Atlantic Theater Company Announces LATINO MIXFEST, 8/25-29

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director, Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) will present LATINO MIXFEST, a series of free readings that will run Thursday, August 25 - Monday, August 29 at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16 Street).

Last year's festival helped launch Fernanda Coppel's Chimichangas and Zoloft into Atlantic's upcoming season. This year's festival will continue to mix up different artists who embrace Latino stories from varying perspectives.

Atlantic Theater Company's Artistic Leadership Associate Jaime Castañeda, who returns to oversee this year's festival, said, "This year we're inviting writers from around the country-both established and new. Over the next week we'll be developing a hip hop musical, a stage adaptation of a nationally syndicated column and a couple of other plays that will be put in front of an audience for the very first time. We're looking forward to sharing these exciting voices and getting these plays out there for the public to see."

LATINO MIXFEST is made possible, in part, through the leadership support of Time Warner Inc.

Thursday 25th 3pm
Danger of Bleeding Brown by Enrique Urueta
Marco and Cerelia are trying to figure out their place in the world by snorting cocaine and drowning in promiscuous encounters. Peter is a brilliant young professor getting sex and life lessons when he begins dating Marco. Dulce, our audacious drag queen narrator, spins this story from the underbelly of San Francisco.

Friday 26th 2pm
¡Ask a Mexican! by Gustavo Arellano
Adapted from the award-winning syndicated column published in the OC Weekly and other alternative newsweeklies across the country. Readers send in questions on Mexican culture ranging from what part of "illegal" Mexicans don't understand to why Mexicans use tortillas instead of forks. Arellano brings his satirical responses to the stage for the first time ever.

Friday 26th 3:30pm
Pinkolandia by Andrea Thome
Two young Chilean sisters living in Reagan-era Wisconsin create imaginary worlds to make sense of their family's exile. Gaby escapes to a make-believe "closetland," while her older sister Beny dreams of fighting fascists, just like their communist uncle Ignacio. This inventive play takes us on a journey through fantasies filled with talking polar bears, Nazis, and the joys and betrayals of revolution.

Sunday 28th 2:00pm
La Bella Familia by Edwin Sanchez
Bella, a Puerto Rican hit woman and her family get mixed up with their neighbors from hell. Linda, the brutal foster mother, tries to build her version of a quiet home next door. Each family struggles to avoid loneliness in their own tangled mess. This dark and surprising play was just granted the 2011 National Latino Playwriting Award.

Monday 29th 2pm
Kingdom by Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams
Andres and Juan are swept up by the Latin Kings' populist ideals and by-any-means-necessary survival tactics. This raw hip-hop/rock musical confronts the explosive and magnetic power of gang life. Jafferis and Williams have revised KINGDOM since its premiere at The Old Globe.

Atlantic Stage 2 is at 330 West 16th Street.

Admission is free. Reservation required. Please call 646-701-7372.

For more details, visit www.atlantictheater.org