April 7, 2025 • 16 mins
As immigration and LGBTQ+ rights take center stage in national debates, The People’s Theater, Latinx Playwrights Circle, and Boundless Theatre Company present the world premiere of "Domino Effect." Onstage at A.R.T. / New York Theaters through April 20, the play explores the triumphs, sacrifices, and resilience of immigrant and queer communities. Our guests are playwright Marco Antonio Rodriguez and cast member Shadi Ghaheri. For more about the play and tickets visit thepeoplestheater.org.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community. On
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Get Connected. As integration and LGBTQ plus rights
take center stage and national debates, The People's Theater, LATINX
Playwright Circle and Boundless Theater Company present the world premiere
of The Domino Effect. The play is on stage at
Art New York Theaters through April twentieth, exploring the triumphs, sacrifices,
(00:32):
and resilience of immigrant and queer communities. Our guests are
playwright Marco and Toni Rodriguez and cast member Chadi Airi.
More about the play and tickets at the Peoplestheater dot org.
It is being staged at Art New York Theaters, five
h two West fifty third at tenth Avenue. We will
start with you, Marco Antonio Domino Effect. Where do we begin?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's an intergeneration queer immigrant story where four generations made
up at four te Park up in Washington Heights, and
a game of Domino ensues and they start to uncover
things about each other and their backgrounds, and they discover
they're more connected than they thought. It was inspired by
an idea that Mino Lora had executive director artistic director
of the People's Theater Project not called People Stetter Her,
(01:18):
the People Steer Her. She wanted to create a piece
about intergenerational queer immigrant experience, and we had lots of brainstorming.
One of my experiences coming up to the Heights was
to see my father take the A to one ninety eight,
get off, walk the tunnel, and then I would be
out at Port Tryn Park, which we call the Cloisters,
and there were usually people there playing dominoes, and so
(01:38):
it was very much not only did I live in
Dominica Republic for a while and see this, but also
here in New York City up in the Heights, it
was pretty common to see game of dominoes going on,
people screaming and yelling and laughing and sharing things and
crying sometimes. And so what better way to bring community
together than in a domino game in the Heights. Once
I brought that up, Mino jumped up because she her
(01:59):
experience with dominoes is also very prevalent in her life,
and that's when we knew that's where it had to be.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Set Domino's and Latin culture. There's a thing there.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's a game. It's a very
passionate game, but it's also fun. It's it's sort of
a way of communing with each other and sharing, and
it gets heated sometimes, but it's also there's a lot
of fun. There's music playing, there's food, of course, there's sharing,
there's catching up, there's gossip cin cinch as we say.
(02:27):
So it's a very sort of kinetic way of connecting
with one another at the same time as you are
competing and wanting to win, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So back to the development of this play. As you said,
Mino came to you. I've spoken with Mino on the
show before. Mino has boundless energy and People's Theater is
specifically really interested in immigrant stories and multi lingual stories
and intergenerational stories. Can you talk about sort of carving
this play out over time? And I wonder how it
was affected or has it been affected also by sort
(02:56):
of the turn of events in current adesses very much.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
So we don't shy away from it. It was always
important for us to not be overburdened by the politics,
not let that burden the story. The main story of
coming together that we share in this play, and they're
sharing of their stories, from an Iranian queer woman to
a black trans woman. It was more important for me
to get into the humanity of these people and not
(03:21):
let the politics drown that, but not to ignore it either.
So of course, some of the shifts in our situation
in this country have certainly influenced some changes in the script,
but it's not overtaken it either. It's not overpowered it either.
From the minute that Mino approached me about it in
twenty twenty three, we knew we had to brainstorm then
move into a short period of what's called devising, And
(03:43):
in this case, advising was a little bit different than
what it usually looks like in that the person who
came in to assists with that, Vita, She knew my outline,
She saw my outline that I had created for the
story that I wanted to tell, and then she sort
of created exercises and improv questions to the cast that
we cast to sort of stimulate them to do stuff
(04:05):
and improv. I was there watching and observing, and then
I used what I observed, some of them personal, some
of the just improvisations from random imagination to inspire the
story of this play, and then from there we did
that for two weeks, and then from there took breaks
where I would go and off to write, then come
back to readings, get feedback, and off again. I went
(04:25):
by myself, So there was a lot of process involved
with developing this piece.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Is that a typical way you write normally?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
No, I usually am on my own when I write.
I don't usually have so much feedback early on from
the actors until you get a reading, a development time
or workshop, and then you hear from them. But the
process of devising, where I was watching they were using
my outline to inspire the exercises they were doing their
(04:52):
sharings of some personal things right was different. And not
to mention, you know, there is an Iranian actor in
the show. There is a black trans woman in the show.
So I had direct a direct channel to get information
resources to be able to extract and make it more authentic,
make the script more authentic. Besides regular research.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Of course, you're listening to get connected on one oh
six point seven light FM. I'm Mina del Rio. We're
speaking with playwright Marco and Toni Rodriguez and cast member
Schadirari presenting the world premiere of Domino Effect. They are
currently on stage at Art New York Theaters through April twentieth.
You can find out more about tickets at the People's
Theater dot org. Art New York Theaters are five oh
(05:35):
two West fifty third at tenth Avenue. I'm going to
ask you Shotting to talk about the cast, and we'll
talk about your character too. But who else is in
the play? Can you talk about the cast?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yes, of course, And there is four actors in the show.
Forgive me, I might not know the last name of everyone.
But Tony plays Mandy Tony Macy Tony Macy and Angela
So Willy Rayah.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Willie Ria or Willy the Genius plays Pepper, the black
trans woman, and Angela. Angela Han also plays a Dominican immigrant.
And we won't say what Tony plays because we don't
want to ruin the story.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
But how would I do.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
For you? Because I will tell you a lot about
what you have to come and discover for yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, can you tell me about yours? Johnny?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yes, of course. My character is a female identifying queer
Iranian woman who has moved from Iran Tehran to America
to study and is on one of the visa status
that exists in America after finishing school.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And I wonder how this play came to you? How
do you come to be involved with it?
Speaker 4 (06:44):
I have a little long term relationship with the People's Theater.
I happen to be in some of the development processes
that they had in order to create their own pedagogy
in creation and devising as we were talking, so when
we started devising, I knew the method. I was part
of creating it with Zaffi who was the artistic director
(07:08):
before Mino was the artistic director, and so that was
one part of it. And also I am on the
board of artists for the people Theater, but I never
had the role of actor or divisor with them until
this one. I do devising personally in my theater or
art work that I do, and I love it. I
(07:29):
believe in this collaboration you will see it for yourself
that this level of authenticity, truth in every detail of
these characters will come out of this lovely collaboration and sharing.
And Mark Antonio has been like wonderful in this collaboration
in taking what we offer and like listening to us
(07:50):
when something doesn't comes truthfully to us. And we have
always based on needs of the storytelling like paused, stopped
and had a conversation, and we each one of us
have shared really important moments of our life that has
built who we are today. And we all come for
sure with different experienced life experience, traumas, and all of
(08:13):
them are now at this point like I will say,
you know treasure wounds to share on stage in order
for all of us to hear and see the humanity
in between.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I know you are a theater director, you're an opera director,
you're a film director, so you have your own creative life,
but you also are an Iranian immigrant, So I wonder
how this character's experience intersects with your own.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
A lot, if not a one hundred person, because it's
a lot of me and my experience in it. I
was an actor back in Tehran and I needed to
leave that country because it was not allowing me to
try to get into my dreams. It wasn't allowing me
to perform or write or direct the way that I
(08:57):
want to and tell the stories that I want to.
So Attash my character just like me, just like many
many Iranian women, queer folks in Iran, and men who
can have the opportunity of growth and like can't have
the opportunity of achieving their dreams in that country, will
like look for something, some way to get out, and
(09:19):
any way to get out is better than staying in there.
And so she Autash happened to get to good school
and like leave Iran to study what she dreamed to study,
and now is like facing America and all of a sudden,
America is pointing at her and identifying her as something,
labeling her as something. Those were like literally day by
(09:42):
day experiences that I had. I have been in this
country for twelve years right now, but the first couple
of years it's like it's an unknown land and they
are looking at you and naming you things, and you're like, wait, what,
Like I am a totally different person, a complete human
being in my country, and now I come here and
(10:02):
I have to live and walk based on rules and
ideology of this country.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
So yeah, so what does it mean for you to
be in this play now and perhaps say the things
on stage that you get to say in front of
a wide audience, right right?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yes, absolutely, I'm really excited to have that experience. Last
time I performed for this long was on stages in Tehran,
and so to do it here, you know, I do
say things that politically is dangerous for me, and if
I was in Iran was like no, no, But here
(10:40):
like it's like I know I am saying that thing,
and I know that like saying that thing, I will
take my responsibility for saying it. But there's like much
more safety here. And I always say, like, as an
immigrant Iranian who lived in a dictatorship, who lived somewhere,
that the censorship is like you're choking from censorship.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Year.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I don't take it for granted, this freedom of speech.
If we still have any to say, it say the
things that must be said before something worse than this
happened to us. So I'm honored. And also it's like
big part of my activism and my art to be
on that stage and say things that many women, Iranian
(11:22):
women like me wish to be able to say, so
that the truth of their existence is heard and not
just what the media tries to say.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And Marco Antonio put a similar question to you, what
is it to present this play with people's theater now
at this time.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
When we started working on the plate almost two years ago,
there seemed to be not a complete but a slight
shift in the paradigm of things. But now we're back
to sort of square one to a certain extent, and
so it's like it becomes this higher stakes piece that
needs to be presented more than ever. Whereas before there
was a need for it, now there's almost we have
(11:59):
to do this. So that's sort of what's shifted in
the last year and a half, almost two years that
I've been working on the piece. I had a reverse
diasporta experience. My experience was more being born here and
sent to Dominican Republic when I was two and lived
there until about five or five and a half, so
my first language is Spanish. Then I came back here
and I was othered here because I was only speaking
(12:22):
Spanish and I had to learn English even though I
was born here. And so my experience is sort of
I'm either here nor there. I'm too American for Theminican
Republic and I'm too Dominican for America, or I don't
even look Dominican here to you know, many people confuse
me from Middle Eastern because of the way I look.
So my experience has been all over the map, and
often I feel like, even though I'm not technically an
(12:45):
immigrant in this country, I've certainly felt been treated as such,
and that certainly I infuse it into the play.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
What do you hope people take away from the play?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Listening? We have stopped listening to each other, We have
stopped having conversation with each other. Everything is so black
and white, no pun intended. There's that gray area that
is frustrating, but it's also necessary, right, the mess that
we have no patience for anymore. It's like, Okay, that's it.
You're there and I'm here, and that's it. That's that.
(13:14):
There's no sense of okay, you're there, but what about this?
What about that? And vice versa. And the other thing
which is always my artistic mission is accessibility, so that
I want my mother, who feels intimidated by going to
the theater and doesn't feel welcomed in the theater, to
sit in a front row next to Mino, who can
have a critical analysis of the piece and can talk
about theater to death, and they both equally enjoy the
(13:37):
piece together and can both have a conversation about it.
Right Mino will come at it maybe from a critical standpoint,
but my mother will bring sort of a more humanistic,
more sort of lived in opinion about it, right because
she is an immigrant, so that to me was also
important for the piece. But that people when they leave
the space can just talk to each other and ask
(13:58):
questions and challenge each other in a way that is productive,
not destructive and shoddy.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
You know, I really think health, safety, opportunity for growth, education,
love should not be political. The fact that we sit
in front of each other and can all together say
no war, it's ridiculous like that shouldn't be any confusion,
shouldn't be political. We should not kill kids. And I
(14:30):
think what a dream of people coming to this show,
with all of their judgments, with all of their guards,
with everything they have. At the end of it, they
can see that we can all sit next to each
other and deal with the same shames, guilts and lack
of access to love, safety, peace, and then for a
(14:55):
second become humble, and then you will find the same
pain and shame together, which in this show will show
it to itself that when we do meet there in
the humanity of it, we can grow and we can
break these displays that we are in and go somewhere
(15:15):
better other than that. I heard you, you heard me.
I heard you, you heard me. It just never ends.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Domino Effect, the world premiere of Domino Effect, is currently
on stage at Art New York Theaters through April twentieth.
Our guests are playwright Marco and Toni Rodriguez and cast
member Schadiahri. Can find out more at the People's Theater
dot org. Thank you for being on Get Connected in
the Happy show.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Thank you for having me so much.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It was nice meeting, very nice to meet you. Take
care of Hope. It's a great show.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Bye. This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio
on one OHO six point seven light Fm. The views
and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the
views of the station. If you missed any part of
our show or want to share it, visit our website
for downloads and podcasts at one O six seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community. On
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Get Connected. As integration and LGBTQ plus rights
take center stage and national debates, The People's Theater, LATINX
Playwright Circle and Boundless Theater Company present the world premiere
of The Domino Effect. The play is on stage at
Art New York Theaters through April twentieth, exploring the triumphs, sacrifices,
(00:32):
and resilience of immigrant and queer communities. Our guests are
playwright Marco and Toni Rodriguez and cast member Chadi Airi.
More about the play and tickets at the Peoplestheater dot org.
It is being staged at Art New York Theaters, five
h two West fifty third at tenth Avenue. We will
start with you, Marco Antonio Domino Effect. Where do we begin?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's an intergeneration queer immigrant story where four generations made
up at four te Park up in Washington Heights, and
a game of Domino ensues and they start to uncover
things about each other and their backgrounds, and they discover
they're more connected than they thought. It was inspired by
an idea that Mino Lora had executive director artistic director
of the People's Theater Project not called People Stetter Her,
(01:18):
the People Steer Her. She wanted to create a piece
about intergenerational queer immigrant experience, and we had lots of brainstorming.
One of my experiences coming up to the Heights was
to see my father take the A to one ninety eight,
get off, walk the tunnel, and then I would be
out at Port Tryn Park, which we call the Cloisters,
and there were usually people there playing dominoes, and so
(01:38):
it was very much not only did I live in
Dominica Republic for a while and see this, but also
here in New York City up in the Heights, it
was pretty common to see game of dominoes going on,
people screaming and yelling and laughing and sharing things and
crying sometimes. And so what better way to bring community
together than in a domino game in the Heights. Once
I brought that up, Mino jumped up because she her
(01:59):
experience with dominoes is also very prevalent in her life,
and that's when we knew that's where it had to be.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Set Domino's and Latin culture. There's a thing there.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's a game. It's a very
passionate game, but it's also fun. It's it's sort of
a way of communing with each other and sharing, and
it gets heated sometimes, but it's also there's a lot
of fun. There's music playing, there's food, of course, there's sharing,
there's catching up, there's gossip cin cinch as we say.
(02:27):
So it's a very sort of kinetic way of connecting
with one another at the same time as you are
competing and wanting to win, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So back to the development of this play. As you said,
Mino came to you. I've spoken with Mino on the
show before. Mino has boundless energy and People's Theater is
specifically really interested in immigrant stories and multi lingual stories
and intergenerational stories. Can you talk about sort of carving
this play out over time? And I wonder how it
was affected or has it been affected also by sort
(02:56):
of the turn of events in current adesses very much.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
So we don't shy away from it. It was always
important for us to not be overburdened by the politics,
not let that burden the story. The main story of
coming together that we share in this play, and they're
sharing of their stories, from an Iranian queer woman to
a black trans woman. It was more important for me
to get into the humanity of these people and not
(03:21):
let the politics drown that, but not to ignore it either.
So of course, some of the shifts in our situation
in this country have certainly influenced some changes in the script,
but it's not overtaken it either. It's not overpowered it either.
From the minute that Mino approached me about it in
twenty twenty three, we knew we had to brainstorm then
move into a short period of what's called devising, And
(03:43):
in this case, advising was a little bit different than
what it usually looks like in that the person who
came in to assists with that, Vita, She knew my outline,
She saw my outline that I had created for the
story that I wanted to tell, and then she sort
of created exercises and improv questions to the cast that
we cast to sort of stimulate them to do stuff
(04:05):
and improv. I was there watching and observing, and then
I used what I observed, some of them personal, some
of the just improvisations from random imagination to inspire the
story of this play, and then from there we did
that for two weeks, and then from there took breaks
where I would go and off to write, then come
back to readings, get feedback, and off again. I went
(04:25):
by myself, So there was a lot of process involved
with developing this piece.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Is that a typical way you write normally?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
No, I usually am on my own when I write.
I don't usually have so much feedback early on from
the actors until you get a reading, a development time
or workshop, and then you hear from them. But the
process of devising, where I was watching they were using
my outline to inspire the exercises they were doing their
(04:52):
sharings of some personal things right was different. And not
to mention, you know, there is an Iranian actor in
the show. There is a black trans woman in the show.
So I had direct a direct channel to get information
resources to be able to extract and make it more authentic,
make the script more authentic. Besides regular research.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Of course, you're listening to get connected on one oh
six point seven light FM. I'm Mina del Rio. We're
speaking with playwright Marco and Toni Rodriguez and cast member
Schadirari presenting the world premiere of Domino Effect. They are
currently on stage at Art New York Theaters through April twentieth.
You can find out more about tickets at the People's
Theater dot org. Art New York Theaters are five oh
(05:35):
two West fifty third at tenth Avenue. I'm going to
ask you Shotting to talk about the cast, and we'll
talk about your character too. But who else is in
the play? Can you talk about the cast?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yes, of course, And there is four actors in the show.
Forgive me, I might not know the last name of everyone.
But Tony plays Mandy Tony Macy Tony Macy and Angela
So Willy Rayah.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Willie Ria or Willy the Genius plays Pepper, the black
trans woman, and Angela. Angela Han also plays a Dominican immigrant.
And we won't say what Tony plays because we don't
want to ruin the story.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
But how would I do.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
For you? Because I will tell you a lot about
what you have to come and discover for yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, can you tell me about yours? Johnny?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yes, of course. My character is a female identifying queer
Iranian woman who has moved from Iran Tehran to America
to study and is on one of the visa status
that exists in America after finishing school.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And I wonder how this play came to you? How
do you come to be involved with it?
Speaker 4 (06:44):
I have a little long term relationship with the People's Theater.
I happen to be in some of the development processes
that they had in order to create their own pedagogy
in creation and devising as we were talking, so when
we started devising, I knew the method. I was part
of creating it with Zaffi who was the artistic director
(07:08):
before Mino was the artistic director, and so that was
one part of it. And also I am on the
board of artists for the people Theater, but I never
had the role of actor or divisor with them until
this one. I do devising personally in my theater or
art work that I do, and I love it. I
(07:29):
believe in this collaboration you will see it for yourself
that this level of authenticity, truth in every detail of
these characters will come out of this lovely collaboration and sharing.
And Mark Antonio has been like wonderful in this collaboration
in taking what we offer and like listening to us
(07:50):
when something doesn't comes truthfully to us. And we have
always based on needs of the storytelling like paused, stopped
and had a conversation, and we each one of us
have shared really important moments of our life that has
built who we are today. And we all come for
sure with different experienced life experience, traumas, and all of
(08:13):
them are now at this point like I will say,
you know treasure wounds to share on stage in order
for all of us to hear and see the humanity
in between.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I know you are a theater director, you're an opera director,
you're a film director, so you have your own creative life,
but you also are an Iranian immigrant, So I wonder
how this character's experience intersects with your own.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
A lot, if not a one hundred person, because it's
a lot of me and my experience in it. I
was an actor back in Tehran and I needed to
leave that country because it was not allowing me to
try to get into my dreams. It wasn't allowing me
to perform or write or direct the way that I
(08:57):
want to and tell the stories that I want to.
So Attash my character just like me, just like many
many Iranian women, queer folks in Iran, and men who
can have the opportunity of growth and like can't have
the opportunity of achieving their dreams in that country, will
like look for something, some way to get out, and
(09:19):
any way to get out is better than staying in there.
And so she Autash happened to get to good school
and like leave Iran to study what she dreamed to study,
and now is like facing America and all of a sudden,
America is pointing at her and identifying her as something,
labeling her as something. Those were like literally day by
(09:42):
day experiences that I had. I have been in this
country for twelve years right now, but the first couple
of years it's like it's an unknown land and they
are looking at you and naming you things, and you're like, wait, what,
Like I am a totally different person, a complete human
being in my country, and now I come here and
(10:02):
I have to live and walk based on rules and
ideology of this country.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
So yeah, so what does it mean for you to
be in this play now and perhaps say the things
on stage that you get to say in front of
a wide audience, right right?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yes, absolutely, I'm really excited to have that experience. Last
time I performed for this long was on stages in Tehran,
and so to do it here, you know, I do
say things that politically is dangerous for me, and if
I was in Iran was like no, no, But here
(10:40):
like it's like I know I am saying that thing,
and I know that like saying that thing, I will
take my responsibility for saying it. But there's like much
more safety here. And I always say, like, as an
immigrant Iranian who lived in a dictatorship, who lived somewhere,
that the censorship is like you're choking from censorship.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Year.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I don't take it for granted, this freedom of speech.
If we still have any to say, it say the
things that must be said before something worse than this
happened to us. So I'm honored. And also it's like
big part of my activism and my art to be
on that stage and say things that many women, Iranian
(11:22):
women like me wish to be able to say, so
that the truth of their existence is heard and not
just what the media tries to say.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And Marco Antonio put a similar question to you, what
is it to present this play with people's theater now
at this time.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
When we started working on the plate almost two years ago,
there seemed to be not a complete but a slight
shift in the paradigm of things. But now we're back
to sort of square one to a certain extent, and
so it's like it becomes this higher stakes piece that
needs to be presented more than ever. Whereas before there
was a need for it, now there's almost we have
(11:59):
to do this. So that's sort of what's shifted in
the last year and a half, almost two years that
I've been working on the piece. I had a reverse
diasporta experience. My experience was more being born here and
sent to Dominican Republic when I was two and lived
there until about five or five and a half, so
my first language is Spanish. Then I came back here
and I was othered here because I was only speaking
(12:22):
Spanish and I had to learn English even though I
was born here. And so my experience is sort of
I'm either here nor there. I'm too American for Theminican
Republic and I'm too Dominican for America, or I don't
even look Dominican here to you know, many people confuse
me from Middle Eastern because of the way I look.
So my experience has been all over the map, and
often I feel like, even though I'm not technically an
(12:45):
immigrant in this country, I've certainly felt been treated as such,
and that certainly I infuse it into the play.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
What do you hope people take away from the play?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Listening? We have stopped listening to each other, We have
stopped having conversation with each other. Everything is so black
and white, no pun intended. There's that gray area that
is frustrating, but it's also necessary, right, the mess that
we have no patience for anymore. It's like, Okay, that's it.
You're there and I'm here, and that's it. That's that.
(13:14):
There's no sense of okay, you're there, but what about this?
What about that? And vice versa. And the other thing
which is always my artistic mission is accessibility, so that
I want my mother, who feels intimidated by going to
the theater and doesn't feel welcomed in the theater, to
sit in a front row next to Mino, who can
have a critical analysis of the piece and can talk
about theater to death, and they both equally enjoy the
(13:37):
piece together and can both have a conversation about it.
Right Mino will come at it maybe from a critical standpoint,
but my mother will bring sort of a more humanistic,
more sort of lived in opinion about it, right because
she is an immigrant, so that to me was also
important for the piece. But that people when they leave
the space can just talk to each other and ask
(13:58):
questions and challenge each other in a way that is productive,
not destructive and shoddy.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
You know, I really think health, safety, opportunity for growth, education,
love should not be political. The fact that we sit
in front of each other and can all together say
no war, it's ridiculous like that shouldn't be any confusion,
shouldn't be political. We should not kill kids. And I
(14:30):
think what a dream of people coming to this show,
with all of their judgments, with all of their guards,
with everything they have. At the end of it, they
can see that we can all sit next to each
other and deal with the same shames, guilts and lack
of access to love, safety, peace, and then for a
(14:55):
second become humble, and then you will find the same
pain and shame together, which in this show will show
it to itself that when we do meet there in
the humanity of it, we can grow and we can
break these displays that we are in and go somewhere
(15:15):
better other than that. I heard you, you heard me.
I heard you, you heard me. It just never ends.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Domino Effect, the world premiere of Domino Effect, is currently
on stage at Art New York Theaters through April twentieth.
Our guests are playwright Marco and Toni Rodriguez and cast
member Schadiahri. Can find out more at the People's Theater
dot org. Thank you for being on Get Connected in
the Happy show.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Thank you for having me so much.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It was nice meeting, very nice to meet you. Take
care of Hope. It's a great show.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Bye. This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio
on one OHO six point seven light Fm. The views
and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the
views of the station. If you missed any part of
our show or want to share it, visit our website
for downloads and podcasts at one O six seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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