About Taxilandia
The Taxilandia Ride
Taxilandia is a one-on-one experience, a tour through Bushwick, NY in a taxi cab driven by renowned poet, performer, and public artist Modesto Flako Jimenez through poems, local portraits (on an interactive passenger display), and personal anecdotes, Flako deconstructs his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood
Taxilandia is 90 minute car ride that goes throughout the streets of Bushwick. You will see the sights and hear the sounds of the neighborhood while having the opportunity to intimately connect with gentrifying neighborhood.
The Creation of Taxilandia
Originally developed in Jimenez’s own neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, the piece was inspired and drawn from his nine years driving a taxicab and his documentation of conversations with passengers, residents, locals, and immigrants to the neighborhood. Flako now works with companies all over the country to develop local versions of the piece specific to each city.
Meet Our Performers
Modesto Flako Jimenez
NYC Performer and Writer
Modesto Flako Jimenez is a Dominican-born, Bushwick-raised theater maker, producer, and educator. He is the creator and curator of three festivals— Ghetto Hors D’Oeuvres, One Catches Light, and Oye! Avant Garde Night!—and his work has been profiled in the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal. As a performer, he has toured internationally with the Wooster Group, Richard Maxwell, and Kaneza Schaal. Modesto received the 2016 Princess Grace Award Honorarium in Theater, and his own work as been featured in the Public Theater’s Under The Radar Festival, TEDx, Sundance, and universities across the United States.
Bernardo Mazon Daher
San Diego Performer and Writer
Bernardo Mazón Daher (he/him) is a border-brat bred in the San Diego South Bay. While he was in college Bernardo cut his teeth locally practicing theatre as an actor, director, writer, educator, and producer. After graduating, he began making theatre around the country in both premier, prestigious productions alongside grassroots, community-based projects. Along the way, Bernardo also organized for public health causes and voting campaigns in Hispanic communities. His work dovetails activism and art in pursuit of social progress. He has advocated for reform and funding on regional, national, and hemispheric levels, including serving as a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons, forging grants and awards opportunities for dramaturgs across Latin America, and founding a nonprofit for Latinx artists and audiences back home. Bernardo is an all around storyteller driven to create spaces where different peoples can intersect to listen, learn, labor, love, and play together. Bernardo was teaching acting when the pandemic began, then he was activated by the government as an emergency medical technician to deploy for medical disaster response. He urges you to vote in every election down ticket and to volunteer or donate every week. Gracias para siempre a mis padres.