"Quiara Alegria Hudes was the sharp-eyed girl on the stairs while her family danced in her grandmother's tight South Philly kitchen, "frizzy hair cut short, bangs teased into stiff clouds, sweat glistening in the summer fog, pamper-butt babies weaving between legs." Quiara was awed by her aunts and uncles and cousins, but haunted by the secrets of the family and the unspoken stories of the barrio -- even as she tried to find her own voice in the sea...

Lin-Manuel Miranda gives readers an extraordinary inside look at "In the Heights," his breakout Broadway debut, written with Quiara Alegría Hudes, soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster. Miranda offers untold stories, perceptive essays, and the lyrics to his songs. Features newly commissioned portraits and never-before-seen photos from backstage, the movie set, and productions around the world

The likeable, magnetic, bodega owner Usnavi saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines, and sings about a better life. Meanwhile, his tight-knit community faces the challenge of gentrification, losing their homes while trying to better themselves and hold on to their cultures

Somewhere in Philadelphia, Elliot has returned from Iraq and is struggling to find his place in the world. Somewhere in a chat room, recovering addicts forge an unbreakable bond of support and love. The boundaries of family and community are stretched across continents and cyberspace as birth families splinter and online families collide. Quiara Alegría Hudes is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Water by the Spoonful, the Tony Award-winning...

Back home in Philadelphia, Elliot Ortiz, a nineteen-year-old Marine, contemplates his return to Iraq for a second tour of duty after being seriously wounded. In this “simple, poignant and achingly evocative play” (TimeOut New York), three Ortiz family members recount years of service to their country in wars in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, and the effects their service has had on the individual, the family and the community they live in. Melding a...

A troubled teenager and her estranged mother-an undocumented Mexican immigrant on the verge of deportation-embark on a road trip and strive to mend their frayed relationship along the way. Combined with the musical talent of Erin McKeown, Hudes artfully crafts a story of the barriers and the bonds of family, while also addressing the complexities of immigration in today's America.