Pregones/PRTT is two Puerto Rican community theaters together as one. It’s a theatre community!
Rosalba Rolón’s Pregones Theater is in Concourse, The Bronx. Miriam Colón’s Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (PRTT) is in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.
Pregones/PRTT is one of New York’s homes for spoken word. It also produces classical music and Asian artists. We are all getting together. ¡WEPA!
Latin Culture at Pregones/PRTT
ONGOING
Puerto Rican Spoken Word
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Final Friday Slam is a spoken word open mic at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Fridays at 10pm. From $35. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷
JUNE
Nigerian Puerto Rican Theatre
“Baya con Dios” (Go with God), by Cyril Amanfo and choreographed by Ray Mercer (“Lion King” Broadway choreographer), is a Latin family drama with dance about a talented young Bronx Nigerian Puerto Rican dancer who has to choose between her quinceañera and her mother’s deathbed. It’s at Pregones Theater in Concourse, The Bronx; on Saturday-Sunday, June 28-29 at 7pm and 3pm respectively. 🇳🇬 🇵🇷
Cyril Amanfo is a Blackberry Poet and musician with both Neuroscience and Theater degrees. I don’t know him, but Amanfo can be an Igbo (Southeastern Nigerian) name. That’s the Cross Rivers region which in Puerto Rico, we call Carabalí. Amanfo’s use of phonetic spelling in “Vaya” is interesting. He is an educated man, but spells the word phonetically as “Baya” which is very Caribbean. @cnamanfo
Being American Latin is complicated because American culture is oriented towards the individual, whereas Latin, Indigenous, and African culture are oriented towards the family. But there are always solutions and the spiritual minded know that we can always go with God. Editor Iroko Kíkokí ~ I faced a similar choice once to take an invited press tour or go to my father’s deathbed. I took the press tour with the intention of visiting my father after, but Covid-19 shutdown travel and my father died before I could hug him one last time. I will regret that for the rest of my life. Vaya con Dios Papi.
MAY
Puerto Rican Queer Theater
“Parrots at the Pagoda,” world premiere musical theater by Jorge B. Merced, tells the story of Johnny Rodríguez, a popular Puerto Rican singer, female impersonator, and owner of El Cotorrito (the little parrot), a famous drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was also the older brother of Tito Rodríguez, the legendary bolero singer. It’s produced by Pregones PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; Thursday-Sunday, from May 1-25, 2025. From $27. Get tickets at pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
Johnny Rodríguez (1912-1997) was a true entertainment pioneer in both Puerto Rico and New York City. He was Cuban Puerto Rican, born in Camuy, Puerto Rico (near Arecibo), and raised in Barrio Obrero, San Juan where a lot of great musicians still come from. After singing in school, he got onto Puerto Rican radio which led to local fame and work with several popular orchestras. In 1930s New York City, when Americans were just beginning to become aware of Latin music with the worldwide hit recording of “El Manisero,” Johnny recorded for RCA Records and gained fame in New York’s Latin nightclubs. There were a lot more then. Back in Puerto Rico in the 1940s, he was one of the first Puerto Rican musicians to work for CBS. He played his biggest hit “Fichas Negras” all over Latin America and New York.
Settling down in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s, Johnny opened the cabaret drag club “El Cotorrito,” in 1967 when being openly gay just wasn’t allowed. He got away with it by doing favors for politicians. The club became a popular hangout for the Puerto Rican elite. There are still gay clubs on that stretch of Avenida Juan Ponce de León in Santurce, San Juan. It used to be Puerto Rico’s Broadway with many theaters and a vibrant nightlife. It’s interesting to note that some of drag queen style derives from Carnival esthetics.
Editor Iroko Kíkokí ~ On a side note, I didn’t know that the Rodríguez family was Cuban Puerto Rican. The Palladium Ballroom Big Three orchestras were led by Machito (Cuban), Tito Puente (Nuyorican with a Cuban sound), and Tito Rodríguez (Cuban Puerto Rican with a Cuban sound). Their work evolved into Latin jazz, mambo, and eventually salsa, Cuban dance music with Puerto Rican flavor. Cuba and Puerto Rico really are as two wings of the same bird (Lola Rodríguez de Tio, 1893).
Past Latin Culture
“Aloha Boricua” tells the story of the Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii at the turn of the 20th century. 🇵🇷
“Broken Words” is a play by Playwright in Residence Alejandra Ramos Riera.
Flaco Navaja is a New York Puerto Rican poet, singer, and actor. He opened his autobiographical play “Evolution of a Sonero” at Pregones/PRTT.
Jarana Beat, Bronx Mexican fandango.
Los Pleneros de la 21 are a New York Puerto Rican, bomba and plena group of teaching artists based in “El Barrio” East Harlem. 🇵🇷
Paloma Suau is a Puerto Rican documentary filmmaker, who made “El Accidente Feliz” about Puerto Rican artist Antonio Martorell. 🇵🇷
Pete Rodríguez Puerto Rican jazz and salsa. 🇵🇷
Teatro Fest NYC is New York City’s Hispanic theatre festival.
About Pregones/PRTT
Puerto Rico has strong theatre traditions, both on the island and in New York City. In a way, Pregones/PRTT is the heir to Teatro Puerto Rico which was New York City’s Puerto Rican community theatre from 1948-1996.
Pregones was founded in 1979 by Rosalba Rolón. The Rolón family is a multigenerational theatrical family with some famous actors in it.
Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre (PRTT) was founded by stage and film actor Miriam Colón in 1967. It was one of the first bilingual theatre companies in the United States.
Both theaters have been the home stages of some famous actors. The two theaters joined forces in 2014. These Puerto Rican community theaters are now Pan-Latin theaters.
Social Media
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Pregones/PRTT Tickets
Pregones Theater
571 Walton Ave
(between 149th & 150th)
Concourse, The Bronx
Puerto Rican Traveling Theater
304 West 47th St
(between Eighth & Ninth Ave)
Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan