REHEARSALS FOR BRAND-NEW 

SPANISH LANGUAGE 

"SPEED-THE-PLOW" 

BEGIN TODAY

Rehearsals for the new Spanish-language production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, directed by Luis Salgado, winner of the Best Director Award at the Thespis and Venus/Adonis Festivals for Song of Solomon and Zuccotti Park, respectively, started today in New York City.  The production will arrive at Corralón de San José in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a limited run August 13th through 16th, 2015.

(L-R) Eric-Dominique Pérez, Emmanuelle Bordas and Javier E. Gómez in the new Spanish language production of "Speed-the-Plow".  Photo by Gustavo Mirabile.

"After spending the last three months learning from a wonderful creative team of On Your Feet, I can't wait to play and apply my experiences to a brand-new staging of Mamet's contemporary classic.  There are many wonderful things that I've learn working with Jerry Mitchell... in conversations with Alexander Delinaris... and working hard for Sergio Trujillo. All the discipline, passion and focus that I bring from the recent experience with On Your Feet in Chicago, will inspire the developing process that I'm about to undergo with my 3 wonderful actors in this play", said Salgado, who has been seen on Broadway in In the Heights, Rocky and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

The production is titled "Jala-la-Pala", a Spanish-language spin on the phrase "God's Speed the Plough" (which inspired Mamet's original title), and a common local Caribbean Spanish slang that means "Use-Your-Connections".    

"In certain Caribbean and Latin American countries, a pala or palanca is often meant to describe a confidential and influential contact who has the power to make things happen.  The way in which Mamet's brilliant script and characters come to life in Spanish, with a multicultural cast, and a two-centuries' old open-air theater, makes for an explosive and fascinating re-creation of the show unlike we have never seen it before", Salgado added.   

"Jala-la-Pala" will play four performances only, August 13-16, 8:30pm, at Corralón de San José, 109 San José Street, Old San Juan.  The New York-based cast features Emmanuelle Bordas as Karen, Javier E. Gómez as Gould and Éric-Dominique Pérez as Fox.  Rehearsals are taking place at Pregones Theatre/PRTT.

Luis Salgado

Last March, Salgado won the Best Director Award at the Venus/Adonis Festival for Zuccotti Park The Musical.  In August 2014 he work the Best Director Award at Thespis Festival for Song of Solomon.  Other directing credits include Amigo Duende, The Musical (music and lyrics by Joshua Henry, book by Henry, Salgado and Heather Hogan), and Candela Fuerza y Pasión (In Lima, Peru).  

Salgado will return to Broadway in Gloria and Emilio Estefan's On Your Feet, directed by Jerry Mitchell. Previews begin on October 5th at the Marquis Theatre.  The show finished out-of-town tryouts last Sunday, July 5th, at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.

One of the oldest working theaters still operating in the Americas, Corralón de San José is a courtyard-style theater built at the end of the 18th Century.  The San Juan production of "Speed-The-Plow" is produced by High Pitch, Inc. and Dead Jíbaros Productions, in partnership with Amigos del Corralón (Josean Ortiz, Artistic Director), Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Salgado Productions and Tony L. D'Anzica, with support by Pregones Theatre/PRTT.

Admission is free to the public as part of Corralón de San José's Theater Access and Cultural Collaborations Initiative.

For more information, the public can visit www.jala-la-pala.com.