2024 Puerto Rico Theater

Pedro Adorno Irizarry

Puerto Rican theater artist and director

Puertorriqueño / Puerto Rican

San Juan, Puerto Rico

aguasolysereno.org

“Each story we tell becomes a place where we combine the celebration of what we are with a critical thinking that helps us to defend our cultural rights.”

Pedro Adorno Irizarry

Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz.

Photo by Doel Vázquez.

Photo by Wilma Colón.

"Umbral del lienzo", de Agua, Sol y Sereno. October 22, 2016. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz.

Agua, Sol y Sereno ensaya para La Campechada. October 9, 2012. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz.

Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz.

of 6

Reconnecting to the ancestry of our earth through theater & film

Founder and Artistic Director of Agua, Sol y Sereno (ASYS), Pedro Adorno Irizarry is a film and theater director, actor, visual artist and arts manager based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began his career in the 1980s with the group Los Teatreros Ambulantes de Cayey (The Traveling Theater-makers of Cayey), directed by Rosa Luisa Márquez and Antonio Martorell. In 1989 he relocated to Nicaragua to work with the cultural group MECATE and offer theater workshops in rural communities. Later he moved to Vermont where he worked for three years with Bread and Puppet Theatre. Back in Puerto Rico in 1993, he founded Agua, Sol y Sereno together with Cathy Vigo, where he engages with art through the creation of masks, sculptures and visual arts. Adorno has directed ASYS repertoire works, including “Una de cal y una de arena.” He has also directed educational workshops and artistic residencies at the national and international level, and has participated in theater festivals in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

In 2004, together with Emilio Rodríguez, he wrote and directed the feature film “El Clown,” which won two awards for directorial début at the Chicago Latino Film Festival 2007. As a visual artist he has created exhibitions and participated in artistic residencies. He has received various prizes for his cultural work. Adorno completed his Master’s in Art Education from Goddard College in Vermont and Seattle. Apart from holding his position as artistic director of Agua, Sol y Sereno, he works as a professor in the Master of Arts Management program at Puerto Rico University, Recinto de Río Piedras.

What does being a Taproot Fellow mean to you in your practice and community?

To reaffirm our commitment to approach artistic creation from Puerto Rican knowledge, elevating our Afro-Caribbeanness and reconnecting to the ancestry of our earth. We are glad that through our work, our artists working in theater, carnaval and our musical tradition can receive this deserved recognition that our people have fought for while conserving their identity. I am grateful for this support of our artistic, cultural, and community operations with which we continue to investigate our work so that each story we tell becomes a place where we combine the celebration of what we are with a critical thinking that helps us to defend our cultural rights.

Follow on instagram

Meet more of our Fellows

See All

Delores Taitano Quinata

Bilembaotuyan Maker & Player

Hagatna, Guam

Lydia “Louise” Goings (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)

Cherokee Basket Maker

Birdtown Community on the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee, NC)

David Comingdeer (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)

Cherokee Ball Stick Maker

Flint District of the Cherokee Nation (Stilwell, OK)

TJ Sgwaayaans Young (Kaigani Haida)

Haida Wood Carver

Hydaburg, AK

Van-Anh Vanessa Vo

Vietnamese Traditional Musician & Composer

El Cerrito, CA

Reba Jo Teran (Eastern Shoshone)

Traditional Shoshone Saddle Maker & Bead Worker

Fort Washakie, WY

Raymond Wong

Traditional Chinese Lion Dancer & Martial Artist

Chinatown, Washington, DC

Ramón Rivera

Mariachi Musician & Educator

Mount Vernon, WA

Omar Santiago Fuentes

Puerto Rican Troubadour, Improviser of Verse & Décimas

Hatillo, Puerto Rico

Manuel A Delgado

Old-World Luthier

Nashville, TN

Lani Strong Hotch (Chilkat-Tlingit)

Chilkat/Ravenstail Weaver & Textile Artist

Klukwan, AK

Kewulay Kamara

Mandeng Finah Poet & Storyteller

Jackson Heights, NY

Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin)

Haudenosaunee Raised Beadworker

Stevens Point, WI

Inna Kovtun

Ukrainian Ethno-Singer & Folklorist

Portland, OR

Hamid Al-Saadi

Iraqi Maqam Vocalist

Brooklyn, NY

Elena Terry (Ho-Chunk)

Indigenous Chef

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Dena Jennings

Affrolachian Musician & Culture Bearer

Nasons, VA

Chum Ngek

Cambodian Musician & Ritual Artist

Gaithersburg, MD

Billy Branch

Blues Musician

Chicago, IL

Chef BJ Dennis

Gullah Geechee Chef & Cultural Bearer

Charleston, SC

Brett Ratliff

Traditional Appalachian Musician

Stamping Ground, KY

Bruce Bradley

Tap Dancer

Flint, MI

Annetta Koruh (Hopi)

Hopi Weaver

Village Bacavi, Third Mesa-Hopi land, Arizona (Bacavi, AZ)

Alejandro López

Chicano Muralist

Santa Cruz, NM

Wayne Henderson

Appalachian Luthier & Musician

Mouth of Wilson, VA

Willard John

Moko Jumbie Stilt Dancer

St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Veronica Castillo

Mexican Polychromatic Ceramicist

San Antonio, TX

Theresa Secord

Penobscot Basketmaker

Farmington, ME

Stan Rodriguez

Kumeyaay Culture Bearer

Santa Ysabel, CA

Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto

Japanese Koto Musician

Oakland, CA

Shaka Zulu

New Orleans Black Masking craftsman & stiltdancer

New Orleans, LA

Sami Abu Shumays

Arab Musician

Queens, New York, NY

Roy & PJ Hirabayashi

Japanese American Taiko Musicians

San Jose, CA