playbill vip

Firstly, I would like to thank you for supporting the local theatre by being here! You are the reason theatre artists are able to share their talents both on and off the stage and I am grateful you chose Teatro Audaz and Con Mis Manos. I hope Teatro’s mission resonates with you and you leave the show tonight excited to come back! 

Con Mis Manos at its core is about grief, loss, and family.These themes come up in pop culture often and have been since theatre itself began. As I was preparing a concept for this show, I kept thinking about this theme and how common it’s been across multiple art mediums for centuries. These themes are a basic foundation of the human experience, Sadness is just as basic to our humanness as joy and important to express. My goal for this show is simple, catharsis. Just like the  playwright Miseal Martinez said in an interview with the Austin Chronicle in 2006, "The show ends, and you’ll do one of three things,” says Martinez. “Call your parents, eat Mexican food, or call your parents and eat Mexican food with them.”

When thinking about the visual aspects of the play, I knew this was a way to tie in the audacious spirit Teatro Audaz is known for. How can we reinvent this classic story?  The way it was written reminded me of every 90’s family sitcom I was obsessed with growing up on Nick at night. This made it very personal to me and given that it’s set in the early 90’s, the creative team and I really embraced it.  The costumes, the acting style, and the sounds all play into this wholesome happy 90’s home the Gutierrez family share. The set design and lighting design shift the story and bring in an abstract angle. These design elements solidify that the play is merely a collection of  memories and that the family, in reality, is fragmented, broken, then on the slow journey of healing. This family went through the most monumental change and in conjunction with the wholesome happy home they have, it  makes the loss and the joy that much more impactful. 

Thank you again for spending your precious time here in the theatre with us.  I hope you leave the theatre feeling at peace. I hope you find so much of yourself in these characters that you go on their emotional journey and release all of your pent up grief, anger and joy. This is the type of release that only theatre can bring and what makes our art form special. 

Special thanks to my mother Trina, a cancer survivor, and my biggest inspiration