The Latinx Theatre Commons will host a designer and director Colaboratorio in Portland. The event kicks off Wednesday and ends Sunday. Costume and set designers, directors and other creatives will meet to reimagine the typical director-driven theater model. Artists from across the country were chosen to participate in the gathering. Also participating is Francisco Garcia, a director, actor, educator and playwright from Portland. Jacqueline Flores is a Latinx Theatre Commons producer. They join us with details of the Colaboratorio and share more on the importance of a collaborative approach to making theater.
The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Three dozen Latinx theater makers from around the country are about to convene in Portland. They were invited by a group called Latinx Theater Commons. It’s the first time the group has held a gathering in Portland. They’re bringing together directors and all kinds of designers to explore new ways to collaborate. Francisco Garcia is one of the people who was selected to take part. He is a Portland-based director, actor, educator and playwright. Jacqueline Flores is a Portland-based producer for Latinx Theater Commons. They both join me now. It’s great to have both of you on the show.
Jacqueline Flores: Thank you for having us.
Francisco Garcia: Hello.
Miller: Jacqueline, what is Latinx Theater Commons?
Flores: Yeah. The Latinx Theater Commons (LTC) is a movement that was created in 2012 by Karen Zacarías and a group of eight other Latinx theater makers who wanted to disrupt the narrative that the American Theater has when it tells stories of Latinx folks. And so they created the LTC to disrupt the narrative that existed to create more opportunities for Latinx theater makers. And we operate on a consensus-based model. And so we put on programming around the country that centers our voices and Latinx artists and do various different things like new play festivals. This is our first time doing a Colaboratorio.
Miller: What’s the narrative that you wanted to disrupt?
Flores: The narrative of trauma, immigrant stories. We want to highlight that we are also people who have a lot of joy. We are also people who have professions that are regarded and are doctors and lawyers. And there’s just so much more that encompasses being Latinx than the trauma-based tropes that we usually see.
Miller: Why have this Colaboratorio be here in Portland? So far as I know, it’s the first time that any big gathering is being held in Portland. I mean, you’re based here.
Flores: I’m actually based in DC.
Miller: I misunderstood that. OK. So then I’m even more interested. So why have it here?
Flores: We usually partner with theaters, organizations in different parts of the country that we want to highlight. And so Portland specifically and Francisco can speak more to its importance…but it’s often overlooked as a place where a lot of Latinex people live. It’s overlooked as a hub for theater. And so we really wanted to come here and highlight the Latinx theater makers in Portland and be a place where we can all gather and talk about what’s happening in the Pacific Northwest and how we can share resources.
Miller: Francisco, why did you want to take part in this?
Garcia: Well, there are many reasons that drew me to it, one being that it’s taking place in my hometown. I’m originally from Oregon and Portland. But also I really saw the value in terms of what they’re trying to do and the importance of collaboration at all levels, when you’re in the rehearsal room, outside of the rehearsal room, when you’re preparing for a show. And as a director, I’m always trying to grow as an artist. And to me, this just seemed like an exciting opportunity to work with other designers and directors from all across the country in looking at the way that we interpret theater. Look at the power dynamics when we’re in the planning stages of creating plays and the rehearsal stages of creating plays. And move away from that kind of structure that we’ve become used to for a long time now.
Miller: So this gets to what you and 30-something other people are gonna be doing for five days pretty soon. What is the actual theme of these workshops?
Garcia: Well, we have a play that we’re gonna be working with. And we’re gonna come together in the structure of where we have a director. And then we have a costumer, we have a designer, we have a sound designer. We’re gonna have a scholar and documentarian in the room working on this. And we’re looking at this text and how we interpret it and how, if we were to be in the planning stages of creating this, what it might look like when we would produce it.
And so the idea is that we shift from that regular structure that we have where it’s, “I’m the director. I have the final say, I am the person that is organizing these production meetings that we’re having.” [Instead] it’s like, “Why don’t we try to have a more collaborative process where everyone could have a say in terms of what we’re doing?”
And in an ideal situation, if we had more time and we were actually producing this play that we’re working on, it would maybe look like everyone looking at it when we’re doing casting, everyone would be in the room talking about what this is gonna look like in its final product. And the hope is that we plant the seeds for that. So that, since there’s gonna be a documentarian and scholar as I said, the hope is that other people can look at this, especially as I feel like theater is really shifting towards a different direction. A lot of theater companies don’t just have one artistic director now, they have more artistic directors now, in a more collaborative way that we work. And this is just something that I think will help move that shift for the Latinx Theater Commons.
Also locally with me being a participant in this, my hope is that I can use this experience and this training for this week as we work and share it with my local theater artists here. Because we have some wonderful, wonderful Latina theater artists living in Portland right now.
Miller: What’s wrong with the current model where there’s a director and they - I imagine in consultation with a bunch of other experts in their specific pieces of a production, whether it’s lighting or sound or costumes or whatever - that they, in the end, make this final decision and then you move on. What’s wrong with that model?
Garcia: Well, for me, the form that I like best is collaboration and that’s what I love about theater. And I work in all mediums of performance, film, TV, commercials, but I’m always drawn back to theater because it’s my first love essentially. And I feel like nothing really brings out collaboration the way it does. But that said, there are still problems with this model that we’re using and I’ll give you an example. And this is an example that ties into Portland. So last year, there were three shows that were being done here locally during Hispanic Heritage Month by Latinx and Latina writers. And those three shows, they’re all being done by different companies, large companies, small companies, in those three shows, the director was not Latina.
So [while] some of the designers were Latina designers, ultimately in that model, if you’re using that, you have someone who is not of Latina descent, making the final decision about a play with an all Latina cast and by Latina playwright. So, you know, this type of model also ensures that things like that wouldn’t necessarily happen because it’s more of a collaborative process. So everyone would have a say about the culture that’s being represented on stage.
Miller: In that example, you weren’t the director, obviously by virtue of the situation you just described. But are you ready to give up control? Because I can imagine a director saying we have all these different people, you know, the actors, the sound designers, the customers, a player at the drama, a dramaturg. But somebody has to be in charge because otherwise we’ll all just be talking forever and no decisions will be made. Collaboration is great up to a point. In the end, there has to be someone saying, “Listen folks, this is it’s 6 p.m. We’ve got to decide on this one thing so we can go to the 50 other things to decide.”
Garcia: And that’s the hope is that if we’re all together, trying to look at this model of collaboration, maybe a new way of what that looks like in terms of how we come up with the final say would emerge in that?
Miller: Are you apprehensive about that? I guess I’m what I think of a director as somebody who likes to hold on to the reins to some extent.
Garcia: There’s all types of directors. And I would be lying if I said that I was never like that. But one thing as an artist is that I always try to be open to new ideas. And that’s like one of the things that drew this to me. And ultimately, this is the first time that they’re doing it. So it’s hard to say what it’s gonna be like in the room, but that’s the exciting part. Maybe something really special will evolve from this that I, as an artist, can use as I move forward, as well as the other people that are there participating.
Miller: Jaqueline, what are you most excited about for these five days that are starting in just a couple days?
Flores: I’m excited to bring all of these artists together from around the country. And just to tag off what Francisco was saying about collaborative models, all of these people apply to be a part of this because they believe that collaborative models are the way we should be working. And they have been working in this model in some capacity and have been pushing against the traditional model in other capacities. And so it’s exciting to be able to gather everyone who has these shared values and see what will come out of it. I’m really excited about that.
Miller: Do you think that there’s something specific to Latinx theater production that makes this particular collaborative exploration particularly important or is a lot of what you’re exploring and talking about applicable to just theater in general?
Flores: I think it applies to other theaters as well. But Latinx theater is rooted in collaboration. El Campesino began with the United Farm Workers Movement. And it was all about gathering folks, providing a space for folks. So a lot of the Latinx theaters specifically that exist around the country do have more collaborative models in the traditional regional theater.
Miller: You accepted applications not just from theater makers like Francisco and set designers and lighting people and sound people, but also a number of scholars and documentarians to watch what’s happening. Why did you include them?
Flores: Yeah, we included them because there is a lack of Latinx theater documentation. When the American theater often documents, it excludes Latinx theater. And so we really wanted to make sure there were people here who were being part of these conversations and able to document it and be able to have this thing that we’re doing for the first time to share it with folks afterwards as well.
Miller: Francisco, for you, what do you think it’s going to take for you to say that these five upcoming days were a success?
Garcia: It depends, I guess, how we measure success or the idea of what is successful? There was something that came up when we were talking because as we move towards the end of this, we’re gonna have a presentation. That’s the last day of the, if you wanna say, trial performance, almost of the presentation of the work and what have we come up with during that time? And one of the things that I thought was exciting that Jacqueline had mentioned was [that] it doesn’t matter if, in that time, you’re able to do a presentation of what the whole show would look like. Maybe you’re just focusing on the first ten pages.
It’s about the process as opposed to the final product. And that’s something that in my training as well as a theater artist, has been a big part and this goes back to what you were saying, getting used to. But also finding the value and importance in that. So maybe when we think of how we measure success we’ll have a different look. Maybe success will be, we only tackled the first ten pages, but we grew as collaborators and artists during this process. And that’s what really matters.
Miller: Francisco Garcia and Jacqueline Flores, thanks very much.
Flores: Thank you.
Garcia: Thank you.
Miller: Francisco Garcia is a director, actor, educator and playwright. Jacqueline Flores is a producer for Latinx Theater Commons.
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