ARTIST TALK: MINERVA PEREZ & MARGARITA ESPADA

Margarita Espada (MFA) is an award-winning  performer, educator, cultural maker, researcher, and activist in the fields and studies of physical theater, body and embodiments, settlers-colonialism, race, ethnicity and migration. 

Margarita  is the founder and director of Teatro Experimental Yerbabuja, an art organization with the mission to use the arts as a tool for social change (www.teatroyerbabruja.org).  She is part of the faculty at the Department of Women Study at Stony Brook University where she teaches theater and activism.

Margarita received her Master of Fine Art in Dramaturgy  from Stony Brook University and her Bachelor of Art in Education from Puerto Rico University. She is a New York State and Puerto Rico-certified theater teacher with over 30 years of experience as an educator, performer, playwright, arts activist, and cultural and community organizer.   

Margarita has conducted research, supported school and organization change efforts, and facilitated  professional learning around applied theater, culturally responsive practice, curriculum design, problem solving, and reflective communication.  Margarita advocates on the importance of arts and culture for the social and economic well-being of the local and global community. Her work advancing the art of LatinX, Black, Indigenous, and artists of color on Long Island has made her one of the most prominent leaders in Long Island.  She is a board member for the New York State Dance Force, and a member of the Arts Advisory Council for the Suffolk County Legislature.

She has received numerous awards and proclamations for her leadership, her art  and community work including 2021 Faces of Long Island, Newsday, 2018 Martin Luther King Living Legend Award, NAACP Islip, NY, 2018. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times and by the Associated Press, Newsday, and numerous other media outlets.

Photo courtesy of Newsday.

Minerva Perez is the executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, where she centers her work on the protection, empowerment, and celebration of our Latino community through OLA’s mission to create a safer, healthier, and more equitable East End region for all. As an advocate and an artist, she relishes being in the uncomfortable spaces where love and understanding can grow. 

Ms. Perez holds a theatre arts degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She founded and ran a theatre company for 8 years in NYC.  In addition to acting in theatre, film, and television, she has directed and produced independent films and local theatre productions including the only Spanish language version of the Vagina Monologues on the East End as well as the English version featuring cast members Brooke Shields, Blythe Danner, and Julie White. She has curated more than 10 OLA Latino Film Festivals which feature Spanish language films with English subtitles meant to bridge cultural interests and create harmony and understanding. She has created and produces two OLA shows on LTV meant to highlight community members and guests of all backgrounds and disciplines: “Conversations with OLA” and “Sabor con OLA”. 

OLA of Eastern Long Island works to create a more equitable East End for Latino immigrants through advocating for just and inclusive government and school policies; protecting families; nurturing power and unity among Latinos through leadership workshops and other programs; and building bridges among different sectors of the East End community through celebrating arts and culture.

https://www.olaofeasternlongisland.org