Nuyorican Feminist Performance: From the Café to Hip Hop Theater

Herrera, Patricia

doi:doi:10.3998/mpub.6710954

Figure 1. Flier of the performance “Nuyorican Poets” on August 18, 1975, which was part of “The Poets of the City” event produced by Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre. A photo on the flier includes Lucky Cienfuegos (top), Miguel Algarín (left), Miguel Piñero (right) sitting on the stoops of a tenement building and a young boy executing a side-thrust martial arts kick in front of the poets.

"Nuyorican Poets" Flier

From Prologue

Figure 1. Flier from 1975 performance in Central Park. Clockwise from top: Lucky Cienfuegos, Miguel Piñero, and Miguel Algarín. Sandra María Esteves, who also took part in the performance, is missing from the photo. Courtesy Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library.

Figure 2. Program for the production Poets of the City held on August 18, 1975, at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, which includes Sandra María Esteves as part of the “The Nuyorican Poets” ensemble.

Poets of the City Program

From Prologue

Figure 2. Program from Poets of the City, including Lucky Cienfuegos, Miguel Piñero, Miguel Algarín, and Sandra María Esteves. Courtesy Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library.

Figure 3. A poster in black, white, and bright red commemorates Albizu Campos as well as two uprisings El Grito de Jayuya (the Jayuya Revolt) in Puerto Rico and the 1954 attack on the House of Representatives.The poster includes three superimposed peripheral images of Albizu Campos gradually decreasing in size. Martorell also imprints on Campos’s right arm two historical revolts led by women from the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party: El Grito de Jayuya (the Jayuya Revolt) in Puerto Rico and the 1954 attack on the House of Representative on Campos’s right arm.

Antonio Martorell's Pedro Albizu Campos

From Chapter 2

Figure 3. Poster by Antonio Martorell featuring a portrait of Pedro Albizu Campos and commemorating El Grito de Jayuya (the Jayuya Revolt) in Puerto Rico and the 1954 attack on the House of Representatives, led by female nationalist Blanca Canales and Lolita Lebrón, respectively. Reprinted in Palante (the Young Lords Party’s newsletter) 2.3 (1970): 35. Courtesy Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library and Archives, Hunter College, CUNY.

Comic panel in Notes of Neorican Seminar (1972) by Jaime Carrero, 1

From Chapter 2

Figure 4. Illustration by Jaime Carrero humorously addressing the complexity of what it means to be Puerto Rican. From Notes of Neorican Seminar (1972). Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library and Archives, Hunter College, CUNY. Courtesy of Maria Dolores Carrero and the Carrero family.

Figure 5. Cover page of Notes of Neorican Seminar . A slice-of-life cartoon illustration set in an urban landscape depicts residents speaking in Spanglish. A child holding a bat hollers: “Hey Johni, bamos a la yarda a jugal.” An adult daughter smoking a cigarette yells from the window, “Hey pops, el landlord esta en el rufo esperando que tu llegues de la marqueta pa’ cobrarte el bill (Hey pops, the landlord is on the roof waiting for you to come back from the market to charge you for the bill)” and a friend asks to borrow money “Hey bro, pana. ¿Como van las cosas? ¿[How’s] the family? Préstame 5 bolos. (Lend me 5 dollars).” A wide-eyed man sits at the edge of the sidewalk, wondering, “Quien @#* am I?? (Who the @#* am I??).”

Comic panel in Notes of Neorican Seminar (1972) by Jaime Carrero, 2

From Chapter 2

Figure 5. Cover of Notes of Neorican Seminar (1972) by Jaime Carrero, comically illustrating how Puerto Ricans in New York negotiate living between two cultures and languages. Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library and Archives, Hunter College, CUNY. Courtesy of Maria Dolores Carrero and the Carrero family.

Figure 6. Jaime Carrero‘s poem Neo-Rican Lessons next to a line drawing of a decapitated man with exposed genitalia and a sign hanging on his torso that reads: “A Puerto Rican.” The decapitated kneels on a topographical map with contour lines that web around his chest. In place of the missing head, there is a photograph of a man looking into the cityscape and holding several suitcases.

Neo-Rican Lessons by Jaime Carrero

From Chapter 2

Figure 6. Jaime Carrero reveals the trauma of cultural disavowal in his poem “Neo-Rican Lessons” and illustration of a decapitated man. Reprinted in Notes of Neorican Seminar (1972) from the San Juan Review. Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library and Archives, Hunter College, CUNY. Courtesy of Maria Dolores Carrero and the Carrero family.

“Eulogy for Martín Pérez”

From Chapter 3

Figure 7. Sandra María Esteves commemorates the life of Martín “Tito” Pérez with her poem “Eulogy for Martín Pérez” and her angel line drawing, Yerba Buena (1980). Courtesy of the poet and artist.

Figure 8. Bilingual flier protesting the unexplained death of Martin “Tito” Pérez while in prison. There is a black and white picture of Pérez joyfully singing and drumming. An image of the revolutionary icon Albizu Campos hovers above Pérez. The flier states: “Este no es un incidente aislado dentro de la comunidad Puertorriqueña. Nosotros, el Comité del Primero de Diciembre, creemos que Tito fué asesinado y dejado ahorcado en las barras de la celda para crear un ambiente de suicidio. [This is not an isolated incident within the Puerto Rican community. We, the First Committee of December, we believe that Tito was killed and left hanging in the bars of the cell to create an atmosphere of suicide

Protesting the Death of Martín "Tito" Pérez

From Chapter 3

Figure 8. Flier in Spanish protesting the unexplained death of Martín “Tito” Pérez while in prison. Courtesy Sandra María Esteves.

Figure 9. When Sandra María Esteves files charges against Eduardo Figueroa and Joseph Papp, the director and producer of the Public Theater, she frames the court trial as a performance titled The Lawsuit (1979). The flier includes a pencil thin man dressed in a suit. There is a pair of eyes on top of his U-shaped head. He stands erect, and his hands are folded like a proper gentleman, while many eyes watch him. On the bottom of the flier, Esteves includes a section of acknowledgments.

The Lawsuit (1979)

From Chapter 3

Figure 9. Drawing by Sandra María Esteves, who had filed charges against Eduardo Figueroa and Joseph Papp, the director and producer of the Public Theater. The court trial is here ironically presented as a performance titled The Lawsuit (1979).

Figure 10. Flier of a New Rican Village’s band Conjunto Libre performance at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The flier includes a drawing of a guitar, piano, flute, a brass instrument, different types of drums like congas, bongos, and timbales, and pairs of claves and maracas.

Flier of a Nuyorican Village Conjunto Libre performance designed by Néstor Otero.

From Chapter 3

Figure 10. Flier advertising performance of New Rican Village’s salsa performance, July 17, 1978 at the Delacorte Theatre. Designed by Néstor Otero. Courtesy of Sandra María Esteves.

Figure 11. Flier of New Rican Village performance. Esteves includes cropped photographs of men and women in motion from playing the alto saxophone to drumming to wearing a vejigante costume. A series of images captures a female dancer moving from one point to another. The dancer jumps in the air, extends her arms and legs to execute a jeté, and then reaches sideways, extending her arms upwards, and falls to the ground.

Flier of New Rican Village Performance designed by Sandra María Esteves.

From Chapter 3

Figure 11. Poster of New Rican Village performance, Summer 1978. Designed by Sandra María Esteves. Courtesy of the artist.

Figure 12. The portrait of Caridad de la Luz wearing a baby blue bandana on her head, red lipstick, and large hoop earring serves as the program cover of the solo performance of Boogie Rican Boulevard (2002).

Program cover of Boogie Rican Boulevard

From Chapter 5

Figure 12. Program from Boogie Rican Boulevard (2002) a solo performance written and performed by Caridad de la Luz and sponsored by Urban Latino, Café Bustelo, and Nuyorican Poets Café.

Figure 13. Flier of the musical version of Boogie Rican Boulevard (2009), performed at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. A green and white street sign at the top of the flier reads “Boogie Rican Blvd.” A chat bubble with a pink background and white fonts invites the reader to “meet some of the characters.” There are photos of Caridad de la Luz in theree different roles: Mamá, who wears hairrollers; Pito, who wears ski googles and a hoodie; and Don José, who wears a hat with a Puerto Rican flad. Finally, there is a photo of the family posing for a photoshoot.

Flier of the musical version of Boogie Rican Boulevard (2009), performed at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater [sic].

From Chapter 5

Figure 13. Poster of the musical version of Boogie Rican Boulevard (2009), performed at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, includes Caridad de la Luz (aka La Bruja) as Mamá, Pito, and Don José and portrait of cast members, who play different family members.