(This interview was originally published in 2017 when "¡Fuácata!," made its debut at Zoetic Stage. Now it's back for a return engagement at the Arsht Center through Sunday, Aug. 19.)
I remember in 2012 when I saw Elena Maria Garcia in the role of Inez, the housekeeper, in Michael McKeever's "Moscow" at Zoetic Stage.
Every time she was on stage in that show, I thought that a whole evening of Garcia, her perfect comic timing, would be more than a delight – it would be a lesson in how to perform comedy.
Later, I learned that she had been performing a one-woman show, "Do You Speak Mexican?," about her experience as a first-generation American in Florida, her Cuban roots, and other topics that made the show an autobiographical romp through Garcia's life story.
Now, Garcia has co-authored with Zoetic Stage's Stuart Meltzer, artistic director and a founding member of Zoetic Stage, "¡Fuácata!, or a Latina's Guide To Surviving the Universe."
"Do You Speak Mexican?" was certainly a stepping off point for "¡Fuácata!, but, as Garcia says, the new show is less autobiographical and more universal.
During a recent interview, Garcia told me that the Arsht Center had commissioned Zoetic Stage to create a show about Latinas. "They talked about me doing a one-person show, but something original," says Garcia.
They were aware, of course, she says of "Do You Speak Mexican?" but said, "instead of making it autobiographical, let's have it encompass different Latinas," she recalls.
What she and Meltzer came up with is "¡Fuácata!," where Garcia plays more than 20 characters, weaving together tales of love, marriage, immigration, and identity through eccentric stories and song. It comes at a time when the daily news is focusing on, among other issues, a ban on immigrants coming to the United States.
The creation process was a "back and forth" between her and her co-author. "Stuart would create a character and I'd tweak it; I'd create a character and he'd tweak it, or we'd just create a character together."
Garcia says it was truly an "Oh, Wow" moment that when the characters she and Meltzer had been working on for some time were ready for opening night and were suddenly more topical than ever.
"How ironic that a lot of what the characters go through in the show are melding into what's happening now!," she says.
"We have a Cuban-American politician, which she believes that all the other immigrants should not come in to America, only her. That's the way it's supposed to be, she thinks, that those immigrants are different – there are different rules for them not her."
Garcia says there's another character who came to the United States as part of human smuggling and is now selling water on the corner. "She lives as an illegal immigrant. She is terrified of getting caught and being sent back."
And, another character, a Mexican-American is ashamed of who she is and hides her ethnicity. "She'll says she's Italian, French, anything but Latina."
Garcia says, while the show isn't autobiographical, she's encountered all of the characters in some time or another in her life.
"This is stuff we deal with every day."
The show is also written with the intent that it can be produced outside of Zoetic Stage. It's part of the Zoetic Stage mission to develop new works with the hopes of them becoming part of the American stage repertoire."That really was the whole point. That someone else could take it and run with it. It's written so someone could play these different characters and deliver the same message. If I was to give someone 'Mexican' to perform, there's no way they could (because of its autobiographical nature), but this show, it definitely could."
"Fuácata! (Or a Latina’s Guide to Surviving the Universe)" at Zoetic Stage through Sunday, Aug. 19, in the Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht Center’s Ziff Ballet Opera House, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $50. 80 minutes with no intermission. (305) 949-6722 or www.arshtcenter.org.
