miami
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miami 1987-89
I had no idea that dramatic art, also known as acting, could be studied. However, when I delved into the academic manual at the University of Miami, I was thrilled to discover the University of Miami Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.
My short time at the university helped me realize it wasn’t the right fit. I felt out of place, and I was searching for direction. Then, one afternoon, I spot for the first time Harold Guskin’s name on the main bulletin board and couldn’t help but wonder, ‘What would it be like to work with him?
miami 1987-89
I had no idea that dramatic art, also known as acting, could be studied. However, when I delved into the academic manual at the University of Miami, I was thrilled to discover the University of Miami Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.
My short time at the university helped me realize it wasn’t the right fit. I felt out of place, and I was searching for direction. Then, one afternoon, I spot for the first time Harold Guskin’s name on the main bulletin board and couldn’t help but wonder, ‘What would it be like to work with him?
nyc
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nyc 1990-2000
I lived in New York from 1989 to 2000. During those ten years, I was a student of Harold Guskin, author of the book: “How to Stop Acting.” It was a private training that changed my life. In less than a month, I already had an agent, The William Morris Agency, and a personal manager. But Harold talked to me about life and not about acting. At the end of the first class, he gave me a book with Chekhov’s five plays, and on the train way to New Jersey, without knowing who Anton Chekhov was, I read the first page of The Seagull, and I felt human for the first time. From that moment until today, I search the great texts for the truth and the meaning of life. Throughout that time, I also worked with Harold’s teacher, Gene Frankel, an original Actor’s Studio member and father of Off-Broadway. With him, I discovered ‘The Actor’s Quest,’ an exercise he created with Elia Kazan, the first director and teacher of the Actor’s Studio. This text reveals that the most essential thing in the original Actor’s Studio was: ‘I can have everything the world has to offer. But what I want most and need most is to be myself. But who I cannot forget is my first acting teacher at The Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting, my friend Elaine Stritch. I don’t remember, honestly, what I learned from her; what I do remember is that she was the first person to tell me: ‘You made me cry, you son of a bitch.’
I don’t know what’s worse, not having an agent and not working or having the best agent in the world and he doesn’t know who you are. So, I started writing my plays and creating my work. This moment was the happiest time of my adventure in the Big Apple. I wrote, directed, acted in, and produced four original plays in English and about Spain. In three years, we reached 5,000 subscribers to our newsletter, we were featured in the Village Voice, and RAWSPACE on 42nd Street invited us to be the ‘In House Company.’
I wrote “Cuatro Caminos” when I was 22 years old. It is a story about the Spanish postwar and my family’s history. We openned the play in March 1997.
A man enters a public bathroom to blow his head off. He locks himself in and watches his life pass before him in nine scenes and 45 minutes. We premiered “45 Minutes… in a Public Bathroom” at the American Theater of Actors in November 1997.
In June 1998, we premiered the new “Cuatro Caminos” version at the RAWSPACE on 42nd Street.
“Hedged” is a play that I wrote inspired by a police siege of the old town of La Celsa in the mid-90s. It is a tragic love story set in a drug supermarket that not even Christ coming down from the cross can save. We premiered “Hedged” in December 1998 at RAWSPACE.
nyc 1990-2000
I lived in New York from 1989 to 2000. During those ten years, I was a student of Harold Guskin, author of the book: “How to Stop Acting.” It was a private training that changed my life. In less than a month, I already had an agent, The William Morris Agency, and a personal manager. But Harold talked to me about life and not about acting. At the end of the first class, he gave me a book with Chekhov’s five plays, and on the train way to New Jersey, without knowing who Anton Chekhov was, I read the first page of The Seagull, and I felt human for the first time. From that moment until today, I search the great texts for the truth and the meaning of life. Throughout that time, I also worked with Harold’s teacher, Gene Frankel, an original Actor’s Studio member and father of Off-Broadway. With him, I discovered ‘The Actor’s Quest,’ an exercise he created with Elia Kazan, the first director and teacher of the Actor’s Studio. This text reveals that the most essential thing in the original Actor’s Studio was: ‘I can have everything the world has to offer. But what I want most and need most is to be myself. But who I cannot forget is my first acting teacher at The Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting, my friend Elaine Stritch. I don’t remember, honestly, what I learned from her; what I do remember is that she was the first person to tell me: ‘You made me cry, you son of a bitch.’
I don’t know what’s worse, not having an agent and not working or having the best agent in the world and he doesn’t know who you are. So, I started writing my plays and creating my work. This moment was the happiest time of my adventure in the Big Apple. I wrote, directed, acted in, and produced four original plays in English and about Spain. In three years, we reached 5,000 subscribers to our newsletter, we were featured in the Village Voice, and RAWSPACE on 42nd Street invited us to be the ‘In House Company.’
I wrote “Cuatro Caminos” when I was 22 years old. It is a story about the Spanish postwar and my family’s history. We openned the play in March 1997.
A man enters a public bathroom to blow his head off. He locks himself in and watches his life pass before him in nine scenes and 45 minutes. We premiered “45 Minutes… in a Public Bathroom” at the American Theater of Actors in November 1997.
In June 1998, we premiered the new “Cuatro Caminos” version at the RAWSPACE on 42nd Street.
“Hedged” is a play that I wrote inspired by a police siege of the old town of La Celsa in the mid-90s. It is a tragic love story set in a drug supermarket that not even Christ coming down from the cross can save. We premiered “Hedged” in December 1998 at RAWSPACE.
oxford
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oxford 2007
One summer afternoon in Madrid, I went to the Teatro Español to see a staging of Thomas Middleton’s play “The Changeling,” which forever changed my vision as a director. I identified with that work and realized that was the type of theater I wanted to pursue. Declan Donnellan directed the play. I met Declan a year later when I attended a conference he gave at Teatro Español for the premiere of “Cymbeline” by William Shakespeare. I felt a strong connection with him as he spoke my language. After the conference, I approached him and asked what I had to do to work with him. He invited me to see the play, and then we discussed theater until six in the morning in the courtyard of Las Naves de Matadero. A week later, he invited me to participate in “Cheek by Jowl’s first Young Director & Designers Summer School” in Oxford. During the program, Declan emphasized the importance of space and challenged traditional character creation concepts, stressing that the work was either alive or dead.
While at Oxford, I worked with various actors, but the one who stood out was a boy named Giles Terera, who was always alone, reading, taking notes, listening to music, or learning Shakespeare’s lines to work on that same afternoon. Several years later, Giles Terera won the Olivier Award for his work on “Hamilton.” To this day, he thanks me for my direction about the importance of relating with fellow actors.
oxford 2007
One summer afternoon in Madrid, I went to the Teatro Español to see a staging of Thomas Middleton’s play “The Changeling,” which forever changed my vision as a director. I identified with that work and realized that was the type of theater I wanted to pursue. Declan Donnellan directed the play. I met Declan a year later when I attended a conference he gave at the Spanish Theater for the premiere of “Cymbeline” by William Shakespeare. I felt a strong connection with him as he spoke my language. After the conference, I approached him and asked how to work with him. He invited me to see the play, and then we discussed theater until six in the morning in the courtyard of Las Naves de Matadero. A week later, he invited me to participate in “Cheek by Jowl’s first Young Director & Designers Summer School” in Oxford. During the program, Declan emphasized the importance of space and challenged traditional character creation concepts, stressing that the work was either alive or dead.
While at Oxford, I worked with various actors, but the one who stood out was a boy named Giles Terera, who was always alone, reading, taking notes, listening to music, or learning Shakespeare’s lines to work on that same afternoon. Several years later, Giles Terera won the Olivier Award for his work on “Hamilton.” To this day, he thanks me for my direction about the importance of relating with fellow actors.
los
angeles
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los
angeles 2010
One Saturday morning, I received a text from a student inviting me to Teatro Español to see George Orwell’s “1984” directed by Tim Robbins. I was excited and said yes. As soon as I entered the theater, I ran into Tim Robbins, and I was surprised to see him in Madrid. I deeply admired his dedication to social denunciation theater and his films, especially “Dead Man Walking.” I was introduced to Tim in front of Teatro Español that night, and he invited me to dinner. We chatted, acted, and sang until late into the night. Three months later, I was in Los Angeles working with him on “The Visit” by Durrenmatt and an original play, “Break the Whip,” about Indigenous populations in North America.
“I would rather tell the truth to one person than lie to a million.” – Tim Robbins.
los
angeles 2010
One Saturday morning, I received a text from a student inviting me to Teatro Español to see George Orwell’s “1984” directed by Tim Robbins. I was excited and said yes. As soon as I entered the theater, I ran into Tim Robbins, and I was surprised to see him in Madrid. I deeply admired his dedication to social denunciation theater and his films, especially “Dead Man Walking.” I was introduced to Tim in front of Teatro Español that night, and he invited me to dinner. We chatted, acted, and sang until late into the night. Three months later, I was in Los Angeles working with him on “The Visit” by Durrenmatt and an original play, “Break the Whip,” about Indigenous populations in North America.
“I would rather tell the truth to one person than lie to a million.” – Tim Robbins.
tangiers
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tangiers 2018
In August 2008, my dear friend and director Rob Ashford invited me to Tangier to co-direct Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” with Kenneth Branagh playing John Proctor and Derek Jacobi as Judge Danforth.
I am eternally grateful to Rob for allowing me to share the stage with two legends from my pantheon and to direct actors of the caliber of Bertie Carvel, winner of the Tony and Olivier Awards, Alex Kingston, and Marisa Berenson. We put the play on in just four days, and at the end of the performance, Ken hugged me and whispered in my ear, “We did it.”
tangiers 2018
In August 2008, my dear friend and director Rob Ashford invited me to Tangier to co-direct Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” with Kenneth Branagh playing John Proctor and Derek Jacobi as Judge Danforth.
I am eternally grateful to Rob for allowing me to share the stage with two legends from my pantheon and to direct actors of the caliber of Bertie Carvel, winner of the Tony and Olivier Awards, Alex Kingston, and Marisa Berenson. We put the play on in just four days, and at the end of the performance, Ken hugged me and whispered in my ear, “We did it.”
madrid
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madrid
“If we didn’t have art, what would become of us?”
… to be continued.
madrid
“If we didn’t have art, what would become of us?”
… to be continued.
