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Teatro Latino's Bronx Debut at Lehman College |
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On April 16,
a spring day that made the Lehman College campus a garden of green
trees and pink azaleas, that goal was realized with the opening
of the Lovinger Theatre's Teatro Latino Festival. Standing on stage
were Rosie Perez and Jon Diaz, two stars of stage and screen, fresh
from rave reviews of the new play they were premiering at the Joseph
Papp Public Theater in Manhattan-Puerto Rican playwright José Rivera's
References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot. Their reading,which captured
both the tension and tenderness of their starring roles, gave the
audience an intimate introduction to this major new work, which
explores the pressures being exerted by American society on a contemporary
Hispanic marriage. Afterwards, in a question-and-answer session,
the audience-full of Rosie Perez fans-asked about the beginnings
of her career, her experiences as a Latina actress, any discrimination
she may have suffered, her feelings playing opposite stars like
Nicholas Cage and Jeff Bridges, and her thoughts on the recent "Latin
Explosion." Perez told of never intending to be an actress. Out
clubbing one night in Los Angeles, Spike Lee spotted her. He gave
her his card and said, "Call me and your life will never be the
same." She did and it wasn't:
Perez was featured
in Lee's debut film Do the Right Thing, and her career took off.
She also recalled casting issues regarding her Latina heritage.
Agents, directors and producers would ask-"Can you dye your hair
blond?" "Can you change your accent?"-can you "read" more American?
She refused, convinced that her Puerto Rican identity was part of
her strength as an artist. Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who earned his
Tony in August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Seven Guitars,
felt the same way. His contribution to the Teatro Latino Festival
was a reading from his new one-man play, Lackawanna Blues, then
in previews at the Public Theater. Although he works in "traditional"
roles (such as lawyers on TV's Law and Order and in Devil's Advocate
with Al Pacino), his heart is in his creative experience as an actor
of mixed Latino and African American heritage. Santiago-Hudson spoke
of his struggles to be taken seriously as an actor and to fight
for roles that portrayed men of color in a positive light. Lackawanna
Blues, which Santiago-Hudson wrote and performed, portrays more
than 20 characters from every walk of life who pass through a boarding
house. The play is autobiographical-Santiago-Hudson, a young homeless
boy, was adopted by his beloved "Nanny," who ran a boarding house-and
unfolds old men's memories, young boys' hopes, and lovers' disappointments
through Nanny's eyes. This actor's tour de force testifies to the
human spirit's desire not only to survive but also to live a life
full of joy. |
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ehman College has
one of the largest Hispanic and Latino student populations on the
East Coast, and our surrounding community is rich in this culture
as well. At the Lovinger Theatre, one of our goals this season was
to present a series of performances in which these important members
of our student body and our Bronx neighbors could see themselves
in the culture-and the culture in themselves. Encouraged by Dean
of Humanities Marlene Gottlieb, we wanted to see their struggles
and strengths mirrored onstage and to meet outstanding Hispanic
and Latino writers and performers who had triumphed in the theater.
