Culture Will Open Exhibition “Ad Mojarem Dei Gloriam”

Culture Will Open Exhibition “Ad Mojarem Dei Gloriam”
Santo Domingo, January 13 2016

La danza de Mingó, by Dominican playwright Haffe Serulle, will be on stage at the Rafael Villalona Theater of the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, on Friday, January 15 and Saturday, January 16 at 7:30 pm, and on Sunday, January 17 at 6:30 pm.

The Rafael Villalona Theatre is located at 541 West 145th Street, 2nd Floor, near the corner with Broadway, in Manhattan.

La danza de Mingó was staged by the “Other Theatre NY” group during the 9th Dominican Book Fair in New York. The play is directed by Billy Martin Mejía, starring Angie Regina, Maite Bonilla and Francis Mateo. Arturo López is responsible for the co-direction and training; Jorge Suberví produces the original music, and Yelaine Rodríguez is in charge of costumes.

The Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, an agency of the Ministry of Culture of the Dominican Republic, last year commemorated the 41st anniversary of the death of Florinda Soriano (Mamá Tingó) with the play La danza de Mingó.

Playwright Haffe Serulle attended the presentation at the fair.

The “Other Theatre NY” group was selected during the auditions coordinated by the Commissioner’s office where theater experts and directors of any nationality participated. They were required to present a 10-minute fragment of La danza de Mingó.

Four theater directors participated in the auditions, which took place in April of 2015: Bruno Aponte, Emmanuel García Villavicencio and Billy Martin, who reside in New York, and Francis Parra, who lives in Rhode Island.

The members of the jury were: Gianna Mella, Dominican director, writer and educator who resides in New York City; Manuel Herrera, actor, director and producer of voiceover, and veteran motivational speaker with 40 years of experience, in addition to being a renowned producer of audiobooks and an increasingly influential person in the performing arts and publishing brands in the United States; and Colombian Germán Jaramillo, co-founder of the Free Theater of Bogota (1973) and its Training School for Actors (1988), where he worked as an resident actor, producer and director for about 30 years.

The jury award indicates that the play of the “Other Theatre NY” group was unanimously selected due to the “care in the presentation during the audition and the details chosen for the required scene, the high level and quality of the acting and a precise and clear idea of what the director wants and can do on stage.”

Billy Martin, the director chosen by the panel of experts, received the necessary funds to produce the complete work.

Auditions were conducted under the coordination of theater directors Yolanny Rodríguez and Luis Felipe Rodríguez, director of the Commissioner’s theater.

La danza de Mingó is the famous work about class frictions, the struggles of workers to organize themselves, and the undisputable role of women in the Dominican social struggles, as underlined in the life of Florinda Soriano, better known as Mamá Tingó.

Tickets will be on sale at the theater on the day of the presentations, and they will cost US$15.

For more information please contact: otroteatrony@gmail.com