What do you think of when you think of family? For some, the immediate thought of one’s mother and father’s faces come to mind. Plastered in your memories are the minuscule moments of small happiness that you share with the people you love.
For others, family is the community they leaned on when times were rough.
But for us all, family is the multitude of people and places we leave fragments of our hearts with.
In the Hispanic culture, family is something revolved around, never once separating itself from the impact it has on one’s life.
This spring, the UTRGV Theatre Department took on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, “In the Heights,” based in the barrio of Washington Heights, New York City. The work is based on the book by Quiara Alegría Hudes of the same name.
The story centers on the Hispanic community and their personal trials. More so, how they conquer those trials together.
Under the direction of Associate Professor Brian Warren, preparation for the musical was its own big endeavor, with auditions taking place in a span of three days and concluding with 23 cast members.
“Three days. There was a dance audition, vocal music one, and then they got called back if they were right for one of the leads,” Warren said. “It was long, longer than most.”
After the audition process, the cast was quickly thrust into learning the musical material.
“We started early. We started singing before Christmas, and getting ready to dance quite a bit, in which some cases requires a lot of flexible movement and warmup,” he said. “Then, just thinking about home and what family means to them, and how they’re going to project those emotions into the show.”
Family was deeply focused on for the cast, as was reflection on what their culture meant to them.
Theatre performance junior Selina Soto, who plays Abuela, the matriarch of the barrio, could identify with her role in a personal way that reflected perfectly the journey to find the meaning of family and culture.
“She is older, so she lost her mother growing up,” Soto said. “For me, I lost my mother a few years ago. So, I can understand her wanting and talking to her through her songs. That’s something I personally identify with.
“Plus, the fact that we’re all immigrants here, too.”
The power of representation is presented perfectly due to the story being something most of the cast could relate to in their own image. Nowhere to be found are whitewashed versions of the Hispanic culture, but actual portrayals of people from that community.
Theatre performance junior Brianna Ramirez based her ensemble character, Juana, on her own personal experiences with her grandmother and immigrant mother.
“I’m basing my character off of my grandmother who passed away when I was younger,” Ramirez said. “That’s where I got the name Juana. So, that’s what I am using it for. For that, I’m just trying to build a thought, like, ‘How would my abuela be when she was younger? More feistier?’ She was always a feisty woman, very strong, and I appreciated that because I got that.
“Then, I’m basing my character being from Mexico, and she traveled with her family and that’s kind of my mom’s story. She was from Mexico, then she crossed over to America when she was younger.”
Despite being able to resonate with the plot on personal and culturally accurate levels, the cast had to work harder in order to learn Miranda’s lyrics and upbeat choreography.
Miranda is known for innovative musical storytelling by doing it with fast-paced freestyle rap that is challenging to get down precisely.
To prepare for this, theatre performance junior Matthew Garcia, who plays the role of Benny, listened to the music as often as possible.
“When I got cast [in] the role, I was excited and super scared and so, literally the day of, I started listening to the songs over, and over, and over again since like, December,” Garcia said. “I’ve been listening to these songs over and over for months. I’m surprised I’m not tired of them.”
Similar to Garcia, international business sophomore Brianna Vela, who plays Nina, prepared for her singing early on.
“When it comes to the singing aspect, I tried to eat healthy, all of that stuff, [to] do better vocally,” Vela said. “Actingwise, I can relate to this character a lot, so it was a lot easier for me to get into it, whereas other characters were harder.”
Gina Rodriguez, musical director and theatre performance senior, said the play is technical and requires a lot from the cast.
“It’s a lot to make sure they understand that they’re singing this particular note on this measure and this song, then something different in this one,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a lot of muscle memory.”
The biggest challenge she faced directing came from the large ensemble’s number and having to gauge where scenes were happening and when.
To overcome this, Rodriguez said a big part of it was, “Making sure everyone knows their part, and where it fits with everyone else.”
The musical will be accompanied by a live band, who will perform musical scores spanning from salsa and hip-hop to merengue.
If you want to participate in a moment of cultural representation and beautiful storytelling, “In the Heights” will run at 7:30 p.m. from Feb. 28 to March 3 and 2 p.m. March 4 in the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre on the Edinburg campus.
General admission is $15, and $5 for UTRGV students and staff with ID.
As Rodriguez said, “If you want to have fun, come see the show!”
