In 2002, New York City was still reeling from the raw wounds of 9/11. In the midst of that collective grief, a theatrical explosion occurred at Center Stage, New York. It wasn’t a polished, corporate production — it was Our Lady of 121st Street.
Directed by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, the play was the definitive "signature" of the LAByrinth Theater Company. We were a company founded by thirteen Latino actors (originally the Latino Actor Base) who had spent ten years fostering a "homegrown, grassroots" spirit. We didn’t just act; we were a true collective. We wrote, directed, lit, designed and costumed our own work. We built the sets and raised the money ourselves. We were raw, visceral and entirely membership-driven.
Before we even opened Off-Broadway, a "Where’s Waldo" style guerrilla marketing campaign took over Manhattan. We were out there ourselves, sticking decals and spray-painting stencils of the play’s title on sidewalks, mailboxes, cab doors and poles.
At the time, social media didn’t exist. We didn’t have TikTok or Instagram to spread the word. Those stickers were our Instagram — they were our only way to cut through the noise of the city. These were technically unlawful misdemeanors, but they signaled a new era of theater. For young audiences, this wasn’t just a show; it was their culture.
The anticipation was at a fever pitch. When Our Lady of 121st Street opened back home, it sold out every performance, eventually moving to the 499-seat Union Square Theatre in March 2003.
The original cast was a "Who’s Who" of what would become the next generation of great American actors. Back then, we were just a group of unknown friends representing the real face of New York City: Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear, Spiderman: Brand New Day), the late Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us, Between Riverside and Crazy), David Zayas (HBO’s Oz, Dexter), Felix Solis (Ozark, The Rookie) and Elizabeth Canavan (Between Riverside and Crazy, Dog Day Afternoon) were just some of the brilliant actors that made up our company.
As for me, I was right there in the thick of it — taking on Off-Broadway originals, writing for the LAB and finally making my way into the universities, eventually landing here at Shenandoah Conservatory.
This play was forged in the fire of collaboration. "Phil" Hoffman helmed the play with his guts, heart and soul. He held Stephen accountable to the truth, demanding rewrites during our three weeks of previews. Stephen would bring in new pages for the final beats of the play in the afternoons; we would rehearse them and put them on stage that night.
We kept at it until the union told us we had to "freeze" the show. What you see tonight is where Stephen had to stop. It’s a unique piece of his — written more in theme than plot — an unresolved, raw reflection of real New Yorkers in Harlem trying to find meaning in loss.
I chose Our Lady of 121st Street because it represents to me the pinnacle of ensemble work; it demands "fresh acting" and "guts." The impact of this play is immeasurable. Lin-Manuel Miranda famously cited the early works of our company as a primary inspiration for his own storytelling, and the NYC Public Performance Library even recorded the original production to archive it as a work of historical significance in American theater.
By performing this play, we aren’t just staging a script; we are tapping into a lineage of theatre that is raw, current and unapologetically human. I wanted to bring a piece of that original LAByrinth DNA to Shenandoah and challenge our students to find the same "homegrown" energy we carried on the streets of New York twenty years ago.
We also selected this piece because our Theatre Division possesses the specific caliber of talent required to meet its demands. We also have the depth to fully understudy these roles. In fact, a few understudies have already stepped into these characters, seizing the opportunity to fully inhabit them. We are truly lucky at Shenandoah to have such talented and dedicated students.
Thank you for coming to the theatre,
Scott Hudson
Director of Acting
Associate Professor of Theatre
Shenandoah Conservatory