Our History

Instituto Arte Teatral Internacional (IATI) was founded in 1968 by Venezuelan director Abdón Villamizar and a group of Latinx writers and actors.

For 20 years, IATI had a basement theater at 9 East 6th Street, where it performed hundreds of works for the local Latinx community. From its early days, IATI sought to create community by offering a welcoming home for immigrant and visiting artists from Latin America. Spanish-speaking actors, playwrights and directors from all over found IATI to be a home-away-from-home. IATI covered its costs with ticket sales and concessions (and the help of a $1,000 NYSCA grant).

In 1988, the building was sold. IATI moved into an old abandoned monastery on Second Avenue named CUANDO and transformed its chapel into a theater space. It presented new works, children’s shows, festivals, and workshops for the community. IATI developed a holiday show to celebrate Three Kings Day for local public schools where the theater community collected toys for low-income students. (It also fought against the local drug dealers, to keep the space from turning into a crack house.)

In 1990, CUANDO was condemned, locked, and IATI lost its stage, lighting equipment, sound system, and red show curtain. It reinvented itself and rented venues like American Theatre of Actors, and Teatro LaTea. In 1998, Vivian Deangelo took over the company, when the founder was seriously injured in a car accident.

For years, IATI rented storage space from the City of New York for $100/month at 59-61 E 4th Street. In 1998, IATI illegally converted the storage space to an office, rehearsal studio and workshop space. There was no electricity, so the staff worked by candlelight. Over the years, the city moved IATI from office to office, and floor to floor.

In 2005, IATI formed a consortia, and with the help of Councilmember Margarita Lopez, bought the building at 64 E 4th Street from the City of New York. The primary renovation was completed in 2013. A second renovation was started in 2022 with final completion in a few years. 2022 also marks a year that will bring innovative and exciting new changes to the company.