PUERTO RICAN TRAVELING THEATER in Manhattan harbors a 190-seat playhouse, a large multiuse studio lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, connecting artist workrooms, and a jewel box display of founder Miriam Colón’s career awards and collectibles. Opened in 1977 as one of the first homes of bilingual theater in all of the U.S., the facility is the outcome of the visionary and multimillion-dollar repurposing of then abandoned New York City Firehouse No. 54. The building’s landmarked red brick and cast-iron façade, designed by 19th Century master Napoleon LeBrun, is now synonymous with PRTT. Home of new and standout plays and musicals for five decades, PRTT remains the foremost Latino theater in the Times Square/Broadway district today.
