Currently, she is the Director of New York University’s MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish. She is the author of five novels and a driving force in experimental Caribbean popular music, receiving a nomination for a Latin Grammy in 2021. Her novel Tentacle was the first book written in Spanish to win the Grand Prize of the Association of Caribbean Writers in 2017. Rita Indiana is a Dominican-born New York-based music composer and a key figure in contemporary Latin American literature. Production Consultants: Angela Sofía Santiago Caro, Maribel Caro Cruz (ontological coaching) Production Assistants: Daniel Gonzalez Quintero, Zilah Felix, Luz Esther Hernandez Musical Arrangements: Rita Indiana and Luis Amed Irizarryįilm & Video Production: Noelia Quintero Herencia, Ian Victor, Sebastian Gonzalez Quintero, Ricardo GoitfaĬostume Assistant: Ivette Hernandez - Mantoherida Script: Rita Indiana and Noelia Quintero Herencia Producers: Rita Indiana, Noelia Quintero Herencia Melissa Bonetti, Andrea Chavarro, Teresa Davis, Kayla Faccilongo, voices Tu nombre verdadero was created out of the need to share an intimate space with those of us who were left behind, a need to memorialize the departed outside of social media, in the present, where the living remain. The songbook, arranged for piano and drums with Luis Amed Irizarry, departs from Rita Indiana’s storytelling and popular music staples reaching into “uncharted places of my musical memory, the sounds of early childhood or how I remember them, a time before I knew what death meant.” Musical genres are approached in their bare-bones form, stripped of irony or fusion, as if death had also kissed them. Quintero-Herencia, who also designed the sets, conceived the piece as “a system of goodbyes, the lights and shadows multimedia machine we would need to be able to look at things that are difficult to portray, such as loss.”

A post-pandemic abstract tale that visits experiences of illness and death in the context of artistic practices and their markets, the piece was commissioned by Americas Society after the couple moved to New York City in 2021. Tu nombre verdadero is a live performance, with music and lyrics by Rita Indiana and libretto and direction by Noelia Quintero-Herencia, dedicated to Jorge Pineda Perez. Remember to follow us to watch this and other exciting performances.

Registration is closed for this event as it is sold out. On April 15, we will host this event in person and tickets are free.

Tentacle rita indiana