00:00This production had been done a couple times, so we knew that it was already loved and was doing really
00:08well.
00:09And I think it was an easy yes. It was a very easy yes.
00:13I mean, even without listening to the music or knowing the story, it would have been a yes.
00:19That part is, I do remember that part, is finding out and realizing it's another chance to sell a Latin
00:26American story.
00:27And that is one of the things that I want to continue championing.
00:31And so that excitement was memorable.
00:35It's such a beautiful thing of representing our culture so authentically.
00:41When Latinos go out, they will recognize musical passages in the orchestra that sound like mariachi.
00:52But it's also woven in in such a way that it mixes so well with opera.
01:00But also the costumes, the scenic design, hecho en Mexico, you know, it was made in Mexico by artisans.
01:12And I think that, yeah, I think that that will be, it represents our culture well.
01:16So I can speak to what I have learned about her, you know, or what I've known about her history
01:22and her life and her challenges and her literal and emotional pain that she experienced.
01:32You know, things that we see in her artwork and that we hear about her history and her relationship with
01:37Diego and all of these things.
01:40I think that, you know, as an actor, you find your way in through the things that you can identify
01:48with.
01:48And then the rest you kind of learn along in the process.
01:52And also, again, I've said this before that sometimes I think when you're playing a historical figure, you can feel
02:00quite straightjacketed by that.
02:03And so I tried to not think very much about it, in fact.
02:07I tried to go with what was in front of me, the music that was in front of me, the
02:11words that were in front of me, and taking it more from that direction rather than worrying about whether I
02:19was portraying Frida Kahlo in a perfect way.
02:24Because I would never be, I don't think one can completely, right?
02:28And I'm not here to do a caricature of her or to do, you know, anything like that.
02:33I would rather portray a human, her journey through emotions, which is something we all can share.
02:40And so that was sort of my hope and goal with her.
02:45I don't usually try to, like, impose what I want the audience to feel.
02:49I think ultimately, whatever it is that they are feeling, I want them to have an evening in which they
02:55are swept away by something for a period of time, you know, where they have a moment of their life
03:02where they can perhaps put down the other things that they're dealing with.
03:06I think that's what live theater is.
03:07I think that's what entertainment should be.
03:09It should be a moment where you can get lost in a story, in a dream.
03:15You know, maybe it makes you think about your own life.
03:18Or it's cathartic and you can have a moment of emotional release that perhaps you needed and you weren't able
03:23to find in another place in your life.
03:26You know, that's sort of what I hope.
03:28But it's a lot of things.
03:29Whatever it needs to be for somebody is what I hope it is for them.
03:33In this production, I'm in a bald cap.
03:36So all this hair is gone.
03:38And I am wearing prosthetics.
03:40And it takes about two and a half hours to get into the prosthetics.
03:43About longer than the show, actually.
03:45Yeah, that is.
03:47But what it does for me as an artist is when I look in the mirror, I find myself in
03:55the...
03:55Gabriela goes in the background and Katrina comes in the front, in the forefront.
03:59And so I'm able to tell this story from a truly different perspective of my own.
04:05I get to play way more.
04:07I become more daring and I'm more...
04:10I mean, there's a moment I'm even, like, scaring you.
04:13I was just thinking about that.
04:14I look straight up into her eyes and it's like, I feel like my eyes are ablaze.
04:19They are.
04:20And I'm the one that gets to see it, actually.
04:22Because the audience doesn't see it in that moment, but it's for me.
04:24When I portray women, I love that every single woman character that I portray is something inside every woman.
04:31We are terrifying.
04:33We are nurturing.
04:34We have all of these facets to us.
04:36And Katrina, she enjoys being Katrina.
04:39She's strong in her power.
04:41She is demanding and commanding.
04:45But she also has a side to her that is loving and nurturing.
04:51And she's inspiring Frida to go and help Diego through his passage, through the life into his afterlife.
04:58And so I do think that Katrina has this almost mother or tía-like, or, you know, like, quality.
05:07A crazy tía.
05:07Exactly.
05:08Like, vaya, vaya, go, go.
05:09Go help him.
05:10Chase me.
05:10But even in the end, when Diego is dying, she's, like, rezando por él.
05:16Like, she's actually, like, asking for mercy for him.
05:21And even her whole aria is asking for mercy.
05:26And I think that's beautiful.
05:27You know, so there is a truly loving side to her.
05:32But, like, lots of Latina women, too, we also have that strength to us.
Comments