Interview: Creators of QUINCE, Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez and Ellpetha Tsivicos, Discuss the Immersive Queer Latino Comedy

QUINCE, written and co-created by Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez and directed and co-created by Ellpetha Tsivicos, is the story of a 15 year-old Chicana confronting her queer identity, family and religion on the eve of her quinceañera. Originally presented as an abridged workshop at the People's Garden in 2020, QUINCE is now extended through June 26 at The Bushwick Starr, and is set to be presented as part of Lincoln Center's Summer for the City on July 17.

Starring Sara Gutierrez, Brenda Flores, José Pérez, Talisa Velázquez, Quetziquetl Angulo Aleman, Saige Larmer, Anabel Lugones De León, Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez, and Ellpetha Tsivicos, QUINCE features music, dance, food, and art inspired by Latin American rituals, mythology and magic!

BroadwayWorld spoke with QUINCE's creators, Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez and Ellpetha Tsivicos, about the importance of seeing your culture reflected on stage, what audiences can expect from this immersive experience and more.

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QUINCE was originally produced in 2020, how does it feel now to be presenting it at The Bushwick Starr and as part of Lincoln Center's "Summer for the City" initiative?

Ellpetha + Camilo: Like a dream! The version that was produced in 2020 was so influenced by the pandemic, all the Covid protocols were built into the show, the actors all wore masks, and the audience was very limited, but the story, magic and community that grew from that production at the People's Garden was a seed that has kept growing. Being able to bring such an incredibly talented group of artists together to share a meaningful story is an incredible honor. Many audience members have shared that they've never experienced a piece of theatre that they can see themselves in, that reflects their family's history and dynamics so accurately and how important it was for them to see that. Partnering with incredible institutions like the Bushwick Starr and Lincoln Center means bringing this story to a bigger stage and allowing more people to feel seen through this piece. It cannot be overstated how powerful it is to see your culture represented in art and media. Lincoln Center is one of the great American art institutions and being able to share our work there cements the idea that immigrant art is American art. What you see at Lincoln Center won't be the play but all the elements of the show expanded into a HUGE party!

What can audiences expect to see with QUINCE?

Ellpetha: I created a world where audiences will be immersed into a vibrant space filled with music, food, drinks, and magic. When audiences arrive they will find a Mexican food cart outside the theatre where they can purchase food that they are welcome to bring inside and enjoy during the show. Inside the space, the audience will walk into an actual Quinceañera where they are seated at round tables covered with floral centerpieces and Mexican candies and snacks. The room is painted floor to ceiling pink, has a bar, and a live band that plays throughout. You are a guest at an actual quince, but no family party comes without drama, some dug up history, and deep emotions. The set pieces, designed by Tanya Orellana, lighting design by Mextly Couzin, and costumes by Scarlet Moreno work together to evoke a childhood nostalgia. Nothing in the design, or script for that matter, gives an exact location or time period that the piece is set, which creates a directorial challenge of balancing the spectacle of the space with the grounded intimate nature of the story.

There are many disparate elements of this show and finding a cohesive way to make sure everything was tied together was part of my challenge. This required working very closely with every design department and keeping a close watch on the details. When people talk to me about the show, it's always the specificity of everything in the room that amazes them, the colors, the music, the costumes, the types of candy on the table, the pink music stands. Some of these things seem small but together they create magic and distinguish what's happening in this room from the world outside. Nothing in this room is there by accident. They are all things that I've been thinking about for two years, things in my dreams and my own childhood memories.

Can you tell me a little bit about the process of creating QUINCE? How did it come together, and what did the collaboration process look like?

Ellpetha + Camilo: The two of us have worked together for 14 years, so our collaborative process is very fluid at this point and it's hard to say where one of our ideas ends and the others begin. Both of us are from immigrant families with similar dynamics and ideas about family, religion, and upholding traditions and we both brought our respective cultures into this work. This version of QUINCE has been in the works for two years. The initial workshop was the first live theatre to happen in New York during the pandemic and was co-produced through the TEAM's Petri Projects at an amazing food haven and community garden in Bushwick. Over two years we did a series of outdoor community events featuring the characters of QUINCE and working with groups like the Gowanus Dredgers, the Street Vendor Project, the Tecuanes Quetzalcoatl, OYE Group, and the Bushwick Starr. These events allowed us to deepen community ties while simultaneously developing the immersive and celebratory elements of the show. We were also fortunate enough to have a residency at The SHED in October of 2021 which gave us an incredible space (literally the largest space any of us had ever been in) to really explore the characters, movement, music, and script.

We worked with some Colombian drummers and musicians (most of whom ended up working on the show) to weave music into the script. Music is really important to us both and Colombian music, specifically cumbia, has had a huge influence on Mexican culture. Cumbia is a joyful style born out of enslavement and colonization that blends African, Indigenous, and European rhythms and instruments, it epitomizes a lot of the struggle and triumphs of Latin America. We used our background in ensemble work and physical theatre to get the music into the characters, and work with creating some of the elements of magical realism. After that we were able to watch videos of the work we did and develop the scenes and characters more deeply.

How we make work is really important to us, and who we involve. Our actors weren't cast based on auditions, they come to us through different relationships, friends of friends, programs we love. Last year we were so lucky to have paid interns from Hunter College, and we loved them so much that all of them work for us now. Rehabilitation Through the Arts and After Incarceration are extremely important organizations for us, and we reached out to them and were introduced to Jose Perez, who plays the uncle character, and is mind-blowingly talented. His life experience is pivotal to the script, and theatre changed his life while incarcerated.

We believe the role of the arts is to heal, and to have Jose with us really validated that. We prioritize labor over products, lived experience over academia, and we shop as small as possible. Most of all, we listen to what everyone in the room needs and wants, and we make sure it makes it into the play. We believe this is why our shows feel so personal, because they are, to each and every person involved. The community and camaraderie that exists backstage impacts the show in a beautiful way because the actors are portraying a family and you really get a sense of how much care and respect, and loyalty they all have for one another in how they relate to each other on stage. Each person working on the show is attached to the material, the content, the culture, and they bring their own reverence to the piece.

How has your relationship to the material evolved since its original production in 2020?

Camilo: The story is very personal and is inspired by my family. There has been a lot of digging, uncovering of family secrets, and working through very sensitive things. Any time we go deep into our family's history we are bound to find some moments of discomfort and tension but also a lot of beauty and a more complex understanding of why we are the way we are. We try to lean into this and Ellpetha helps to facilitate dialogues around these moments, and we invite the cast to center their own experiences, and then eventually find the beauty and the magic in the pain.

What do you hope that audiences take away from the show?

Ellpetha + Camilo: What we've heard from audiences after each show is how small unexpected pieces of QUINCE made them incredibly emotional and recall memories from their childhood or from being parents themselves. We have been blown away by how many people told us they cried during the show and how eager audience members are to share their family stories with us. Many audience members we've spoken to rarely, if ever, attend theatre, but walk up to us with tears in their eyes after the show and tell us how moved they were, how seen they felt, and how much fun they had. These moments of release and reflection are very special and we hope everyone who comes to see the show can experience something like this. QUINCE pushes us to examine our traditions and how we can adapt them and change them to be more inclusive and open to everyone in our community. If we don't adapt, we risk losing our culture. Much of this show deals with how we have no choice but to balance the sorrows of life with joy, so we also hope audiences leave uplifted, having had some food, a shot, a few laughs, and a shared moment on the dance floor.

Do you have anything else you'd like to share?

Ellpetha + Camilo: Ok, so we've talked about representation, we've talked about generational healing, and we've gone into the hard work of making this happen. But we want to be clear, this show is FUN. There's a lot of humor, and music, and food to get you through even the most emotional moments, and most of all, magic! This show is, by design, approachable to many different audiences. We have regular theatergoers, people from the neighborhood who saw our posters up at local businesses, and we have people who tell us they're not really into plays but they loved this and had a great time. We also have multigenerational families, and bilingual families join us. It's really a special thing to create something that can bring so many different people together.

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