Daphne Rubin-Vega to Perform at the 19th Annual Lower East Side Arts Festival

Two-time Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega will debut an excerpt from Aaron Mark's new play Empanada Loca at the 19th annual Lower East Side (LES) Arts Festival. Empanada Loca is inspired by a combination of true events and the legend of Sweeney Todd. The performance will take place on May 23 at Theater for the New City. All festival performances are free and open to the public.

Rubin-Vega's past Broadway credits include Rent (Tony nomination), The Rocky Horror Show, Anna in the Tropics (Tony nomination), Les Misérables, and A Streetcar Named Desire. She also recently enjoyed a recurring role on NBC's Broadway-themed series Smash.

Other performers scheduled to perform at this year's festival include Academy Award-winner F. Murray Abraham, Wise Guise, Trav S.D., Le Squeezebox Cabaret, NY Lyric Circus with juggler and bubblemeister John Grimaldi, the aerial dance Constellation Moving Company, Burning City Orchestra, comedienne Penny Arcade, The Rod Rodgers Dance Company, chanteuse Louisa Bradshaw, musicians Phoebe Legere and David Amram, and legendary TV pioneer Joe Franklin. Also included will be scenes from a new musical adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby and theater pieces by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, Eduardo Machado, Mario Fratti, Lissa Moira, Barbara Kahn, Larry Myers, Bina Sharif, Peter Welch, and Tom Diriwachter.

The theme for this year's Lower East Side Arts Festival is "Art Stands Up to Power. Corporations Are Not People, Green vs. Greed."