Teatro Vista’s 2016-2017 season

Teatro Vista, Chicago’s theater with a Latin twist – in residence at the Victory Gardens Theater Studio, 2433 N. Lincoln – has announced an ambitious 2016-2017 season.

Featured will be three world premieres – two by major Chicago talents (Ike Holter and Sandra Delgado), and another by South Texas playwright Mando Alvarado. Their themes will range from the tension among a trio of brothers, to issues of racial profiling and media manipulation, to the musical, theatrical and cinematic legacy of Latin Caribbeans.

Here’s a closer look at the productions:

+ “Parachute Men,” (Sept. 10 – Oct. 16): A world premiere by Mando Alvarado, directed by Teatro Vista’s executive artistic director, Ricardo Gutiérrez and featuring ensemble member Tommy Rivera-Vega. It’s Christmas Eve and three brothers – who are bad at being brothers, bad at love, and bad at being men – are reunited when the oldest, Eric, returns on the anniversary of their mother’s death. After a few hours, it’s clear that the pecking order has changed, and the battle begins to see who can take that baby step into manhood first. Alvarado is an award-winning playwright/screenwriter whose “Basilica” premiered Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theater and whose play “Post No Bills” received its Off-Broadway premiere at Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater.

+ “The Wolf at The End of The Block,” (Jan. 28 – March 5, 2017): This world premiere by Ike Holter, commissioned by Teatro Vista and featuring ensemble members Sandra Márquez and Gabriel Ruíz, is set on a Fall night in Chicago, where a boarded up bar on the dark side of the block becomes a terrifying crime scene. In the following 48 hours, the neighborhood digs deep into escalating mystery, working against time to separate fact from fiction. But as the clock ticks down, the clues spiral into a razor sharp jigsaw, and what began as a simple mystery quickly twists into a personal, pointed and political thriller. Holter, whose powerhouse plays include “Prowess” (recently produced by Jackalope Theatre), “Sender” (at A Red Orchid), “Exit Strategy” (also at Jackalope) and “Hit the Wall” (at the Steppenwolf Garage and Off Broadway), has penned this play for five characters, three of whom are Latino.

+ La Havana Madrid” (April 14 – May 21, 2017): Sandra Delgado’s play, directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce, is an immersive documentary theater experience inspired by the Latino Caribbean nightclub that once existed on the corner of Belmont and Sheffield. Audiences will be transported back to 1960s Chicago and experience the stories of the club’s patrons and musicians, complete with a live band chronicling the history of Caribbean Latino music through the decade, from mambo to the birth of salsa. Teatro Vista and Delgado (a Colombian-American playwright, actress and producer), were granted the prestigious Joyce Award to support the development of “La Havana Madrid.” Delgado, an ensemble member of Teatro Vista and Collaboraction, has performed at many theaters in Chicago and beyond, and has TV credits that include “Empire” “Chicago Fire,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and more.

Single tickets to Teatro Vista’s season go on sale Aug. 1 at the Victory Gardens box office. Call (773) 871-3000 or visit http://www.teatrovista.org. Single tickets are $20-$35, with discounts for early bird purchasers, students, seniors and groups of 10 or more.