El bolero fue mi ruina. = The bolero was my ruin.

Video documentation of Pregones Theaters performance El bolero fue mi ruina (The Bolero Was My Ruin) presented as a part of the 2nd Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, celebrated in June of 2001 in Monterrey, Mexico under the title Memory, Atrocity and Resistance. El bolero fue mi ruina is Pregones Theaters adaptation of Manuel Ramos Oteros story Loca la de la locura. The protagonist is a Puerto Rican woman like any other and unlike them all. She is a lovelorn and timeworn artiste, a singer of torch songs, a faded night club entertainer. She is a convicted murderer serving the last days of her sentence at Oso Blanco penitentiary. She is also, biologically speaking, a male. The writer dispenses with pieties on this issue Locas biology is not a scandal but a fact. Loca disputes the notion that an aging male body is no home for a lady. She is vulgar, sentimental, sweet, and always sharp as a tack. She remains loyal to the memory of her beloved Nene Lindo, his brand of tough love, and his inscrutable beauty. Her crime binds them forever in shame and passion. Pregones Theater (http://www.pregones.org)., founded in 1979 in New York City, is dedicated to creating innovative and challenging theater rooted in Puerto Rican traditions and popular artistic expressions. They have performed in 21 states as well as internationally. Recent awards are: 1998 Julia de Burgos Cultural Award; 1996 Bronx Council on the Arts Award; Three 1994 ACE Awards (critic Award) for Best Production and Best Supporting Actors; 1992 City of New York Mayor's Award for Arts and Culture. Jorge B. Merced is an Associate Artistic Director of Pregones Theater and has been a member of the company since 1987. As one of Pregones' principal artists, Jorge has performed in over 30 productions, directed and co-directed several major company productions, and coordinated all specialized workshops and master classes. Jorge is also creator and director of several projects such as Asunción (a Latino playwright's laboratory exploring issues of difference and transformation at the limits of queer identity), The Embrace AIDS Theater Project, and all company Theater & Education projects. Alvan Colón Lespier is an Associate Artistic Director of Pregones Theater, joining the company in 1981. He is the producer for the company's national and international Touring and Residencies Program, the Visiting Artists Series, Conversations on Culture at Pregones Studio and Pregones Summer Stage. Articles and essays by Alvan have appeared in Revista Conjunto, Reimaging America - Arts for Social Change, The Non-Traditional Casting Project, Ollantay Theater Magazine and Aplauso -Hispanic Children's Theater. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics