About Us

mission
UrbanTheater Company (UTC) UrbanTheater Company, is a cultural hub rooted in Humboldt Park that amplifies the voices of the Puerto Rican Diaspora and BIPOC communities while archiving Chicago history and incubating new work through storytelling, mentorship, and education. Committed to creating a brave space, we preserve cultural identity and inspire transformation and healing through the power of art.

HISTORY
UrbanTheater Company was founded in 2005 by a Latino ensemble deeply rooted in their community and culture. In 2005, UTC presented its inaugural production of Miguel Piñero’s 1974 Drama Critics Circle Award and Obie Award-winning play Short Eyes, directed by Court Theatre’s Resident Artist/Director Ron OJ Parson. The theatrical community’s support of UTC’s inaugural offering and the critical success of Short Eyes led to UTC dedicating its Premiere Season to producing the Major Plays of Miguel Piñero. In 2006, UTC produced two more Piñero plays, both Midwest Premieres: The Sun Always Shines for the Cool, directed by UTC Co-Founder Madrid St. Angelo and Eulogy for A Small Time Thief, directed by Collaboraction Theater’s Joel Moormon. Both plays were critically acclaimed by Chicago’s theatrical community and garnered UTC with two awards and citations: PerformInk and Gay Chicago’s Top Ten Best of the Year, The Sun Always Shines for the Cool; After Dark Best Actor and Best Set Design, UTC Co-Founder, Ivan Vega and Jorge Félix, respectively.

As a platform for multicultural representation in the arena of performance and story-telling, UTC continues to serve as a bridge between artists of all mediums, our varying and respective communities of color and our communities’ youth. UTC engages itself in the work of community responsibility and has worked to raise awareness concerning many of the social issues facing our diverse backgrounds.