Manuel Igrejas is a native of Newark, New Jersey and grew up in Newark’s vibrant Portuguese community, the Ironbound, where he was a boy scout and an altar boy at Our Lady Of Fatima Church. He was voted most pious-looking three years in a row.
He spent the first ten years of his adult life (1970-1980) as a physical laborer, first with Erie Lackawanna Railroad in Hoboken (now NJ Transit) for five years as a carpenter and then another five with the Bloomfield Department of Public Works. (see below)
My short story, Lovey, is about my time on the Recyling Truck.
During that time he wrote poetry and fiction that was published in small magazines. In 1980 he was one of the actors in Jessica Raimi's radio soap opera, Our Life Together Among the Works of Art, which ran on WBAI. He also wrote several episodes of the show.
In 1980 he landed a job with the well-known theatrical publicity office, Hunt/Pucci, where he was junior assistant press dweeb. The office handled Torch Song Trilogy, ‘night, Mother, Crimes of the Heart and Agnes of God, in addition to Bobby Short at the Carlyle Hotel. Despite the glamorous trappings, the job was often more rugged than working on the railroad—and not as much fun. Igrejas avoided theater for years and from 1983 to 1990, sold restaurant supplies during the day and wrote fiction, poetry and plays at night.
When he returned to public relations in 1990 with David Rothenberg Associates, the firm represented such Broadway productions asThe Song of Jacob Zulu and Lucifer’s Child starring Julie Harris, the off-Broadway phenomenonTony n’ Tina’s Wedding and John Leguizamo's Mambo Mouth, among many others.
In 1991 Igrejas became associated with Blue Man Group and was their Public Relations Director until 2005 when he retired from full time duty.
With the Blue Man creators, Matt, Phil and Chris near the beginning. What started as a handful of true believers turned into an artist-driven entertainment phenomenon that entertained millions worldwide. Those were good times.
Igrejas also repped many downtown theater and dance companies, including En Garde Arts, Reza Abdoh, Ann Carlson, The Builders Association and Richard Foreman at the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, STREB and Peak Performances at Montclair State University.
Igrejas’ poetry is included in the anthology, A New Geography of Poets and has been published in several literary magazines. His short story, The Little Trooper was included in Men on Men 4 and his stories, Egghead, Lovey and Lovey Saves the Day have been published and are available to read on this site. His story, Cavalinho Na Chuva (Little Horse in the Rain) is included in the anthology, Image OutWrite and is available to read on this site as well.
Shrinkage, An evening of three of his one act plays about the pursuit of mental health, was produced off-off Broadway in spring 2004 and was reviewed favorably by the New York Times and Time Out. His play, Kitty and Lina, was produced in April 2008 and also received good reviews in The NY Times and Time Out. It is included in the Portuguese anthology, nem ca, nem la, has been published by Stage Plays and is available on Amazon.com. His play, Miss Mary Dugan won the Best Play, Best Director and Best Actor Awards at the 2009 Fresh Fruit Festival. Hassan and Sylvia won Best Play and Best Actress Awards at the 2010 Fresh Fruit Festival. Other plays include NSA (O'Neill semi-finalist and part of the 2014 left out festival), and Margarita and Max, (Best short play, best actress and best director awards at the 2013 Midtown Festival). Latest plays include Doofus, Pittsburgh!, Chair, How To Make A Million and a stage version of Egghead Payne. Instimacy had a Zoom reading in 2020.
