Andrea Diaz
Now in its third location, the Pregones Company traces its roots to 1978. That’s when a group of New York Puerto Rican artists felt the need to produce more Puerto Rican theater in the city.
Founding members Rosalba Rolón, Luis I. Meléndez and David Crommett created “La Colección – 100 Years of Puerto Rican Theater,” an experimental piece that incorporated key scenes from 11 Puerto Rican plays covering the century from 1878 to 1978.
And since the scenes were interwoven with live music and a series of “pregones” — or traditional vendors’ chants – the name Pregones stuck, and a new theater company was born in 1979.
For its first few years, Pregones was primarily a touring company, taking La Colección all over the tri-state area and Puerto Rico. In 1981, the company began to conduct theater workshops – and to build a faithful audience – at churches, community centers, public schools and universities.
In 1982, Pregones settled permanently in the Bronx, thanks to an invitation from the Bronx Council of the Arts, which gave the company its first studio space at the Longwood Arts Project, in the former P.S. 39.
In 1986, the company was given the opportunity to turn an old parish gym into a theater. St. Ann’s Episcopal Church became Pregones’ home for the following eight years. It also became the South Bronx’s first professional theater venue since the glory days of the Teatro Puerto Rico in the 1950s.
In 1990 and 1993, Pregones hosted international theater festivals that brought troupes from all over the world.
By constantly getting involved in the issues that affect the people in its audience, this theater company has always had a unique role in its community. Aside from presenting wonderful theater performances, Pregones had its “Embrace AIDS Theater Project,” its “Adult Literacy Theater Project,” its “Theater in Education,” and its “Youth Ensemble.”
In 1994, Pregones moved out of St. Ann’s and went back on the road, presenting large productions at other venues throughout New York and, starting in 1997, smaller productions at the Pregones Studio, a 2,500 square-foot loft on 153rd and Grand Concourse.
The new 120-seat Pregones Theater, at 575 Walton Avenue, between 149th and 150th Streets in the South Bronx, opened in 2005, just in time for the company’s 25th anniversary season.
In some 28 years of activity, Pregones has produced more than 30 world premieres and presented over 100 visiting artists. Its signature theater pieces – Migrants, The Caravan, Medea’s Last Rosary, Baile Cangrejero, Voices of Steel, Remote Control, The Blackout, Quintuplets, The Wedding March – have been a huge part of a cultural renaissance in the Bronx.
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