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Pregones/PRTT Presents “Parrots at the Pagoda,” Musical Theatre About Johnny Rodríguez’ “El Cotorrito” Night Club

Parrots at the Pagoda at Pregones/PRTT (Pregones)
Parrots at the Pagoda at Pregones/PRTT (Pregones)

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 Monthly Grand Slam is at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, April 26, 2024 at 10pm. From $25. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷

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.

“Fichas Negras,” a danza, was the biggest hit by Johnny Rodríguez y su trio

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).

Pregones/PRTT Tickets

Pregones/PRTT (courtesy)
Pregones/PRTT (courtesy)
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Latin Culture at Pregones/PRTT


Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 2006 (David Shankbone/Wikimedia)

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Hosts the Nuyorican Poetry Slam and Other Events Offsite and Online While Under Nuyorican-struction

BOWERY POETRY CLUB, NoHo, Manhattan ~ Nuyorican Bowery Slam 🇵🇷
PUERTO RICAN TRAVELING THEATER, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan ~ Poetry Grand Slam 🇵🇷

EAST VILLAGE, Loisaida, Manhattan

Continue Reading Nuyorican Poets Cafe Hosts the Nuyorican Poetry Slam and Other Events Offsite and Online While Under Nuyorican-struction

Papo Vázquez (artist/Hostos)

Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours Play a Taíno Areíto of Their New Album “Songs del Yucayeke”

PREGONES/PRTT, Concourse, The Bronx 🇵🇷

Continue Reading Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours Play a Taíno Areíto of Their New Album “Songs del Yucayeke”

Teatro Fest NYC (Tannujannu/Adobe)

Teatro Fest NYC 2025 is New York’s Festival of Latino Theatre

IATI THEATER, East Village, Manhattan 🇻🇪
INTAR Theatre, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan 🇨🇺
PREGONES/PRTT, Mott Haven, The Bronx and Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan 🇵🇷
REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL, Kips Bay, Manhattan 🇨🇺
TEATRO CIRCULO, East Village, Manhattan 🇵🇷
TEATRO LATEA, Lower East Side, Manhattan 🇵🇷
TEATRO SEA, Lower East Side, Manhattan 🇵🇷
THALIA SPANISH THEATER, Sunnyside, Queens 🇪🇸

Continue Reading Teatro Fest NYC 2025 is New York’s Festival of Latino Theatre

More Pregones/PRTT

Pregones/PRTT News


APRIL

Puerto Rican Spoken Word

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Monthly Grand Slam is at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, April 26, 2024 at 10pm. From $25. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷

MAY

Puerto Rican Theatre

“The Desire of the Astronaut,” by Alvan Colón Lespier, directed by Leyma López, is the story of the last Boricua in space, alone on a dying station, losing contact with Earth, who makes repairs that will either save him or get him court-marshaled. It’s at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; Thursday-Sunday, May 2 – June 2, 2024. From $25. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷

Sounds like a grand metaphor of being Latin in the United States.

Puerto Rican Spoken Word

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Monthly Grand Slam is at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, May 31, 2024 at 10pm. From $25. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷

JUNE

Puerto Rican Children’s Theatre

Teatro SEA “Las Locaventuras de Don Qujote” (The Crazy Adventures of Don Quixote) puts a modern twist on the classic tale; at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday-Saturday, June 14-15, 2024. $20 children, $30 adults. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷

Puerto Rican Spoken Word

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Monthly Grand Slam is at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, June 28, 2024 at 10pm. From $25. pregonesprtt.org 🇵🇷


Pregones/PRTT Tickets


Pregones Theater
571 Walton Ave
(between 149th & 150th)
Concourse, The Bronx

Subways
(2) or (4)(5) to 149th St & Grand Concourse


Puerto Rican Traveling Theater
304 West 47th St
(between Eighth & Ninth Ave)
Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan

Subways
(C)(E) to 50th St

pregonesprtt.org

Past Shows


Pregones/PRTT (courtesy)
Pregones/PRTT (courtesy)

“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.

More Information

pregonesprtt.org
X (Twitter) @pregonesprtt
Facebook @PregonesPRTT
Instagram @pregonesprtt
TikTok @pregonesprtt
YouTube @PregonesPRTT


Published April 15, 2025 ~ Updated May 16, 2025.

Filed Under: Bronx, Concourse, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Off-Broadway Theaters, Puerto Rican News, THEATRE

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