Thinking Theater NYC

Debajo del árbol de almendras Written and directed by Luis Caballero Presented by Teatro Círculo 64 East 4th Street, Manhattan, NYC January 16-25, 2026 Presented in Spanish and English with supertitles The cast of Debajo del árbol de almendras . Courtesy of Teatro Círculo   The furor–and legal consequences –surrounding the unauthorized felling in 2023 of England's Sycamore Gap Tree points to the psychological significance that such natural landmarks can hold for people. Many of us could probably point to similar examples in our own lives, especially in our childhoods, even if their importance is individual rather than national. For Puerto Rican playwright and director Luis Caballero, "an immense …[,] breathtaking, majestic" almond tree that stood outside his parents' home when he was growing up, close enough that "its branches touched the balcony of the house," occupies such a position. This tree, Caballero has said, acted as both "friend" and witn...

L to R: Old Hamlet's Ghost (Pelayo Álvarez), Gertrudis (Silvana Gonzalez), Hamlet (Federico Mallett), and Apolonia (Cástor G. Sánchez-Pepper). Photo by Miguel Garzon Martinez Hamlet couldn't possibly get more dramatic… or could it? Hamlet couldn't possibly be funny...or could it? Are Shakespeare and Telenovelas a match made in heaven? For those who want to see a different side of Shakespeare's gloomy Danish prince,  FRIGID New York in collaboration with Something from Abroad and Quemoción will present extended performances of Hamlet: La Telenovela , a parody in Spanish (with English subtitles) of the critically acclaimed Shakespeare masterpiece. With  Hamlet: La Telenovela  audiences experience  Hamlet  like never before, with an adaptation that heightens the melodrama innate in the story and explores it under a farcical and comedic lens, embracing the extremely cathartic guilty pleasure that only telenovelas (soap operas) can give. (You can read our review o...

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...

  RIIIchard Written by Norman Briski Filmmaking by Frank Fantini; stage lighting by Miguel Ángel Valderrama Presented by Teatro Latea via live streaming December 17-19, 2020 In the popular imagination, Richard III has become synonymous with villainy, a hunchbacked, scheming child murderer. The Richard of Argentine actor, director, and playwright Norman Briski, however, is not the monster of Sir Thomas More and later, and most influentially, William Shakespeare. Briski's stripped-down short play RIIIchard offers a Richard who diverges from these traditional portrayals and whose ambition is not merely self-directed. Richard (Bruno Giraldi), holding a drink, begins the play with some of the familiar lines about the winter and discontent but quickly departs from his Bardic forbear, holding forth in a liberal admixture of Spanish and English dialogue that continues throughout the performance. Eventually, the camera pulls out to frame Richard between two women (Josefina Lausirica and V...