The company is run on a shoestring budget, supported one play at a time by a community college that does not even have a theater department.
But on Thursday, the student repertory company at Hostos Community College will travel across the Atlantic to join thousands of seasoned and heralded performers in Edinburgh, Scotland, for one of the largest and most prestigious arts festivals in the world. Months of grueling rehearsals, fund-raising and anticipation will culminate on Tuesday with a performance of "Rough Magic," a modern take on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" that is set partly in New York City.
"I wonder if we'll stick out," said Jenesis Scott, 29, a student who lives in a housing project in the Bronx and until recently worked as a teaching assistant at a charter school. "At first I was intimidated, but now I'm more positive. Different is good; we'll be more memorable."
They will be among more than 24,000 artists from 41 countries who will perform during the three-week Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which for the true aficionado is considered a must on the theater calendar. The Hostos students are to perform along with three other college groups, through a program that received applications from more than 200 schools in the United States and Canada.
The Hostos Repertory Company grew out of an effort by the college to give its 7,000 students — many of whom are poor and the first in their families to pursue higher education — a taste of literature, art and the finer things in life. It was originally founded in 1983 as a professional group performing Spanish-language dramas, and was revived in 2005 with students, said Angel Morales, a humanities professor who doubles as the artistic director.
The students started with a bilingual translation of "Romeo and Juliet" by Pablo Neruda that filled the college's 362-seat theater. Soon there was one play every semester, many with Latino themes and authors, including "A Bicycle Country" by Nilo Cruz, and "Chain Reaction," a work about the Puerto Rican activist Antonia Pantoja written by Tere Martinez, an adjunct professor at Hostos.
The college, an often overlooked branch of the City University of New York that is known for its training programs in nursing, dental hygiene and radiologic technology, took the unusual step of bringing the plays into the classroom. Professors in English, the humanities, education, sociology and the sciences collaborated to teach ideas and lessons from the various works, and post online study guides.
George Alvarenga, 23, the middle of three children of a home attendant and a building handyman, said that until he landed at Hostos, he had only seen theater performed in his high school, "so I'm thinking what's so great about seeing it live."
But after taking a class with Professor Morales last year, he waited in line for four hours for free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park. He has been back twice, so far. "Every show is a different show, anything can happen," he said. "I like that because it's a unique morsel that you get to savor. What you see today is not what you'll get tomorrow."
In 2011, Professor Morales was invited to visit the Edinburgh festival by the International Collegiate Theater Festival, an organization that presents college productions as part of the Festival Fringe. Hostos students had started to attract notice outside the Bronx, and performed that year alongside groups from Yale and Boston Universities in a regional college theater festival.
"We bring ethnic diversity," Professor Morales, 42, said. "We bring energy. We bring the thirst of young students from the South Bronx to showcase their talents at a time when opportunities for them are scarce."
Hostos raised $40,000 through donations from alumni and others to cover airfare, housing, festival fees and most meals. The students will be accompanied by Professor Morales and the college president, Felix V. Matos Rodriguez.
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