By Camila Klas

KCACTF has allowed me and given me the pleasure to interview one of the most inspiring people I have met so far: Carlos Cruz señoras y señores!

Graduated from the MFA program at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and current associate professor of Physical Theatre at the University of North Carolina, Carlos partakes a very important role in KCACTF as Theatre coordinator for this years’ festival devised pieces. Before I even begin to talk about the conversation we had, I think is very necessary to explain what a devised piece really is. The simplest response is that Devised theater is a form of theatre-making where the performance is created based on a collective creative process. However, it can be so much more than that. It can be a solo piece, a movement piece, a script creation. As long as there is a reason for the creation, creation can happen.

How do you target devised pieces when such a key part of them was physical contact and movement?

So, yeah, the work with my company, we are back at the studio. so, We are at a time are considering, we are at a time where we have to figure out what are the performing arts of the future are going to be nonetheless. And that is because even though we might be approaching what we feel like COVID-19 we are going to the other side of this first experience of covid, I do feel like audiences are not gonna all feel like they wanna still be back in the space, and so on. So there are gonna be ways in which will have to still do stuff digitally. And, it begs to question, and I ask this question in class to my students a lot, what is it that we are doing? you know? are we doing a movie? are we doing some tv work? because every has now a chance for TV. There is now a lot of influencers, and you know, you get a lot of theatre people trying to be an influencer but that is not what we do. But, there is some value to this, and I think this is to be further investigated. From my perspective, because of the type of work that I do ,because is primarily physical, we are looking at more site-specific recording more than anything. So if we are doing acrobatics instead of just being in an indoor venue or a theater or something like that and trying to record it there, what is the equivalent of that in real life that it can potentially still translate the danger of vocabulary ingerent in the work that I do. Is like watching in youtube video of people doing Parkour and stuff like that, and you feel like it still moves you. So that is a way which our zoom reality, can potentially in a visual way still move people to the edge of their seat s, which is part of what we do in the discipline i work with. But, who knows. I mean, we are in the middle of this craziness, and my company gets this amazing national grant, I mean is a big grant. So we have the most money we’ve ever had to create a show and at the same time I’m not sure what kind of show we can have.

Because it would have to be on zoom or online?

Well, I actually been trying to buy myself sometime to make sure that we are not forced to create something online that is then become useless for the new reality. I’m trying to create something that will still be in person somehow, even if its on the streets. Because that does better service at the kind of things that I do. […]

With devise you can incorporate a lot of vocabularies, and even though you know… I was an actor in Puerto Rico, I did some movies for TELEMUNDO, and some other things. I was doing commercial things, and I was going to study in Televisa, I got accepted for the acting for the camera school… I can’t remember what it was called. I got accepted, I was excited! Who knows what would have happened! Then I went to the studio and this film actress was there, she was very famous in the ’90s and ’00s. So, I was younger than you, and that was somebody that I looked up to. They stopped their scene, she was being very dramatic and all, and they stopped the scene and put some teardrops in her eyes. And I was like ‘This is fake, I don’t wanna do this, that’s not what I believe the art is’. So I rebelled fully and just went with my other passion which was to be physical because of my gymnastics background.

So one thing led to another and I studied in Italy for a little while, and I found the circus and so on. Circus and theater are where I create my work, but the work that I create is always done from scratch, is devised. There no script in my performances.

Did you gymnastics all your life?

I grew up doing that as a kid, but in Puerto Rico is not as popular as a sport, so I played basketball unfortunately, because I’m 5’11’ so I was never going to be good, I should’ve play futbol! But, anyway, when I went to Italy I could still do backflips and stuff, so that’s why I connected my acting with my acrobatics.

[…]

For KC, you mentioned before that you wanted to bring more attention on this area of devised theater, how do you think we can highlight it more?

This year is an anomaly because everyone is trying to figure out what to do with this digital field, but I think all the regions of KCACTF have to start to share this knowledge on the power of this type of work. What it does for artist to get together, to get a task at hand, and create a piece of work that is based on their talent and expertise, and to talk about things they want to do. I think that is much needed in this country, as we start to re-define the type of performing arts on theater that we want to se in our stages, and that each region has their own uniqueness and it can be powerfully represented. And I don’t think this is highlighted or shared enough.

Devised theater is not a competition and I think that is a problem, theater has always been rooted in competition. […] There is a side of theater that is still competitive like that, but is not that competitive anymore… It was never like that, that is an old theater model that a lot of institutions still follow.

But if this Pandemic has taught us anything is that things are never going to be the same and we should start re-inventing who we are. This has been the phrase of the week for me, just because things have been done one way it doesn’t mean they have to continue being done that way. Like, allow yourself to see things the other ways, allow yourself to fail, to stand up from there and say ‘I guess that doesn’t work maybe I should try in this direction.’.

That is another lesson of devising, is the trail and error, and we don’t fear the error. We don’t necessarily fear falling on our faces. […] Next time I try to do something I have learn from that and build from that.

Do you have any resources that you’d like me to share with people?

Well, for you guys that are in Miami […] The experimental theater that happens in Latin America, companies like Teatro Malayerba in Ecuador, Yuyachnaki en Peru, Teatro la Calendaria en Colombia… They formed this ‘Escuela Internacional de Teatro en Latinoamerica y el Caribe’ and they are… we called them Latin American experimental theater, but that is ‘teatro colectivo’ , and that is ensemble theater, and that is devised pieces.

So for you all to look at the connection that you have to your heritage and that comes from where you are from, it gives you enough of a window into the world that you probably you never imagined that you can easily reconnect with.

For all Americans reading this! I would rely on the Network of Ensemble Theater, not just because I’m a board member there, I’m just trying to help in whichever way. When you are a board member in a foundation…I am just trying to help artist. NET really believes in empowering artist and bringing those voices of individuals that are part of collectives, and hear those stories of people, of communities.

Those are resources. I heard somebody say earlier ‘is the business of who you know’ well, there is some of that but also… how can you be in community? Where is it that you become a part of the conversation, of the ecosystem through out there, so you start leaning and bouncing ideas from each other, and that creates potential work.

And also, to everybody… to stop thinking yourself as an actor, or any of those categories in theater. […] Try to think like ‘I’m an artist’, I have training in theater, in costume design, scenic design whatever. But ultimately am a theater maker, and I’m an artist and whatever is necessary from us to make the play happen, that’s what I’m here to do. […] Whatever we need to be the people that tell the stories when we need to.

 

 

Big shout out to Carlos Cruz and KCACTF for allowing this to happen! If you have made it this far and are still reading…Well, congrats and thank you so much! Keep an eye out for more reviews from the ITJA team.

Camila Klas