ALBA’s Busy Spring: Triangle Fire, Theater Preview, Immigrant Workshop, and George & Ruth Watt
Images from the preview at KJCC.
“At the Barricades” Previewed at NYU
On April 5, the theater company What Will the Neighbors Say? presented a selection of scenes from their current project, At the Barricades, as part of the Fridays on the Patio series at NYU’s King Juan Carlos Center. The preview of the play, which explores stories of volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, featured four sections performed by professional actors, with a short discussion between each scene. The Neighbors and KJCC were thrilled to partner with ALBA and the NYU Production Lab for this interdisciplinary event.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Remembered
On March 28, ALBA featured Mary Anne Trasciatti, a labor historian at Hofstra University, in an event to commemorate the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Trasciatti presented alongside Abbie Harper, an activist and organizer, and Suzanne Pred Bass, the great-niece of Rosie Weiner, who died in the fire. For a video of the event on ALBA’s YouTube channel, click here.
Workshop on the Spanish Civil War and Spanish Immigrants
On April 17, Cristina Pérez Jiménez, of Manhattan College, and NYU’s James D. Fernández taught an online workshop on the impact of the Spanish Civil War on the Spanish immigrant community in the United States. Prof. Pérez Jiménez’s book project Here to Stay: The Making of Latinx New York explores the emergence of a distinctive New York Latinx cultural identity during the sociopolitical conjuncture of the 1930s and 1940s. Prof. Fernández’s most recent work on Spanish emigration to the U.S. in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has resulted in a major exhibition, which is currently touring Spain: “Emigrantes invisibles. Españoles en EE.UU. (1868-1945)”.
Songs & Letters of the Spanish Civil War
On April 14, the anniversary of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, ALBA hosted George & Ruth: Songs & Letters of the Spanish Civil War, a musical performance written by Dan and Molly Watt based on the letters George and Ruth Watt wrote to the other while George served in the Lincoln Brigade. The performance was directed by Katie Schmidt Feder of Theatre in the Wood, and performed by Emrigael Alpern, Albi Gorn, and Nick Nazario.
