kabayitos

Founding History of Kabayitos Theater & Puppetry at The Clemente

The puppet theater was built in 1996 by Michael Romanyshyn, with help from Susie Dennison, Great Small Works, and Bread and Puppet Theater friends. The Clemente’s resident artist, Freddie Hernández, painted the murals in the theater and lobby. The Kabayitos theater is at the very heart of The Clemente’s history. The first performance held at Kabayitos was a work by the famed Czech artist, musician, illustrator and performer Petr Nikl. Throughout the years Kabayitos productions included a Sicilian-style puppet soap opera that explored housing and rent issues of the day. At the time, this was the only space in downtown New York City devoted exclusively to puppetry. Kabayitos’ programming was geared towards children on the weekends, and was performed for adults on weekdays. Its stage was open for experimental works and works-in-progress.

The name Kabayitos comes from the poetic imagery of the Puerto Rican poet, labor organizer, immigrant rights activist and political prisoner Clemente Soto Vélez, The Clemente’s namesake. The theater was built using reclaimed wood that was left over and driven to New York after the first International Festival of Arts in Ideas, in New Haven, CT. It was conceived as a box of colors, the very opposite of the traditional blackbox theater. The original stage curtain was painted by Damiano Giambelli at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The puppet theater was destroyed in 1999. It was rebuilt by Manuel Moran and Teatro SEAfrom photos and up-cycled the original seating from the PS160 school's amphitheater.

Teatro Sea became a resident organization stewarding the theater for 11 years (2000-2011), and turning Kabayitos into the headquarters of the first permanent Latinx theater for young audiences in NYC with a fully bilingual programming approach.