreography, then best score, and finally, best musical. SponsorsĪdditional thanks to Raleigh Brewing Company & Live It Up! Hillsborough Street.In the Heights | ★★★★ ½ | Raleigh Little Theatre | Run extended, through June 26 RLT’s COVID safety guidelines are subject to change. Masks are optional but encouraged for indoor performances. Hands on a Hardbody is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. Bindler, produced by Kevin Morris and Bindler.Ĭlick here to access the Hands on a Hardbody program! This roots-rock musical is inspired by the true events of the acclaimed 1997 documentary of the same name by S.R. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest that is Hands on a Hardbody, only one winner can drive away with the American Dream. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor and ambition, they’ll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand-new truck in order to win it. ![]() For 10 hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. ![]()
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