Event

El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom by Matt Barbot

A Nuyorican comic book artist down on his luck becomes the city's newest superhero in El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom, written by Matt Barbot and directed by Roxanne Tapia. Alex Nuñez (Miles Blitch) searches to discover his Boricua identity and prove to himself that he is not just Sorta Rican the stereotype assigned to him by his erstwhile high school bully Junior/current nemesis El Chupacabra (Ricky Mars). So he becomes El Coquí, a superhero named for the iconic Puerto Rican tree frog, who protects Sunset Park: he dons his deceased father's vejigante mask, lies about his whereabouts to his mother (Juliet Salazar) and corporate brother (Jake McCook) and hits the rooftops. His noble (if poorly-executed) acts of heroism soon earn the attention of the Twitterverse and of street-savvy Dominicana Yesica (Cristina Vigil). Self-doubts and writers' block are always worthy enemies, but his greatest challenge is how best to portray El Coquí as a hero of el viejo Barrio in the face of Brooklyn's gentrification, or as a product to sell to the highest bidder?

El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom runs April 11-28: 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. $20/$12.

Interesting and appropriate for all ages, except for some use of swear words.