Aloha Boricua

World Premiere
Based on the short story “Vivir del cuento”
and poems by Manuel Ramos Otero
Conceived, Adapted and Directed by Jorge B. Merced
Music by Desmar Guevara & Jorge B. Merced
Lyrics by Jorge B. Merced inspired by the poetry of
Manuel Ramos Otero
Additional music and lyrics by
Rosalba Rolón and the cast

Performed in English and Spanish with supertitles

CAST
(2009 WP) Shadia Almasri, Sol Crespo, Yaraní del Valle Piñero, Erickson Huertas, Indio Meléndez, Omar Pérez, and musicians Anthony Carrillo, Jorge Castro, Desmar Guevara, Javier Rodríguez Rullán
(2013) Shadia Almasri, Sol Crespo, Yaraní del Valle Piñero, Flaco Navaja, Omar Pérez, Antonio Vargas and Pregones’ Ensemble Musicians

TEAM
Set & Costume Design by Harry Nadal
Lighting Design by Esteban Lima
Projections by Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez
Sound Design by Milton Ruiz
Production Manager Alvan Colón Lespier
Carpenter Bobby Bodón
Photography by Marisol Díaz
Translations by Jorge B. Merced
Supertitles Operator Yaritza Pizarro
Stage Manager Cleo Vivas Rojas

Special Thanks to the Manuel Ramos Otero Estate

ABOUT
Aloha Boricua is made up of story, verse, and song — an evocative, sometimes puzzling exploration of history and of the ways in which migrant experience and cultural heritage are distilled, preserved, or turned on their heads. The inspiration for it is double: on one hand, the formidable journey of Puerto Ricans to the islands of Hawaii at the very tail end of the 19th Century; on the other, the exuberant literature of Manuel Ramos Otero, with its queer turns, detours, and multiple voices.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii began when the Caribbean’s sugar industry was devastated by two hurricanes in 1899. The devastation caused a worldwide shortage in sugar and a huge demand for the product from Hawaii. It was then that plantation owners —dominated by Hawaii’s conservative, fiercely commercial, and politically influential “Big Five” sugar conglomerate— began to recruit jobless but experienced Puerto Rican cane laborers. On 22 November 1900, the first group of Puerto Ricans began their long and unpleasant journey. They set sail from San Juan harbor to New Orleans, then boarded on railroad to Los Angeles, and shipped again across the Pacific. According to the press, the Puerto Ricans were mistreated and starved along the way. They arrived in Honolulu on 23 December 1900, and were assigned to work at different plantations throughout the archipelago. By 1901, 5,000 Puerto Rican men, women, and children called Hawaii their new home. That community has endured and multiplied, and now exceeds 30,000.

MANUEL RAMOS OTERO – Born in Manatí, Puerto Rico, he was a groundbreaking poet, fiction and essay writer, and the first openly gay voice in Puerto Rican literature. A self-identified “sexile,” he was a longtime resident and chronicler of New York City. He wrote exclusively in Spanish and earned a place of distinction in the literary canon only after his death due to complications from AIDS in 1990. His books are Concierto de metal para un recuerdo y otras orgías de soledad (1971), El cuento de la Mujer del Mar (1979), La novelabingo (1976), El libro de la muerte (1985), Página en blanco y staccato (1987), and Invitación al polvo (1991).

With no authoritative English-language translations or bilingual editions of his work, when Aloha Boricua premiered, it put his writing within reach and in new bilingual format for a new audience.