Teatro LATEA

March 20, 2025

Business, Music, Non-Profit Organizations, Theater

LATEA (Latin American Theater Experiment Associates) is a performing arts theater company that has been a Latino cultural staple for over 30 years.

Through multicultural and multidisciplinary initiatives at The Clemente, which it helped establish, LATEA assiduously promotes and produces Latino performing arts to and for Latinos and multicultural audiences.

Founded in 1982 by Nelson Tamayo, Nelson Landrieu, Mateo Gomez and Marta García. Latin American Theater Experiment Associates (Teatro LATEA) reflects the concern of these award-winning actors with the underrepresentation of Latinos in North American theater.

When the Solidaridad Humana bilingual educational program anchored at former P.S. 160 ceased to exist, the founders developed a communal theater space. Shortly thereafter LATEA found itself as the sole tenant of the former Public School building. Serendipitously, its members and Ed Vega Yunqué managed to safeguard a formidable city-owned building for downtown Latino arts. In 1993 Ed Vega and the LATEA founders established the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center (The Clemente). During its illustrious 38 year history, Teatro LATEA has been widely acknowledged for its contributions to the performing arts.

At our theater, New York based Latino / Latin American artists can create multidisciplinary work through co-productions in a collaborative environment. Our mission encompasses producing experimental theater as well as co-producing dance, film, music and visual arts exhibits. Our principal aim is not only to expose underserved Latino audiences to dynamic multidisciplinary performances / theater experiences but also to introduce broader audiences to work by emerging Latino/Latin American artists and others.

Since 2017, LATEA has reinvigorated its focus on three distinct initiatives: LATEA STAGE produces and hosts Latino theater, LATEA SCREEN produces new media content and holds film festivals and open screens, and LATEA MUSIC presents Latin Jazz, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and South American genres such as Tango. Spoken word events and visual arts exhibits are also presented. A new festival dedicated to Afro-Latin cultures started in 2018 and is in its fourth year.

In honor of its mission, LATEA has adapted to the “new normal” going “Remoto” in order to stream original Latinx content online. This transition was accomplished with the support of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

LATEA/Remoto flexes the incredibly versatile LATEA stage, effectively transforming it into a utilitarian film set for recording and live streaming theatrical, film and music projects. Remoto proactively documents, promotes, and allows LATEA to market select stage, screen, music and word programming online.

Teatro LATEA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that assiduously promotes scenic arts and independent film producers to Latinos and multicultural audiences. From classics to experimental plays and musical theater, to music and dance recitals, to film festivals, LATEA has presented a varied and affordable program to the community for over three decades. Furthermore, we provide rehearsal rooms to local companies and individuals for a range of purposes that includes, but it’s not limited to, teaching dance and modeling for kids and adults, to rehearsal space for choirs and other musicians, to different types of seminars and visual arts workshops. Closely collaborating with other initiatives under The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, LATEA also organizes yearly art exhibitions, in the context of the Borimix Puerto Rico Fest and offers the theater’s walls to promote local visual artists.

Join our efforts of developing the arts in the heart of the Lower-East Side of New York.