Karen Anzoategui in “¡Ser!” Photo by Ed Krieger.
Karen Anzoategui wants to open your eyes.
With roots and upbringing in both Argentina and East Los Angeles, Anzoategui has attempted to understand her sexual identity as “a gender queer Latina” (in the words on her website). Her quest has encompassed everything from personal doubt to vocal activism. Her new solo show traces her journey using one of her greatest passions — soccer (or fútbol, depending on your continent). ¡Ser! (one of the Spanish verbs for “to be”) opens Saturday at the Latino Theater Company’s downtown Los Angeles Theatre Center.
“It started from me wanting to tell a story of the Latina community — my story — which I didn’t see anywhere,” says Anzoategui. “And also wanting to connect to other Latinos and the Chicano community.”
Anzoategui is a bundle of potential energy on a break during tech week. She percolates in her chair at a busy sidewalk café in downtown Los Angeles. She speaks of the area as her natural habitat, the place where she has spread her wings as both an artist and an activist. And where — for the last seven years — she has developed ¡Ser! into a meditation and discovery of who she really is within this community.
Karen Anzoategui
Anzoategui describes her own perception of Latinos in LA as “not as united as they could be.” She took political action in 2006, attending downtown protests regarding the H.R. 4437 immigration legislation. “You feel that energy, and then I felt that connection with others there,” says Anzoategui about the protests. “And I was worried I wouldn’t be accepted there, either, because I’m Argentinean and there are so many stereotypes within our own community. But I found a connection [to the others] and it was beautiful. And what a great way to have dialogue with others — at a protest.”
Her newfound activism had long-term effects on her world view and personal identity, she says. The two ideas merged as a creative impulse for the show. “And that’s when I wrote the first 15 minutes.”
The LATC production offers some final fruit for Anzoategui’s labors. After years of workshops, rewrites and smaller productions, this official premiere puts all the pieces in place with the crucial last element of musicians accompanying the show live and integrating an original score into the performance.
“It’s like an orchestrated show now,” says Anzoategui. “The action that happens is aided by the music. I actually had the vision for this particular version [of the show] from the beginning and to finally see the musicians and to hear them be a part of the action is a dream. It’s what I imagined all along for this show.”
The lead singer and co-composer, Cava (Claudia Gonzalez-Tenorio), joins Walter Miranda and Louie Pérez (Los Lobos) in writing and arranging songs specifically for ¡Ser! Anzoategui credits the Latino Theater Company for helping her reach this polished incarnation of her show.
CAVA
Last year, Anzoategui submitted her press packet for ¡Ser! to the company. While meeting with the company’s program director and literary manager, Chantal Rodríguez, Anzoategui shared her full vision of what the production could become — with the live music a key addition. She got the gig as part of the company’s 2013-2014 Season.
Anzoategui and Cava first met while working on Evangeline, the Queen of Make Believe, a musical based on the songs of David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez at the Bootleg Theater last May. Anzoategui played a principal role, with Cava performing the vocals in the band. Their working relationship at Bootleg blossomed into mutual respect as artists and fellow Latinas living in Los Angeles.
When the opportunity arose at LATC, Anzoategui knew the time had come for a new collaboration. Cava was immediately intrigued by the project but also wary of the daunting task, particularly due to the personal nature of the piece and the subject matter of challenging sexual identity within a traditionally conservative culture.
“It was even difficult to decide how to approach [creating the music],” explains Cava. “None of us knew how. [Anzoategui] told me about one of her characters which happens to be her father and, according to her, like James Brown. So in trying to extract ideas from her, that’s how I pretty much got to know her on a very personal level. Which is what the story does for us — it takes us through such intimate details of [her] life.”
Not a regular theater collaborator, Cava approaches the task as an extension of Anzoategui’s storytelling. The process began by walking and reading through scenes with director Marcos Nájera and Anzoategui before turning to actual songwriting. These final weeks have brought the pieces together, with even more discoveries made in the rehearsal room.
“It’s still a process,” says Cava. “We’re still figuring it out. Seeing her rehearse and watching her move through the scenes inspires us and we still get new ideas.”
Anzoategui knew when she first wrote the piece that she would take her dramatic cues from soccer. With the natural tension fostered between team rivalries and her own passion for the sport, it seemed a natural fit to explore her personal journey tackling domestic violence, an overly macho brother and her own questions about her sexuality.
Karen Anzoategui
The metaphor for Anzoategui is one of being kicked between her two identifying cultures — Buenos Aires and Los Angeles.
Working on the text and performance on and off for more than seven years also gave Anzoategui the opportunity to grow personally and include new elements of her life into the story.
“It’s challenged me on a personal level to look at all my own barriers,” says Anzoategui. “And these are my own self-imposed barriers. It became important to the audience as much as for me to say my words on stage. I really go to the scary places [now] that I wasn’t able to go to before.”
Anzoategui is quick to point out that amid all the darkness is plenty of humor and vulnerability, something she has been keen to develop with Nájera. Cava finds such nuances to the story an asset for the music.
“Her story alone influences a lot of different ranges that I get to reach as a singer,” says Cava. “But it’s also challenging because I am my own leader and have my own thoughts. But in this case I have to follow [Anzoategui]’s lead. I’m getting to know a lot of things about myself. This is my first time to do anything like this.”
Cava usually performs with anywhere from three to eight musicians for a given show. ¡Ser! features four musicians with Anzoategui in Theatre Three at LATC. As the team completes tech week, all have come to appreciate the impact of both spoken word and musical score.
“[Anzoategui] and I have very similar upbringings,” says Cava. “We have a saying in Spanish: Ni de aquí, ni de allá. I’m not from here, I’m not from over there. I’m Mexican. I’m very Mexican here. But I go to Mexico and I’m white over there. So you have to create your own little country here. I understand that.”
From John Leguizamo to Lily Tomlin and Reggie Gaines (who mentored her last year while in NYC with the piece), Anzoategui studies other solo artists whenever possible. She recounts a visceral reaction to Leguizamo’s part-fiction, part-autobiographical one-man show Freak when it aired on HBO in 1998 — realizing she had found the one thing she really wanted to do in life.
Karen Anzoategui
“I’ve started to develop my own style influenced by so many people,” says Anzoategui. “The people in the [Los Angeles] community started to know what I was doing. So I kept doing my solo work because it became more important for me to do my own work.”
Anzoategui continues her activism with LGBT, immigration and other issues. She would like the show to tour, bringing her story to even more audiences.
“[Creating this show] was very important to me because I felt like I was not accepted,” says Anzoategui. “I thought maybe if I told my story and we see how much we have in common, perhaps that could be a bridge to connect ourselves. And that’s a beautiful thing.”
¡Ser!, Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street, LA. Opens Saturday. Thu-Sat 8 pm, Sun 3 pm, through Dec 8. Tickets: $15 – $30. thelatc.org/2013/shows/ser. 866-811-4111.
**All ¡Ser! production photos by Ed Krieger.