Repeating Islands

The first work of this year’s Festival of the Athenaeum Theater is “Puerto Rico ¡Urgente!” Developed in collaboration with the students of the Athenaeum Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (CADAP), it was written and directed by playwright Roberto Ramos-Perea. The play premieres Thursday, February 18 at the Athenaeum Theater.

“Puerto Rico ¡Urgente!” is “a furious and harsh” three-act parody of contemporary Puerto Rico. Ramos-Perea writes, “More than 30,000 public servants jobless; a pipeline that threatens to blow up the country; more than 1,000 crimes a year; the worst level of mental health in all our history; the University occupied by riot squads; politicians involved in corruption and looting; the media sold to the government; the most cruel dictatorship over the colony; and there will always be someone to yell: ‘We are enjoying ourselves, Papi!’”

The play begins when Pito, a powerful drug kingpin, kidnaps a prominent journalist to teach her about the real Puerto Rico—the one not shown in the media. She sees before her a parade of drug-addicted mayors; arrested students and abusive police; journalists sold to government interests; corrupt senators and religious ministers that go shopping for legislators; fraudulent cultural icons; silly TV models and gossipy dolls; as well as political analysts purchased by specific parties; fathers who sexually abuse their daughters; the desperate workers left unemployed by Law 7; a world of drugs, which corrupts the innocence; and the world of the reggaeton discotheques in all its harshness… all these, conditions that steep the country in urgency, absurdity, and despair.

For more information, please contact the conservatory of Dramatic Arts at (787) 977-2307 or by email at AngelaMariMenades8@gmail.com.