INTAR Theatre (International Arts Relations) is a 55-seat Latino community theatre founded in 1966 to provide playwriting opportunities to New York Latinos. It’s one of the oldest Latino theater companies in the U.S. Many famous Latino artists have passed through.
INTAR Theatre Shows
FEBRUARY 2026
Latino Theatre
“Spread” is a coming-of-age play about four ninth-grade boys bonding in their Austin, Texas high school lunchroom, mixing snacks together into a communal Texas prison brick lunch, and trying to be friends in that twilight zone between childhood and adulthood. Written by Jesús I. Valles and directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo, it’s world-premiere is in English with Spanglish at INTAR Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. In Previews on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 7:30pm. Opens March 2, and runs through March 22 as part of Teatro Fest NYC 2026. $25. 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 🇵🇷
Spread is a prison meal made by mixing snack foods with hot water into a brick. It’s an interesting metaphor for a melting pot. Texas prison brick has a double meaning. On the one hand, it is this spread of snack foods, on the other it’s Nutraloaf, an unappetizing junk bread provided as punishment.
I didn’t understand the concept at first, but am reading this as a sly commentary on what it means to be a person-of-color in the United States today. Adolescence is an important phase in life because you’re either going to rise above the nonsense and be what you can be, or be trapped by it.
There are Mexican, Puerto Rican, and African American characters. I wonder how they manage the language, because Mexican, Puerto Rican, and African American accents are very different, and so is the slang.
INTAR Theatre Tickets
500 West 52nd St, 4W
(at Tenth Avenue)
Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Go half an hour early to get settled in.