We Can Get There

BY LUIS SALGADO

I was watching the new musical THE MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London when, near the end of the show, a character asked: “DO YOU BELIEVE ME?” And a child in the audience screamed, “NO!” The audience laughed, but my mind began to wonder…

Did the child say no because they had an expectation of Magic and hoped that their impulsive skepticism would trigger a final magic trick? Or did they say no because they truly didn’t believe a single thing from the actor who asked the question?

Of course, I don’t know the answer. But the case of this child and this actor gives me clues into the questions at hand in my own life and in our collective artistic future.

How have WE changed in the last two years, and what do we expect of theatre and of our own work?

It’s been such an intense time for us all. A pandemic, the fight for Black Lives Matter and gender equality, government changes, economic imbalance, and on and on… The types of theatre and the potential stories we can tell have multiplied. But questions remain: How do we tell these new stories? Who do we tell them with? How do they resonate in our waves of modern thinking? Do the hearts and spirits of the audience welcome the political resistance in the theatre, and mirror a reflection of today’s issues, as seen in director Charles Randolph-Wright’s fantastic production of TROUBLE IN MIND, by Alice Childress, for Roundabout? On the other hand, maybe people are only ready for a little escapism. I think we need both. Is the Broadway League ready to take us forward with all producers working as one, for a collective, solid comeback, or will the growth and contributions that theatre can make continue to be undermined by individualistic greed and games of “Who can get there first?” Are we planting our feet and speaking from our place of truth?

There are more questions than answers, yet there is so much to be grateful for. We are MOVING FORWARD! I often quote Anne Bogart and the team at SITI Company: “Our job is not so much to give the answers as it IS ABOUT ASKING A GREAT QUESTION.” A great question to our audiences, our company, and ourselves.

We need to ask questions, frequently and deeply, in the most conscious way possible. How have we changed? That query itself is a quest of self-reflection…

Luis Salgado rehearsing IN THE HEIGHTS at GALA Hispanic Theatre

PHOTO c/o GALA Hispanic Theatre

In the last four months, I have been able to return to work and direct a few projects back-to-back: a production in Sonoma, CA; a show in Times Square; another two shows in boroughs of NYC. There is so much I have taken from this new time in the studio with humans/artists and from this “comeback” that requires a new process. I’ve seen the industry affected and evolving from many angles, both as it takes a step back in some ways and HUGE STEPS forward in many others. Obviously, we’d all like to move forward in our artistic passions, but the common denominator in every room I have seen is fear.

Can I still sing? Can I dance? Is my body in the right shape? Should I be singing this song? Should I audition for this? Should they be auditioning for a role that should be mine? Ours?

The art of the possible and the overcoming of fear is in our hands; we need each other’s truth, vulnerability, awareness, and talent more than ever before. For me, the question has shifted from “How have we changed?” to “What kind of artist/leader can I be to expand on how we change and what changes we can continue to make?” Theatre is the greatest tool we have to achieve this evolution, to attain this growth, to support the UPCOMING.

Words, music, images, movement, gesture, silence—all play an integral part of the way we touch the spirit, the minds, and the hearts of our audiences and each other.

Matthew Oster, Mariana Herrera Jury, Jacob Louchheim + Grace Sweeney in RAGTIME at Axelrod Performing Arts Center, directed + choreographed by Luis Salgado

PHOTO Rich Kowalski

As we continue the steps of change, I’m seeing interest and awareness of mentorship—people creating space for others to expand their knowledge and experience, widening the table and who gets to sit at it.

More mentorships will manifest, new ways of making theatre and supporting artists will take flight, a community of upcoming producers and investors are on the rise because we all crave new stories that resonate with our own truths, purposes, and needs.

The art of the possible and the overcoming of fear is in our hands; we need each other’s truth, vulnerability, awareness, and talent more than ever before.

In the process of rehearsal and creation, artists these days will not just imitate but also propose and come ready to speak the truth of the piece and contribute greater perspective—then we might work in a more horizontal plane. Let the potential answers to this question of “how have we changed” be an added catalyst of action toward our individual and collective change!

A lot has changed—and, yet, very little has changed.

When we think about the future of how we tell stories, we need to be sure that actual representation (rather than quotas) are at the heart of our motivation. Personally, I have been called for creative jobs as a token much more than ever before. I am also one of the people who are called to be asked for advice or recommendations for Latin(E) assistant directors, Latin(E) writers, Latin(E) stage managers to hire. Yet in the end, I’ve seen no commitment to actually hiring and/ or making space for new Latin(E) artists and providing opportunities. Rather, oftentimes they are exploiting our goodwill and desire to support and contribute. Still, I believe we are in the perfect place to make impactful changes to put art and stories in the front of the conversation on what is possible.

Legendary playwright Larry Kramer once said: “I belong to a culture that includes Proust, Henry James, Tchaikovsky, Cole Porter, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Marlowe, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Tennessee Williams, Byron, E.M. Forster, Lorca, Auden, Francis Bacon, James Baldwin, Harry Stack Sullivan, John Maynard Keynes, Dag Hammarskjold… These are not invisible men.”

Now, I know “I belong to a culture that includes…” Mathew Lopez, Priscilla Lopez, Lin- Manuel Miranda, Sergio Trujillo, Karen Olivo, Cody Renard, Maria Torres, Jordan Roth, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, Javier Muñoz, Emilio Sosa, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno, Raul Esparza, Raul Julia, Antonio Banderas, Nilo Cruz, Moisés Kaufman, Quiara Alegría Hudes…. The world has evolved. We see names evolve such as Eric Ulloa, Marcos Santana, Jesse Sanchez, Jaime Lozano, names that are now resonating with more weight than before this crazy pandemic. These are not invisible people.

Yesmith Lantigua + Brian Charles Rooney in MATILDA at the Axelrod PAC, directed + choreographed by Luis Salgado

PHOTO Rich Kowalski

The acknowledgment of this legacy and its use as a foundation for the future gives me hope. As two Latina stars—Ana Villafañe and Bianca Marroquín—sang in the Broadway musical CHICAGO:

IT’S GOOD, ISN’T IT?

GRAND, ISN’T IT?

GREAT, ISN’T IT?

SWELL, ISN’T IT?

FUN, ISN’T IT?

Hearing them both sing these words today is part of the change we wish to see and continue to hope for. Change IS on the way… As Katori Hall wrote in her fantastic play THE MOUNTAINTOP, in the mouth of a great leader:

“What is this vision I see before me? Could this be my wildest dream? There it is. There… It…Is…A land where hunger is no more. A land where war is no more. A land where richness is no more, poverty is no more, color is…no more. Destruction…is no more. Only love. Radical, fierce love. The Promised Land here on Earth.” “The baton passes on.”

We can get there...“DO YOU BELIEVE ME?”

Luis Salgado is an international director, choreographer, and educator from Puerto Rico based in New York City, who has worked on Cirque du Soleil, Broadway, and film.