Ada Suarez | NYC Board of Education (retired). Chair/Treasurer.
Angel Gil Orrios |Executive Director Thalia Spanish Theatre. President Angel is the Artistic/Executive Director of Thalia Spanish Theatre since 2000, and has been honored with the New York 2009 Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture; the NYC Hispanic Leadership Award from New York City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, Chairman of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations; the 2010 ACE Special Award for Artistic Achievement; the 2017 Raul Julia HOLA Founders Award For Excellence; and the 2015 “Sunnysider of the Year” Award by the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce and Sunnyside Artists, as well as Proclamations and Citations by the NY City Council, the NY State Assembly, the NY State Senate and the U.S. Congress. In over 40 years he has produced, designed and directed more than 150 productions in Spain, the U.S., and France, which have met with international acclaim and have won him numerous awards, among them: the Silver Medal of the French Academie des Arts-Sciences-Lettres in Paris in 1987; the ACE (Association of Critics of Entertainment) Award for Best Director in 1989, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 in New York; the HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors) Award for Best Director & Producer in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 2015, 2017 and 2018 in New York; and the Prince Ferdinand Award in Zaragoza (Spain) in 1975. He directed & designed his innovative Flamenco-inspired production of Bizet’s Carmen for Knoxville Opera in 2007, and in 2010 designed the set & lighting for Solorzano’s Los Fantoches at the Keochang International Theatre Festival in South Korea and at the National Theatre of Guatemala. He has an M.F.A. in Directing with “Premio Extraordinario” from the School of Dramatic Arts in his native Zaragoza, Spain. In 1977-1979 he Directed/Designed LA CHANA’s Flamenco Dance Company in Madrid, touring Spain and South America; and wrote LA CHANA’s TV Special “CREACION: Genesis Flamenco”. In 1979 a grant from the U.S.-Spain Joint Committee for Cultural Affairs enabled him to research Broadway musicals in New York, where he remained ever since. A member of the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, The Dramatists Guild, and the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers & Publishers (SGAE), he has taught Master Classes and lectured at several universities and Cultural Centers in the United States, Spain and Latin America including Harvard, New York University, Columbia University, City University of New York, the Menendez Pelayo International University, EAFIT in Medellin, UNITEC in Bogota and The National Theatre of Guatemala. He has written, produced & directed three short films, including Garcia Lorca’s only screenplay A Poet in New York (Trip to the Moon) with the late Raúl Juliá, winning the 1993 Award of the XVIII San Francisco Poetry Film Festival. His screenplays include: Pishtakos (with/for Ana Maria Estrada),No se compra el Silencio (with Luis Argueta), KACIKE Enriquillo, and The Race (with Kathy Barrett); Serra: The Man Who Never Turned Back; ¡Yo No Fui! (with/for Luisito Martí); Creación: Génesis Flamenco (for La Chana); A Hunger Artist; and the TV mini-series God, Gold & Glory (U.S. Spanish Roots) [with Judith Escalona], and Portero 24 Horas. His theatre translations include Garcia Lorca’s Once Five Years Pass & other dramatic works, and Valle-Inclán’s Wild Works (the trilogy: Angel Face, Sign of the Eagle, and Ballad of Wolves) [with William Bryant Logan]; Carlos Fuentes’ (In the Land of the Blind…) The One-Eyed Man is King, Calderon de la Barca’s The Great Theatre of the World, and Pablo Picasso’s El Deseo cogido por el rabo.
Soledad Lopez|Cultural Department- Instituto Cervantes. Member Soledad is an award-winning bilingual actress born in Avila, Spain where she began appearing in the theatre at an early age. Since 2000, she is the Managing Director at Thalia and also directs the Bilingual Theatre for Children & Youth Workshops. In New York, she has performed in numerous theatre productions, among them: La Visionaria (Public Theater), El Purgatorio de San Patricio (St. Patrick’s Cathedral), The Misunderstanding (LATE), The Audience & Play Without A Title (Haworth Shakespeare Festival). In 1989, she performed with critical acclaim the monologue Verde doncella asalta un cine. In 1984 she received the Best Actress Award at the Golden Age Theatre Festival of El Paso, Texas, for Don Juan Through the Centuries. She received ACE Best Actress Awards for Palomas Intrépidas in 1996, for her monologue Las Prostitutas os precederánen el Reino de los Cielos in 1994, and for Entre Mujeres in 1995 (also winner of an HOLA Award in 2000) at Thalia, where she also appeared in 2010 in the world premiere of Borges & Piazzolla Tango, and in 2008 in Don Juan Through the Centuries, winning the ACE & HOLA Best Featured Actress Award. She starred with Josean Ortiz in 2019 in the New York Premiere of the LGBT drama La Golondrina; in 2013 in the bilingual world premiere of Ramirez de Haro’s secret weapons of FAT destruction for which she received the ACE Award for Best Actress; in 2012 in the bilingual world premiere of Jaime Salom’s La Callas & Medea (ATI Award for Best Actress); in 2007 in the American premiere of Salom’s The Ladies of Avignon (ACE and HOLA Awards as Best Actress); in 2004 in the American premiere of Salom’s Almost a Goddess (ACE and HOLA Awards as Best Actress); and in the world premiere of Ed Lopez’s Fireflies/Luciérnagas (HOLA Award for Best Ensemble Cast). In 2003, 2007, 2014 and 2017 she starred in the American premiere of Ramos Perea’s We Women Do It Better Than Men which won her the ACE and HOLA Awards as Best Actress; in 2002 in the American premiere of Carlos Fuentes’ The One-Eyed Man Is King, in 2001 in Jardiel Poncela’s Brake Four Hearts (And Put in Reverse), and in 2000 in Picasso’s Guernica, and in Calderon’s The Great Theatre of the World, for which she received the HOLA Award as Best Actress. In film, she starred in Francisco Lupini’s Sufrir como dedos que no sangran,El Nido Vacio and Blackout, which were showed at several International Festivals winning several Awards, and in Tony Wakefield’s Exilios, a USA Network production which won the Best Short Film Award at Mexico’s International Film Festival. She also starred in the hit comedy Webseries ¡Madre Mía! In 2005 she was awarded the VERMEIL MEDAL of The French Academie des Arts-Sciences-Lettres in Paris.
Rigoberto Cardoso| Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce. Member
Scott Cooper| Real Estate Attorney- Cooper Real State. Member Scott has been the owner and and broker of record of Cooper Real Estate since 1981. Mr. Cooper is licensed as an attorney in the State of NY and was active in the area of Mortgage Origination including working as a Mortgage Broker for over 15 years. He has served on the board of the Long Island Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service for 3 years. Responsible for the management of both rental and co-op units in the Queens area, Mr. Cooper is an advisor to many co-op boards, and serves a director on one as well.
Eve Cho Guillergan | Attorney at Law. Member Eve opened her law practice in 2004 after working for several immigration firms. She started practicing immigration law in 1992 upon graduation from Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. After her first class in immigration law Eve knew that this was the field she would specialize in because she wanted to serve people of diverse backgrounds. She was fortunate to find an immigration law position when a law school friend recommended her the firm. From 1992 to 1995, Eve litigated numerous asylum and deportation cases including many of the Sikh faith. From 1996 to 2004, Eve worked for several immigration firms concentrating on corporate cases for companies as diverse as investment banks and shipping companies to multinational manufacturers and computer consulting companies. While at these firms, Eve managed her own accounts and supervised her team. Aside from maintaining her own legal practice in midtown, Manhattan, Eve is on the Board of Governors and Chairs the Immigration and Judiciary Committees for the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York. She is also Co-Chair of the Solo and Small Firm Network for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She previously served as Chair of the Practice Management Committee for American Immigration Lawyers Association’s New York chapter. Eve is a member of the Asian American Bar Association of New York and the Filipino American Lawyers Association of New York. Eve serves on the boards of Queens Borough Public Library as NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s representative, Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, and Thalia Spanish Theatre in Queens. She had the great honor of serving as a New York State Elector in 2016. She has been awarded to the Super Lawyers New York Metro and Top Women in NYS lists for several years. Eve is also proud to be an advocate for immigrant rights and has led numerous advocacy matters for the community.
