Last Request: A Dark Comedy by Pedro Pietri

When: Apr 9-26, 2026 (see here for performance dates and times)

Where: Teatro LATEA @ The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY 10002

Artist: Pedro Pietri, Juan Valenzuela, Tessie Harrasti, Frances Lozada, Gloria C. Zelaya, Alex Emanuel, Marshall, Factora, Frank Perez

Written approximately two years before his death in 2004, the play is a rare theatrical work by the Poet Laureate of the 1960s Puerto Rican revolutionary organization, the Young Lords. Last Request presents the story of a corpse discovered in the lobby of a pre-war Bronx apartment building in the 1950s by a young couple, an old couple, and a blind couple. Their reactions to his possessions trigger escalating chaos and revelations about their personal lives, becoming an exploration of morality, greed, dignity, and survival in mid-century urban life.

Known for elevating street language, working-class experience, and collective memory in his poetry, Pedro Pietri was a foundational figure in the Nuyorican poetry movement. Presented at Teatro LATEA, a location that sustained experimental bilingual performance throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the production locates Pietri’s rarely staged theatrical work within the same cultural context that originally shaped his artistic voice.

Purchase tickets here.