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Put Some Altitude in Your Glass
41: A Latino Story: Puerto Rican Nocturne with Angel Mendez-Soto
Aug 10, 2022
41: A Latino Story: Puerto Rican Nocturne with Angel Mendez-Soto
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
0:00
[upbeat music] You're listening to Denver Wine Radio, the podcast about Colorado wine. My name is Paul Bonacosti.
0:10
I'm the winemaker at Bonacosti Wine Company, an urban winery I launched back in 2006 in Denver, Colorado, where I've been making and learning about wine ever since.
0:20
I'm sitting down with other wineries and wine experts to find out what makes Colorado wine so unique, and to help you find the wines you like to drink. And now, let's put some altitude in your glass.
0:33
Hey, welcome everybody to Denver Wine Radio. Taking a little break from wine today, although it might hit the conversation. Special guest in the studio, Angel Mendez Soto. Welcome, Angel. Hola. Hola.
0:47
It's good to see you. Good to see you too, man. Well, let, let's tell everybody about what you do.
0:52
I, I, I can tell you, uh, I mean, you've been my neighbor for as long as I've lived in the neighborhood on our street, but you've been acting around Denver in plays at Su Teatro and, and everything, uh, in between, and you can tell, fill all that in, for years now, right?
1:09
How long you been acting? I've been doing theater for, since I've been in Colorado, for 44 years. I, uh, met Tony way back when,
1:21
and, uh, they were doing theater that I thought was important and necessary, telling stories about, about, uh, Latinos here in Colorado. Yeah. And, uh- And Tony, uh, tell everyone who Tony is.
1:34
Tony Garcia is the artistic director of Su Teatro, uh, Cultural and Performing Arts Center. We're, and we're located at, uh, 7th and Santa Fe.
1:46
But I'm here today to talk about another project, kind of an old, new project. It's called Puerto Rican Nocturne.
1:53
Puerto Rican Nocturne was, uh, is a play that's written by Jonathan Marc Antoni, another Boricua, another Puerto Rican, and it's directed by Noemi Negron, otra Boricua, another Puerto Rican.
2:09
[laughs] Uh, the, we have our stage manager who keeps us in line, Veronica Strait Lingo, and we're presenting it here in the north side at, uh, the historic, and I like to emphasize that, is the historic Bug Theatre- Yeah...
2:25
uh, on 37th and Navajo. That, that place has been around for a long time. Great part of the neighborhood, and we did a, a movie screening there years ago. Uh, there was a wine movie that came out called Merlo, Merlove.
2:39
We, we did a little movie screening over there at the Bug. So- Uh- Very fond of the Bug Theatre. Yeah, it, it's, it's, it's a staple of the neighborhood. That's one thing about this neighborhood.
2:51
I say it has many tesoros, it has many treasures. One is that place, the historic Bug Theatre. We have, we have authors, uh, Rudy Garcia. He lives just few blocks from here. He's a, he's established author.
3:06
We got Bobby Lefebre, who's the Colorado poet laureate. I mean- Yeah... he lives right here in the north side, and yourself. Oh, come on. No, no.
3:16
[laughs] Hey, this place here you got is incredible, 'cause you got, you bring in excellent wine, you do these broadcasts, and you bring in some great music to the neighborhood, so- Right on... you know.
3:27
Thank you, Angel. No, it's really, the pleasure's mine to have you here. Tell us about, uh, a little bit about Puerto Rican Nocturne, what's it about, and, uh, and why it's so special to you.
3:38
Well, um- And the part you play. Puerto Rican Nocturne is basically the story of, of a situation that happened in Puerto Rico 44 years ago, actually July 25th. This is gonna be the 44th anniversary.
3:54
A group of independentistas, or, an activist who believed in the independence of Puerto Rico, were brought up to an area called Cerro Maravilla, where there were a lot of broadcasting stations,
4:08
uh, brought up there by a police informant, and basically, uh, they were murdered. Wow. It had many repercussions throughout the island.
4:18
It was kind, kind of became like little mini Watergate, because there was corruption involved, there was the police informants. There w- there were investigations by the FBI that, uh,
4:32
led to [laughs] quite a, quite a bit of arrest of, of police officials, and it became a, a, a sociopolitical flashpoint on the island. But
4:42
Puerto Rican Nocturne deals more with the two characters, which is the police informant- Mm-hmm... right?
4:51
And it, and the mother of one of the people that was murdered up there, and it basically deals with their points of view and, and dealing with the personal issues that, that, that involve grief, that involve, uh, dealing with, with that grief and, and, and, and then sometimes
5:14
losing your, your, uh, will, which happens to, to both characters, and you're looking at it from their perspective. My character is a composite of, of many characters, I guess, in, in the s- in the system itself.
5:30
Mine is Captain Morales. Basically, he is the man that recruits, uh, the police informant. His n- his name was Alej- Alejandro Malave, uh, Gonzalez, and he was recruited as a teenager, right?
5:47
Basically fresh out of high school, and he was a staunch statehooder and everything else. And basically he, he has this incredible belief, right? Mm-hmm.
5:59
That what he's doing, no matter what it is, it's, it's correct, and that thing begins to be chipped away a little bit more and more- Uh, once this incident at Cerro Maravilla occurs.
6:12
Uh, on the other side, there's the mother. Uh, oh, by the way, Alejandro is played by, uh, Diego Estrada. There's a little photo of him right here. Oh, all right. Couldn't get him to come, so I brought his picture.
6:25
And, uh, the mother is played by Paula Miranda, both excellent actors.
6:30
And, and Paula's character as the mother, sh- you can see her going through all these catharsis of losing a son, of sometimes of, of points losing her beliefs in the struggle itself, and all of these things that intertwine them and that separate them, but at the same time, there's, there's all this, there's all this catharsis that goes on that you can, you can see where these characters kind of meld, right?
7:00
Okay. And then blow apart. Uh, so i- i- it's a very intense murder mystery drama, and, uh, I, I really hope that people will come and see it. We had an excellent opening. Nice. Uh, Le, Le, Le Cho- Le Chonería,
7:18
um, Boricua, uh, they, uh, they, uh, handled the food. Nice. We had a lot of Puerto Rican food on opening night. Oh, I love it, yeah. And so- So it just opened Aug- uh, August 5th. And we opened August 5th. Okay.
7:30
We have like five, six performances left. Okay. Uh, Thursdays, Fridays, uh, Saturdays, and then, uh, we have matinee- Okay... performances on Sunday. And it finishes up on the 21st.
7:42
Uh, w- yeah, the last performance- So... will be on the 21st. Okay, so we've got, uh, two weekends left- Yeah, two weekends left... to get out and see it. Yeah. And it's interesting, right?
7:52
Like I said, because of the political situation [laughs] in Puerto Rico, it's interesting that the play opens up at a time when [laughs] last week the ex-governor of Puerto Rico,
8:05
uh, Wanda Vázquez, was arrested for corruption. [laughs] So like, it's like things continue to evolve- Yeah... you know, on the island. I got involved because back in 2019 I, I wanted to, uh, to do a, a play
8:23
and play a Puerto Rican. I have... I'm, I'm from New York, originally born in New York, Puerto Rican family, my parents from, from Santurce.
8:32
And, uh, the teatro has provided me a lot of, a lot of outlets to, to do work and it, and do the stories of Latinos. We did a couple of plays actually- Mm-hmm...
8:42
Puerto Rican plays, and in 2019 I wanted to do, uh, uh, another one.
8:48
I wound up meeting, uh, Jonathan Marc Antoni and, uh, traveling to Colorado Springs to do this part back in, uh, 2019 in the winter and then in, in, uh, the beginning of, uh, of, uh, 2020.
9:05
But the play never opened thanks to COVID. Okay. Yeah. [laughs] Luckily, the dream, uh, was still there with Jon.
9:14
He was able to get some s- uh, some assistance and support from IDEAS Stage, that's Inclusion, Diversity, Equality, Access on Stages, and Sojourn Projects, and Control Group and Sasquatch Group.
9:29
All these, all these people have been supporting us, and of course The Bug Theatre, and we were finally able to put it on.
9:37
And karma is so interesting because I was traveling up there to Colorado Springs [laughs] to do it, an hour and a half. Yeah. And now I'm, it's five minutes from my house. [laughs] Isn't that wonderful? [laughs] I...
9:49
It's incredible. It's just incredible. Yeah. Karma works out sometimes. [laughs] It does. It does. So the, the play, is it, uh, historically accurate? Is that what you'd call it?
9:58
Well- I mean, this took place in the late '70s, right? Yeah. It, it took place in, in, uh, '78, and- 1978... w- what I, what, what Jon basically did is, uh, he got really interested in this story- Mm-hmm... and
10:13
he noticed, I guess, that a lot of the story just dealt with the men, the men and what was going on at that time, and he really gives a lot of, lot of emphasis on the female parts.
10:26
There's the mother and the things that she's going through, and there's another character who is the, the girlfriend/wife.
10:33
Well, they call him Gonzo, but, uh, Alejandro the, the police informant, and her name is Maricarmen. And
10:41
he gives these, these women, like, such a, such a voice in the play, um, that it shows the aspects of, you know, she was with this guy but didn't know him, and, and, and it's, it's that struggle between them, you know?
10:56
Mm-hmm. Because she met him under circumstances where she thought he believed in independence, and then come to find out he works for the, he works for the police, you know?
11:06
And so this conflict that, that happens in their relationship. So I really, uh, thank Jon for, for bringing those aspects 'cause he's got some very strong women, women roles in this play. Well, I'm excited to see it.
11:21
We're, we're coming this weekend, so. I hope everybody out there will come to see this play. Yeah. It's, uh- Really.
11:26
You need to, uh, you need to go out and support The Bug Theatre and, uh, support all these, uh, all, all these theater actors. You guys are... Put this show together, and it's been a lot.
11:36
[laughs] It's been now a couple years in the running to get, to get to this stage. Yeah.
11:40
Well, this, and this project, I, I know is, it's been Jon's, uh, Jon's love for a long time, so I, uh, I, I, I remember one time sitting in, during the rehearsal saying, "Look, man, your, your baby's getting born finally, bud."
11:55
[laughs] Yeah. He, he was, he's beaming, you know, so I'm, I'm glad to see that. I, you know, people should come out and support local theater here in Denver.
12:04
We have a lot of local really good plays, and I, I have been blessed to be able to, to participate in a lot of this. Yeah. And thank you for this opportunity. No, you're very welcome. Thank you for coming down.
12:18
And, uh, get your tickets to Puerto Rican Nocturne. You can do that online. Uh, in fact, you can go to puerto ricanocturne.com.
12:28
You can go to Puerto Rican Nocturne, or you can, or, or you can go to the, to The Bug Theatre website and also get tickets. Oh, yeah. Uh, uh, Puerto Rican Nocturne- Done at Ticket Spice is what it is...
12:40
Ticket Spice, yeah Yeah, ticketspice.com. Ticketspice.com. So and then I'll throw the link up, too, in our, uh, in our notes, our show notes here. Appreciate it.
12:46
So if anyone wants to go out and see the show, uh, they can do it.
12:50
Got, uh, through, uh, August 21st to get over to The Bug Theatre, which is at 37th and Navajo, to see Puerto Rican Nocturne and get to see Angel Mendez-Soto, great theater actor, and of course my great neighbor.
13:05
[laughs] So Boricuas out there, [Latin music] [laughs] That's awesome. All right. Thanks. Thanks for coming down. Thank you. That's our show for this week. Thank you so much for listening to Denver Wine Radio.
13:22
Your homework for the week is to go out and taste some Colorado wine.
13:27
If you have any questions or comments, or just wanna let us know what you're drinking, go to denverwineradio.com, where you can email us or leave us a voice message. We'd love to hear from you.
13:38
And remember, put some altitude in your glass.
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