Session #2: Composers Menea: 2026 Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval of New Latinx Musicals

Wow. >> Good morning everybody. How's it going? Um I just want to say u when we're talking, make sure you talk in here so the people on the live stream can hear. >> Oh >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um good morning. Thank you for being here. Uh and thank you for everybody who showed up yesterday and and sent the love. I can't wait for all the other shows to come out. Um basically today is is I I want to be able to talk to all these amazing artists and their process. And I think it's just so valuable to understand um at the end of this thing that there is no one way and and everybody is different to get to how you create a song, how you work with a collaborator, do you start with lyrics, you start with music, all these questions that we always have. So I thought well we have amazing amazing composers. So we should pick their brains and say hey in this 1 hour time what what do you do? What do you do 90 minutes? Uh what do you do? three hours. No, just kidding. Um, so I I think we'll start by just kind of going down the line and just introducing ourselves um and pronouns if you're comfortable and uh what show you are here with representing. So Jesse J Sanchez, Swenos, he him, >> Daryl Alejandro Hol uh he and I'm here with Bayano and Afropanameanian Masquerade. >> Um Eliza Vidar here with Daydreamer. Oh, >> I'm Dan Ferman. Sorry. I'm Dan Ferman. I'm here with Eore City. >> Hi, I'm Robbie Well, I'm Robbie Hager. Uh, he him pronouns and I'm here with Little Dwende. >> And I'm Satia Chavez. I use all pronouns. And I am here with Fruition. Um, so I think what we're going to start with is um each per each person up here is going to play something and kind of give a little blurb about their show and kind of what that is and then once we kind of hear the song then we could start talking process and then if there are any questions but we'll keep it as short as possible of course um so everybody has a chance uh and then that's where we'll go. Cool. Who would like to go first >> to talk about >> to talk about their show >> and play and then play your song? >> Okay, >> sure. I'll go first. Robbie, let's go. >> I I think I I have my tap shoes back here somewhere. So, let me No, I'm kidding. I don't know. Um uh so I I'm here with little Dende, but I actually wanted to share something else. I'm uh developing another show that I'm going to share a track today. Uh, I'm really excited about this one because it's about my culture and me as a gay Mexican man. And it's uh the story is about this rumor that it happened in Mexico City in 1901. And uh it's called the dance of the 41. And uh there was a raid, a police raid that happened in 1901 in November in the city in Mexico City. And uh 42 men were uh caught or arrested. And it so happens that half of them were dressed in tuxedos and they're having this ball and the other half were dressed in dresses, wigs, makeup. So it was a queer private ball that was happening. So that um but the interesting thing is that uh it so happens that they only arrested 41 out of the 42 because one of the 42nd person was the son-in-law of the president of Mexico Ignasio de la to this is during the pfir era which is a very intense uh era and uh so in order to keep it in the you know quiet as much as possible they did try not to do too much uh say too much to the public. However, a lot of the news did get out. Did cartoons and perodicos uh which is in English is newspapers. Um and uh so there's all the so this rumor existed that he was the 42nd. Also there were so many of those people that were in the high ranking officials in the government. So it was really very much a moment of like oh okay this is like we this is interesting right? Uh, the other thing that was really that really caught my eye with this story is the fact that Emiliano Sapata was taking care of his horses in his in Mexico City of Ignasios. Uh, and there's rumors of them having a sort of relationship. And that also just to me was like, wow, the idea of masculinity in Mexico comes from Sapat Subigote >> and how how that completely challenges so much of the queerness in Mexico City for us. And then 2016 there was uh the Pride Parade. I think it was 2016 reclaimed the number 41 as ours as our queer anthem because for so long there's no 41st floor in Mexico there. You don't celebrate your 41st birthday. If you want to call somebody uh a derogatory name, you call them the 41. So there was so many things that this number uh uh caused for us. So I kind of then realized I think there's there's a story here. Uh, so yeah, so I've been developing this this musical. There's also a movie that came out like this is about two two years after I started developing this this movie that's amazing on Netflix. You should go see. Uh, it's a beautiful interpretation. It's it there's there's uh it's not fully accurate because he didn't have a lover necessarily that he like that is in this um in this movie. But uh it doesn't get into the Emiliano Sapata part. That's something that I want to add. Uh anyways, so I want to share a little uh song. I I'm not going to sing it. I I have a demo track. And in this song, I'm going to stand now. >> In this song, it's it's a moment that I imagine where uh Ignasio de la uh bumps into this man and uh at at work and then when he goes home with his wife and he's at his study and he's imag he's finding these feelings like he's imagining what it would be like to be with this man to in a place that he can't do that in and just be with him. and it gets a little like in intense and so I'm imagining it's some sort of like big uh movement piece dancing kind of thing but we always remain with him just alone having to deal with this on his own and uh not being able to express himself as a gay man. So I'm going to plug in >> all the volume all the way up on my phone. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. Bring that up. Can we bring the Okay. >> Okay. >> Life theater. Oh, see you make Oh Lord. Spenc Oh, God. All in love. I come to Don't I love it. Yeah. can't see anything like that. Yay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> So, I think the next part just quickly, uh, Robbie, how what was the process to to start that song? Did you start with music? You start with lyrics? Are you working with a collaborator? And what does that look like? >> Uh, great question. Yeah, I I always start with music first. I think a lot of my inspiration comes from film scores. uh because that's the where I get the most feeling and I'm a very visual person. So like most feeling for me has always been a film score and like okay let me find that and I how what lyrics pop up. Sometimes my first lyrics for this were like terrible just like words and I'm like I'll I'll get to it later but I know that the feeling is correct. Uh there are some chord progressions that just pop out. I'm like this feels like it's the right one but let me just go with it and then it is the right one. Uh I orchestrate also from the beginning. I just go and orchestrate everything and then uh and then a melody pops up. Then I then I put a melody on top of that and then I put words after that. >> Yeah. So I kind of get so I can like listen to it and like be immersed in like what is the music? What is it doing for me emotionally? Uh so yeah, for this one it's just currently it's just me. Uh and uh yeah, and I'm currently just trying to break this whole outline of it. >> Yeah. And and just to clarify for those of you what orchestration is, a lot of composers love to write either with piano or at the guitar and it's usually a single instrument and then the orchestration you typically comes later. There are a lot of people who love to orchestrate as well and and put music uh instruments to it. So we have like sound libraries or we have friends that we ask uh to to play things for us and pay them out of pocket and that kind of thing. Um because it it I said this yesterday, but it it it becomes harder and harder to actually understand the thing because of the the euroentric piano and what that means. It's a different thing. It doesn't have the same heartbeat. Like if we heard that on piano, it's just a different story than hearing the strings and all the different kinds of things. So it's just really it's really beautiful. So thank you for sharing that. >> No, thank you. Thank you. >> Great. Who wants to go next? >> Don't be shy, >> Dan. All right, >> let's go Dan. >> Let's go, Dan. I'm gonna start assigning this. >> Right. Talk into the microphone. >> Okay. So, I've had a little trouble with my voice. I was planning to sing today, but for your for your sake, I'm not going to. Um, Eore City. So, I started Hold on a second. >> I don't know. I'm kind of digging the voice. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, Anita and I started writing this quite a while ago. Um, and Eore City is very appropriate for today in a couple ways. One is it's it's uh this is going to be immersive, right? It's uh it's the temperature outside and the sun. It's going to be like you're in city experiencing the show at 1:30. So, we've got umbrellas, right? Okay. So, number two is uh it's a story about um Eore City in 1918 around that time period. Well, it actually Eore City started in the late in the late 1800s when Mr. Eore came over from uh Cuba. I think he was he had cigar factories in Key West, too. and uh he started out a factories in Eore City and uh Ebore City became the cigar capital of the world. Immigrants from from Cuba, from Spain, from Italy, from other places as well came. So, we had a whole melting pot of cultures including the uh the Caribbean cultures and the African-Americans who were in in the area, too. So, that's what the show is about is we uh Anita and I met and we talked about it and we decided there was going to be a strike at at one of the Eore City plants and uh uh there were uh and the the way Anita conceived the show there was a division between because she's got history in the area. there was a division between the more uh the darker Kubanos and and Latinos uh who were living mostly in West Tampa and the lighterkinned Cubans who were work living in Eore City. Uh and they were working at the factory some of them um and then the the opportunity for the bosses was to recruit other people to come in once they went on strike. So there's this community division that happens and it has to do with immigrants and they're trying to use the divisions to divide us and stop us from uniting and fighting back. And if that doesn't sound like today, what does right? So it's a very good musical for today. It's always been a over the last since we've been writing it, it's always been very appropo, but it's even more so today I would say. So, just to quickly introduce this song, one of the leads is Pedro. He's an Afrouban worker at the factory and his wife Arena is a washer woman and she doesn't have uh the conditions are not so good for the washer women and they've discussed whether or not they could someday get jobs at the plants. Well, then the strike happens and Alejandro the foreman offers them jobs at the plant to come in and help break the strike and there's a lot of racism also on the side of some of the Eore City workers towards not all but some towards the the darkerkinned Cubans. So, is this going to happen or not? So, at this particular instance, not to give away any of the the way the show ends, uh, but in this moment, Arena's been very frustrated, Pedro has, when they said they're considering going in, he became very upset and he left the night before and he went out and he comes back and he realizes that Arena is the the most important thing to him. and he sings her this song. >> Not going to play the whole song. >> It's on the second half of the song. So, first >> it's the other one on the sings a verse. Arena sings a verse. We're going to start where is And here we go. Everyone stories of going up north to start a new. Maybe the days of washing clothes and sweeping floors were through. The day that we stepped upon the shore, we thought our dreams had come true. We were young and stupid. >> There's things that I regret. >> Things I wish I could forget. We quarrel and we fight. >> Still I see somehow we got something right. For I see you, the flower I made mine. No diamond can match the way that your eyes can shine. The blackeyed Susan I picked forever more. You were the moment I struggled. The flower I found, the warm I got to hold. Come walk with me. I'll walk with you. Whatever lies in us. Come walk with me. I'll walk with you through whatever lies in >> Pedro. You can say it again. Beautiful. >> That's so beautiful. That's so beautiful. Same same question for you, Dan. So, talk us through how did you when you're when you're approaching the songs. Uh you did book you did music and lyrics. Is that right? So, when you're kind of starting to think about crafting a song for it, does the song for you and your team, did you start with the lyrics, the music? Um, >> the reprise. >> Yes. >> Sorry about that. >> It's okay. Yeah. What what is what does what does your process look like to to write this song? Did you start with music, start with the lyrics? What was your early conversations? How did you decide this is where the song goes? That kind of stuff. >> Our process kind of developed as we went along. Uh, at the beginning, uh, Anita would write scenes. Sometimes she would write in songs and then I would write something different. uh >> in in this case uh I think >> I'm not sure I remember how this one happened. It's it's hard to keep track but a lot of the times I would take a scene and I would say okay there's going to be a song here or we would talk about there being a song here and then we we then I'd write it. Um later on we've also evolved so that like uh there's a new song in the show that Anita wrote the words to totally and put them in the script a week ago and and that's the new song. So I just sent her words in that case. >> Most of the words I wrote >> and as far as um the process of writing uh I tend to write music and lyrics at the same time. >> Wow. So it means you don't get very far add words in a various and then I figure out where the melody will go and then I add some words and then I think oh it needs to say this. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And so so when you say that can you just give us a little visual just a a snapshot into you're sitting at your desk or what does that look like when you say you were right? Are you at the piano and you're like oh this is where the thing goes or what does that look like? I sometimes I write at the piano. Yeah. >> Sometimes I take a walk and wander around and write in my head kind of and then come back and figure it out more on the piano. >> Yeah. >> Um and then sometimes >> once I get the song going then I then I sit at the piano and write words. >> Gotcha. Cool. Well, thank you for sharing. Beautiful. Beautiful. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next. >> I'll go next. Hi everyone. Good morning. I'm Viral. I'm the writer of Kof Leche. Uh, I'm was Eliza and I were talking last night and crashing out about what to present this morning. Um, because I had something else in mind, but this is for composers. And so I was like, maybe I will share what a demo looks like in its rawest form. Um, cafe leche is arranged and orchestrated by Philipe Segoa uh who is my main collaborator both as when I do just lyrics and book. He's my composer and then when I'm the composer he he and I share you know a musical vision. I always uh I'm a big proponent of understanding musical theater as a pop form like popular music because that's how it was born and that means that a lot of the composers acted like pop musicians and then worked with a range of orchestrators like music like producers you know who produce a record you know Taylor Swift Jack Antonoff uh the Beatles George Martin you know what I mean like that kind of relationship where the music is actually composed by one team but then the vision becomes something that you share with another musical mind. >> Um, but for this I really wanted to showcase kind of my process as a composer. And so the song that I'm going to be sharing today is called Unau uh a good mother. And uh there are no Chilean characters in musical theater. This is my big reason why I'm writing it. Um because I'm Chilean. So Chile sachi. And uh I think a lot of uh of what that means though as a composer is that I get the gift to and the real privilege of adding musical traditions that aren't part of the cannon into it. >> And so when I was thinking about how I wanted to write the mother character um in this part of the show uh spoiler spoiler spoiler for the show, produce my show if you want to see the whole thing. Um, uh, at this point, Alejandra, who is, uh, the lead of my musical, has decided that she doesn't want to hide her true self anymore, and she would rather be kicked out of her house, um, than pretend not to be in love with who she is anymore. Uh, shout out, the gay agenda. So, um, but I was very strongly a proponent that that that means that I want to show a way for parents and children to have a conversation. And how do I do that? By not villainizing parents who um are trying to do the right thing in their eyes, right? It's not the right thing, but it's the right thing in their eyes. And so when I sat down to write the song, I thought, okay, how can I showcase a very particular aspect of Chileanad and that this character has to be Chilean for this reason, right? It's not going to sound like any other Latino character. This is the thing that I'm adding. And so, uh, Vita Par is a huge inspiration for me. She wrote Graciasa. Yeah, thank you. Thank uh, so I wrote it in this style of Vleta Par, this very nostalgic classical Novaagion from the 70s. And even though the musical is set in the future, we Chilean people still carry that folkloric tradition with us. Um, and so when I sat down to compose this, I actually wrote it on the guitar to give that viol. So I'm going to plug in now. Eliza, say something cool. Let's go carnival. That was so cool. >> Take take the mic away. No, just kidding. Oh yeah. So, are we ready? >> Yeah. >> Ready? Let's go. >> Gives up her entire life. Stops being a woman, a lover, a wife. So she can out work, out build, out smile. heart outrun every longing in her own heart. Is that not what I've done? loves her na as best she can. keeps her on a perfect lifelong plan so she can outgrow, outlive, outlast, out run her family's sinful past. Is that not what I've done? And I die. Did I make the wrong call? Did I ruin it all? Did I force her to hide from me? Cuz I wouldn't see past my dreams my way. Are these the last words we'll ever say? The sting of her cheek on my palm. When did I turn into my mind die? Is that not what I am? Is that not what I've done? Am I even more if my Alejandra is gone? That's amazing. >> Oh my god. >> It's beautiful. Very beautiful. >> Totally. >> The train adds to the vibe, you know. >> Yes, it does. Yes, it does. It was 3:00 a.m. The demo was due. Um, >> okay. So, the the ne the same similar question, what what is the process? Also, I I also am curious about um you know, we this is something we haven't really touched on, but the form of the song, right? Like what how does that inform the storytelling? Are you choosing an A section or B se you know what what is all that? So, talk us through. So I am a playwright who magical realism approach is musical theater and that's how I view the way that I write when I'm a solo writer. So as book music and lyrics I'm writing the play first. Um and then I'm mining myself for the lyric. Um when I compose I feel like the music can take me anywhere. And so I have to build infrastructure to make sure that the music is serving the function of subtext. Um because that is the the function of music in my approach. um right so like she can't say what she actually feels so the music has to do that labor and the way that I do that is by making sure that my infrastructure and playwriting is there and so when I approached the song I was like okay the vleta par form is typical ABA um but I want to do an extension because um there are words she can't say and that's where the la is born right she can't she can't speak and Rosa always has something to say right and this is at the part of the show this her final song um before she decides that she's actually going to go back to Chile and deal with her mother and and and also learn to break the cycle, right? And I and I think that that's how kind of how I approached it. I always do lyric first, but then I'm a mean composer and I I'm like, damn, my god, why did you write me the lyric? Um now I have to set this. Um, and so then I'm doing rewrites on the fly because then the music is guiding me because I think like lyricists tend to rhyme, but what people don't realize as composers is that composers rhyme as well. And sometimes those phrases have to match. And and I think that when you're composing, sometimes you're like, "Oh, this thing is going to not end on the ba, it's going to be ba." And so then that means you have to change the word to match what that melodic line is. That's right. >> And um, so yeah. Yeah, I definitely consider myself to be like in the prop tradition. So, the most important thing to me is melody. >> Um, and uh, making sure that even something like this, right, is like that la will hopefully haunt you. You know what I mean? Like um, I really that is my main focus as a composer, right? I want to write the bombass melody as possible. >> Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And and you know like one of the one of the things that I always find that's interesting about this is you know somebody who writes book music and lyrics they're already a little bit easier to have that one singular voice right cuz you you hear musicals sometimes you're like oh you can tell who wrote the book who wrote the lyrics who wrote the music and then you get to that next level where it's all cohesive. And so I think that's interesting and I'm curious to hear from other people who who have other collaborators like how do we find that voice so it's cohesive so it doesn't sound like three people writing or two people writing it sounds like one story. Um and so I yeah this is this is beautiful. So good work. >> Thank you so much. >> Um great amazing. Yeah. >> Okay. Uh because Eliza's using my phone. >> We'll go Eliza. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Set you up. >> Oh thank you. Um, so Daydreamer is this epic fantasy musical that I wrote with Mario Vega. Um, about these two sisters who go on a journey into a scary world. Um, we wanted to create this fantastical world of like mythical beings that are like descend from the stars. So, it was our attempt at writing a myth to explain the world and then how we move in it. And so one day the sun is taken from the sky and these two sisters who have like harnessed the power of fire through generations, it's all very anime. Um, thank you. No. Yeah. Set out on this journey to try to find it back. Um, and so, uh, the song that I'm going to be sharing today, it's these sisters find themselves in this mythical forest of mirrors where they, um, something we explore in the show a lot is this idea of who you are and like how can you forge your image of yourself? Um, the thing that because the sun's gone, there is never a morning. And so, what we love about the sun is that a day brings new opportunities to show who you can become. And so the song is called Change My Reflection. And it's this idea of I want to be someone. I want to do this or that. But it's like how can you get there? How can you honor everyone that came before you and this ancestral uh history that like come from cosmic and mythic circumstance? Um yeah. Oh, you have a >> in the stars. They'll watch you. They'll guide you. And if the night's too dark to see the stars and you can find them right inside you. When I look inside of me, I can't feel their protection. I see weak and scared. When I see my reflection, my ancestors carried and passed out flame. I carry their fire. I carame. Do they hang in the stars hanging their heads in shame? Cuz they were so strong and I'm far from the same. Can I change my dream? Be the waror I was born to be. Can I change myself to save everyone? Can I change the moon and back into the sun? Can I change my reflection? >> And then we go through like three key changes. like Beyonce. >> I love it. I love it. I said three key three key changes like Beyonce, you know, >> keep change. Yeah. Um great. That's amazing. Um same same question. Similar question. Talk to us about your process. How do you and Mario work together to really identify where a song goes? You know, did are you music and lyrics or you know, like what what do we start with? Um, so typically Mari and I, we map out all of the songs for whatever draft of the show we are doing and those become kind of our tent poles for like those are our guide polls throughout the whole process. And then we really like break down what each moment is and then sometimes I'll come up with melodies first and send voice memos to Mario and then vice versa. Sometimes he'll send me just like Google docs of lyrics and that's kind of how we that's just how we work. Uh, I'm actually gonna go piano. >> Yeah. >> Hell yeah. >> Let's go piano. >> Yeah. >> So, specifically for this song, um, this song we did lyrics first, I think, cuz you were in grad school and I was freelancing. And so, um, he sent me this long list of lyrics. I was like, "Okay, what is this moment?" It's like mystical mirrors. And so, I like trying to find a color palette that's like that's mystical. And then this kind of to give like the feel of it of just like wandering through like a mystical forest and then kind of in like the musical theater tradition whenever there's a shift it's finding like the doubt of everything and these like progressions Mario and I I mean my comics cousins were both Catholic and so there's like I I grew up learning progressions like this that's just like really present in it too and so That's And so it's just like ways to like score every beat in the moment of the song to like track each of these changes emotionally where the character is going. and then um going back down to this moment of doubt and then you think it's going to go somewhere else, but it's just like this idea of still being stuck and wanting to change my there's something about that rising quarter progression that to me it just like really sported just like the aspirational part of what you want to be when like the morning comes and that you just can't reach like this heroic like like because you want to go like like you want to hear that arrival but there's something about just like this that it's like still in the vein of night time that I think Mario's lyrics are so poetic and so visceral that it's just like I I find that it's so fun working with him because it just like there's such clear like musical textures to get from the lyrics and then our biggest fights are always like I need another syllable or like I or like we need to change this line because it now does not fit in the framework we've set. And so that's like it's a constant back and forth of can this fit here or what is like going to support this the strongest. And so that's kind of our process. >> That's great. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I I think it's so it's so fascinating, right? Because um music is the is the the emotional heartbeat of the whole thing, right? And so like it's it's its own character when we're writing musicals. It's it's really like what this character is set in this thing and what are we trying to tell and how do how for me I always love to just think about like how what would they be listening to on the radio? Like what is the papa going to be like listening to and and how can he truly uh connect and and these heightened moments, right? Because that's what music is in a musical is you can't do anything but sing about the moment. Um so all the you guys are all fantastic. Oh my gosh. Uh, next we got two more. >> Up to you. I'll do >> It's your choice. >> All right. All right. All right. >> All right. >> Let's go. >> Uh, >> Satia, >> I will show and tell. I'll do this. I'll do this. >> Great. Yeah. >> And I will sit here. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, while Satia is setting up, I also just want to say it's just so it's so awesome to have so many of you here because writing music and talking about it, it it's different. You have to use your ears. It's the one of the only things, right? You you go to a costume presentation or a set and you can see things, but this you have to like close your eyes and listen and and that is I think that's what's beautiful about something like this. So, thank you for being here. >> Uh mic check 1212. Um so, I am the uh composer lyricist of Fruition. >> Thank you. Um, but and while Fruition is indeed a looping musical, um, or play that comes out as a musical, uh, I decided to share something a little bit different that is also a looping musical. You're so funny. My best friend Lily is filming me right now. Put that away, you silly goose. Um, so I think what is uh exciting to me about composition and musicals and storytelling and integrating that with looping is the dramaturical work and um the dramaturical purpose of looping in a show. I think um what you can't see and maybe I can show you a little bit. Um let's see if that's an easy turnaround. This fun device. Yeah, all the buttons light up in a way that really fuels dopamine levels. Um, and like for example, for example, and then like you know stop those bad boys but anyways. Yeah. Yeah. Um okay and that's my presentation. Thank you. No, no. Uh, so I think something that is, um, really exciting about the concept of looping in musicals is that it's both like very entertaining to watch and it also brings process to the performance. Um, so I feel like what I'm about to do is showcase the process in performance. Uh, the piece I'm want to share with you is from a brand new thing that I've just started writing maybe a month ago called Adelitas. Um, hell yeah. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you've heard of them. Um, and it is uh it is a story about I'm pitching it as u uh Mulan meets Hamilton in Mexican Spanish >> and uh it is a story about the women who fought in the Mexican Revolution that we know as the Adelitas. So the thing about the Mexican Revolution is that there were actually thousands of Mulans um and it's and I will tell you a little bit about it now but please kiki with me about it later because I am obsessed with this topic. Um, so the drama turds out there like, "Let's dig. Let's dig." Um, yeah. Yeah. Come and talk. Come and talk to me. Um, and so, uh, so, so this what I've learned. I I did a a workshop recently with New York Theater Workshop and my co-creator, um, Florencia Quanka. Um, yeah. Hell yeah. Right. Work. Yes. Big fans. I'll let her know that you applauded. Um, >> yeah. Oh, yeah. Hopefully, she's watching. Where's the camera? Hey. Hi, mom. Um, so we did a New York theater workshop recently in which we spent uh the majority of the week just digging into the history of the Mexican Revolution. And so my process is very different depending on the project I'm working on. And for this one, it started in research and it started in the history of the Mexican Revolution. Um, and it started with because uh I think the the north star for us on this play is exploring queerness in the Mexican Revolution and queerness within the adelitas. Um, we can dig in later about like all of the myriad ways in which uh women joined the Mexican Revolution. uh not it wasn't always altruistic and at at a at a for a lot of it it it was women trying to preserve themselves and their safety um because your options were really you know you you marry a man and you feed and take care of him during the Mexican Revolution or you get kidnapped and assaulted and forced into servitude during the Mexican Revolution. Um, and then we can get into the history of um, Emiliano Sapata and uh, Panchovia and thank you Roi because I feel like you set me up for the Portfillio era. Um, and uh, and and anyway, so these these guys were like some of them were altruistic, some of them were egoomaniacs. Um, and some of them were uh, violent against women and uh, and so this is an exploration of that. It's an exploration of queerness. um the genderbending nature of uh a lot of the women who fought uh both to preserve again their safety, their anatomy. Um some women even uh dressed as men um and were so convincing as men that all of the men in the revolution respected them as men and they continued to be men for the rest of their lives. Um, and so this opens up this new can of worms about what is gender expression in that time period. They don't under do we understand gender the way that we understand it now. It's different, right? Did transness exist? Um, that's something that this play chooses to explore. Um, but what this piece that I want to share with you, uh, it's a it's I'm calling it de la revol. Um, but it is uh I think I think this play follows a band of women who who fight together and they all have different skills and one's like an explosive expert and the other is a medic or a kunandera and another is um uh well you know like goridos are intended to be music that educates us about what happened over there and what happened over here and now I'm going to bring this information to you and it was a way to exchange information and so one of our characters is the like the news anchor. Uh, and this play starts with a history lesson in which she catches you up on what happened on last week's episode of Glee. So, uh, so here's a little bit about my process. I love starting with a groove and a hook and finding the thing that wants to be, um, the part that we all walk away singing, the earworm, the loop, the ear loop. Uh so in this case um can I actually can I record all of us first? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. Um so I think uh a battlecry of this show is the gerito. Um and I think I feel like I'm in really good company. Uh so on the count of three I want a GOOD one two three and Okay, cool. I didn't count us in, right? I'm gonna go one, two, three, and and then we're gonna go. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not I'm not the music director. My music director's in the audience. Shout out Alan. Okay. So, that's going to be one, two, three, and Okay. Okay. One, two, three, and Excellent. Excellent. Let me see if that's Let me see if that's workable. I'm It stays. It stays. It stays. It stays. Okay. Okay. Amazing. Amazing. All right. So, we're going to start with a groove here. Oh Doing that again. >> Process. I'm going to do it one more time just because I feel like we can groove it better. So we start with amigos friends, Romans, countrymen. Okay, now you hear how there's like a little bit of a glitch. Yeah, that's not good for us. So, we're going to rebuild. We're going to rebuild. And the thing about life looping is if you make a mistake, it lives in the loop forever. And if you catch it early enough, you can maybe write the wrong. So, hey, ready? And hey. Hey. There she is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, listen to this. Clean right on the down beat. That shit's clean as Totally. Totally. Totally. Totally. Then we had a little Oh, God has been. So this chick sat on the throne too long. to modernize a nation backed by foreign and you guessed it US corporations. Portion took railways from zero to 100. More like 15,000. Economy was open. You think that'd be good money for the Mexicans. But the rich they rich poor got poor. Over 30 years of order American mining companies, British oil on the ground while campos felt the fences closing it all around. They took the fields in Moros and Sonor took the flames. Yaki supported to the south forced to work in chains. 30 years of peace, they said. But peace for home. Exactly. When one man's feast depends upon another family's tragedy. People getting sick of it. It's giving eat the rich. It's giving land back. It's giving at 80. You should be retired. We want our country back. You're fired. S for to Chihuahua. From the deserts to the farms, men and women gathered, carried rifles in their arms. Panchchovia and Sapata Oreonaransa put their differences aside to join the fight. determined to reclaim their human rights. And while city after city fell, but the was forced to say farewell >> the dictator boarded ship. The people tasted victory, but ending one man's reign is not the same as being free. My little my little My m a new president stood for nothing and said pave the way stood for nothing. Call it stood for nothing. So everybody said adios and by adios I mean little assassination last not this year that you've been waiting for. But the worst of us, the ones who choose to kill for power, make deals with US ambassadors, knowing their people will be devoured, left a trail of carnage, call him El Chakal, with a devil's greed to get rich. Victoria Wera Werta sees the government claimed the nation in his name. But every spark he tried to burst into a larger flame. The under and overeducated all came together. Cuz what unites the people like an evil superpower? Soaransa to saparta from the south to the north. Men did the thing that they do best and insisted on war. But enough about all the little men who paved the way. This plays about the women who to this day remain unnamed. The backbone of any revolution big or small are all the sadas who helped to tell it all. Amigas friends, Romans, country women. in your day. You've been waiting for. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. >> If if you want to know about process, that was the process right there. >> Incredible. Um um I guess I just quickly because I want to make sure we get to Darl. Um uh we know about the process. We just saw a lot of it. But I guess the question is I guess the question >> Yes. The qu but the question is with this as the as a newer kind of introduction into the theater world, what are the resources and what are the things the time, right? It's probably looks different than like let's show up and just do a 29 hour and do the thing. You need something different. Is that right? Maybe. I'm assuming what does that look like with a collaborator? >> Yeah, I mean I think uh in in developing a musical that incorporates looping, it either requires like uh having access to people who understand this technology and who understand um something that Eliza and I Eliza and I have in common. Uh we're both sound designers and so there's a little bit of um an engineering aspect to that that becomes really helpful. So I think uh depending on you know the scope of what the presentation wants to be I think there is nothing more useful than having a sound designer present for a process like this because the thing about live looping musicals is tech starts the first day you introduce the technology and that is day one of rehearsal when you're looping um so having access to I'm I'm going to >> 30 second soap box about a dream of mine that I have that I've learned over the process of I've been looping in I've been looping in theater for about 10 years now. Um, I think there are a lot of people that have the capacity to do this. It's just another instrument. And if you already play instruments, composers and whatnot, then you already have the skills that you need that would make you super qualified to do this. It's actually a much simpler crossover than we think. And so I think starting a process early with people who understand or are willing to learn and eager to learn this technology early on in the development process, then you build that army and that foundation and that comfort because half of the the theatrics and half of the challenge and half of the um the the skill that is to loop is to learn how to fail in front of people and to be comfortable failing. I mean, we witnessed it. >> Yeah. And things happen, right? And sometimes it's your fault and sometimes it's technology and sometimes it's Bluetooth signal and sometimes it's all there's all kinds of things. So I think like >> having a community of people that are eager to get on the ground floor and then you build that vocabulary. So then the next 29 hour workshop you've already got three under your belt with this core group. >> Um and I think each play has the capacity to build a new foundational >> u group of Avengers. You know what I'm saying? >> Totally. Um, >> yeah, I think that I think that's great because, you know, there's a lot of decision makers here on Zoom and a lot of uh producers and different kinds of people and every time as somebody who works at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, we kind of put things in the same box and we have to remember that each project is different, requires different resources and is not the same, right? So, I think that is great to really be like, hey, you know, this is a musical, but I don't need just a piano player. I need a sound person in there because that is the kind of art that we're trying to create and we want to create and feel supportive. So, I just want to say, you know, throw this out there. Not everything is the same, right? So, when you go do your budgets, think of talk to people, right? And and do the thing. So, >> beautiful. Thank you. >> Thanks, team. >> Great. So, our uh final composer is uh somebody who I'm super excited about. Um, and I just want to say too that uh after this is done, I I don't think we're going to get to a Q&A. Um, please find everybody. Uh, we we might, but please find everybody and talk to them and continue to get to know their work. I am a huge fan of all these people up here. And I I aspire to be like them so much. They're so amazing. Um, so thank you for coming out and supporting. Daryl, in. in, Jesse. You tell me. Um, well, first of all, I just want to say >> Candela, >> Candela. >> I just feel so proud of all of the Candela fellows in this room. Um, I'm so inspired by each and every one of you. I see you. I see you. So, um, I run the Candela Fellowship, which is a week-long, um, intensive in July for musical theater. And, um, Yeah. And playwriting and other things. Uh, so I just wanted to shout out to everybody, but I'm not here to talk about that. >> I'm here to It's my comfort zone, but it's great. >> I'm here to talk about Bayano, which is my musical. And um, I will say that for me, it's a dream come true to be able to develop this show. Bayano is a historical figure. He is I'd like to say that he is the Panameanian Harriet Tubman. So he was a warrior king in the 16th century that was captured by the Spanish and in taken to Panama and led a mutiny on the ship. So by the time they arrived they were already freed. So I like to say Bayona was actually never enslaved. >> And then he built an army in Panama um that and then fought the Spanish for 20 years. And he built that army by attacking more slave ships which meant that he was able to free hundreds of people at a time. And by the time he died, he had freed over a thousand people. >> Yes. So when in 2018, I had a conversation with Jonathan McCory, the artistic director of National Black Theater, and he was inviting me to submit an application for a play commission to become a playwright and residence there. And I remember um saying to him, you know, the first figure from black history that any Panameanian learns about is Bayano. And uh I would love to develop this, but it's going to be epic and it's going to be a long process. And are you with me? And he's like, well, the program's only a year, but you know. Anyway, um but thanks to his support, thanks to the support of a lot of other folks, I was able to um actually get some research grants and I traveled to Panama. I also travel to Spain where there are all of the archives from the Spanish colonial period. And because he um was such an important figure, the work that he did alongside other simarones in Panama actually ended the Spanish using Panama as a port during the slave trade because he caused what is considered to be about $20 million in damage. >> Yeah. >> To their trade. So they black Panameanians, we were just too rebellious, you know. they had to cut us out of the picture. So, um I'm really grateful and for me it's been an ancestral journey because um the majority of my family really identifies an aspherant which is West Indian and a lot of West Indians came from the Caribbean to build the Panama Canal in the early 20th century and West Indian culture in Panama really dominates a lot of the um black culture in Panama. However, I learned through the making of this that I'm actually related to the paleenke that Biano built. >> So, and you know how parents are sometimes you know they're lucky. >> Yeah. Cuz cuz I was like I was like, "Oh, I'm obsessed with this history and I don't know why, you know." Um, and my dad was like, "Well, it's your people." And I was like, "What are you talking about?" And I had been working on the play for several years by that point. And then he told me that my grandmother's father is actually from that. So, my great-grandfather is actually from that Palinka community. Um, but I was like, "Why didn't you tell me?" And he was like, "Everybody knows that." So for me it's been a opportunity to reconnect with ancestors as well um and to share the story with with the with the community. So >> beautiful. >> Yeah. >> Amazing. Amazing. So I'm going to play a song for you that is from earlier in the play and in the musical. And I'll say that this actually started as a play, but it was a play with music. And um this is one of the first songs that I ended up writing for the play, which eventually became a musical. And uh I call this the middle passage song. It takes place right when Bayiano is captured. So um it's when they begin the middle passage before he leads the mutiny on the ship. So Daryl's amazing. Um, if you have money and funds, support his work. Also support his mission with Candela. Um, which has created such a wonderful area for many of us writers who did not have community. Um, the first time I ever saw Latino people who wrote musical theater that wasn't just me, um, was in Candela last year and it was a life-changing thing and I would not be here if it was not for Daryl. And there are many of us here because of the work that him and Dafany do. So give him money. Dur. foreign the empire for Beautiful. Wow. So, wow. Sorry, I'm so blown away by it. It's just so beautiful. Um sim same question talk process how did you get there music lyrics all >> that song is in the style of a panameanian tambborito >> and uh but it's definitely my version because tambburitos are um they're either mid-tempo or they're fast and uh you'll hear a lot of fast songs from the show later in the finalist slam which I hope folks check out. Um, but I wanted a song that really um communicated some of the sorrow and this the loss that the characters were experiencing. So, I had to um slow down the tempo and um I really wanted to get the hypnotic um vibe of the tambborito of the call-in response because there's something hypnotic about it. And the more I studied Panameanian Congo to Tambburito which is similar actually to what's also in Colombia because before these countries had borders right they had just the communities and the paleenes in Colombia are like the paleenes in Panama and there actually used to be a lot of exchange between them. So they exchange culture as well and so they have dumbito music as well. And um the more I connected with this community um some of whom are actually uh in pit orchestras on Broadway >> cuz panameanians are everywhere even though you don't know. Um yeah, so they uh really helped me understand that um in order to bring the spirit to life, you have to create room for improvisation >> and you also have to create room for reflection and memory because the device of having the Cantales sing a line and then having the chorus either repeat the same line or something similar It's hypnotic, yes, but it's also a way of kind of memorializing. It's also a way of building archive, right? It's a way of um building community. It's a way of collaborating and uh to make sure that that was always present and alive on the track. >> And then I'm classically trained as a saxoponist. So I try to stick saxophone and everything. That's not saxophone on this song. But it did also create an opportunity for me to start featuring other woodwinds, other horns, etc. Um, and then I um for the in the earlier demos, I had this early early scratch demo that was sung by Nicole Venessa Ortiz, uh, Daya Esperansa, and Katherine George. >> Yes. um and with drums provided by Jesse J. Sanchez. And with each with each iteration, with each collaboration, I learned more about the song, but more about um the characters, their journey, and my connection to it. And so, you know, I have the the fortune of being connected to a lot of professionals in the in the music industry, particularly in like hip-hop and reatong. >> And uh I've had this whole journey where I've been talking to them about uh programming and producing my work. Um that still allows there to be um that space for improvisation because that is where so much of the spirituality lives. And uh Bayano is on a spiritual journey because we um the story starts actually with him in the bottom of the Atlantic when Yamaya comes to him to talk to him about coming back to continue to fight, you know, against slavery in both Panama and actually in West Africa as well. Yeah. So, uh it's a spiritual journey and so um you'll hear the dance. the pops are coming later tonight, you know, but the musical actually starts with a with a prayer to Allegua. >> Oh, >> yes. And then um this song is soon after that. So, we sort of really ease into the spiritual world of the Black Atlantic in particular. >> Beautiful. Keep going. 10 minutes. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I think what we're going to do is we're going to just quickly do a a quick Q&A. Uh 10 minutes and Lisa would like to ask the first question. >> Yeah. >> And we're going to need to try to get the mics out to you guys some way or you'll just need to come up if you have a question. Okay. Because we're on the live stream. >> Oh, there's a mic. Thank you, Sparrow. >> I just wanted to be on stage. >> Um is this on? >> It should be. >> Hello. Hello. I'll turn on this one. um just I just you know there's been so many traditions on stage you know Chilean Panamanian many many different um uh kind of roots and I think one of the things that's important for folks to understand is that when you know in outside of this room there's a lot of people that think Latin music is like one thing >> you know what I mean and I think one of the beautiful things about this carnival is featuring the full diversity of what Latinad is and I just wanted to ask a question about like what are What are your ancestors? Who are your influences? Who are your musical influences? Um, who are the people that you kind of think of when you're imagining your music? >> Yeah. >> Whoever would like to go ahead and answer >> maybe just down the line quickly. Uh, can you use your mic? >> Totally. >> Thank you. >> I just got scared by that. >> Um, uh, I I I grew up uh my I grew up in world music. I grew up with Mottown. When I grew up, uh, Herardo Chavez, uh, loved a good Bamo presents album. Shout out. Um, and so I think my influences, um, range from bands like Mariachi Vargas to, uh, Nina Simone to obviously the Jackson Five. um to like present day Amber Mark uh and uh like uh people that do like um neo soul and folk influence um really yeah it's a it's a gambit but that's me >> I think I'll just there's so many that I get influence from but I'll name four that are so different from each other that I think I try to combine uh Gabrielle of course >> anything that he wrote is just magical um Gustava Santolaya who I don't know if you know but he's an amazing Argentinian guitarist who did like the Brook Brokeback Mountain score and so many beautiful scorers just like yeah he's amazing um then Rufus Waynewright is one of my top top songwriters and Selen Dion >> well let's see I started as a excuse me I started as a when I was a kid as a piano player So they teach you classical and I started with that but um really I've become a jazz pianist and uh so all the jazz people um plus um when I was in college sorry when I was in college I really it was not until then so I came across Musa Latina >> and the the album that blew my mind was uh Salio Cruz and Johnny Pacheo >> and that that started me off on the journey. >> Um, that's a really hard question, but I will just narrow it down and say like the singer songwriter tradition is one that is solved differently by each country. And so I'm just going to name my favorite singer songwriters at the top of my head right now includ um Taylor Swift. I know. I know. My me one gringita that makes it onto my podium. Um, you know, and then like Stephen Sonheim, right? Like the rigor of the of of pushing theater forward. And I think that like that's my tradition. >> Oh my gosh. Um, very much the same thing, musical theater tradition. I I actually started as a jazz pianist first before I learned how to play classical music. So that is also very present. Love world folk music. Like minored in ethnomusicology in undergrad. Like I'm all about world folk music. It's so so good. It's so real. Um also I mean video game music like Yokoshi Amura, Legend of Zelda, um whatever whatever Latin music Mario's playing in my car. Uh and those are kind of like my biggest musical influences. >> Yeah. For this project, I would say that um Selia Cruz is huge for me, enormous. and I did a deep dive into uh her spiritual songs which just happened to be released on Spotify. They were kind of uncovered um while I was writing bayano. Uh so that was great. And then um Ismael Ria and um uh Joe Aoyo that song Rebellion um I would listen to it almost every single day when I was writing the music for the show uh as well. And um there's this uh African singer named um I think she's Afrouban. Dome Rosen. >> She's great. Yeah. Um and um uh Yama Watt is also fantastic if you're looking for like Afro >> Yeah. >> Cuban stuff. >> What about yours, Jesse? >> Oh, um uh anything Chico, of course. Uh, no. But I I I my credit my grandma actually growing up. She she always would be like, "Mho, you got to listen to Harry Kik Jr. Miho, you got to listen to Salia Cruz. Miho, you got to listen to Shopan. Miho, you got to do all these things." And she had stacks and stacks and stacks of records. And I remember just sitting there as a kid being like, "Oh my god, the Chicago Christmas album is amazing. Oh my god, you know, it was like the most eclectic thing. Oh my god, why do we have this opera thing? Oh, that's weird." But I love it. Um, so I listen to really a lot of things and also I listen to a lot of my peers here. Um, and their music because I'm always looking for like, oh, what is the what is their inspirations? Um, but yeah, just a just a whole mixtape of everything, which you do hear in my musical. It's just a mixtape of sounds because that's that's what I grew up. And then shout out Tower Power. That's it. >> Can I can I just say one thing? I'm I'm gonna get angry texts from Panamines if I don't say Reuben Blades of course as an influence. Blades, not Blades, actually. Blades. Yes, it's Blades. Yeah. >> Uh, any questions? Let's go start. >> Oh, there we go. >> Hi. Um, as we've been kind of talking about the way that we get feedback about musical theater, how it's different for like us and community and what we've been shown. Um, where do you find the balance of learning the rules to break them and forging your own path? >> One person answer it. We'll be here all day. >> Well, whoever wants whoever wants to. Yeah. Anybody wants to start? >> Um, I I think that vision revision is a great model, right? So, um, there we we all stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. No one creates in a vacuum, right? There's nothing new under the sun. But how can you take that vision that you that you're inheriting by sitting at that instrument by sitting with paper and pen and then how can you revise it to make it your own right every time that you make it your own you are pushing it forward because you can never actually replicate what came before you so I just take uh vision revision to be the north star. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And and I also add too that you know I think you have to you have to have those trusted people in your ear right you can't just hear everybody and all the things you have to really because you get to a certain point with your work where everybody starts having an opinion right and I always think about is it is it serving the story and is it a want or a need right is this something that somebody wants or is this something that is needed for the clarity of the story and so I always think about that whenever I get notes or whenever I feedback. It's like, okay, are they trying to tell me how to write a musical or like what they want to do is go write your own musical or is it really it's not not clear? So, just thinking about those kinds of things, too. Yeah. >> Hi. >> Um I is this one? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, Chile, I forgot your name. >> Oh, like Oh my god. So I'm just wondering about I want to shout out what I think I'm not a musician >> per se. The 68 time signature that is so famous for the konosur of South America literally and that is such a signature >> rhythm for and that kind of singer songwriter. I'm just wondering now in general are there time signatures and I know that goes with genre but there was someone else in a 68 time signature that you know is not doing the same thing but are there time signatures that you find you use to create a certain mood or is it more the form of that particular genre for that particular song? I think because I consider myself to be a playwright lyricist first. I am a type of lyricist that can write in the rhythm of my song. So when I sat down to write the lyrics, I knew that I wanted to do ya par and so I wrote the lyrics in 68. So if you read my scansion of my lyric, you could write a 68 song because it's the only way that I wrote the lyrical scans. You couldn't set it in 44 and get the feel for the song. You'd need to extend the phrase. Um when I there was a song in cafe leche that did not make the cut. It's been in development for five years or rather I've been writing it for five years and I wanted to do a qua which is a very native right like I dance qua professionally as a kid so it's very native in my body so I was able to write a qua for it but I found that the rhythm of the qua which is also in this 68 78 it can really move it has like a 68 and then like a 78 bar um actually distorts the pace at which the rhythm of the story needed to go it created that one extra beat which slowed down the rate at which the information needed to go and so I had to decide what is more important, right? Like the story or adding qua to the musical theater cannon. And I decided at that point, okay, I'm just going to write a different musical where I explore quas and their dramatic function. But for this musical, which is, you know, it's cafe leche is like uh what if in the heights? This is my elevator pitch. What if in the heights with a waitress score but gay and in LA? Um but the architecture is very guys and dolls. Um and that thing moves fast. That is a 90-minute show, right? So there can be no fat. That thing's got to be a lean mean machine. And when you are doing Latin rhythms, sometimes the rhythms are slower or they demand more care. They demand more architecture as a lyricist. And so when you are because I'm a playrate first, right? I'm serving my god of dramaty. And that's where I had to like as a composer kind of step back and be like, okay, I wanted to add Quai to the musical theater cannon. I'm going to have to write a second show. You know what I mean? Like but that's also like the gift, >> right? Because like what I liked about musical theater was that I could be like Sonheim and all these old white guys whom I love um and write forever, right? I don't have to be 20 and write. I can write till I'm 70 and I actually get better with age. And I think that that leaves a lot of room for that. >> We're going to take one more question right here. >> Okay, since I know this we're out of time. Um what is like one word of a green flag for a collaborator? You're all composers. So, what is one thing that you are looking for in someone as a bookw writer or co-ist or lyricist? >> I'll start on this end quickly and we can just quickly go. I'll say um willing to um uh kill their babies. >> Willing, >> one word, >> kill hyphen babies. >> Uh responsiveness. You want a good communicator. They can be very talented. If they're a poor communicator, they're not a good collaborator. playful, down to try things. >> Good hang. If you're talented and you can't take a joke, we're not working together. >> Uh heart. >> Oh. >> Uh friendship. >> Oh. >> Um I would say unprecious. Like I think there's something that's equal parts important about being super precious about the work and super unprecious and allowing to uh I think this is in conversation with uh let let go of things. Um, whatever. So, best best idea wins, you know. >> Yeah. >> Always >> best idea. >> What an incredible group of composers. >> Don't forget to check out their work. >> What an inspiring morning. I hope you all feel inspired and excited and want to collaborate with everybody here on stage. Find them.