El Pesebre (The Manger) is a Christmas nativity shepherd’s play produced by the Colombian creative team at ID Studio Theater and performed for free at community centers that serve New York City’s Latin communities.
El Pesebre 2019
The show is a nativity presentation with eight actors and a three-piece band singing Christmas carols. It’s a black box theatre type of presentation
El Pesebre is written by Jorge Plata Saray. It is directed by Jamie Vanegas with the help of Colombian telenovela star Germán Jaramillo. Pablo Mayor did the sound. Daniel Fetecua did the choreography.
Mayor, Fetecua and Jaramillo are among the leading Colombians working in New York City in music, dance and theatre.
Performances are free.
Comisiando Dominicano de Cultura
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 ~ Washington Heights, NYC. FREE
Family Life Academy Charter School II
Friday, December 13, 2019 ~ Mott Haven, The Bronx at 5pm. FREE
St. Luke’s Catholic Church
Sunday, December 15 ~ St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Mott Haven, The Bronx at 12:30pm. FREE
BronxWorks Betances Community Center
Saturday, December 21 ~ With BronxArtSpace in Mott Haven, The Bronx at 2pm. FREE
BronxWorks
547 East 146th St, The Bronx, NY 10455
Near St. Mary’s Park
Mott Haven, The Bronx
Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center
January ~ in Norwood, The Bronx. FREE
3225 Reservoir Oval East, The Bronx, NY 10467
Home nativity scenes are a Colombian tradition
In Colombia, a corner of every grandmother’s house turns into a manger around Christmas. People go crazy like they do with the Christmas house decorations in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.
There is a friendly competition for who sets up the most beautiful nativity in their home. If you want to have the best nativity scene, hire a Colombian grandmother.
Colombians also celebrate La Novena, the nine-day prayer cycle leading up to Christmas, so there is a lot of visiting. It’s similar to the Mexican posada and the Puerto Rican parranda, but more religious in the Colombian way.
Shephard’s plays are a vestige of religious theatre from the Middle Ages that was a pre-literate teaching method.
Nativity scenes celebrate the family which is the heart of Latin culture. We also welcome strangers from afar, because that’s the kind of people we are.
For more information, visit idstudiotheater.org