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San Juan Bautista resident Estrella Esparza-Johnson is directing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “In the Heights,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s first stage play, and the first-ever production by Cabrillo Stage with a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color) cast.
“Andrea Hart, the artistic director of the Stage, was looking at the history of what we have presented,” Esparza-Johnson said. “She asked herself, “Why is there nothing here that reflects the community of the students that I encounter daily here at Cabrillo?”
Miranda, better known for authoring the musical Hamilton, premiered In the Heights in 2005. It was the first Latino musical ever presented on Broadway. The musical won four Tony Awards during its initial run, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
“It chronicles the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York,” Esparza-Johnson said, “It’s an uptown neighborhood that has historically been an immigrant settlement community that went through a foreclosure, economic and gentrification crisis.”
According to Esparza-Johnson, the play takes place over three days and centers on three businesses: a bodega, a family-run car service and a beauty salon, with a theme of defining what is a family and a home.
“It is a wonderful fusion of hip-hop and Latin rhythms,” she said, “so our version really leans into Afro-Latinidad of the place and the people.”
The production is choreographed by Chris ”Boogy” Marcos, who has been involved with dance for over a decade, working with artists such as Macy Gray, Bobby Brown and the Black Eyed Peas.
“I am so honored and humbled to be able to return to my home community,” Marcos said. “This beautiful work inspires and starts conversations to create change and challenges the way traditional theater practices work.”
Marcos said that he wanted to take the show in a different direction from previous productions and start from scratch.
“The hardest part,” he said, “was getting all of the old choreography from previous productions out of my body and brain. All of the movement and vocabulary for this production is brand new.”
Another challenge was that most of the ensemble had never danced before, a conscious choice in casting by Esparza-Johnson.
“Very early on,” Marcos said, “I challenged the cast to ‘be great.’ The cast took on that challenge and worked hard to get to where they are now. The blood, sweat, tears and heart that this cast put into their work and the trust they gave me to guide them there was truly inspiring.”
Esparza-Johnson said that the audience response to the diverse cast has been overwhelming.
“We have received rousing standing ovations every show,” she said. “There are audience members coming up and saying. ‘I feel so represented; I’ve never seen myself up there on stage the way I see it here.’”
Six performances of “In the Heights” are scheduled between Aug. 1 and 4, including a Saturday matinee. Tickets are available through Cabrillo Stage.
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