Mino Lora, who co-founded the People’s Theatre with her husband, has a double breakfast, a dance break and a bilingual reading session to wrap up her night.
Mino Lora, who co-founded the People’s Theatre with her husband, has a double breakfast, a dance break and a bilingual reading session to wrap up her night.
Mino Lora, who co-founded the People’s Theatre with her husband, has a double breakfast, a dance break and a bilingual reading session to wrap up her night.
As the co-founder and executive artistic director of the People’s Theatre, Mino Lora sets the stage to spotlight the voices of the immigrant communities in Upper Manhattan.
She started the People’s Theatre to serve Washington Heights and Inwood 16 years ago, but her interest in community building and social justice can be traced to her childhood in the Dominican Republic.
“I always thought I would be a teacher, and that’s what I was studying in college,” said Ms. Lora, 44, who was born and raised in the capital city of Santo Domingo. “But after I attended the International Theatre Festival of Santo Domingo 1999, I dropped out of school.”
She received a scholarship to study theater in Purchase, N.Y., at Manhattanville College (which recently changed its name to Manhattanville University). After graduating, she moved to New York City and found her footing as a director. She later co-founded the People’s Theatre with Bob Braswell, her roommate-turned-husband.
“For me, the creative process is the most interesting part,” she said.
In 2026, the theater will get its first permanent home: a $40 million multidisciplinary performing arts center at Miramar, a new mixed-income residential building in Inwood.
“I dreamed of this for 10 years,” Ms. Lora said, adding that she saw the center as a model for similar spaces around the country.
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