Providence ¡CityArts! is serving as community partner with Brown University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies for their production of In the Heights. The show will be presented March 2 – 12 at Stuart Theatre on the main campus.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights tells the story of a vibrant Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican community in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood — a place where the streets explode with the songs and rhythms of three generations. In The Heights is the winner of the 2008 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations.
¡CityArts! was selected as a community partner because its location, and the population it serves, is similar to the neighborhood in Miranda’s musical. “More than 57% of the population around our Broad Street studios identify as Hispanic, many of them recent immigrants,” ¡CityArts! Executive Director Nancy Safian noted, “so our youth will recognize the characters, music and setting very well.”
As part of this partnership, youth from ¡CityArts! will be able to attend performances. Students from Brown also visited young artists at ¡CityArts! Broad Street studios. In addition, performers from the production conducted a series of workshops at ¡CityArts! school-based programs in Gilbert Stuart Middle School on Elmwood Avenue in Providence.
Safian believes that arts inspire meaningful community conversations and have a profound impact on youth development.
“The recent political climate has caused an increase in stress levels for many of the youth in our programs. In The Heights will be a huge treat for our youth. We are extremely grateful to Brown for this opportunity,” Safian added.
Selections from two ¡CityArts! programs will be on display in the Stuart Theatre lobby: The Identity Project, a collaboration in documentary storytelling between Roger Williams Middle School and ¡CityArts! educator Alessandra Zsiba, and Youth Voices Frame Providence, a collaboration between ¡CityArts! students and local artists Holly Ewald, Mary Beth Meehan and Rhode Island Poet Laureate Tina Cane.
Each year ¡CityArts! serves approximately 800 students in schools and at its community studio on Broad Street.¡CityArts!’s mission is to ensure that the city’s youth have access to quality arts programs — unhindered by socio-economic barriers. providencecityarts.org.
In The Heights runs March 2 to 12 at Stuart Theatre on the main campus at Brown University (75 Waterman Street, PVD). Performances take place Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, with matinees at 2pm on Sundays. Appropriate for middle school students and above. The production at Brown Theatre features a full band of 12 musicians, all students at Brown University. For more information, visit brown.edu/theatre. To book tickets, call 401-863-2838. To book online, visit brown.edu/tickets.