Shows & Events

Play Club: El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom

When

Feb 7, 2024

7:00 pm

Where

Online/Zoom

Play Club: El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom

About Play Club

A book club – but plays! Join Long Wharf Theatre’s Artistic Associates Kate Moore Heaney, along with guest artists, as we discuss a featured play each month. Play Club scripts dive into Long Wharf Theatre’s archive as well as provide a glimpse into its future. Come join this virtual discussion with fellow LWT theatre lovers from the comfort of your own home!

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About the Play

Alex, a comic book artist whose ideas might be “too Puerto Rican,” has begun secretly dressing up as his creation: El Coquí Espectacular, defender of Nuyoricans in all five boroughs! When his brother Joe is fired from a project for not being Puerto Rican enough, the two, with the help of a young photographer named Yesica, hatch a plan: to debut El Coquí at the Puerto Rican Day Parade and prove themselves to the world. El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom examines the ways in which we define our heritage and ourselves.

About the Playwright

Matt Barbot (he/him) is a writer from Brooklyn, NY. His play El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Kennedy Center Darrel Ayers Award, Kennedy Center Latinidad Award) received its world premiere at Two River Theater in January of 2018. Infallibility (2018 Sheen Center Playwriting Fellowship) was selected as one of Indie Theater Now’s “Best of FringeNYC 2013.” Princess Clara of Loisaida (finalist: Latinx Theatre Commons’ 2018 Carnaval of New Latinx Work, 2018 Columbia@Roundabout New Play Series, 2021 Miranda Family Voces Latinx National Playwriting Competition) and Saints Go Marching (semifinalist: 2018 Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference) were selected to feature on Steppenwolf’s The Mix list. The Venetians was a winner of Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2019 Columbia@Roundabout New Play Series. Recently, his short play “A List of Some Shit I’ve Killed” was published as part of the Red Bull Theater’s anthology Red Bull Shorts Volume III. Matt’s first play for young audiences, Stoo’s Famous Martian American Gumbo, was commissioned by Peppercorn Theatre and was produced there, in Summer 2019, and again in 2021 as part of Hangar Theatre’s KIDDSTUFF series. Matt recenty workshopped his new play the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) at Fault Line Theatre with director José Zayas, and is developing his commissioned play Trilogy with Two River Theater. Matt received his MFA from Columbia University, and was recently a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow.