In 2019, Rafael Sánchez agreed that he would take over for Repertorio Español’s longtime leader Robert Weber Federico, who had been with the organization for over 50 years. The plan was to spend two years shadowing Federico; afterwards he would be named executive artistic director. Then in 2020, the pandemic happened and all theatres, including Repertorio, were shut down.

But instead of getting scared, Sánchez got to work. He decided that Repertorio would make all of its shows available for streaming, launching Repertorio On-Demand. “It was a very hard moment,” he admits. “But we were able to pivot pretty, pretty fast to the digital content, especially because professors and teachers kept teaching during that period of time, and they were having the need of sharing cultural programs with their students.” He explains that it was survival mode the first two years he led the company, but now it finally feels like Repertorio is out of the proverbial woods. “We're still not back 100 percent to our prior [audience] levels, but I'm confident that with time, we will get there,” says Sánchez. And this year, as Repertorio turns 56 years old, Sánchez is excited to lead this longtime institution to its next stage.

Repertorio Español was founded in 1968 by producer Gilberto Zaldívar and playwright René Buch to bring Spanish-language theatre to audiences in New York City. Each season, the company presents 10 to 12 productions in repertory, switching out new productions almost daily at its 140-seat Gramercy Arts Theatre in Midtown Manhattan—the theatre produces over 200 performances a year. And it’s not just for Spanish-speaking audiences—every show has English supertitles. It’s such a pivotal part of the New York theatrical community that in 2011, it received an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Sánchez was born in Spain and spent 10 years in Puerto Rico before moving to NYC. When he got to the city, one of the theatres he reached out to was Repertorio, where he was promptly welcomed. To Sánchez, what makes Repertorio special in comparison to other theatres in the city (which might do a play by a Hispanic author once a season, if at all) is that in doing a dozen shows a year, Repertorio is able to showcase the diversity of the Hispanic and Latino community—such as the Afro-Latin community in La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Oscar Wao (a stage adaptation of the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) running this season.

“The other day, I was talking to someone; he’s Mexican and he was like, ‘I felt the moment I stepped in the theatre, I felt that I was in Mexico,’” says Sánchez. “And the topic of the plays that we are bringing, they are universal. So they are Latino stories, but at the same time, if you want to see something Dominican, something Puerto Rican, something Mexican, something Spanish, you will find that at Repertorio...As a Latino member of the community, we are so diverse. And having 10 productions right at the same time, you have the chance to highlight many different things inside of Latinidad.”

Looking ahead, a passion for Sánchez is bringing younger audiences to Repertorio, saying, “I want to take Repertorio to a level where it's another option for everyone, not only for Spanish speakers, but for everyone—to open these new projects to the community at large, especially because second-generation immigrants and third-generation immigrants, they don't necessarily speak Spanish.”

So he’s focused on programming new works that speak to issues important to younger audiences. For instance, the new musical La Llamada, which Repertorio is producing this season, is a queer coming-of-age story written by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, who are a couple and judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race in Spain. Sánchez admits that doing a new musical is more ambitious than what Repertorio is used to—especially one that has four live musicians. But that’s the kind of risk he wants to take now in order to expand Repertorio’s profile. He wants to expand the theatre’s staff, and the scale of the work that Repertorio can do. For instance, on October 18, Repertorio is presenting an industry reading of a new musical called Crossing, which is about migrants at the border, and features music by Zoe Sarnak and stars Hadestown’s current Eurydice, Maia Reficco.

“We're supporting the development of a new musical—why not dream about a transfer to Broadway or Off-Broadway, a bigger house,” muses Sánchez. “I'm very open to taking Repertorio to the next level, and that includes taking Repertorio out of our small venue to do something bigger.”

At the same time, as the company evolves, Sánchez is making sure to remember the founding principle of the theatre, one that continues to welcome a new generation of artists to the theatre, including him: “Repertorio is an organization founded by immigrants, and I feel that it is the home of everyone arriving with a dream of making art and theatre in New York.”