El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom: A Superhero Play

MATT BARBOT is a Nuyorican writer from Brooklyn, NY.  His play EL COQUÍ ESPECTÁCULAR 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. The short piece “Spray Cap,” Matt’s contribution to Lynn Nottage and Miranda Haymon’s THE WATERING HOLE at Signature Theatre featuring Liza Colon-Zayas, received special praise from The New Yorker and The New York Times. His piece FRIJOLES, starring Raul Esparza, is available to view on YouTube. Matt recently workshopped his new plays THE BEAUTIFUL LAND I SEEK (LA LINDA TIERRA QUE BUSCO YO) at Fault Line Theatre, and TRILOGY, a commission for Two River Theater, both with director José Zayas. PRINCESS CLARA OF LOISAIDA and SAINTS GO MARCHING were featured on Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company’s “The Mix” list. 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. Roundabout Theatre Company awarded THE VENETIANS the 2019 Columbia@Roundabout prize. Additionally, Matt has worked with comic book creator Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez as an editor and co-writer for Darryl Makes Comics’ DMC, as well as Somos Arte’s La Borinqueña. Matt is a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow and has an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University.

José Zayas (he/him/his) is an award-winning director. He has directed over 100 productions in New York, regionally, and internationally. Credits include: El Perro del Hortelano (Gala Theatre), Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) (En Garde Arts), The Queen of Basel (Studio Theatre, DC), Exquisita Agonía (Repertorio Español), The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (BAM, MASS MoCA, US & European Tours), A Nonesuch Celebration (BAM), Washed Up on the Potomac (San Francisco Playhouse, The Flea Theater), Undocumented (Joe’s Pub), Pinkolandia and El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Two River Theater), The House of the Spirits (Teatro Espressivo, Gala Theatre, Denver Center, ACE, HOLA, and Ovation Awards for Best Production and Direction), Your Name Will Follow You Home, La Nena Se Casa, Love in the Time of Cholera, In the Time of the Butterflies, In The Name of Salome, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Burundanga (Repertorio Español, ACE and HOLA Awards for Best Production and Direction for the latter two), Corazon Eterno, (Mixed Blood), Southern Promises and Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist (PS 122, The Brick), Useless (IRT), Father of Lies and Vengeance Can Wait (PS 122); P.S. Jones and the Frozen City, Feeder: A Love Story (TerraNOVA Collective); Privilege, Okay, Mrs. Jones and the Man From Dixieland (EST), The Idea of Me (Cherry Lane Theatre), The Queen Bees (Queens Theatre in the Park), Manuel Vs. The Statue of Liberty and Children of Salt (NYMF), Cancun, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Gala Theatre, DC), Wedding Dress, The Island of Lonely Men (Teatro Espressivo, Costa Rica). José has premiered works by Stephin Merritt, Hilary Bettis, Nilo Cruz, Caridad Svich, Robert Askins, Thomas Bradshaw, Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Taylor Mac, Marco Antonio Rodriguez, Lynn Rosen, Saviana Stanescu, Carlos Murillo, Rob Urbinati, Kristina Poe, Catherine Filloux, James Carter, Gerardo Cardenas, Matt Barbot, Susan Kim, and Jordi Galceran. ​Notable fellowships and affiliations include: a Drama League Fellowship, Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab, Soho Repertory Theater’s Writer/Director Lab, and the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors. He is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) and he was the Resident Director at Repertorio Español from 2008-2018. José was born in Puerto Rico. He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.josezayasdirector.com/

Arnulfo Maldonado is a New York City-based set and costume designer. Previously at Two River: The Women of Padilla by Tony Meneses and Madeleine George’s Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, both with director Ken Rus Schmoll. Notable New York credits include: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play and Charm (MCC Theater); Bull in a China Shop (Lincoln Theater Center); Twelfth Night (The Public); Kingdom Come (Roundabout); Duat and generations (Soho Rep); Caught (Play Co); Men on Boats, Iowa (Playwrights Horizons); Iphigenia in Aulis (CSC). Regional: Berkeley Rep, Center Stage, Central City Opera, Guthrie Theater, Old Globe, Olney Theatre Center, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Tour: Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (Under the Radar Festival, NYUAD Arts Center, Abu Dhabi US Tour); The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (BAM Next Wave/International tour). Mr. Maldonado is a Clubbed Thumb Affiliated Artist, a recipient of a Princess Grace Fabergé Theater Award, and a multiple-Henry Hewes Design nominee. MFA: NYU Tisch. www.arnulfomaldonado.com

Ásta Bennie Hostetter NYC: The Wolves (Lincoln Center), The Rape of the Sabine Women… (Playwrights Realm), Fulfillment Center (MTC), Smokefall (MCC), John (Signature), Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons), The Terrifying (Abrons Arts Center), Porto (Bushwick Starr), Picnic/Come Back, Little Sheba (Transport Group), Coriolanus (Red Bull Theater), 10 Out of 12, Generations (Soho Rep). Regional: Mystery of Love & Sex (Signature Theatre), 4000 Miles and After The Revolution (Baltimore Center Stage).

Zach Blane Selected Off-Broadway: Too Much, Too Much, Too Many and Suicide, Incorporated (Roundabout Theatre Company); Would You Still Love Me If (New World Stages, dir. Kathleen Turner); Charles Busch’s Cleopatra (TFANC); Wringer (City Center); The Siblings Play (Cherry Lane); Suitcase Under the Bed (Mint Theater Company, Theatre Row); Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses (St. Clements); The Crusade of Connor Stephens (Jerry Orbach); The Eternal Space (Theatre Row); Soul Doctor (Actors Temple); The Good Girl (59E59); The Dork Knight (Abingdon); Sommerfugl; Holiday House (4th Street, NYTW). National Tour: Crane: On Earth, In Sky (Heather Henson). Regional: Barrington Stage Company, Two River Theater, Olney Theatre Center, Bucks County Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Cape Playhouse, Fiddlehead Theatre Company, Shubert Theatre, Adirondack Theatre Company, City Theatre, Engeman Theater, Will Rogers Center. Norwegian Cruise Lines (Fleet-wide Lighting Designer). Named “Designer to Watch” by Live Design Magazine, 2011. www.ZachBlane.com. Instagram: @zachblane.

Jane Shaw previously designed El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom, The Women of Padilla, Lives of Reason, Guadalupe in the Guest Room and Pinkolandia at Two River Theater. New York credits include I Was Most Alive with You (Playwrights Horizons); Actually (MTC, Williamstown Theatre Festival); Measure for Measure (Theatre for a New Audience); Ironbound (Rattlestick/Women’s Project); En el tiempo de las Mariposas (Repertorio Español) and 30 productions with the Mint. Regional credits include The Royale  (Cleveland Play House); Caroline, or Change (Tantrum Theater); Rear Window, Breath and Imagination (Hartford Stage); They Promised Her the Moon (Old Globe) and productions at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Mark Taper Forum, ACT, and with the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Next: Annie Get Your Gun at Bay Street, Into the Breeches at Cleveland Play House. Recognition: Bessie Award, Henry Award, Drama Desk, Premios ACE 2012, two Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, Meet the Composer grant, Theatre Communications Group’s Career Development Program, and nominations for three Lortels, Henry Hewes and Elliot Norton Awards. She was born in Kansas and lives in Brooklyn.

Alex Basco Koch Broadway: Be More Chill, Irena’s Vow. Off-Broadway: Buyer & Cellar (North American Tour; Menier Chocolate Factory; Barrow Street; Rattlestick); Fireflies (Atlantic); I Was Most Alive With You (Playwrights Horizons); The Liquid Plain (Signature; Oregon Shakespeare Festival); GOODBAR (The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival). Regional: El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom, Pinkolandia (Two River Theater); Indecent (The Guthrie); The Who’s Tommy (Denver Center); Approval Junkie, Tiger Style (Alliance; Huntington Theatre Company); Pride & Prejudice, Marley (Baltimore Center Stage); Invisible Man (Court Theatre, Chicago; Studio Theatre, Washington DC; Huntington Theatre Company); ReEntry (Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Roundhouse Theatre). Concert: The Magnetic Fields 50 Song Memoir.

UNKLEDAVE’S FIGHT HOUSE (FIGHT DIRECTION) is a team of fight/
intimacy coordinators comprised of LGBTQ theater makers. Two River credits: Hombres; El
Coqui Espectacular & The Bottle of Doom; Theo; Raisin In The Sun, Be More Chill; Seven
Guitars, King Hedley ll. Broadway: Ain’t No Mo; Kimberly Akimbo; Girl From The North Country;
Tuck Everlasting; Escape To Margaritaville; The Great Society ; An American In Paris; Disgraced.
Off-Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along (NYTW) ; On Sugarland (NYTW) ; soft (MCC) ; Halfway
Bitches Go Straight To Heaven (Labyrinth/Atlantic, Drama Desk Nom.); Oedipus El Rey (The
Public)(Drama Desk Nom.) Film: Poor Behavior; Emoticon. TV: AnnieLive!

Jack Doulin + Sharky Jack has been the Casting Director at New York Theatre Workshop since 2000. Productions there include: Peter and the Starcatcher, Homebody/Kabul, Far Away, A Number, Hedda Gabler, The Misanthrope, and The Little Foxes. Other NYC highlights include two notable productions of Uncle Vanya: André Gregory’s production with Julianne Moore and Wallace Shawn (filmed by Louis Malle as Vanya on 42^nd Street), and Annie Baker’s adaptation with Reed Birney, Maria Dizzia, and Michael Shannon directed by Sam Gold. For SoHo Rep: Blasted, A Public Reading…Disney, Marie Antoinette. Film: New Orleans, Mon Amour directed by Michael Almereyda and Jonathan Demme’s A Master Builder and What the Night Can Do. Sharky, also known as Taylor Williams, serves as the Casting Associate at New York Theatre Workshop. Together they have cast:  Love and Information (NYTW), Oklahoma! (Bard SummerScape), Scenes from a Marriage (NYTW), You Got Older (P73), City of Conversation  (Arena Stage), An Octoroon (Soho Rep and TFANA), Red Speedo (NTYW), Hadestown  (NYTW), Othello (NYTW) directed by Sam Gold, Mary Jane (NYTW) written by Amy Herzog and upcoming The Winter’s Tale (TFANA) and Adrienne Kennedy’s new play He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box (TFANA).

Terri K. Kohler Two River: As You Like It. New York: In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man…, Chéri (Signature Theatre); Can You Forgive Her?, Indecent (Vineyard Theatre); Red Speedo, Scenes from a Marriage, Belleville, The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop); Mother Courage, Doctor Faustus, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The School for Lies, The Forest (CSC); Futurity (Soho Rep/Ars Nova); Washeteria, We Are Proud…., Orange, Hat & Grace (Soho Rep); Pretty Filthy, In the Footprint, Paris Commune, The Great Immensity (Civilians); The Designated Mourner, In Darfur (Public Theater); Garden of Earthly Delights, Angel Reapers (conceived by Martha Clarke). Select regional: Parable of the Sower (ArtsEmerson); Good Men Wanted (NY Stage and Film); Wild Swans (ART/ Young Vic); Oedipus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Dispute, The Sound of a Voice (ART). Usual Suspect (NYTW), Associate Artist, The Civilians.