Behind the Evolution of "Mexodus": From Stage Show to Audible Original

The audience at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre was dancing, singing and calling out, electrified by what was happening on the stage. This was an autumn night in 2025, but that same exuberance and unity characterizes every performance of the musical Mexodus, and that’s exactly how creator-performers Nygel D. Robinson and Brian Quijada want it.

Produced by P3 Productions and Audible Theater, Mexodus is continuing its Off Broadway run at the Daryl Roth Theatre, where critical and audience acclaim has led to its being extended through June 14. The show is an energetic blend of hip hop, R&B and jazz songs that tells the story of Henry (played by Robinson), a man escaping slavery in 1850s Texas, and Carlos (played by Quijada), the Mexican soldier and medic who risks everything to help him.

A core part of the show’s power, and what gets audiences going, is watching Quijada and Robinson create each song via live looping — they dance and move around the stage, picking up instruments and recording riffs, playing each one back on an endless loop, layer by layer, and then sing and rap over them. Even the few props around the stage become instruments: spurs, a washboard, a hammer on a chisel, a spoon on a plate.

It’s a deeply personal process, and the show has been that way from the start. Robinson and Quijada met in early 2020 at a gathering of actor-musicians where they had been invited to speak about playing music and live looping. Robinson had just written a spiritual, and Quijada, the child of Salvadoran immigrants, couldn’t stop thinking about an article he’d read, focusing on the lesser-known Southern Underground Railroad between Texas and Mexico. Immediately the two knew they should combine their efforts to tell this “reverse border story” focused on Black and Brown allyship.

Quijada and Robinson worked slowly over the next year, developing track by track via emails and texts during the Covid-19 lockdown, and presented their concept live at New York Stage and Film in mid-2021. Director David Mendizábal and sound designer Mikhail Fiksel joined them, and the group spent two more years developing Mexodus on stages in Berkeley, California; Baltimore, Maryland; and Washington, D.C., taking audience feedback and trying out new ideas. Fiksel had worked with Audible Theater on projects produced through our Emerging Playwrights Fund, and suggested reaching out about bringing Mexodus to the Minetta Lane Theatre and co-producing the show with P3.

“Of course we said ‘yes,’” reports Kate Navin, Audible’s Head of Creative Development, North America. “We were already fans of the creators and had been keeping our eye on the production. And as part of Audible’s commitment to emerging voices, we knew that we could fully support the show the way it should be supported.”

Quijada “was super pumped” to perform Mexodus at the Minetta Lane Theatre, where he saw Dead Outlaw, Audible’s award-winning and acclaimed first musical. “The sound system in there is amazing,” he says. Navin confirms this is what every sound designer thinks when they come in with a new show, due partly to the building’s construction, which optimizes how sound moves through the space, but also because Audible has outfitted the theater with cutting-edge sound capabilities.

At about 390 seats, the Minetta Lane Theatre offers audiences an intimate experience, which is perfect for a mesmerizing and emotional performance like Mexodus. The show was also able to add elements like projection and video to enhance the otherwise minimalist set, allowing the audience to see effects such as bands of light on Henry’s face as he looks up anxiously through floorboards.

Part of the ethos behind Audible Theater is to bring impactful stories from the stage and into the ears of millions who might otherwise never have a chance to experience it, by recording productions and releasing them as Audible Originals. Navin says that, as an Audible Original, coming April 16, Mexodus will bring an important story of compassion and solidarity to people beyond New York City’s stages.

Translating the intensely physical, loop-based show into an Audible Original meant rethinking how the story would land without visuals. In the recording “we tell you exactly where we are and what we’re doing,” Robinson explains. “‘Welcome to this audio experience. Sit down, stand up, play it in your car, play it in your headphones, dance if you want to.’ It’s the same rules we give you on stage — you can shake your ass if you want to — just now you’re doing it at home.”

Quijada points out that the audio version gave them some new storytelling advantages. “In the live show, the two of us are responsible for creating every sound you hear, and we love being able to have more sounds — like when Henry escapes, the sounds of dogs barking, or the sound of gravel under the boots.” And they loved having time in the studio to perfect their vision. “We could say, ‘Play that riff the best you’ve ever played it — now do it eight times.’ We could shape every sound effect, every eagle cry, exactly the way we’ve always imagined this story should sound in your headphones.” The final mix in Dolby Atmos surround sound creates an experience that is as energetic as the live show while being uniquely immersive and realistic.

In March, Audible brought a concert version of the show to SXSW, making it the festival’s first-ever showcase of a musical theater production. When asked what it felt like to perform the songs in Austin, Texas, just hours from where Henry met Carlos and, with his help, made his way to freedom, Robinson needed only one word: “Ancestral.”

Mexodus is now playing at the Daryl Roth Theatre (101 East 15th Street, New York City) through Sunday, June 14. Tickets are on sale at MexodusMusical.com. Pre-order the Audible Original here.