NextStop Theatre Company Debuts Lin-Manuel Miranda's Musical 'In The Heights' Friday

HERNDON, VA — Herndon's NextStop Theatre Company will be debuting its production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical, “In The Heights,” this Friday.

“It's all about everyday people and their hopes, their dreams and their struggles, as they all tried to make it and achieve their version of the American dream,” Tomoko Azuma, NextStop’s director of development, told Patch.

Much like Miranda’s famed “Hamilton” musical, “In The Heights” mixes hip-hop, salsa, and merengue to tell the story of Usnavi, a bodega owner in Washington Heights, Manhattan’s vibrant Latino neighborhood, who dreams of returning to República Dominicana.

The musical focuses on the day-to-day struggles that everyone can relate to, whether they’re a small business owner like Usnavi, or a student struggling to get an education.

“These are real-life struggles and obstacles that people have to surmount every day,” Azuma said. “It's very validating in some way for people from our community who are going through some of these struggles to actually see it laid out on the stage. It's a good reminder for those of us who aren't recent immigrants, whose families immigrated hundreds of years ago, but still need to be reminded of how hard it is.”

Director Elena Velasco was committed to ensuring that the diversity of the show’s cast reflected the diversity of the real Washington Heights, according to Azuma.

“It's a really great celebration Latinx culture, music and community,” she said. “We're really excited to bring it here into our community, in our region, which has a very large Latinx population.”

Thanks to a grant and a contribution from an individual donor, NextStop will be providing 111 discounted tickets to Cornerstones, which provides support and services for low-income families in the Reston and Herndon area. Cornerstones clients will be able to purchase $5 tickets to see “In The Heights” at NextStop.

“Aside from just us putting on a really great production, we've actually used this as an opportunity to create some outreach opportunities and further and deeper connections with our community,” Azuma said. “That's what we're really excited about is how this production is opening up doors for us to connect with community members that we wouldn't otherwise have
reached.”

NextStop is extending its community outreach through the spring theatre residency program, which puts teaching artists, half of whom are in the “In The Heights” cast, in four elementary schools in the Herndon area. Any student can participate in the free weekly program, which runs from six to eight weeks.

“It brings our teaching artists into the schools to teach kids kind of the foundational concepts in theater and this program was designed to basically help give kids an opportunity in theater,” she said. “Many of these kids in this program may not have had that opportunity otherwise. We really committed, as an organization, to trying to bring our programming directly to the students and directly into the schools for them.”

All performances for NextStop's current season will be masked. All audience members are required to where a mask in the theater.

NextStop Theatre Company's production of "In The Heights" runs from May 12 through June 11. Performances are 8 p.m. on Fridays; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., on Saturdays, and 2 p.m on Sundays. Doors open 30 minutes prior to curtain. More information about the show or how to purchase tickets is available online. NextStop Theatre is located at 269 Sunset Park Drive in Herndon.