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Ritz Theatre Company's Production of 'La Gringa' Broaches Life On the Periphery of a Culture · Jersey Arts Podcast

• 0:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This is Gina Marie Rodriguez, and you're listening to the Jersey Arts podcast.
• 0:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Today's episode hits extra close to home for me.
• 0:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: As a member of the Puerto Rican diaspora who often feels neither here nor there, I'm honored to get the chance to speak with the director and the cast of the Ritz Theater Company's production of La Gringa.
• 0:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: La Gringa, written by Carmen Rivera, is the story of a young woman's search for her identity.
• 0:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Maria Elena Garcia goes to visit her family in Puerto Rico during the Christmas holidays and arrives with plans to connect with her homeland.
• 0:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Although this is her first trip to Puerto Rico, she's had an intense love for the island and even majored in Puerto Rican studies in college.
• 0:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But once Maria is in Puerto Rico, she realizes that Puerto Rico does not welcome her with open arms.
• 0:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Now I happen to be recording this episode while in Puerto Rico myself.
• 0:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm on location for a short film with a very similar theme.
• 0:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So this interview is very special to me.
• 0:58
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Culture should not be gatekeeped.
• 1:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This is the story of reclamation.
• 1:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So stay tuned to hear from the cast and creative behind La Gringa.
• 1:08
  Sylvia Darpino: My name is Sylvia Darpino.
• 1:10
  Sylvia Darpino: I am Norma Burgos in La Gringa.
• 1:13
  Sylvia Darpino: Thanks for having us.
• 1:15
  Emily Colón: I'm Emily Colón.
• 1:16
  Emily Colón: I'm Maria Elena Garcia in La Gringa.
• 1:18
  Emily Colón: Hi.
• 1:20
  Rico Santiago: Hey everybody, I'm Rico Santiago.
• 1:22
  Rico Santiago: I am the director of La Gringa, and I'm excited to be here.
• 1:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm so excited to meet all of you, and I am really, really happy to talk about this show because I find it personally relatable.
• 1:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I am half Puerto Rican and half Italian and always feeling kind of othered.
• 1:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I really relate to La Gringa's story.
• 1:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I'm excited if one of you could help me, I don't know, just break down the story, if you could provide a synopsis or just a generalized idea of what audiences can expect from this piece.
• 1:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Maybe, maybe I'll ask Rico since you're the director.
• 1:54
  Rico Santiago: Okay.
• 1:55
  Rico Santiago: Well, the story of La Gringa is about a uh young Puerto Rican woman uh named Maria who comes to Puerto Rico uh over the holidays, is going to be there for Christmas into uh Three Kings for two weeks.
• 2:08
  Rico Santiago: She's coming to Puerto Rico to discover her life as a Puerto Rican, to discover her roots and to really be uh engulfed in her heritage and in her culture.
• 2:17
  Rico Santiago: And when she gets there, she's not greeted as she thought she would be as a Puerto Rican.
• 2:22
  Rico Santiago: They look to her as an American.
• 2:25
  Rico Santiago: So there's a bit of resentment from each side.
• 2:27
  Rico Santiago: There's uh a little internal struggle here and there, and there's an uncle who thinks everyone's being ridiculous and everyone needs to come together.
• 2:36
  Rico Santiago: So that's pretty much how it is in a nutshell.
• 2:39
  Rico Santiago: Also, Maria's mother and Norma, the aunt, uh, haven't spoken to each other in many, many, many, many years.
• 2:46
  Rico Santiago: So there's a resentment between the aunt and Maria where she sees her sister in her.
• 2:52
  Rico Santiago: There's a little love thing going on here.
• 2:55
  Rico Santiago: So there's a little, there's a little bit of something for everybody.
• 2:57
  Rico Santiago: I think um just the journey itself and anyone of Puerto Rican descent, like myself and uh like the cast members who were born on the mainland, you know, we totally, totally get this show on such a personal level.
• 3:10
  Rico Santiago: But uh it's been a great time.
• 3:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I did want to ask you that.
• 3:13
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So each of you is of Puerto Rican descent, but all were born on the mainland.
• 3:17
  Rico Santiago: Correct.
• 3:17
  Rico Santiago: Uh we are one cast member is uh Mexican, and but he was born here, and uh he's a phenomenal actor as well.
• 3:24
  Rico Santiago: So, but we have uh I've never been surrounded with so many Puerto Ricans in a show in my life.
• 3:29
  Rico Santiago: So to me, this has just been an absolute dream come true.
• 3:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Absolutely.
• 3:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm excited about that and maybe a little bit jealous, but that's fine.
• 3:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: We won't talk about that.
• 3:37
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I wanna say I'm curious because we had mentioned early before before I started recording, we mentioned that the show actually premiered in Spanish.
• 3:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I want to talk to you about the English translation that you'll be performing.
• 3:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And uh, you know what?
• 3:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't know if it's fair to call it a translation.
• 3:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't know if the author wrote it um in both languages initially, but I'm curious if you had ever come across this play before or in this performance, in this production, is this your first association with the show?
• 4:05
  Rico Santiago: Uh yes, I've never seen the show.
• 4:07
  Rico Santiago: I during COVID, I wanted to, I during COVID, I took a look, a really long look inner in my inner self about where I wanted to be in in the arts and what purpose was I serving for the community.
• 4:20
  Rico Santiago: And I found myself saying to myself, I'm being selfish.
• 4:23
  Rico Santiago: I knew that I'm a white passing Puerto Rican.
• 4:26
  Rico Santiago: And I knew that I was always going to get parts in shows and things that other dark-skinned, uh uh darker skinned Latinos, like Latinx people weren't going to get.
• 4:36
  Rico Santiago: And I used that privilege to do things for myself.
• 4:39
  Rico Santiago: And during COVID, I really became became very introspective about where we are because all we had to do was sit with our thoughts.
• 4:47
  Rico Santiago: And I really wanted to make a point of bringing not just uh Latinx shows to people, but having actors in our community come and know that it can do any show.
• 4:57
  Rico Santiago: It doesn't matter, it doesn't have to be a Latinx show, it can be any show, and that was like my main focus coming out of it.
• 5:03
  Rico Santiago: So that's where I was introduced to La Gringa.
• 5:05
  Rico Santiago: I just typed in the Google search, Latinx uh playwrights, Puerto Rican, specifically Puerto Rican, and and then I went into like Puerto Rican female playwrights, and then this came up, and I started reading through it.
• 5:17
  Rico Santiago: I ordered it on Amazon, I read the script, I read it like three times in a row, I laughed, I teared up, and it felt so personal that I knew I had to do it.
• 5:27
  Rico Santiago: So when Matt and Bruce from the Rets asked what play would I be uh would like to do, because I'm always doing musicals, so take a break, do a play, and I said this immediately.
• 5:37
  Rico Santiago: It was the first one.
• 5:38
  Rico Santiago: And Matt was very, very adamant, like saying to me, just because you're Puerto Rican, don't think you have to do a play like that, you know, for and I said, No, no, no.
• 5:47
  Rico Santiago: This is what I want to do.
• 5:49
  Rico Santiago: We need to do this.
• 5:50
  Rico Santiago: And uh really it has been it's it's been wonderful the the process so far.
• 5:56
  Rico Santiago: Amazing actors, everyone's so because we all live this experience, I I think it adds that extra closeness to everyone in the cast because we all relate to each other so well.
• 6:08
  Rico Santiago: Um and I'm happy that I could just be a small part of it.
• 6:11
  Rico Santiago: But the the playwright Carmen Rivera is phenomenal.
• 6:14
  Rico Santiago: But I've never seen the show, I was just going in blind, and I knew the show was in Spanish, you know, so I got the Spanish script first, because that's what I did.
• 6:24
  Rico Santiago: Uh um, so I wanted to be ambitious at first and do the show in Spanish, but finding six actors in the area that were very fluent in Spanish would would be proven to be a little bit difficult.
• 6:37
  Rico Santiago: Uh not that we couldn't do it, it was just gonna be a little bit difficult, and uh so we opted for the English version.
• 6:44
  Rico Santiago: Um I was talked out of that, thankfully.
• 6:46
  Rico Santiago: Uh we opted for the English version, but everyone we had a rehearsal last night where we just went over songs in Spanish and words in Spanish, and we just sat in a circle, and that's how this cast is.
• 6:58
  Rico Santiago: Everyone's got everyone's back here, and it's just it's when I say family, it's not a cliche.
• 7:04
  Rico Santiago: Like everyone is like this.
• 7:05
  Rico Santiago: This is what this show is all about at the heart of it.
• 7:08
  Rico Santiago: So it's a little something for everybody.
• 7:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Remember how I said I was jealous like two seconds ago?
• 7:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, it's gotten worse now.
• 7:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: See the show every night, you'll be with us.
• 7:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Exactly.
• 7:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I so Emily, can I ask you, is this also your first introduction to the show?
• 7:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Were you familiar with it before?
• 7:25
  Emily Colón: No, I was not familiar with it before.
• 7:27
  Emily Colón: So about a year ago, maybe was when the Ritz season was announced.
• 7:31
  Emily Colón: So that was my first time hearing of the show.
• 7:34
  Emily Colón: So I immediately bought it and I was like, what is this about?
• 7:36
  Emily Colón: Finally, a play about me.
• 7:38
  Emily Colón: Um, so it was just yeah, I read it like five times over and was just I related so much to the character I'm playing, but also just I saw my family and I saw the culture I grew up with.
• 7:50
  Emily Colón: I grew up going to my Abuela's house in Puerto Rico, and that's still reflected in the setting of the story as well.
• 7:57
  Emily Colón: So yeah, this was my first time experiencing the play, but it won't be the last.
• 8:01
  Emily Colón: I can't wait to see it in every rendition ever.
• 8:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm so looking forward to this.
• 8:06
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Sylvia, how about you?
• 8:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Had you had any familiarity before?
• 8:10
  Sylvia Darpino: So yeah, it was my first time too.
• 8:11
  Sylvia Darpino: I had never heard of it.
• 8:12
  Sylvia Darpino: Actually, I heard about the audition probably a couple weeks before that.
• 8:16
  Sylvia Darpino: And uh, I was a little bit hesitant.
• 8:18
  Sylvia Darpino: I said, What?
• 8:19
  Sylvia Darpino: Lagrinka?
• 8:20
  Sylvia Darpino: And then I said, let me see.
• 8:22
  Sylvia Darpino: And um, I read Norma, some of her lines, and I said, Oh my gosh, that's my aunt.
• 8:28
  Sylvia Darpino: That's my mom.
• 8:29
  Sylvia Darpino: And I said, Oh yeah, I gotta go for this.
• 8:32
  Sylvia Darpino: And uh, I'm just so excited about it.
• 8:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So um, Rico, I apologize because I know you were explaining this before and maybe I misunderstood.
• 8:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is the whole cast bilingual?
• 8:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Are can everyone speak Spanish, or were you saying that you were learning together at your rehearsal last night?
• 8:46
  Rico Santiago: Um, some of us are by some of us uh speak Spanish better than others, and some of us aren't bilingual at all.
• 8:51
  Rico Santiago: And and then and that's why they're relatable with Maria coming in with her broken Spanish and being cur over corrected.
• 8:59
  Rico Santiago: Um so when I tell you the care that the I I explained yesterday's rehearsal, English is our primary language.
• 9:06
  Rico Santiago: It it just is.
• 9:07
  Rico Santiago: No way we can slice it.
• 9:09
  Rico Santiago: So if we have to learn, we have to learn and we learn together.
• 9:13
  Rico Santiago: And the care that they're so meticulous about making sure the pronunciations are correct and making sure that they represent our culture, you know, uh correctly and respectfully is a site because you can just go in and sound like uh Tony Montana in Scarface and just be over the top offensive of everything.
• 9:32
  Rico Santiago: But uh the actors are so dedicated to this piece, it's uh it it's great.
• 9:39
  Rico Santiago: So we had a rehearsal yesterday.
• 9:40
  Rico Santiago: I called an entire rehearsal of just going over songs that are sung in the show.
• 9:45
  Rico Santiago: Uh I won't spoil it, but a little bit here and there in Spanish, and over the pronunciations of certain words, because there are certain words thrown in there, even though the script is in English.
• 9:55
  Rico Santiago: Um so we want to make sure that we're rolling our R's and we're doing the enyas and we're doing everything correctly because it's important.
• 10:02
  Rico Santiago: You know, if it's important.
• 10:04
  Rico Santiago: My mother always said to me, Why do you always pronounce your last name like you're Spanish instead of like everyone else?
• 10:11
  Rico Santiago: And she says, Because your name is important, the language is important, it's just showing respect.
• 10:16
  Rico Santiago: And this cast has the utmost respect for each other, for the peace, for their culture.
• 10:21
  Rico Santiago: It's it's a sight to see.
• 10:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's good to hear, and I think that's how every script should be treated with the utmost respect.
• 10:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I so love that you just brought up Tony Montana because that has always been a pet peeve of mine.
• 10:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Like, why?
• 10:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That accent was just not accurate in the slightest.
• 10:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And this is coming from someone who loves Pacino, okay?
• 10:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love Pacino.
• 10:40
  Rico Santiago: Same, same.
• 10:41
  Rico Santiago: It's my least favorite Pacino movie, no lie.
• 10:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Exactly, exactly.
• 10:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I remember I was a child when I watched, not that I should have been watching this as a child who watches Scarface as a kid, but I did.
• 10:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I was watching it with my father, and I remember asking him, why is the Cuban guy playing the supporting character?
• 10:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Like the actual Cuban is in the supporting role.
• 11:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But anyway, I digress.
• 11:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: As somebody who is also trying to learn this language desperately, I do relate to what this character is going through.
• 11:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I wasn't sure when I was reading the synopsis if she was fluent or not, because it says that she studies, I think she's in college for uh Puerto Rican studies or so.
• 11:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I I guess my, and this is my internal bias, right?
• 11:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I assumed that she spoke Spanish.
• 11:26
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So it makes it makes a lot more sense now.
• 11:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I, Emily, I want to ask what your connection to that character, to Maria Elena is, and and how do you prep if you if you need to do extra work, or are you like, I am this girl?
• 11:40
  Emily Colón: I do feel like I heavily resonate with my character.
• 11:44
  Emily Colón: Um I mean, she experiences like this cultural dissonance that I feel like I have been trying to navigate since I first, you know, learned what social like societal norm norms were.
• 11:56
  Emily Colón: Um I grew up in a predominantly white area.
• 11:58
  Emily Colón: Um, so coming in with sideburns and a nice thick uh peach fuzz.
• 12:04
  Emily Colón: Um, like you can imagine me versus the Barbie dolls in the classroom and just kind of trying to navigate what who I am, how to fit in here.
• 12:13
  Emily Colón: So yeah, I mean, I like, and I have parents who are first generation immigrants.
• 12:18
  Emily Colón: So um there's a lot of assimilation that I think got passed down from them to me.
• 12:23
  Emily Colón: My name's Emily, you know, try to make it easy.
• 12:26
  Emily Colón: Um, I didn't learn Spanish.
• 12:27
  Emily Colón: Um, growing up with both my parents are fluent.
• 12:30
  Emily Colón: They used to speak in Spanish in the room next to me and just they knew I didn't understand and they were using that um to their benefit, stuff like that.
• 12:38
  Emily Colón: So I really um resonate with a lot of the lived experience that Maria has.
• 12:43
  Emily Colón: And I I don't feel like I need a prep more, but I do feel myself reflecting on you know my experiences growing up and and now I'm 25 and like those experiences now and how to yeah, kind of be more comfortable with my culture and all that.
• 12:57
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Do you find that working with the script is making you feel more comfortable?
• 13:01
  Emily Colón: Yes and no.
• 13:02
  Emily Colón: I get yelled at a lot in this show, um, with love by Sylvia's character.
• 13:09
  Emily Colón: Um, so it does it brings up, you know, those little moments when I was growing up and like in uh how my family used to talk to me.
• 13:16
  Emily Colón: I'm like, oh wait, maybe I've always been, yeah, I've just um it's both kind of, yeah.
• 13:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It's funny that you say that because I have a similar experience, and I always tell people I brace for people to either laugh at or yell at me when I'm trying to speak Spanish because those are the only two experiences I really have.
• 13:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So, Sylvia, as the person who has to be on the opposite end of that, how are you relating to these characters?
• 13:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How does it feel to be the antagonist?
• 13:46
  Sylvia Darpino: So I identify with Maria, of course, because I was born in New York, but I um I hear the voices of my aunts and my moms, and and um I go, I just have to channel them, you know.
• 14:02
  Sylvia Darpino: But I did have the privilege of living in the I on the island for 11 years and went to my undergrad school there and had laughed at when I would write in in Spanish and uh would have to read aloud, and I had to, you know, go through that journey, which made me stronger.
• 14:18
  Sylvia Darpino: Um, so I feel for Maria, but I do, I do recall times I had, you know, like an uncle saying, Why are you speaking in English?
• 14:26
  Sylvia Darpino: You know Spanish.
• 14:27
  Sylvia Darpino: And I'm like, not really.
• 14:29
  Sylvia Darpino: So yeah, it's it's been I've been reflecting a lot and channeling a lot, these women that I love that are in my life that kind of represent Norma in some sort of way.
• 14:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You brought up something important there.
• 14:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: These are women that you love, and I'm sure that, well, I shouldn't say I'm sure, but I would assume that Maria's character loves her family members as well.
• 14:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And there's this difficulty when you know that someone means well and they are your family and they love you, but they're hurting you constantly because that judgment it just exists, whether they even realize that it's a judgment or not.
• 15:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I don't know what your approach is if you're perhaps uh Sylvia, your character, doesn't realize that she's being condescending.
• 15:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't know what your approach is, and I'm curious as to what angle you're coming at it from, if you're allowed to reveal that.
• 15:16
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't know, maybe you don't want the audience to know your your process.
• 15:19
  Sylvia Darpino: Um well, there's more, there's more to this, and also that the main thing is is explaining, educating people that are not having the same experience as we had, how it feels to have parents from one place and you're born in one one up in another place.
• 15:35
  Sylvia Darpino: So that's part of it, but also there's a lot of family dynamic, and that's where I really um I get fed a lot.
• 15:44
  Sylvia Darpino: Uh a lot of relationship things, um, being a caregiver in the play and other things.
• 15:51
  Sylvia Darpino: So I'm I'm pulling from that.
• 15:53
  Sylvia Darpino: So it's more, it's, you know, people will relate to it even if they're not Puerto Rican or from Puerto Rican descent.
• 16:01
  Sylvia Darpino: They will relate because it's relationships, and everyone goes through these relationships and and your families fight and then they make up, and it's complicated.
• 16:10
  Sylvia Darpino: And we we do bring bring that into play.
• 16:13
  Sylvia Darpino: And so that part is where I'm also taking a lot from.
• 16:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And we mentioned before that this is taking place during the Christmas holidays and through Three Kings Day, and I'd love to hear about the significance of that setting in the show, but also for those who don't understand or aren't familiar with Latin culture, what is Three Kings Day and what is the importance of Three Kings Day in the show?
• 16:35
  Rico Santiago: Three Kings is what they call the Epiphany, it's always on January 6th.
• 16:38
  Rico Santiago: Uh Puerto Ricans start their Christmas holiday like in November, and it just goes all the way until January 6th, for anyone who knows.
• 16:45
  Rico Santiago: There's always the Arocun Gandule, the Perni, there's the Parandas, there's like you know, everything.
• 16:51
  Rico Santiago: Everyone's just partying, partying.
• 16:53
  Rico Santiago: I always said it was just another excuse to get gifts.
• 16:56
  Rico Santiago: So that was what it is.
• 16:58
  Rico Santiago: And uh what they do is uh on three kings, uh you you take a shoebox or something with either hay or grass and maybe like a carrot or something to feed the camels of the three kings who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
• 17:11
  Rico Santiago: So this is the celebration of the Epiphany, and it's uh that's I would dare I say that's bigger than Christmas uh to us uh in in on the island.
• 17:20
  Rico Santiago: Um here on the mainland, my grandmother celebrated it with us, but on a very small kind of scale, it was never hugely celebrated in my house.
• 17:28
  Rico Santiago: But my grandparents always kept the tradition tradition going.
• 17:31
  Rico Santiago: So I still do it here as well.
• 17:33
  Rico Santiago: And it's always just something little, but it's just something that you keep the culture alive that my kids know, uh, if they ever have their own children, just to keep these kind of like little things to don't get lost.
• 17:43
  Rico Santiago: You know, so that's the holiday.
• 17:46
  Rico Santiago: The holiday you're gonna go two weeks, and it's it's Christmas, it's La Navidad every single day, every single night, and it's always a different thing at a different person's house or something else.
• 17:57
  Rico Santiago: And uh I had the privilege of going down one year and I came home on the 2nd of January because I had to go to school, but that Christmas was probably the greatest Christmas time of my entire life.
• 18:08
  Rico Santiago: It was just all just partying all night, but in a very uh familial type of way, and it's something that I'll never forget.
• 18:16
  Rico Santiago: Everyone should try to experience at least one time.
• 18:18
  Rico Santiago: Go to Puerto Rico, go to Puerto Rico during Christmas, during the uh Christmas holiday.
• 18:22
  Rico Santiago: I'm telling you, you will not regret it.
• 18:24
  Rico Santiago: And the weather is still awesome.
• 18:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Oh, it is, yeah.
• 18:28
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I was actually just there for the Christmas holiday.
• 18:30
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I spent a month in Puerto Rico.
• 18:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Nice, yeah, it was amazing, and that was my first time doing that because I didn't really grow up going to and from the island.
• 18:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'd only gone once, I think, when I was five, you know, so I didn't have that experience either.
• 18:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I'm so curious, and I'm digressing again, but I'm curious one day.
• 18:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm gonna talk to someone on the island and see if they still celebrated the same way because I was there for Three Kings Day this past Christmas, and there was not much going on, and I was shocked because I thought it was gonna be the bigger holiday.
• 19:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But anyway, see, I'm going off because we're No, no, no, you're right.
• 19:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You're absolutely right.
• 19:06
  Sylvia Darpino: It is in the countryside because my parents live.
• 19:09
  Sylvia Darpino: Yeah, my parents still live there and they live in the countryside.
• 19:12
  Sylvia Darpino: And when I've when I go there during the holidays, I've been there a couple of times in the recent years, they still do the parandas, they do have the roasted pig out, and everyone is flaunting their own coquito version.
• 19:25
  Sylvia Darpino: And so it does happen in the countryside, but like everywhere else, you know, in the cities, they they kind of lose that flavor.
• 19:33
  Sylvia Darpino: Um, still have it, but in a very smaller scale.
• 19:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's a good point.
• 19:37
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's a very good point.
• 19:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I I guess I am gonna bring us back to the show for a second.
• 19:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is there uh a significance to that time period for the show, or is it just when she chose to to visit the island?
• 19:51
  Rico Santiago: Or I think it's just when she chose to go to the island for vacation or just to get away for a few weeks, you know, to visit family.
• 19:58
  Rico Santiago: So that's pretty much to see where her mother grew up, you know, where her ancestors were like where her family grew up, and she comes in hot as a tourist.
• 20:08
  Rico Santiago: So as she comes in, she wants to see El Mohro, she wants to go to San Juan, she wants to do all these like different things.
• 20:14
  Rico Santiago: And this is like her first time, you know, her first time as an adult coming through.
• 20:18
  Rico Santiago: She wants to do all these things like a tourist, not realizing that because she's on vacation, this is where people live, they're not on vacation, you know.
• 20:27
  Rico Santiago: So that's a that's a little bit a piece of the uh back and forth as well.
• 20:31
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, I will definitely be at this show, possibly every night, like Emily says.
• 20:35
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: We welcome you.
• 20:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yes, yeah.
• 20:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I that was literally my experience when I went to Puerto Rico recently.
• 20:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It was my I was calling it a cultural reclamation trip.
• 20:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I actually just wrote a short film script about that.
• 20:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Oh, which is another reason.
• 20:49
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Thank you.
• 20:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It's another reason I wanted to talk to you guys about this show because I it really, really resonates.
• 20:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And Emily, I'm gonna come back to you and ask your experience.
• 21:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Hold on.
• 21:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm I do speak English because I don't speak Spanish and I'm struggling to find my words.
• 21:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um it's set in San Juan, right?
• 21:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The the play is set in San Juan.
• 21:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yes, okay.
• 21:14
  Rico Santiago: It's it's in yeah, you could say in the surrounding areas or whatever, but it's like it's never really fully mentioned.
• 21:19
  Rico Santiago: We're here or we're out here, or they say it a little bit here and there.
• 21:23
  Rico Santiago: Um, but it doesn't, even though it says that setting, it doesn't necessarily have to be mentally that setting for you to understand the show if that makes any sense.
• 21:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It does, it does.
• 21:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I was gonna ask Emily because you said that you had an Awela who still lives there or who who you used to visit.
• 21:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I'm wondering like, are you recalling any of that when you're performing this?
• 21:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How are you using your experiences having visited the island?
• 21:48
  Emily Colón: Yeah, I mean, I'm not necessarily recalling them just because I mean I haven't visited the island in well, close to 10 years at this point.
• 21:58
  Emily Colón: So my memories are Little bit foggy, but I mean not just on the island.
• 22:04
  Emily Colón: I'm kind of just picturing my family in any setting.
• 22:07
  Emily Colón: Um, whether it be at my Awela's house in Puerto Rico in the countryside or it be in Newark, like when we're all crammed into one little apartment and still making the same food and the same culture still there, regardless of you know where exactly we are.
• 22:22
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is there anything in particular that you're excited to share with audiences, especially those who are perhaps outside of the Latin diaspora who might be curious about this culture?
• 22:34
  Emily Colón: I mean, I could start.
• 22:35
  Emily Colón: I mean, like we've been saying, La Gringa is rich in Puerto Rican culture, but it doesn't matter where you are or like where you're from, anybody can connect to these same messages of the universal feeling of belonging, of a feeling like the black sheep in your family or your friend group.
• 22:53
  Emily Colón: Like there's so many ways to still connect with the show and also experience something new.
• 22:58
  Emily Colón: I mean, we come to theater to be entertained and to escape.
• 23:01
  Emily Colón: So if we resonate with it, we do, but we can still be entertained and kind of see how other cultures live and other lived experiences.
• 23:09
  Emily Colón: And again, I think it's just so relatable, regardless of who you are.
• 23:13
  Emily Colón: Like you can still find not just in Maria, but like there's six characters in the show and they all have their own journey with their culture and just with life in general that is relatable.
• 23:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I agree with you.
• 23:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Not even having seen the show, I know that it's relatable.
• 23:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I can already tell.
• 23:29
  Sylvia Darpino: I agree.
• 23:30
  Sylvia Darpino: Like I said before, you're gonna go and you are going to relate to one of the characters because we all are part of a family and we're all part of a community.
• 23:40
  Sylvia Darpino: And you know, it could be the relationship between the daughter and the mom, which is a little bit uh complicated.
• 23:46
  Sylvia Darpino: And, you know, as a mom, no matter what culture, you go through these things.
• 23:52
  Sylvia Darpino: So it's it's it's funny.
• 23:54
  Sylvia Darpino: Also, there's some parts that are really, really funny.
• 23:56
  Sylvia Darpino: So that's what I think I like about the play.
• 23:58
  Sylvia Darpino: You will, like Rico said when he read it, that was the same emotion.
• 24:02
  Sylvia Darpino: You cry, you laugh, it it gets you thinking.
• 24:06
  Sylvia Darpino: Um, there's a lot going on uh in the show.
• 24:09
  Sylvia Darpino: So I'm really excited.
• 24:10
  Rico Santiago: I think I would like uh for someone who isn't of Puerto Rican descent or has no connection to like uh the Latinx community uh as their heritage to see why, especially in this day and age, that why Puerto Ricans are so passionate about their culture.
• 24:25
  Rico Santiago: We really are.
• 24:26
  Rico Santiago: I mean, I it it's we ride or die.
• 24:28
  Rico Santiago: The flags are everywhere, the coquis are everywhere, I've got tattoos on my body.
• 24:32
  Rico Santiago: Like it's it's it's it's a thing.
• 24:34
  Rico Santiago: It's a thing with us.
• 24:35
  Rico Santiago: And I I often I I grew up in Camden, so I grew up around Puerto Ricans and and African Americans.
• 24:42
  Rico Santiago: Like that was my neighborhood my entire life.
• 24:44
  Rico Santiago: I really wasn't around a many white people until high school.
• 24:47
  Rico Santiago: And my mom sent me to a Catholic high school and said, You're going over there.
• 24:51
  Rico Santiago: And uh, so that's when I was like, Oh, there's more than this, my little bubble out here.
• 24:56
  Rico Santiago: And again, this it was like uh it was like I was a spy for the, you know, I was I was the you know, spy for the ops, you know, just going back and forth.
• 25:05
  Rico Santiago: Um, but it's it was so proud.
• 25:08
  Rico Santiago: Like it was ingrained in us since birth.
• 25:11
  Rico Santiago: And when you grow up Puerto Rican, and I'm speaking for me, just I don't want to generalize for everyone, but it's like you long for a country that's not really yours, you know, because you weren't born there, but you feel such a connection to there, like you're supposed to be there, like you belong there, even though the mainland, the United States, is your is your country, and it really is.
• 25:35
  Rico Santiago: You rarely ever hear a Puerto Rican say, I'm I'm American, or I'm Puerto Rican American.
• 25:39
  Rico Santiago: They say I'm Puerto Rican, you know, so that's uh you know, a lot of a lot of times that's what happens.
• 25:44
  Rico Santiago: And I think someone who isn't part of the culture will see this within this play.
• 25:49
  Rico Santiago: Like they are really proud.
• 25:51
  Rico Santiago: Hey, guess what?
• 25:52
  Rico Santiago: I'm Italian, I'm Irish, I'm German, I'm Polish.
• 25:54
  Rico Santiago: They still have mom, dad problems, aunt, uncle problems, cousin problems, job problems, school problems.
• 26:02
  Rico Santiago: The whole gamut is in this play.
• 26:04
  Rico Santiago: Anything that a family can deal with is in this play, just so happens to be focused on a Puerto Rican family with an emphasis on uh cultural upbringing.
• 26:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm so excited for this show, guys.
• 26:16
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I really am.
• 26:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And you're running September 4th through September 20th.
• 26:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Uh, how long have you been in rehearsal?
• 26:22
  Rico Santiago: We have been in rehearsal for a month, about a month a month already.
• 26:26
  Rico Santiago: Yeah.
• 26:27
  Rico Santiago: So we have fun, we go through things, and uh it it's it's uh it's a lot of hard work.
• 26:34
  Rico Santiago: They do a lot of homework.
• 26:35
  Rico Santiago: Uh, I'm one of those people I you know, I I'll stop and start 15 million times.
• 26:40
  Rico Santiago: Um, but I want to make sure that especially with this piece, that the actors, because we all feel with this on a personal level, I want them to bring their own personal experiences into their characters.
• 26:52
  Rico Santiago: And this I really start, we really start to focus on why a character is this way.
• 26:58
  Rico Santiago: What would as Emily, if Emily was Maria, let's let's take Maria's name out.
• 27:03
  Rico Santiago: Emily, how would Emily, what would you react to this, and how would you feel to this?
• 27:07
  Rico Santiago: Because this is you, you know, this is you, and uh every character with every cast member reminds them of somebody in their family.
• 27:16
  Rico Santiago: You know, I wanted the set design to look like my grandmother's kitchen with her colors in there as a you know, as a uh tribute to my grandparents, uh, everyone of the cast members, everyone in this show, this character reminds me of somebody.
• 27:29
  Rico Santiago: I specifically thought of someone, of each person in my family reading the play over and over and in their voices.
• 27:36
  Rico Santiago: So that's how it came to life for me.
• 27:38
  Rico Santiago: And I and I hope the audiences feel that as well and come out of it uh with a better understanding of our culture and come out of it with something just to escape.
• 27:48
  Rico Santiago: That's something that gets a little heavy, a little lighthearted, a little funny, a little sad, and just an experience.
• 27:56
  Rico Santiago: We designed the set to be just an experience, living in a home.
• 28:00
  Rico Santiago: We're gonna live in a home, so we're all gonna be comfortable with each other for the next three weeks.
• 28:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love hearing you speak about process.
• 28:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Uh, whenever I hear a director or an actor speak about process, I find it fascinating.
• 28:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Uh, you had mentioned what you hope audiences will take away from it, but can I also ask Emily and Sylvia to share what you're hoping audiences will take away or or maybe just something to say to them before we close out?
• 28:22
  Emily Colón: I mean, I firstly speaking to any fellow gringas or no sabo kids, I I really hope that, you know, when they leave the show, they're reminded that they they are Latina enough, they are Latino enough.
• 28:35
  Emily Colón: And then again, like I said, regardless of where you are, where you come from, what your blood is, you'll still leave feeling some sort of hope, some sort of escape, some some good feeling, some bubbly feeling inside.
• 28:47
  Emily Colón: That's the goal.
• 28:48
  Sylvia Darpino: For me, I just it just I just thought about it.
• 28:51
  Sylvia Darpino: Uh, when I um when I was in college and was Maria, going back and forth, back and forth with the dilemma.
• 28:58
  Sylvia Darpino: I did read a poem from a Puerto Rican poet.
• 29:02
  Sylvia Darpino: His name is Juan Antonio Corretere, and it's called Borincano or Borin uh Puerto Rican on the moon.
• 29:10
  Sylvia Darpino: And there's a line that he specifically says, I would be Puerto Rican even if I were born on the moon.
• 29:17
  Sylvia Darpino: Sería borincano que nacera en la luna.
• 29:20
  Sylvia Darpino: And that was my turning point.
• 29:22
  Sylvia Darpino: And I think that those uh people that are going to be present that are kind of like Maria will will get that from the play.
• 29:31
  Sylvia Darpino: We'll say, you know, it's yeah, I was born in in the Bronx or I was born in Newark, but this is who I am, no matter where I was born.
• 29:39
  Sylvia Darpino: So that's that's my take.
• 29:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love this.
• 29:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love all of this.
• 29:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I think as you've all said at one point or another, this transcends culture.
• 29:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It doesn't, you'll relate whether you're Puerto Rican, Latino, or other.
• 29:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think that that this will reach a wide variety and a wide variety of audience members.
• 29:57
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Remember how I said I speak English?
• 29:59
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Maybe I lied.
• 30:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um anyway, I thank you guys for taking the time, and I'm really looking forward to this.
• 30:06
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I will see you at some point in September.
• 30:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So thank you so much.
• 30:10
  Rico Santiago: Thank you so much for having me.
• 30:11
  Rico Santiago: Thank you so much.
• 30:11
  Rico Santiago: Thank you so much.
• 30:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And there you have it, a play about fitting in.
• 30:16
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Relatable no matter your cultural background.
• 30:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: La Gringa runs from September 4th through the 20th at the Ritz Theater Company in Haddon Township.
• 30:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For tickets and more information about La Gringa, be sure to visit Ritz Theaterco.org.
• 30:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you like this episode, be sure to review, subscribe, and tell your friends.
• 30:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story, and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com.
• 30:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The Jersey Arts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986.
• 30:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The show was co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
• 30:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez.
• 30:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez.
• 31:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And my thanks, of course, to Rico Santiago, Emily Colon, and Sylvia Darpino for speaking with me today.
• 31:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 31:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Thanks for listening.