Chicago-based actress and writer Sandra Delgado, working with Teatro Vista, has been named one of four recipients of 2015 Joyce Awards designed to support collaborations between artists of color and leading arts and cultural organizations in the Great Lakes region.
The cash award of $50,000 helps underwrite “new works designed to engage, communicate and build communities.” Two additional recipients are based in Detroit , with a fourth in the Twin Cities.
Colombian American actress/playwright Delgado will use her award to stage a new interactive theater experience based on the 1960s Chicago nightclub, La Habana Madrid. The Teatro Vista production will bring La Habana back to life to tell the stories of how this venue served as a gathering place for Puerto Rican, Cuban, Colombian and Dominican immigrants who had settled on the city’s North Side. The show will transport the audience back to 1965, and upon entering the theater they will become “patrons” of La Habana.
In a prepared statement Delgado explained: “Ever since my father told me about the long gone nightclub La Habana Madrid, I knew I had to bring back this lost part of Chicago’s history and shed light on the Latinos who helped build and shape this great city. The Joyce Award allows me to create meaningful work in and about the city I love, and provides Teatro Vista and me the time, space and artists to bring this musical, Technicolor, politically charged era back to life.”
