Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 594
(upbeat music) - Welcome back and everyone to a fabulous new whisper in the wings from stage whisper. We are joined by one of our favorite companies today. Of course, for speaking of something from abroad and joining us from that company, we've got two amazing creators, Fernanda Hidalgo and Palaya Alvarez. They're here to talk to us about Frigid New York and something from abroad's presentation of a Spanglish Affair Open Mic. It's happening Wednesday, August 7th at Under St. Mark's. And you can get your tickets and more information by visiting frigid.nyc. We have loved supporting this great, great theater company. They're doing some amazing work. One of the most recent ones you may have remember is their Hamlet Lattela novella, which was a brilliant, brilliant version of Hamlet. But now they're back with this great new show. So why don't we dive into it and welcome on our guests. Fernanda Palaya, welcome to Whisper in the Wings from stage whisper. - Hi there, hi theater goers, theater patrons, the arts, all the theater lovers out there. So so excited to be here with Andrew and Palaya, chatting with you a little bit about this upcoming show. My name is Fernanda, I am one of the creators of a Spanglish Affair Open Mic and so excited to be here chatting with you a little bit. - Ola Todos, Como Steis, this Palaya here, I'm so excited to be here to chat. Alia Mirabar, our Spanglish Affair. - I am so excited about the viewer here. I'm so excited about this event. The minute it came across our email that the press release, I was like, absolutely, yes, I will be there with bells ringing and we need to promote this because this is just so much fun. The work you all continue to do is so much fun. So Fernanda, why don't we start with you and have you tell us a little bit about what a Spanglish Affair Open Mic is about or is? - Yeah, definitely, happy to start us off. As some of you may know, we, or Frigid has an open mic that happens very often at the Anderson Marks Theater and that is a fantastic platform, fantastic peeps that produce that but as something from abroad, we are a company that focuses in a lot of content and art that is coming from people that might sound a little different, might have some accents, the company is fully created and formed for people that come from abroad, which is how something from abroad came about. Belayo and I brought up this idea to the rest of the something from abroad team has a platform and a space for people who might not have English as their native language. Such as both of us, Belayo and I have a space where we can put up art and things that we want to share or create community with those that might share that same sentiment. You know, I think something so beautiful about an open mic is to get new people that maybe don't feel super comfortable trying new things. So it's providing a safe space for folks to do so and to do whatever they like, give them a mic, give them a platform and say, you are welcome here. It doesn't matter what you want to put up. It doesn't matter how you sound, how you look. We want to share your art and we want to create community between artists of all backgrounds, really. We do want to really enhance or highlight people that speak Spanish because it's what we know. That said, everyone is absolutely welcome to this open mic. And yeah, this is only our second edition of this. So we're very excited to continue hosting these and see where this goes. - That is incredible, I love that. Now Playa, Fernanda kind of touched on this in her previous answer, but I'd love to know, you know, what inspired you to come up with the show and create it? - You know, I feel like Fernanda and I have taken the streets of New York and have gone through a lot of open mics ourselves. So there were a lot of really cool things happening and we really loved being there. We were treated, we had a great platform to expose our art on it. It's something that we love, right? It's a great opportunity where you get to meet other artists, where you are able to build community, where you are able to expose your art, I get over stage fright, like there's so many things that you get from being on an open mic. And when you want to showcase your art, it's so difficult to start, right? You don't have an audience, you don't have a where to start, you don't have a stage. So thankfully we had these Anderson Marks access and we were able things to free the company and Anderson Marks to have a space to create something like this for our community. And since a lot of our art is revolving in Spanish culture and being somebody from abroad, we thought that we should have that kind of like niche, that kind of like space. So you're welcoming all the open mics, there's comedy open mics, music open mics, but we had never seen at least being aware of a space that was an open mic dedicated to being from abroad, basically, and all these cultures. And we keep hearing, we keep seeing in the streets how everybody in New York is from somewhere else, how we are from all these different places. But then you get to these open mics and there's not that much diversity. In fact, for example, I had a couple of experiences where I would go up and share something in Spanish. And yes, I feel like it is quite well received. However, I think like it was more later, chatting with other folks that would come to me and they would say, oh, I love that you, I speak Spanish. I love that you did something in Spanish. I did that you have this space for this. And it made me think, oh, wow, but at the end of the day, I was probably the only person that shared something in another language. So I said, maybe we just need to have the excuse, the space for doing that. And once that we create that, we're able to bring all the folks and maybe with that prompt, they'll be also sharing in their own language and more like cultural diverse space. - That is fantastic. What a brilliant idea. Bernanda, coming back to you, I think you'd mentioned that this isn't the first time you've kind of put this together, you know? So what has it been like developing this particular iteration of the show? - Yeah, great question. We started two months ago. So the first edition was on the first Wednesday of June. And we are planning to host these every two months. So this is the second edition. You know, we've taken what went down on that first edition. We took a couple of things to help our artists and our audience just be a more seamless experience. But in general, we're just hoping to reach different artists. And, you know, meet new people. I think something so beautiful and unexpected, at least for me from last edition, was that people stayed after to chat so much. And to really get to know one another, we actually even ended up going to dinner, right next door, like 10 of us, 'cause we had so much to talk about after that. And the pieces that people shared, you know, vary from poetry, spoken word, singing, dancing. So there was like a couple of stand-up comedians. And pretty much everything was in Spanish or Spanish, as we love our Spanish moments. So everybody shared something so personal. And of course, the audience loved it. The plus ones that were there and the audience that wasn't really performing, felt very moved by it. They wanted to meet all the artists. And it was just such a warm moment, you know. Everyone came up to the production team afterwards and was like, this was great. Like, I don't have a space to do this. I moved here from Argentina and I haven't really found a community that really gets where I come from or gets my type of comedy, gets my art. And like, this is exactly what I've been waiting for. So I think it just really fueled this second edition as just a way of expanding this more, getting to different people so they can come over, we can meet them, they can share their art with us and we can just kind of start trickling this back into a bigger net, really. - That is so wonderful. I love, love that. And I love that this will continue to be something that many, many people get to participate in. Well, I want to come to you for this next question because something you said really struck me. You know, the fact that you and other artists like you have, you know, they've done the open mic game. They've been, you know, striving to find their audience, you know. So is there a message or a thought you hope that audiences take away from this event? - Do you know, I feel that the main takeaway that I liked from last time is that everybody had a space where they could comfortably be their artistic selves? So I know that there's lots of spaces like this, but we want to really make it seem like you're coming to our Casa, that you're like being welcomed by our family, that you feel part of a community where you know that there is a net there, that if something goes wrong, if the light doesn't turn on, if you're, what else, it's still learning. Whatever happens, you can continue and you can just keep sharing, you know. And that it's going to be welcome, it's going to be celebrated, it's going to be accepted. So I think that's the main message. And the second thing that we feel like we want to take away is that you can start to create connections. And there were some folks, for example, that shared how they wanted to start being more into production design, some folks that wanted to do more like keep doing comedy. And the space helped to create these connections and to create these other plays that are going to be coming up. Actually, I was just telling Fernanda, but one of the persons that came to this show that came to just do, I live like a spoken word piece was sharing this, that she wanted to do more projects. And we started collaborating and next week we'll be shooting a music video that came from this Spanglish open mic, basically, because we didn't know each other. She said she wanted to do more art. I said, okay, let's do it, let's go for a coffee. So this is the message that we can, as a community, be stronger, have more hands and get to do things, get to create more art and get to share it with the world. - That is a beautiful, beautiful message. Oh my gosh, that makes me so excited. Fernanda, I want to ask you my final question for this first part. And that is, who are you hoping to have access to a Spanglish affair open mic? - Oof, what a tough question, but really all those Spanglish speaking folks out there in New York that our artists, or maybe are curious about art, you know? We do have a couple of open spots the day off because we exactly want to encourage people that say, oh, I don't have to bring something so fleshed out and I can just share a story or share what happened to me at the supermarket yesterday. Sure, I want to have that space. So of course, specifically, immigrants will always have a safe place in something from abroad because it is a company built, created for immigrants, by immigrants. And so I love, you know, I'd love for us to highlight those artists and for this show to make it's way onto them. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, for the second part of our interview, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better, pick your brains, if you will. And I want to start by asking the two of you, what are who inspires you? What playwrights, composers, or shows have inspired you in the past or just some of your favorites? And Palaya, can I start first with you on that, please? - Yes, you know, I think so many people inspire me. It's difficult where to start but to continually with what you're saying, women inspire me a lot. And starting from like my own family, my grandmother who is an immigrant, she came from Cuba to Spain being very young and having to face her country completely changing before her eyes and escaping to Spain and having to start a new life and being judged, being mistreated, being different and creating this new life. And because of her, she's like really like the center of our home. And she is so fighting against our own relationships, our everything that goes wrong. Like she always tries to pull us back to this house and to have a space all of us together. And I was thinking that I would love one day to create something around her story, some kind of like either music or play or something, but that's something that like deeply, deeply inspires me. And she has been going through some like health issues recently, but she's much better now. So I'm really happy that we can still have her. I'm actually recording some of our conversations to at some point do something with them, but I still have to think more about that. Women in music also inspire me a lot if we're talking about like strangers and these like parasocial relationships that we have. I think there has been so many incredibly talented Spanish and Latin artists that have risen and have conquered other markets. And I, somebody that I really like a lot is Nati Peluso, she is performer. She does dance, she does singing, she does performing, she does a little bit of everything. And what I like the most about her is the emotion that she puts into everything she does. How you can feel her energy from behind a screen, from behind your headphones. And it's just something that I hope to incorporate in all my creations. And that inspires me every day. I love, love that list of inspirations. Shout out to grandma. Shout out to your grandmother. That's amazing. Way to go. Bernanda, what about you? What are who inspires you? Yeah, shout out to grandma. Grandma Sarvante, Grandma Alvarez, what about, abuela, that abuela needs her story. It's all I'm saying. Like she's, she's a fighter, she's a queen. I love stories like that. I feel like both my grandma's are very much like that too. And I am family inspired in them as well. I've always been a grandma, a grandma person, you know? So, major key is something so inspiring to me. And specifically, at least, I mean, I grew up in Mexico. And while there is a lot of like the father of the house, the man of the house, energy in a household, pretty much or at least in every household I've been a part of, it is the mother or the matriarch that kind of like rules that household. The energies around a matriarch in Mexico are so, so different and so inspiring. Yeah, it's like powerful women, you know? I wish there was a little bit more of that in the media as well, when portraying immigrant women, you know, we wanna see them be all types of different things, which brings me to my next inspiration, which is (speaking in foreign language) which is an artist in New York that, you know, is like also here from Mexico City with her husband, I'm Elo Sano and they both write their own projects and direct and produce and act in them and, you know, have really found a way to do the art they wanna do, like not compromising their core and trying to fit in somebody's box. Of course, that comes with challenges, but I think the perseverance and the projects that have come from that are beautiful. She did a show last year called (speaking in foreign language) which focuses in the, yeah, the gender of islands that Mexico's going through right now, just like with everything that's happening with women in general disappearing and being murdered and she created a musical about that and it was beautiful or original music by her and her husband. And yeah, I was, I left the theater so inspired that day being like, wow, these are the stories that I like connect so much with because I understand this. You know, I like, I'm aware all my family and friends are still in Mexico and living this day by day and for that concept to have a platform just felt so empowering. So yeah, I mean, I'm also a big musical theater person. Jeaning Cesore is one of my favorite composers ever. So yeah, I mean, it's super, super inspiring to see the different artists that are in New York just putting stuff, not only a Broadway, of course, but again, off Broadway, off of off Broadway. The rest of the company of something from abroad is absolutely mind-blowing. There's so much talent and just different ideas that everyone has and wants to create that is exactly what has, you know, like kept me so interested in being a part of this company. Just like, yeah, how can we make all of this happen? Because all of this needs to have a platform and needs to have an audience to see the ideas you wanna put on the stage, like this is genius. That is a wonderful, wonderful list of inspirations. I love that. You can sit over here by me, Jeaning Cesore, yes. Number one fan, absolutely. I can't get over how versatile all the artists she is. No two shows of hers sound alive. So that is so wonderful. I wanna ask the two, you know, what is your favorite part about working in the theater? And for Nanda, I wanna start first with you on that. Yeah, I mean, I've been doing theater for almost two decades now. I've been doing theater since I can remember loving something so much. I always say theater was always and has always been my first love. And the thing I always come back to, even when things get hard. And I'm like, this is so hard. Like this career is so hard to, you know, have people wanna come and see your art is so hard. It's there's magic that happens on stage that you will never see again, ever. The show is the show that will happen once in a lifetime. Even if you have a season of, I don't know, years or months, or if it's a three show weekend, every single night, you will get a different iteration of that show. You might get different people that go on, different production team might be on, a different tech person might be on. And I think it's so beautiful. And that is something so true about all the shows we do, especially things like Hamlet, La Telenova, Lao, or any of our other parodies that we do. We usually do these shows thinking, of course, that multiple people are gonna need to jump in, swing in, understudy in. And every time it's gonna be completely different. That is what keeps me coming back to the theater. As someone who watches theater a lot, and as someone who makes theater, it's something that excites me, and that I love cinema as well, but it just doesn't have that same spontaneity and magic of what's gonna happen. - I love that. I completely agree. That is the beauty of theater right there. You can see a show so many times, and it will be different every time, not only because the performance itself is different, but I think one of the reasons that is, is because the audience is always different. Which is why people can go see a show 10, 15, 20 times, and they're like, why do you keep singing the same thing? 'Cause it's a different experience every time. Lao, what about you? What is your favorite part about working in the theater? - You know, when you asked this question, my mind went to a year ago when I was just walking down the street in the East Village on my way to get to the crane resting piece theater that is close right now. And I was just feeling over the moon. I'm like, oh my God, like this is a dream come true. Like I know that for the next two weeks, I'm going to be walking the streets that I love of this neighborhood, and getting to perform in a stage. 50 people coming to see us every night, having all that risk, all that like, you know, then I had to go back to work on Monday, but that didn't take away from the weekend. And I was just like, wow, if I was able to just do this every night, what a magical moment. And I think it is a lot because of my, you know, my fellow actresses, my fellow actors who are with me backstage. I just like, I just, it feels like you're part of a sect. It feels like you're part of like a space that nobody has access to. And that, well, the crane backstage, it was not the most glamorous one. It was not the most spacious. We still had like drops coming from the ceiling. There were these like emergency exit that you didn't know if it was going to open or not. I had a fine of $5,000 if you opened, nobody knew what was behind it. But just being part of all of these, you know, it's just like mysterious and experienced that not everybody can be part of because only those part of the cast are able to and just repeat every night and getting ready together. And then of course afterwards celebrating, having fun with those who came to see you, again, to hear the compliments, getting to hear like how great of the overrun was and sitting with that like adrenaline with that feeling. I feel like it's the best, is the best feeling in the world. - That is a brilliant answer to yes, yes. And those answers are a great lead into my favorite question to ask guests, which is what is your favorite theater memory? - I think for me, I guess this is a recurring one because it's a show that we also do every year, but we always do our cabaret for the Dia de Muertos. So this is something that we've done for, don't quote me on this, but I wanna say almost five years that we've been doing this every year, we gather some of our favorite artists and we curate a show where they share their art for an audience and we put an altar and we decorate and it is our way of bringing a little bit of Mexico to the lower east side. So I think my favorite memory is always putting, building up the altar for that because it is like it is back at home, such a community labor, right? And it's you get the flowers, you get the food, you print the pictures of the loved ones that we're gonna honor tonight and it is such, it is something that we are all doing. We even involve our actors in doing in helping out with this process because we think and we believe that this step specifically is really what we're trying to, what we're trying to accomplish with the show, which is just come together as a community, eat, drink something a little after the show and I think that is always my favorite part and I always look forward to that. - I love that memory, that's such a great memory. Thank you so much for sharing that. Lyle, what about you? What is your favorite? - My turn. Well, I remember my first experience in the theater. I was a starting university and I studied economics but the moment that I was doing some classes, I was like, yeah, like this is not it at all. I had to stay there because, you know, my family would like take me out of the whale if not. So you need to keep it up for that. But I started doing theater classes and it was at the beginning just like on Monday nights, we would go to this like space and create together and we had end of the year showcase and like in all the important moments in my life, my first reaction was there's no way that I'm going to this. When I came to understand a little bit of myself and to be very honest, like my ego because when I am faced with something very important in my life instead of having fear or instead of having like, oh, like, I don't think I can do this, I have something like, oh, you're above this. You shouldn't be doing this because fear is like wearing that costume for me. It happens. It's like a way that your brain gets tricked. And now I catch myself and nowadays I'm like, okay, like this is fear. You think that you are above this? No, you want to do this but you're convincing yourself that you don't want to do this because you don't want to go through the emotions of the fear of the exposing yourself or doing something that you haven't done or have come in or your comfort zone. So to go back to the performance, I just remember deciding at the last minute, okay, I'm going to go, let's go. And I went and I just remember my teacher was in the booth above and she just told me, look at me, say your name, introduce your showcase and then I'll give you the thumbs up and you can start doing it. Just look at the light. And I think I will always remember this. I will always have this in my head, the sensation of being there. Maybe there was like 10 people in the audience. The light was there in the back. She gave the thumbs up. I have that image ready in my head. And I just went ahead with like an improv scene. It was like very simple three, four minutes but it really was right there when everything started. So I will always treasure that memory. - I love that memory as well. And shout out to teachers. Yes, they're amazing. You two, those were amazing memories. Thank you so much for sharing those with us. As we wrap things up, I would love to know, do either of you or something from abroad have any other projects or productions coming down the pipeline? We might be able to plug for you. - Yeah, I can share a little bit of, you know what something from abroad has been stored. So we will be doing, let's publish a fair open mic on August. The next iteration will be in October on the first Wednesday. And the next iteration after that will be in December. So if you want any more info about that, you can always find us at @somethingfromabroad on Instagram or on Facebook. We are also planning to come back with Hamlet Latelenovelas since it was so, so welcome. I believe this is gonna be a short season or a couple of shows in Long Island. So if you're in Long Island and you're listening, we're coming to you. We heard you, we're coming over. That will happen sometime around October. So you can also find more information about that as we start posting about it this month in our socials. Hey, Latel, am I missing it? Oh, of course, or the other one, Toscavare, that always happens around November, October, November. Think Halloween-ish times. So always at the end of October, beginning of November, that will be happening for sure. We always come back bigger, better. So that is definitely an event. You don't wanna miss if you are in New York for those dates. And yeah, Bela, you, am I missing anything? - No, just keep an eye on the registration list. We always have open for new performers. So if you feel that you have something in mind, doesn't have to be completely developed, please keep an eye on that list and register. We're really looking forward to having you there. And I wanna pitch a little bit about a personal project that I am having this summer. I will be releasing my first EP, which is in Spanish. (speaks in foreign language) So yeah, if you follow me on my Instagram, Bela.io AF, you'll be able to check out this music. And hopefully we'll have our one main show around it very soon also. - That is all fantastic. So some great things going on that we need to keep tabs on. And that leads to my final question, which is if our listeners would like more information about a Spanglish affair, open mic, or about either of you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you, how can they do so? - Yeah, so more information about a Spanglish affair, you can always reach out to @somethingfromabroad. You can send us a DM, you can email us at somethingfromabroad@gmail.com. Basically how this works is we'll have eight spaces that are pre-selected. You will get a link to add your information if you'd like to be pre-selected after buying your admission to the show. It is $7 or $10 with a free glass of wine. So that's a really nice deal. In your confirmation email, you will get the form to sign up to be one of those pre-selected spots. Once those fill out, there will also be two spots open the day off. So you can just buy your admission, same as always, and then you show up. It's a first come, first serve situation. You just let us know you want to perform that day and we will add you to the list. So info can be found again through the Frigid New York website or through our email or socials. If you want to follow along what I do, you can find me on Instagram @ferjhgo or you can also follow my burlesque account at the Sandra Zugo that is T-H-E-S-A-N-D-R-A-Z-U-K-O. Sandra is heavily involved with all the Spanish affair, open mic situations. They hosted last duration. So you'll see her around for sure. - Yes, you will definitely want to keep up with Sandra. I already shared, follow us please on something at something from abroad to keep up with our news. My personal Instagram is P-E-L-A-Y-O-A-F and looking forward to seeing you in this open mic. Hope you can all come. If you don't have to have something, you can just come to watch, come have a glass of wine with a group of artists. - Wonderful. - Thank you, Andrew. Fernando Playa, thank you both so, so much for taking the time to speak with me today, for sharing this incredible, incredible event, this wonderful night that's gonna continue to happen, which is fabulous. This has been such a blast, thank you so much for your time today. - Thank you. - Thank you, Andrew. - Thank you, Andrew. - My guests today have been the incredible creators for Nanda Hidalgo and Lio Alvarez, who joined us to talk about Frigida New York and something from abroad's presentation of a Spanglish Affair Open Mic. It's happening Wednesday, August 7th at Under St. Mark's and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting frigida.nyc. We also have some contact information for our guests, which will be posted in our episode description, as well as on our social media posts. But hurry, get your tickets now. This is not a huge venue by any means, so it's going to sell out very quickly. You're gonna wanna be one of the people that get to take in this amazing show. So head to Frigida.nyc, get your tickets for a Spanglish Affair Open Mic, Wednesday, August 7th. - So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cellphones, unwrap your candies. - And keep talking about theater. - In a stage whisper. - Thank you. 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