Thinking Theater NYC

Mercado Libre Written by Luis Araújo Directed by Ismanuel Rodriguez Presented by Boundless Theatre Company at Julia de Burgos Performance and Arts Center 1680 Lexington Ave., Manhattan, NYC June 2-12, 2022 Photo courtesy Lalaboy PR At different moments in the opening scene of Spanish playwright Luis Araújo's Mercado Libre ( Free Market ), a woman, B (Diana Pou) identifies the man, A (Gerardo E. Gudiño), with whom she has just had a sexual encounter in exchange for payment, as a gentleman and as a beast. These identities and the relationship between them will have gained additional vectors of meaning by the time that A brings up the beast again–this time in relation to prey–much later in the play. Simultaneously a story of a wealthy beast and a beastly system of wealth, Mercado Libre , which debuted in Spain and has been produced in Puerto Rico as well, makes its New York premiere (performed in Spanish with English supertitles) in a riveting production from Boundless Theatre Compa...

Image courtesy Boundless Theatre At a time when craft categories are not receiving the dues they deserve in the film and theater world comes a model theater company ahead of its time in giving recognition and a voice to industry players that have long deserved it. Not only is Boundless Theatre (BT) led by female designers and designers of color, but their plays explore themes that challenge our social agreements, elevate humanity and honor the human condition. This is exactly what BT's newest production, Mercado Libre , intends to do when it premieres on June 3rd, 2022 at the Julia de Burgos Performance and Arts Center (1680 Lexington Avenue) in East Harlem, El Barrio, NYC. The award-winning  Mercado Libre  will explore the challenges of human dignity under capitalism, a topic that is vital to our current sociopolitical moment. The play, which runs until June 12th, is written in Spanish by playwright Luis Araújo, and it comes to the NYC stage after receiving accolades througho...