Interview: Isabella Araque of BROADWAY LATINX EDITION! at The Green Room 42

Tomorrow night, May 14th, at 9:30 pm, The Green Room 42 will present BROADWAY LATINX EDITION!, an evening of Broadway music being applied to immigrant stories and performed by some of the fine Latin artists currently working in cabaret and concert. These last few years have seen a concentrated effort in the programming of more Latin performers on the small venue stages of New York City, indeed, an effort in producing more shows of diversity in NYC. Of course, much of those efforts are coming from members of each community who are taking control of their destiny by producing their own shows, but any advancement in the cause is good advancement.

BROADWAY LATINX EDITION!'s producer, Isabella Araque is one of the Latinx artists working in the industry to tell immigrant stories and create Latinx cabarets, and she took some time out of rehearsals for tomorrow night's show to do a digital q&a with Broadway World Cabaret.

This interview was conducted digitally and has been reproduced without edits.

Isabella Araque, welcome to Broadway World!

¡Hola, hola! ¡Gracias! It is a pleasure to be here!

You are appearing in a concert at The Green Room 42 titled BROADWAY LATINX EDITION! Tell me about your mission statement with this production.

This is my first time producing a show, ever! Which is incredibly exciting and scary. I have a couple goals with this event. First of all, share our culture, life experiences, and stories with the audience through beautiful music! I think I want to make a point on how important representation is and how we desperately need to be putting these stories and these performers on a stage. Many people from our community get passed on because we look different or do things differently, many people are scared of what they don't know so I just want to show the world there is nothing to be afraid of. Differences can be beautiful.

You are a singing actress working in New York City. What made you decide to put on a producer hat to create this production?

As a woman of color and immigrant my journey in the theater industry has been difficult. I arrived in this country without knowing anyone or having a clue on how things worked, so getting started was hard...and it is still hard. It was challenging for me to meet people to guide me, to even be able to speak to them! English is not my first language, people can be so rough on you when you mispronounce a word. I am suddenly judged and not taken seriously whenever I mispronounce a word! I still have a long way to go but I've come to the conclusion, after a couple of bad auditions and callbacks, uncomfortable conversations, and situations, that I need to create my own opportunities, for me and my community because no one else is going to do it for me. I am tired of waiting for someone to bet on me, I am betting on myself. Which is what I did when I left my country, so why shouldn't I continue to do so?

The concert is about the Latinx experience, as told through the music of Broadway. Is the Broadway musical very popular in the Latin culture?

I'd say it depends on the country! Some countries in Latin America are heavier on theater culture, like Argentina and Mexico. I am from Venezuela -- our theater community is small but I was very lucky to be in it. It is very hard to gain access to plays, pro-shots, books, etc. in countries like mine, so gaining knowledge about the theater world and updates was always difficult but, as I said before, we are a community, a family if you will, and we all help each other find the resources. We make the best out of what we have. Two amazing people in the Venezuelan theater industry that are now here making art with me are Fernando Azpurua and Kharolyn Castellano. Fernando is a fantastic playwright and Kharo is a wonderful producer. They taught me many things back home and now we have become a family here in New York. I wouldn't be able to do anything without them!

Our friends Mauricio Martinez, Bianca Marroquin, and Senor Y Senora Lozano are busily working on musical theater projects, as we speak. Does this give the Latinx community of musical theater actors hope for a better future in the industry?

I'd hope so, I am so grateful for them and everyone working for our community, it is inspiring. I have to say I still don't find our community represented fairly in projects. I think the fight is just beginning at the moment. There is A LOT of work to do.

Tell me about your personal history with Broadway musicals.

My country is currently going through a very difficult and delicate political situation at the moment, it was especially hard in my teenage years. There were a lot of protests going around, power would go out, food shortages....but something I could always count on were cast recordings. Broadway musicals, show tunes...they gave me a reason to keep going, to keep fighting, they inspired me and distracted me from the pain.

How did you curate the cast of actors who are appearing in BROADWAY LATINX EDITION?

We held a little audition! My goal was to meet new people, give the opportunity to perform to different performers of different backgrounds. I know many people usually just cast friends in their shows, and that makes sense, but I was not interested in that, I was interested in discovering new talent and making new connections! We have a very talented cast with performers from Cuba, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Mexico...it is so beautiful! We have immigrants and kids born here, it is so great to see different people come together to put on a show.

There has been a lot of discussion, the last year or two, about whether or not Latinx is a term that people should use, naturally with those for and those against. The word is in in the title of your show. Tell me why we should all incorporate the word Latinx into our lexicon.

You know, as an immigrant there's A LOT of learning to do, in my country this was not something I ever heard about until I moved here...Language is a very complicated thing....one thing I'll say is I am always open to learning and I am a big believer of "representation matters," after all, this is why I am putting this together. I think the x/e is important to use because it includes everyone. And EVERYONE should always be included

What can the Green Room 42 audiences look forward to when they come to BROADWAY LATINX EDITION?

Jaime Lozano's songs! They are incredible! Rebecca Murillo's music as well, let me tell you, this girl does it ALL. She is such a star! I am so thrilled to have these original songs in our cabaret. Also songs from Mentiras, a Mexican jukebox musical! We will also have some known musicals like In The Heights and Miss You Like Hell...OH! Javier Garcia's VOCALS! Basically, you can look forward to the best time EVER!

Isabella, what is your personal favorite Broadway musical and why?

It's Wicked. It was the first musical I ever listened to. It's the reason I became a performer, I think this show is so special to so many of us. It just holds a special place in my heart, I wouldn't be who I am today without it.

Thank you so much for chatting with Broadway World today, and have a wonderful show on May 14th.

Thank you! Can't wait to see you all!

¡Muchas Gracias!

Enjoy some photos sent over by Isabella Araque below:

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