The People’s Theatre to Uplift NYC’s Immigrant Community

Located in the heart of Washington Heights, where locals revere their heated and enthusiastic domino games, sits the largest performing arts organization north of Harlem. The People’s Theatre, previously known as the People’s Theatre Project, is recognized for its mission of making theater for and with the immigrant community.

This April, the People’s Theatre will debut its first production under its new name. Written by award-winning playwright Marco Antonio Rodriguez and directed by the People’s Theatre’s founding executive director, Mino Lora, Domino Effect is a heartfelt, timely play devised by immigrant artists, where the game of dominoes becomes a focal point for the characters’ intersectional perspectives.

“Growing up, [dominoes] was a game that I played a lot with my cousins and with my tíos,” said Lora, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic herself. “It’s one of those games that within the Latino community is very big, and it’s one that brings generations together.”

The play features four New Yorkers who find themselves at the same domino table in Washington Heights. With themes of queerness, immigration, and generational differences, they are left facing difficult yet pivotal conversations.

Rodriguez, who was born in New York City but also lived in the Dominican Republic from 2 to 5 years old, also recognizes the cultural significance of dominoes as well as the type of environment it fosters.

“When you play dominoes, you’re playing the game, but you’re also socializing. There’s a lot of conversation that happens, a lot of tempers, and slammings, and yelling, but also conversation. Talking about this, talking about that, playing music, and we brought all that to the play.”

The idea of cultivating and encouraging discourse was crucial to both Lora and Rodriguez, especially considering the current political climate where “it’s easy to stay completely divided and just fight one another,” said Lora.

“We have stopped listening to each other, whether you’re right or left, whether you’re blue or red. We’re in a place right now where people not only stop listening to each other, but refuse to listen to one another,” explained Rodriguez. “My hope is that we see the human beings that these are, that we listen and that we are not pushing an agenda. We’re pushing conversation.”

The conversation being pushed is not only demonstrated throughout the play, but was inspiration for much of the production itself. Willie the Genius, whose character, Pepper Malveaux, reflects her own identity as a Black American trans woman, revealed how the conversations she had with cast members during the devising process shaped a lot of what they tried to communicate throughout the play.

“I identify as Black American, and then Shadi, who plays Atash, is Iranian. There was a moment where I believe I refer to her as a woman of color. She talked about how when she first got here, she did not realize that she was a quote-unquote woman of color, because in her country, it’s not based on race or skin tone,” said Willie the Genius. “So there was this moment of me having to come closer to her, and her having a deeper understanding of what the Black experience in this country feels like.”

Rodriguez elaborates on the cast’s openness to dialogue and accountability during the devising process.

“We’ve had these intense conversations where we challenge each other to listen and to be held accountable. Whether you’re speaking to a Black trans woman trying to tell her about something that you, as a man, couldn’t possibly understand. As a writer, when it happens, I’m like, ‘Let’s keep talking, let’s keep arguing, or let’s keep having more discourse,’ because a lot of that stuff made it in there.”

Within the four-person cast is Tony Macy-Perez, who plays Mandy Arango, an older White man with more conservative viewpoints. His role is crucial in that he stands out among his younger, progressive counterparts but comes to share more in common with them than anticipated. Macy-Perez hopes that that audience, particularly those of older generations, may see themselves in his character and reconsider any previously held notions.

The play’s themes have been politically relevant for quite some time, but the new administration has made such subjects all the more urgent. Rodriguez knew that ignoring the elephant in the room wasn’t an option but also didn’t want to divert focus from the queer immigrant community.

“We’re not going to completely turn the play upside down where all of a sudden now it’s a play about Trump and ICE. That’s not what the story is. However, we’re not going to shy away from it.”

Addressing the political environment became a natural extension of the play’s already established goal of uplifting nuance and conversation. Rather than shifting attention to Trump, Rodriguez and Lora leaned into their diverse cast and really let their backgrounds and stories speak for themselves.

Angela Reynoso, who plays Gisel Fortuna, the youngest of the four characters, recognizes her generation’s role in the future of acceptance and the need to appreciate cultural differences.

“We’re all learning from each other and I feel like each character highlights where they’re from so beautifully,” said Reynoso. “You wouldn’t ever really see a person from Cuba, Republica Dominicana or Iran in one room for a play.”

Domino Effect will run from April 4 through April 20 at A.R.T./New York Theaters in Manhattan. LatinX Playwrights Circle and Boundless Theater Company are collaborating with the People’s Theatre for the play’s debut. All three groups intend to amplify the immigrant voice and, to Lora, the play is a testament to the NYC immigrant experience.

“It’s about love, it’s about community building, it’s about bravery and leaning in on one another. It’s guided by its centering immigrant, Latino, Black, queer voices, which is the community that we serve and the stories that we tell.”