"As you begin to realize that every different type of music, everybody's individual music, has its own rhythm, life, language, and heritage, you realize how life changes, and you learn how to be more open and adaptive to what is around us."
Yo-Yo Ma
If you know me, you know I adore my kid! She's talented, bright, kind and way more mature than other kids her age. And, you'll also know that she carries the same gene I do... Theater!
We both adore performance. Music. Theatre. Singing. Give us a microphone! We'll find the spotlight. It's become our happy place.
It makes me so proud to know she loves it as much as I do. And, prouder to see how much she has grown into her craft. She is way better than I have ever been - and all at the young age of 16.
Gosh, I love my kid.
I have also been diligent at sharing our Mexican heritage with her. Make sure she knows where her grandparents came from. Make sure she is proud of her culture, the music, the food. But most importantly, her brown skin, her dark eyes, her curly hair.
Now image how proud and ecstatic I am for combining the two elements: Heritage and Theatre!
I mentioned that she was in a production of In The Heights with GCPA earlier this year. She played Nina and killed it!
I am privileged to now be in R-S Theatrics production of In The Heights (we open in a week) as Abuela Claudia. The best of all? She's working as an intern with the company and we will be sharing the stage as she has a cameo in the production!
She came up to me during one of the rehearsals, hugged me and said, "I'm so happy we are doing this together. I'm glad we are sharing a stage together in this show."
Yes. I shed a tear when she walked away. My heart was full.
I love sharing this experience with my daughter. I love that she gets to participate with a cast this diverse as we get to see brown and black and white faces come together so effortlessly. As though we all have been family for so long already.
But what's amazing...There are four sets of Latinx mother/daughter pairs in this production. FOUR!
- Me, playing Abuela Claudia, and my lovely Isa, intern and cameo performer.
- Maritza Motto-Gonzalez, our Camila, and her amazingly talented daughter, Natasha Toro, as Vanessa.
- Cecily King, our genius choreographer and her wonderfully vivacious 5-year old daughter, who will also share the stage in a cameo. And,
- Our fearless, creative and talented director, Christina Rios, and her equally talented daughter, Sofia, both working behind the scenes.
Four Latina moms working along side our four Latina daughters.
Four moms sharing our heritage, our talents, our passion, our love with our younger selves.
And, I say "younger selves" because they are - a true manifestation of us at a younger age. Perhaps a better "us" - as in the case with me and my daughter - but each one of these fine young women/girls is a younger version of each of us women. A reflection of who we were perhaps. Of the promise of our future. A promise of our heritage alive in our time.
Each of us understanding how important this time, this musical, this production is for us, our families and our community.
Our daughters.
This musical is about family, home, heritage...the importance of sharing this with our younger selves is not lost on us.
And, at the end of the day, at the end of the show, at the end of the run, how proud we will be to have shared this experience with our children.
Come enjoy this experience with us. Bring your children and watch as generations of strong Latina women share the stage in this story of home.
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In The Heights runs August 18 - September 3 at the .Zack on Locust in the Grand Center Theatre District. Tickets can be purchased here.
Carmen Garcia writes about stuff... life as a single mother, dating, weight loss, performing, and other random experiences. Sometimes it makes sense. Other times, not so much. You decide.
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