May 1, 2025 • 56 mins
Daphne Rubin-Vega, a true Broadway icon, actor, singer, producer, wife, and mother who's lived many lives and still keeps evolving.
Daphne gets real about her journey — from arriving in the U.S. alone from Panama at just 3 years old, to becoming a defining force on the Broadway stage as the original Mimi Marquez in RENT. We dive into how playing a troubled sex worker and addict etched a lasting (and sometimes complicated) association between her and the character, especially back home in Panama.
We talk about de todo: Latinos in acting bonding together, dealing with imposter syndrome as part of the '90s girl group Pajama Party (which was made for Latinos, but not by us), and the importance of representation that’s authentic.
She also shares behind-the-scenes gems from her time in In the Heights, how her one-woman show Empanada Loca became the inspiration for The Horror of Dolores Roach, and why she’s excited to bring her energy to Shakespeare in the Park this summer.
It’s raw, powerful, and deeply inspiring — just like Daphne.
💬 Tap in and hear how one of Broadway’s most iconic voices has always been more than the role she played.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to another episode of Grassias Come Again. Today, I
am sitting down with the very talented and special Daphne
ruben Vega, Broadway star, actor, singer, dancer, one woman show
icon legend. Oh my god, I'm so excited to have
you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hi, Honey, how are you feeling today?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm good, feeling good. You look amazing. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I love the pin.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I knew you were going to come with some type
of swag. I was like, she's got that.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know, she got that vibe. It's the Year of
the Snake, is it? Oh? I thought that was just Kabali.
I was like, no, it's not.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But we're going to get into that guitar campaign because
I'm like, I was like.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Am I in a rabbit hole right now watching these videos? Yeah?
It's pretty crazy, isn't it? It is? Now.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I always like to start from the beginning. I like
to treat interviews like, if you know the person listening,
this is the first time they're getting to know you.
Born and raised in I mean born in Panama, raised
in New York.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yes, born in Panama, raised you know by wolves all
over the world. Not over the world, No, no, no,
I should I should say in the United States, Washington,
d C. And New York and New York.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
You came here when you're two years old three.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Sola, you know you know by Sola, I mean my
my mother and father were going through stuff and my
mom put me on a plane because my aunt and uncle,
(01:50):
her sister and brother in law, were in Washington, d C.
He worked in the embassy, so she thought it was
a good idea to leave me, you know, put me
in their charge like family does for three months, and
that became three years.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And you've done some amazing, amazing things in these past
forty years.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Thank you forty wow.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And I know I know you say raised by wolves
and raised all over America. I know you lost your
mom at a very young age.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, did you stay with Chathia? No by that time.
And by raised by wolves, I'm just being facetious. You
know you are. New York City is a big fat wolf.
It's a good one. But no, by the time my
mom passed, she had remarried. So my stepfather raised us,
my brothers and I okay, you know, yeah, Jewish American
(02:50):
born in the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I heard you talk about him in an interview and Leonard, he.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Has some gems.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I heard you talk about, you know, things that he
told you, and I'm like, I wish my dad would
have told me all those things.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, my dad was and he was you know, when
you're white, you're called eccentric. He was crazy, No, he was.
He was a wonderful sort of an intellectual to a fault, okay,
you know, like he uh yeah, and he was just
(03:26):
you know, a beautiful, you know, problematic, complicated us wounded,
Yes it is. And you know some of us are thicker,
some of us are just like a quicker, you know
all the things. Now, I was listening to your music
last night. I was like, I know all these songs.
(03:46):
I know all this music.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It's like, how did this How did this escape me?
Because I've been seeing you on TV and I've never
made the correlation.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
You know, what's interesting when you say you've heard my songs, Like,
there's so many different categories of that pajama party and
then pajama party. There's rocky horror, and then there's.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
No not Broadway. I'm talking pajama Oh, pajama party.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I was like, I know this song.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I was like, like, I knew it worked for word.
I was like, I would have never put two and
two together. But then I went I started watching all
of your content, like in the past week, and I
was just like, this is interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You've lived many lives. I have, I sure have. I
appreciate that you out that you you point that out
because it's the truth and it's just what can happen
if you don't die, I mean, and I mean that
in the best of ways. You know, some of us
(04:46):
don't make it. Uh, and as heartbreaking as it is
those of us who do, you know, it's good to
represent whatever that means to us.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And I feel connected with you in a way because
I heard you talk about how you've outlived your mom. Now, oh,
same way, I've outlived my dad. And when my dad passed,
I thought he was an old man and he was like,
how is that for you? He was like forty. I'm like,
now I'm thinking back, and I'm like, my dad was
a young man, Like he didn't get to live his
(05:23):
life right. And I connected with you when you said
that because you were like, I've outlived my mom.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Now, let me ask you, how did you feel when
you hit forty did you have like a like a
like a you know, like a I was gonna say,
but I know, was it like a moment? No? I
think I think what happened was like I was just
like I always thought Dad was old. Dad was not old.
(05:49):
Dad was a young man. He just lived a rough life.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, you know, New York can do that to you.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, and who knows what was going on when you know,
our our our folks were working and you know the
stuff that they were exposed to, I mean legit in
the environment. Like for example, my mother being a nurse
at New York hospital, she was obgyn like she was
head had nurse. I always love to say that because
(06:17):
because that's a big deal. It is a big deal.
And I remember not understanding like the adversity she had
to go through pedro, you know what I mean, you
know all the stuff that we could be you know,
toxic elements in the environment, legit toxic stuff like when
you work at a hospital.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So it's just like, you don't know. With my father,
it was deeper.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It was substance abuse, yeah, you know, alcohol. It was
just the nineties, it was just you know, it was
that era. Yep, he was young and reckless.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And I was like, I feel her on that. It's
like we think our parents were old and they weren't.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, I'm like a kid now.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I feel I still feel super young at forty. Yeah
I'm not forty. I was forty and now it's like
it's not borrowed time, but it's you know, I get
spoiled and I don't think about it like everybody else,
But it truly is good to talk about it with
somebody and maybe if if we need to say it
(07:21):
hard enough, somebody out there needs to hear it, because
we do survive that shit. We do and I didn't
think I could. At the Temple yadistants, Yeah, that too,
you know time.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know, I've been through trauma, trauma that I thought
I wouldn't make it out of, and I'm like now
I'm looking back and I'm like, I made it. But
that day when that's happening, you feel like this is
your darkest moment. You feel like you'll never be yourself again.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You will be Yeah, like even sometimes to the point
of like there's so many messages out there that are like,
you know, why don't you just do game over? Like
the world is so easy to just to click off
and let me ask you, haven't those experiences actually like
(08:13):
recycled into some experience that you can give to someone else.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Oh no, My My deepest and darkest experience was suffering
a stroke.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I was in bed.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I couldn't walk.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Do your listeners know about this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I don't talk about it all the time because I
don't want it to be part of my identity. Of course,
because of you know, kind of like it, because it's
not kind of like the pity and like stuff that
people want.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
To project on you.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
And I couldn't walk.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I to learn how to walk all over again. And
now I life coach. I became a life coach just
because of that. And when I have my clients and
they're talking to me and they're talking to me about
things are hard, I'm like, learning how to walk again
is hard.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You got this.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
We're gonna make you want to switch jobs. That's easy, baby,
we got this.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So yeah, you know, my biggest form of trauma, I
made sure I turned it into you know, a way
that I can help people. And I set myself as
an example and I'm like, listen, I lost complete control on.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
My left side.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
If I was able to work back to walking, to
traveling to working.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You can handle whatever God is put in front of you.
I'm a god for you, a woman. I believe God
kept me here for a reason, and it's to let
people know that no matter how deep in the dirt
you feel like you are, you can make it out.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's all up here.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I was like, I'm gonna walk again, I'm gonna run again,
I'm gonna work again, I'm gonna travel again. Like it
was just like granted, I had a lot to live
for because you know.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
With with older fol family.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah I was married.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, yeah, no, no today that said we're gonna come back.
We're gonna come back, and you know exactly, it's just.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Like you snuck up on me. M hmm.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
But I'm not gonna stay down, you know. I see
it as like a boxing match. You have twelve rounds,
right I yeah, who stays down on the first round?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
You don't? Right? I probably would, but not in life.
I don't want to get my ask, not the fy,
not the theay.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You need that that's the money maker, right, Oh my god?
But but yes, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Absolutely we've been through some things. Daphne, Yes, girl, that
you're like, I had to learn how to walk again.
I am doing Shakespeare in the Park this summer. I
saw that. I saw that I'm gonna come. Yeah, it's
gonna be fun, but I have a torn meniscus. Oh,
so let me just tell the world that, like, I'm
(10:48):
gonna if I have to be like a hobbling Mariah
is she gonna hobble on that stage and she's gonna
incorporate it into her character. Of course, however, I'm not
really thinking about doing that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
But I thought, it's gonna get back. You're gonna get back.
You're gonna you're gonna be walking the same way you
used to walk before.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, whatever it is, you're gonna do it. Whatever it is.
If you need another silicone, whatever you need, if you
need cement, epoxy, anything, you get that shot. And then
after the you know, the run, I might just have
to get any replacement. You know.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
The body kind of like starts to trick us and
it starts to go one before, So you had one before. Yeah, Oh,
you're sounding like Lisa Lisa right now.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
She had both her knees. She did. Yeah, we need
to talk to me and Lisa Lisa. By the way,
were you at that performance? I was, yeah, I was.
Were you singing all cried out? I'm still singing all
cried out.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
She's such a legend, She's such an icon.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I was sitting right behind her, Oh you were.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I was on the other side, and you know, my
husband was like, Lisa, Lisa's there, Lisa Lisa's day, and
I'm like really, he said, yeah, she has the little
hat on, and I was far, like straight across, but
she's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We could talk about her forever.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
But yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Know, I just felt like, you know, Liza was amazing,
David was amazing, Judy Torres case seven, like it just
all came together so perfectly, and it it just identifies
with us so purely, like the music, the time, the clubs.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
You know, it's amazing, like if you live long enough,
so this is the amazing thing of living many lives.
I have been in a theater company with Judie Reyes
and Thees, Liza Cologne, David zayis a whole bunch of
that possing.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You guys are like, you guys have like your own
breakfast club situation going on. I love it kind of yeah, yeah, yeah,
is this what Labyrinth Labyn Theater Company. You're one of
the founders, right, Well, I.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Was there in like ninety two. Okay, I like to
call myself a founding member, but originator, I was one
of the early ones. But I legit, you know that
I was asked to join, So I guess that that
means I wasn't. I wondered.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I'm like, how is it that they all work together
and they're all because we as a unit?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Because back in the day when we were studying and
loving to do this craft that we do, so you
all know each other since you're young kids. Well yeah,
I mean I love that, you know. I remember one
juncture we were like yeah, no, but we were all
that young, and it's like, now that we look back,
it was like, yeah, we were like we're kids. We
were pretty god damn young thirty years So yeah, we
(13:33):
were young. And we were auditioning for you know, Death
and the maiden projects that were going to be on
and off Broadway that were considered Latino content, that were
Latino content written and or had Latino actors, and auditioning
(13:54):
was very, very hopeful and and you know regular act
you know, the actors the norm would get it. So
it was like, you know, you can study this, but
you can't be in it. So that's how the Latino
Actors base started. It was at Intar that was a
Latino based theater company. We were intrepid. We just people wrote,
(14:20):
you know, Stephen Geergez. Anybody that was had a little
melanin or melanin adjacent or tambing. You know, there was
you know, white kids everybody, right, I mean Philip Seymour
Hoffman was a huge part of that posse for a while.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
If you love the culture and you're here for it,
yeah you welcome it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah. So so to see going from pajama party to
seeing Lab members pay homage to freestyle at music was
really beautiful.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Now, Mimi Marquez, yes, do you get tired of talking
about you know, Brent and everything? Because I'm like, oh
(15:17):
my god, I wonder if she's talked about this so
much and she's like, I hope she doesn't bring it up,
or is it still so important and dope to you
that you'll have a conversation with anyone who brings it up.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Now, I have, I have been gotten sick of it,
But you know it's so long ago that not anymore
it's really weird to but not weird. But it's always
kind of curious to see how how people have absorbed
it this much later, I just wanted to say one
more thing about Pajama Park, and I don't know, it's
on my heart to give it to me. It was
(15:49):
a strange experience watching the play, yeah, and knowing that
George wrote it like and the whole posse like bronx.
It's a bronx worn. It wasn't even part of you know,
we weren't quite hip a yeah, that kind of niche thing,
(16:11):
and but that made from you know, the two turntables
and the microphone in the basement with the blue lights.
Minimal and Pajama Party was not that though. Pajama Party
a la franca was something made sort of for us,
(16:31):
but not by us. It was made you know, lament
Ente your nose were the only three lyrics in Spanish.
And I was the blonde a white woman, yes, okay,
I just want to be straight on. Next like was
the you know, as were the subsequent brunettes, you know
(16:54):
what I mean, So like we were and so when
I was listening to the show and watch like the
Fabulous you know, and it was like the Bronx, the Bronx,
and it was like, Okay, I grew up in Greenwich Village. Okay,
you know there was Long Island, there was Brooklyn, there
(17:16):
was Queens, there was New Jersey Bronx. Let's just keep
that really clear. And so I'm honored to be part of,
you know, the culture. I'm honored, But it feels like
there's a little imposter syndrome. I was going to say
(17:37):
the word.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I'm like, do you feel like like, yeah, no, But
it was my label, the group itself.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Is that what? Yeah? It was? It was and I
and you know, now, like thirty years later, it was
like I was legit the ubiquitous urban element, I feel.
And I just need to say that because her boss. Yeah,
(18:02):
and so that aspect really gave me credible education, Like
to watch the other sisters and brothers doing that thing
was better than any university I could have imagined. So
that allowed me to go on to to Rent And
(18:22):
I'll tell you, I told Betty that Betty was a
huge inspiration in building the character of Mimi.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Mimi felt soberbious or you it was just like the
whole thing, just like.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That, Betty. But yeah, you know, just the prance saying
there was something prancier but I don't know that's that
sounds like a toy way of describing it. But just
the and the vivacity, the life force coming out of her,
you can feel.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It just felt like raw ingredy and just kind of
like rellious.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, feel like I feel like they came from you,
and I've I've seen rent on Broadway, but it's just like,
I don't know. When I was watching you back, it
just felt different. It just felt like you had this
firing you what were you going through? It just felt
so like strong.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, before Jonathan Larson died, I was going through a
lot of like I was just like a puppy, you know,
like I'm on the stage doing the damn thing, and
like tell me where to go, what to do, and
I'm with people that I trust in the theater, you know.
Michael Greif was, you know, just I loved working with
(19:34):
him and the entire cast. We were really really blessed.
We were truly truly like but after Jonathan died, because
I think I was angry. I knew that the piece
was good and that I loved it, and I came
to represent me. HINTI people, you know, like somebody that
(19:57):
looks like me is up here doing.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
That and that doesn't happen a lot, and it.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Doesn't happen a lot. And it was interesting because I got,
you know, a very loud and enthusiastic gay love crowd.
As far as Latina women, I think that they were
quieter or maybe I know that some of them were
like that's not me, you know, but seen in Bargo,
(20:24):
you know, I make it a but the rebellious part
was knowing people that lived like Mimi growing up in
the village, very sex worker, junkie with AIDS adjacent, you
(20:46):
know it. It was a reality and it was like,
I'm going to make this this sort of demonized filthy
Pulta into a really beautiful human being. The Panama No,
there's it's just like there's something very difficult about that
(21:08):
subject matter. I think that, you know, the young people
are definitely starting to go like it's time as far
as what goes just the conservativism of AIDS, homosexuality, Uh,
I feel like a lot of sex work, we drugs,
(21:31):
it's very.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
You know, it exists.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Let's say in Dominican Republic, you know, we have you know,
sex workers. You know, sometimes it's like all the time,
it's like, oh, guys, trip the women, the sex workers
are like okay, do you think do you think? But yeah,
the people that are in the island, let's say, the politicians,
let's say are leaders, they.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Don't want that to be part of our identity.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, okay, that's fair.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
They want to hide it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I mean I think that like, do the Netherlands have
sex work and sure as their identity? Oh, not as
it their identity. But they are there well of course,
but they're taken care of, you know what I mean.
You know, and if I'm speaking out of pocket, you know,
let me know. But I think that we don't have
to incorporate. But that's the thing. In other words, I
(22:16):
went to Panama and it was like, oh, it's your identity,
and it's like, no, it's not. It's a role that
I play. So it's interesting in Panama. I think that
a lot of the yeah or just you know, denial.
You know, I think it's changing. I know, she you know,
(22:44):
I thought I don't even have to go to Panama.
I can stay right here and talk to you know,
girlfriends and they're like why honey.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
But it's just like at this point your career is
so you know, like the length of your career and
the amount of roles that you've played. Like when I
was looking at your IMB and D, I'm like, what
is this the amount of work that you have done? Congratulations?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Like have you always existed in the actor space? That's it?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Have you ever had one job.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
That wasn't like acting?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Like, did you one day be like, oh my god,
I'm gonna have to work here at this store?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Oh god, thank god? Not since I started acting? No, God, blessed,
thank you, thank you. Yes, but that's also to be
frank because I'm I'm a married woman and I have
a husband that has a job. Yes, husband, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I have a husband that has a job. And in
the very very few and far between times that you know,
(23:43):
that wasn't the case. I was you know, we were good,
We were good. Thomas held it down. Yeah, he did.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Me, lay on me, he said, not that memoir. I'm
now you were a mom, Luca.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yes, yes, how does he twenty? Sorry, buddy, I just
put you on. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Twenty
is young. Listen, now we know young, right. You know
I have a hard time calling him. You know, if
I say the word b o y, that's a problem.
That's that's it, that's it. It's but yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
But I'm like, you know what, you're my you know, no, no, well,
(24:23):
you know, when he turns twenty one, then maybe I'll
give myself a you know, that's never been a credit
card swipe every time I say, boy.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
That's gonna be my baby, that's gonna be your baby
ever ever.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
My sister, she calls her her son is twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
She's like, because you know, we do it for the kids.
I'm like, those are girl up kids. But she'll never
stop saying the kids, Yeah, they're the kids. Yeah, you're
a dog mom too, right now, Yes, I'm a dog mom.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I say, I have a crazy mini golden Doodle's.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Can you take him on the plane? Absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I don't think he'll behave he's a pop I feel definitely.
He's only two two years old.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, and he goes to a car ride and'll be
that day.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I wanted to take them to Miami. You know, we
had to do we had to drive to Miami because
we didn't trust him on a plane.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Okay, okay, that's fair. That should tell you how crazy
he is. Okay, there's the thing. And you know I'm
not about it because it's like if you have eight
thousand dollars but bark, bark air, bark air people. Okay,
that's free advertising. Bark hair. Cut the check. Yeah, you
can take your damn dog and like, you know, sign
(25:34):
up for like we want to go to DR on twelve.
Like who wants to go to DR on the twelve?
All want to bring their dog and then we'll all
fly to d R with our dogs. That's the premise.
Little I don't think they're going to d R yet.
I'm gonna look, I'm gonna look into this. They're probably
just going to La Dubai. But better right, you're not
(25:55):
necessary thing. Bark here and get it. But Miami know
that take this ride with me. Gas dog and he's
for today is Oystin oh I S T I N.
He's named after Oystin's on the Bay in Barbados. It's
(26:19):
it's a joint. It's like you know this fabulous place,
it's a bar restaurant exactly.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
You fell in love with that place.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, my son fell in love. We all fell in
love with that place. It's the best fish fry. You know.
It's just a hoot and holler in time and Barbados.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
You know, she said, where did his name come from?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
So my son just called him Oystin and everyone goes,
I don't like that name, and it's different.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
I've never heard it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
But you know, happy birthday to Oyston. Thank you. We
call him oyster because he's gray.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I thought that's what you were gonna say, oyster.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, you can absolutely call him oyster. Now, movies, let's talk.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I like it like that.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I love that movie r Villas.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
She is I need to talk to her.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Do people tell you that you resemble Lauren and Lorraine.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I get Tessa Thompson.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
That's what I testa too, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
I get that one.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And Rita Aura she's like a uk Aura. Yes I
get her. But yeah, no, I like it.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Like you're all from the same sort of I bet
you you're.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
All related, kind of like the little vibe.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
There's the there's a tapestry. We're all entwined. You know.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
It's becaz now that you're speaking like this, Like I
loved Dolorius Roach.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That was one of my favorite shows, and I'm like,
when I was looking as she was the Boys, Yes,
the Horror of Dolorus Roach podcast or rather, you know
this show on Amazon was based on the podcast on
Gamblet Spotify, and that was based on a solo show
(27:59):
called Panda Loa, which was a solo thing. So Pana
led to Doors Road. Yes, never, you're lying to me.
I not lying. I'm how are you kidding? The whole I.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Mean the I was obsessed with that show. Did you
see I've watched parts of it. I didn't see the
whole thing that was your one woman show.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yes, at the Labyrinth the Oh my god, this is
all making sense now. Yeah. H So where that brings
us to is writing another piece that's like that? Oh really? Yeah.
I enjoyed it so much.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
It was just so different and like so like I
identified with it so much.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And when they were like when I'm getting on another seas,
I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, come on.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I need this in my life because I don't really
connect to a lot of shows.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
You wanted another season? Oh yes I did.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It was just like, you know, I love Justina, I
love you know the concept. I'm like, oh my god,
I put everybody on my mother in law, my sister.
I'm not saying, you know, they didn't give it the
show and they were like, ah, I'm like, listen, if
you're listening right now and you're looking for something to watch,
you know, especially New York centric, Latino centric. There's Dominicans,
there's Puerto Ricans, there's Panadas. And it's shot in New
(29:16):
York because for me that is super important as a
born and raised New Yorker.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, it's based in New York, but I ain't gonna
nic it's shot in Toronto. It looked good. Thank you.
Oh my god, I take absolutely no credit. Yeah, oh good,
I'm glad. I'm glad. But yes, it's based. It's a
New York based story. It felt like New York. Yeah.
Well the the podcast on Spotify is hell of Fire. Also,
(29:43):
oh I'm gonna have to bringe that now. Yeah, that's
got two seasons. Actually, do you voice it? I voice
it with Bobby Cannavale and Margaret Cho and Richard Kind.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Bobby that's my guy from Boardwalk Empires.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I loved him in that show. Yeah, and he was.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
In David this is in it actually, and I'm sold
you you don't even have to tell me.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, there's a whole lot of.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Badass, mo' I'm gonna binge it. Listen, guys, I know
you listening to us. That's come again the podcast right now.
But I feel like there's still room for you to
explore other podcasts, especially if they're led by other latinos.
And you know, it's it's content that's created for us
and we must consume it in order for it to
continue to be created and to continue to exist. What's
(30:40):
the name of the podcast, full name, The Horror of
Dolores Roach Roach, Dolores Roach. I feel like I want
to revisit everything about this now that I have this this.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Well, you know the element that was missing like in
the TV show, which is which is like a much
more shall I say, sanitized version of the other one.
So so the TV show is above ground and the
podcast is literally underground, like she has to live underground
(31:17):
after all the things that she does. And you know
the underground New York system, but did you know that
there's a lot of that during the depression there, you know,
rich people on Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue built subway
systems right under Park and Fifth specifically so that they
(31:41):
would never have to go above ground because you know,
you don't want to do that. Lidtle little They were
like golden you know, toilets. Yeah, there's like marble candelabra,
you know, not the cand marble floors and crystal candelabras
and pianos and there was a whole swag down there.
(32:03):
I'm sure that something's happened to it by this time.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
But just to know that it existed, like you were
putting me on yes, now in the Heights. Did you
see In the Heights on Broadway?
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yes? So did I. It was just so spectacular. And
when Limau Miranda decided to bring this to the big screen.
I was like, yeah, yeah, we were happy.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
How did you end up connected with this project?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Kiyata Alda Hudis who wrote the book Four in the
Heights and subsequently a lot of shows that I've done,
including a musical called Miss You Like Hell and two plays,
one called Daphne's Dive Not Relation and in My Broken Language.
(32:54):
She wrote a book called My Broken Language. Kiara is
a very good friend of mine. So yeah, it wasn't
nepotism shit. I auditioned a lot of people wanted to
do in the Heights.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
The hype behind that movie was yeah, insane.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Yeah, I mean the Pandemic really just stabbed it in
the heart in a way. But we shot in twenty
nineteen before we knew that there was gonna be anything.
But they see The Pandemic and it was legit the
best one of the best summers of my life. Just
(33:34):
making a film with that whole gang was super fabulous.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Salon, why you see me imre look, I feel like
I belonged there.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yes, you do, you did, You should have been there.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
It just felt so like Realeah, you know, in the
musical numbers and just the way everything was put together.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
It was just it just felt so authentically Latino. I
was like, this is really for us, Yeah, it really.
It really was a collaboration that was genuinely for us.
And I hope that one day whatever, you know, it
gets suck with ele you know, like somebody pulls it
out and like yeah, just a well in the sense
(34:17):
of like not not necessarily bringing it back because it's there,
it is. We can just always take it out and
appreciate it without all the can say okay, keb yeah,
you know, people didn't want to sit next to each other.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Look at I watched it on a plane. Actually you
were sitting next to people.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I was look at that. But I enjoyed it so much.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I was just like, it was like the best couple
of hours I've spent on a plane ever in life,
because usually I'm like, I hate this, change it. I
watched something and then I fall asleep, Like I stood
up the whole entire time, Like, kudos to everyone that
worked on that Pride.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
What about that Anthony almos Oh, he is amazing. Oosnabi
Snabby and Melissa and Leslie Corey Hawkins.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Come on listen. They were stellar, to say the least.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Not because I'm a Latina, not because I love I
love thatsh like, not because I love everyone. I feel
like this this is one of the best movies I've
ever watched. And I'm a musical girl, and I've been
probably to like thirty Broadway shows and I watched them
all on TV. But this just felt real authentic and
connected with me in a way that a lot of
(35:27):
things done.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Honestly, I think that it will stand the test of time,
No for sure, and you know, down the road a
piece when we're old and you know, when we're not
even here, it'll still be here and Pe'll be like, Wow,
that shit was good. You know, what do you watch
that's not related to you? Like, what are your shows?
Oh my god, you're gonna laugh. You're gonna think I'm
(35:51):
such a geek.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
No, no, no, I probably watch the same things.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I love YouTube really because I get to curate my
stuff and I you know, like I said, I'm writing
this other piece, so I get to do these deep
dives about certain times of history. So right now I
am hella into a People's History of the United States,
(36:18):
which is a huge book written by Howard Zinn. But
there's a YouTube of the book. It's not like the
book being written, but it's really much more about Howard
Zinn And what would have you know, a man at
that time write a book about, you know, not the
(36:41):
usual writers of history, but from the point of view
of those who usually are never mentioned, right, the rabbits
as as they're called, as opposed to the hunters. And
so there's that. And then I watched I watched old
(37:04):
black and White, like Alfred Hitchcock shows. I like the minimalness,
but they're really corny. I think they just reminded me
of when I was little in Panama and there was
this background noise, and it's amazing to see just the
kind of backward shit we grew up on. Oh well,
it's crazy. Was kantine Flass a thing in Panama? Yes,
(37:27):
Canteen Flah, My Wilita love.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I'll watch any kantein plus movie if it's plain, I'm
watching it because that was her guy.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
There was something. Yeah, there's something about watching a black
and white Kanteine Fluss that's like a lullaby, I know, right,
And he was just so sweet and it was just
so like wholesome the content. Did you guys, well, did
you guys watch Lada Corte? No? Oh my god, that
was something else.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
My grandmother used to love Charles Chaplin.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Charlie Chaplin was kind of that was her thing, genius.
She loved to be a hundred you can you can
only imagine how far back what I used to watch goes.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Wow. Yeah, yeah, my aunts they died it. She died
it ninety eight, the one I'm thinking of. And yeah,
it was amazing to hear her talk about the canal
and her father building the Panama Canal. That's been such
a like, you know, do we what do we do?
(38:27):
Are we here?
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Is it America? Is it Panama? It's just like I
feel like right now we're in the middle of something.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Where am I wrong? No, You're not wrong at all.
You know we've always been in something, we just haven't
been so aware. And you know things are as they
are right now. That like there's just a big it's
not a spotlight, it's like a cleague light. It's those
(38:53):
movie lights, yea from back in the night movie lights,
like the ones that like look at airplanes and stuff on.
And we have devices in our hands constantly telling us,
giving us information that we never ever had before. No,
(39:15):
before you were read about in a book. Yeah, there's
like the Encyclopedia Britannica. You know that joke. I mean,
it's not a joke. Or you'd have to go out
of your way to find out information, which was very
biased and very limited unless you wanted to go to
some Library of Congress and stuff. My mother used to
(39:39):
be very honest and proud, but sometimes people would say
where are you from? And she wouldn't say Panama, Colombia,
or are they say Cooba, Kiris, caguensa porky Nadi Nai
(39:59):
Malaria la Hula and I was like heartbroken, Like well,
it was also the canal building narratives. Yeah, the mentality
like I don't want to go build a canal. So,
like you know, all of us people from Jamaica and
Barbados and the West Indies and China and Italy, I
(40:20):
mean other places too, came to build the canal Miagolo.
And there was the myth of the silver people of Panama.
Have you ever heard of this? So the silver people
of Panama were the black people of Panama that came
(40:43):
to build the canal that were in the silver pavilions
of town as opposed to the gold pavilions. And then
my aunt told me that my grandfather died from lead
poisoning from painting the canal, and that because he was
fair skinned, they put him in the gold pavilion and
(41:06):
I was like, yeah, well that's where he belonged. But
then his wife, who was dark skinned, my grandmother, very melanated,
would come to visit him as his maid so that
he would keep his space. But his oldest son with
black black, dark skinned could not visit him because and
(41:30):
then when they discovered that it was his son, he
went to the silver pavilion. Yeah, and said Moodio, because
in silver pavilions they just didn't want to pay your pension,
so they would people didn't want to go to the
silver pavilion in Gorgas Hospital in the Canal Zone because
(41:53):
they would die in Segitha. I say all that to say, widow,
know what our ancestors did. I know that if my
ancestors built major shits. I know everybody in this room's
ancestors built major, major shits. And it's not just about color,
(42:16):
but it is about class. Yeah, but like we built it.
I needed to say that because it makes me really proud.
And I think that as a proud woman, she couldn't
own that, and that sucks. It's like, you know, I'm
proud to say it.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
By the map, it all these misconceptions that you guys have,
and you know, these labels that you have, you're not
allowing me to be proud of who I am the
way I want to be.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Yeah, but that's not new kill me, No, it's not.
That actually adds to a bigger question that we're not
just you know, like you know, there's all these questions
in my business about representation and well you can't really
play the role because you're not really this thing, you know,
(43:04):
and then we discover that, well, you're not that thing either.
You're an actor, I mean, like you know, guess what
we're supposed to act and and and pretend that we're
things that we aren't. But when you look at what
we are actually made of, it's like so many things.
(43:25):
We are, so not one thing that to be what
we are, there's like Scottish.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
So anyway that brings me, you know, I can tell
you this, Like I I was always like, I'm Dominican,
I'm Dominican. I'm Dominican until I did my twenty three
AE mean, and then I was I was Portuguese and Nigerian,
like one percent Dominican. I'm like, what is this? So
you know, it kind of like correlates directly with what
(43:53):
you're saying. It's like we're not just one thing. And
you're talking about roles, like playing roles that if you're
not that role, you shouldn't play it.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
That doesn't make any sense, right. It was like, oh, well,
you know, you're not really Mexican, and I'm like, better
just reactivities. And then I see my twenty three and me,
and it's like the fuck, I'm not like, wow, I'm Mexican.
It's almost like.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Listen, you seen Naponi at Kuana, Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
So for me, Latinos were all one, and you know,
like with Puerto Rican and Dominicans, it was as like, oh,
Puerto Ricans don't like Dominicans.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Dominicans on like Puerto Rican.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Guess what.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
I married to Puerto Rican and he loves the Dominican
and I love Puerto Rican. So it's kind of like
it's not a thing as far as like all of
our Spanish speaking countries. And I see a lot of actors,
you know, flip flop and I'm like, you're Puerto.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Rican, but you're in every Mexican year. What is going
on here? I'm trying to make some sunny That's what
it is. But yeah, yeah, all the all the I
think that I heard about that, I mean, we all
want to keep our proud identity. But if you put
us all in a building like put a him blow again,
like old school Panama, the Deep divees about turn of
(45:12):
the century, I'm obsessed. There's a there were two houses,
the Casa Mula and Casavaggio, for example. There were many others,
but we're like all the blacks from all the islands
like Guyana, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and we wanted to
keep our identities. But in order to have a community,
(45:35):
we had to work together, you know, Lo, Maximo, No.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
I want to talk about all as well in New York. Yes,
I loved that project. Now was that shot in New York?
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Because if you tell me if it wasn't, I'm gonna
be like, no, no, no, what can you tell? Can't
you tell? New York's a character and that piece.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
And you know, I love the story and I loved
how it was a story of sisters and even though
you were a sister in law, you still came through
as like a sister and you know everything about this project.
And I'd be listening to the episode right now. All
as well in the New York. I watched it on
Amazon Prime and I loved it. It was just like
(46:33):
the cast was amazing and your character. It was hard
watching Yeah, the way you know your daughter, Yes treated you.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
I'm like, are kids really like this? Do you have kids? No? Yeah,
well I have a son. I think it's completely different
when you have a son versus the daughter. Yeah. Probably
I knew that. I know that. I'm I couldn't have
been easy, you know, as you know, as challenging as
(47:04):
it as it is. With my son. It's like he's amore.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
You know, he's a piece of He's nothing like Connie.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
He's not Connie. Oh my god. When Connie was going
in on you, I was like, I know right, it
was right on cue. I was like, yeah, there you go,
right on time, right. I love I love working with
that crew. I mean, that's the lab right there. I
(47:34):
could tell ye. I was like, there it is. It's
the Labyrinth. And so we are family, you know. I mean, yeah,
we don't see each other for years and then you know,
you just get back right back into it, like, uh
so that's a beautiful thing. Who put this project together,
you know, Elizabeth and Ben Snyder. I think Elizabeth had
(47:55):
worked with Ben Snyder, the director and co writer with
Elizabeth Rodriguez. Elizabeth rod and Ben Snyder approached me, you know,
asking me if I wanted to collaborate on this project
where we got to build the story together based on
(48:20):
experiences we'd had that you came in early that we're
also adjacent, right, but things that we knew and then
just sort of giving them shape and recontextualizing them. For example,
like you know, for me, just like you know, the
(48:40):
boyfriend getting his puffy uh you know slashed. You know,
just stuff like that. That's like very New York in
the nineties, right. I was dying laughing.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
I was like, she's going she said that it is
ugly anyways and.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Nice yeah, and just cer conversations that are you know,
about nothing but so sort of poignant. You know, they
hit different. It definitely hit so the character, my character, Serene,
had an issue with her voice. I was gonna ask
you that. I'm like, what happened to Serene?
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Like, wow, us it is she acting like she doesn't
want to speak up. I couldn't really grasp what happened
to your character's voice.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
It was just went wait, yeah, it was some never
go away some but some are triggered by by trauma.
And when I heard that in the film, when I
hear bad news, you know, when shit gets really raw,
(49:49):
I start losing my voice. I was wondering.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
I'm like, but nothing happened. I'm like, all of a sudden,
you know Serene talks low.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
You know what happened was I got the news of
my ex husband's being in the hospital, and that's when
that's what triggers that.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
So this condition can be you know, that can be
triggered by it.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
It can be Yeah, never heard of this. There are
also many other things that might might trigger it, and
there's neurological and not neurological. But there was something that
was fascinating about how she spoke and tried to get
(50:34):
her words out and she had to be very careful
about it. So I think Ben Snyder thought that was interesting.
But then it kind of called too much attention to itself.
So we brought it down, We brought it, we modified.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
It, we scaled it. Yeah, attention now Desmond's storyline. You know,
we don't have to get into it.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
But for me, it close. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
You know it's just like you know, how no drugs alcoho,
how you can just you know kind of like ostracize
yourself from happiness, family and you.
Speaker 1 (51:11):
Know just kind of like close yourself off and end
up you know, wasting your life in a way. Yeah,
you know, the way this film was received, I don't
pay attention to to you know, reviews because as you should.
It doesn't know, but in a way it can. It
(51:32):
takes away, right. I really deplore expecting someone like making
you feel like, although I know that that's what we do,
I don't want to manipulate your feelings so much. It's
like you feel what you feel, right. People thought this
show the film was dark or like the shadow side,
(51:55):
like we're always flawed characters when we're real characters, and
it's like it was very real. Okay, what do you
mean though, Like like if we're not flawed, I'm not
interested in an unflawed and we're not interesting. Who's not flawed?
Speaker 3 (52:14):
Someone make him believe they're not flawed.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Yeah, that's a flaw right now.
Speaker 2 (52:21):
And you know all is I wanted it to be
a series, like I felt like I wanted more, even
when you know, when when the movie ended with you know,
you guys just at a table.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
Eating, I'm like, I was like, that's it.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
As I want more and I feel like, you know,
these types of projects where I feel so identified and
you know, it feels so relatable. I want more because
that's the same thing that happened to me, you know,
with Dolores Roach I was just like, I want more
of this, and I kept googling is it coming back?
Is there another season? You know, It's like, keep doing
(52:52):
what you're doing, man, because this is we need this,
you know, And it's the reason why I do this podcast,
because voices like yours need to be heard and stories
like yours need to be told. Because you've been representing
us since what nineteen, what ninety.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Three something like that, Yeah, like ninety ninety Yeah, I'm
a party's nineteen. Listen.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
You put in that work, and you know your body
of work is something that's you know.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
I was looking at us as this woman doesn't work
that ass off? So does she not take a break?
I there's yeah, no, I I take breaks. I'm not
really trying to prove anything. So you know, I don't
mind calling myself an artist. I'm not doing I do. Yeah,
(53:45):
I think I still have shit to say. Yeah, No,
I think that there's so many ways to communicate and
tell stories that we can relate to for us and
buy that aren't shaming, you know that. And it's not
(54:06):
like dark and it's not.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
Like sad, but it's real and that project was very
real and to me, it wasn't dark in anyway.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
It was like my family, Yeah, it was ellis sad.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
It was sad, but I feel like I've been through
so much that it was just like, Okay, yeah, I
know people went through this, so I know moms who
went through this.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
But what are you working on currently? Because I'm like
I was looking.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
I was a twenty twenty four, twenty twenty four, like
what are.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
You working on right now? Like what is your main priority?
Making sure my knee and my body is completely on
point for Shakespeare in the Park at the Dela Court
this summer, we're doing twelfth nights with Lupita and Yngele
and her brother Junior, and Sandra Oh and Peter Dinklish
(54:54):
and Jesse Tayler Ferguson and Bill camp in a whole posse.
Speaker 3 (54:59):
I saw that I was on the website. I was like,
this is gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
Yes, s Ali is directing, and it's gonna be the
opening up of the new refurbished Telecort Theater, so it's
gonna be on and popping.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
Listen we outside this summer. Yes, yes, nah man, this
this conversation. You know I wanted to have it, you know,
I've been seeing you for years. I admire you, and
I admire you know, just the freedom that you have
when you're acting. It just feels real. It just doesn't
feel like acting. It just feels like you're just doing
(55:35):
what you want to do.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
That's what people tell me. It's like, hmm, is that gee?
I wanna I wanna look like I don't want to
look like I'm acting, but yeah, like you look like
you're not doing anything, which means you're an amazing, amazing
actor because it just looks it just comes up so
so real. Man.
Speaker 3 (55:55):
I want to thank you, you know, for pulling up today,
taking this time and allowing me to be, you know,
in your space and getting.
Speaker 1 (56:01):
To know you. You're fantastic and you're my hero. I mean
for real, for real, come.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
On listen Latinas. We might get knocked down, but we're
not gonna stay on the ground. We're gonna get back up.
Speaker 1 (56:15):
We're gonna fight, Yallo, Savage. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
It's my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Daphne Ruben d ment bigger nobody, but thank you so
much for sitting down with me today.
Speaker 1 (56:32):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (56:33):
Keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
Glacia More This year Honest Grassiers Come Again. I will
Speaker 3 (56:43):
Graciers come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
and partnership with iheart's micro podcast network
Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to another episode of Grassias Come Again. Today, I
am sitting down with the very talented and special Daphne
ruben Vega, Broadway star, actor, singer, dancer, one woman show
icon legend. Oh my god, I'm so excited to have
you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hi, Honey, how are you feeling today?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm good, feeling good. You look amazing. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I love the pin.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I knew you were going to come with some type
of swag. I was like, she's got that.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know, she got that vibe. It's the Year of
the Snake, is it? Oh? I thought that was just Kabali.
I was like, no, it's not.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But we're going to get into that guitar campaign because
I'm like, I was like.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Am I in a rabbit hole right now watching these videos? Yeah?
It's pretty crazy, isn't it? It is? Now.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I always like to start from the beginning. I like
to treat interviews like, if you know the person listening,
this is the first time they're getting to know you.
Born and raised in I mean born in Panama, raised
in New York.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yes, born in Panama, raised you know by wolves all
over the world. Not over the world, No, no, no,
I should I should say in the United States, Washington,
d C. And New York and New York.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
You came here when you're two years old three.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Sola, you know you know by Sola, I mean my
my mother and father were going through stuff and my
mom put me on a plane because my aunt and uncle,
(01:50):
her sister and brother in law, were in Washington, d C.
He worked in the embassy, so she thought it was
a good idea to leave me, you know, put me
in their charge like family does for three months, and
that became three years.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And you've done some amazing, amazing things in these past
forty years.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Thank you forty wow.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And I know I know you say raised by wolves
and raised all over America. I know you lost your
mom at a very young age.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, did you stay with Chathia? No by that time.
And by raised by wolves, I'm just being facetious. You
know you are. New York City is a big fat wolf.
It's a good one. But no, by the time my
mom passed, she had remarried. So my stepfather raised us,
my brothers and I okay, you know, yeah, Jewish American
(02:50):
born in the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I heard you talk about him in an interview and Leonard, he.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Has some gems.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I heard you talk about, you know, things that he
told you, and I'm like, I wish my dad would
have told me all those things.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, my dad was and he was you know, when
you're white, you're called eccentric. He was crazy, No, he was.
He was a wonderful sort of an intellectual to a fault, okay,
you know, like he uh yeah, and he was just
(03:26):
you know, a beautiful, you know, problematic, complicated us wounded,
Yes it is. And you know some of us are thicker,
some of us are just like a quicker, you know
all the things. Now, I was listening to your music
last night. I was like, I know all these songs.
(03:46):
I know all this music.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It's like, how did this How did this escape me?
Because I've been seeing you on TV and I've never
made the correlation.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
You know, what's interesting when you say you've heard my songs, Like,
there's so many different categories of that pajama party and
then pajama party. There's rocky horror, and then there's.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
No not Broadway. I'm talking pajama Oh, pajama party.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I was like, I know this song.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I was like, like, I knew it worked for word.
I was like, I would have never put two and
two together. But then I went I started watching all
of your content, like in the past week, and I
was just like, this is interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You've lived many lives. I have, I sure have. I
appreciate that you out that you you point that out
because it's the truth and it's just what can happen
if you don't die, I mean, and I mean that
in the best of ways. You know, some of us
(04:46):
don't make it. Uh, and as heartbreaking as it is
those of us who do, you know, it's good to
represent whatever that means to us.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And I feel connected with you in a way because
I heard you talk about how you've outlived your mom. Now, oh,
same way, I've outlived my dad. And when my dad passed,
I thought he was an old man and he was like,
how is that for you? He was like forty. I'm like,
now I'm thinking back, and I'm like, my dad was
a young man, Like he didn't get to live his
(05:23):
life right. And I connected with you when you said
that because you were like, I've outlived my mom.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Now, let me ask you, how did you feel when
you hit forty did you have like a like a
like a you know, like a I was gonna say,
but I know, was it like a moment? No? I
think I think what happened was like I was just
like I always thought Dad was old. Dad was not old.
(05:49):
Dad was a young man. He just lived a rough life.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, you know, New York can do that to you.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, and who knows what was going on when you know,
our our our folks were working and you know the
stuff that they were exposed to, I mean legit in
the environment. Like for example, my mother being a nurse
at New York hospital, she was obgyn like she was
head had nurse. I always love to say that because
(06:17):
because that's a big deal. It is a big deal.
And I remember not understanding like the adversity she had
to go through pedro, you know what I mean, you
know all the stuff that we could be you know,
toxic elements in the environment, legit toxic stuff like when
you work at a hospital.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So it's just like, you don't know. With my father,
it was deeper.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It was substance abuse, yeah, you know, alcohol. It was
just the nineties, it was just you know, it was
that era. Yep, he was young and reckless.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And I was like, I feel her on that. It's
like we think our parents were old and they weren't.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, I'm like a kid now.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I feel I still feel super young at forty. Yeah
I'm not forty. I was forty and now it's like
it's not borrowed time, but it's you know, I get
spoiled and I don't think about it like everybody else,
But it truly is good to talk about it with
somebody and maybe if if we need to say it
(07:21):
hard enough, somebody out there needs to hear it, because
we do survive that shit. We do and I didn't
think I could. At the Temple yadistants, Yeah, that too,
you know time.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know, I've been through trauma, trauma that I thought
I wouldn't make it out of, and I'm like now
I'm looking back and I'm like, I made it. But
that day when that's happening, you feel like this is
your darkest moment. You feel like you'll never be yourself again.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You will be Yeah, like even sometimes to the point
of like there's so many messages out there that are like,
you know, why don't you just do game over? Like
the world is so easy to just to click off
and let me ask you, haven't those experiences actually like
(08:13):
recycled into some experience that you can give to someone else.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Oh no, My My deepest and darkest experience was suffering
a stroke.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I was in bed.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I couldn't walk.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Do your listeners know about this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I don't talk about it all the time because I
don't want it to be part of my identity. Of course,
because of you know, kind of like it, because it's
not kind of like the pity and like stuff that
people want.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
To project on you.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
And I couldn't walk.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I to learn how to walk all over again. And
now I life coach. I became a life coach just
because of that. And when I have my clients and
they're talking to me and they're talking to me about
things are hard, I'm like, learning how to walk again
is hard.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You got this.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
We're gonna make you want to switch jobs. That's easy, baby,
we got this.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So yeah, you know, my biggest form of trauma, I
made sure I turned it into you know, a way
that I can help people. And I set myself as
an example and I'm like, listen, I lost complete control on.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
My left side.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
If I was able to work back to walking, to
traveling to working.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You can handle whatever God is put in front of you.
I'm a god for you, a woman. I believe God
kept me here for a reason, and it's to let
people know that no matter how deep in the dirt
you feel like you are, you can make it out.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's all up here.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I was like, I'm gonna walk again, I'm gonna run again,
I'm gonna work again, I'm gonna travel again. Like it
was just like granted, I had a lot to live
for because you know.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
With with older fol family.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah I was married.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, yeah, no, no today that said we're gonna come back.
We're gonna come back, and you know exactly, it's just.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Like you snuck up on me. M hmm.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
But I'm not gonna stay down, you know. I see
it as like a boxing match. You have twelve rounds,
right I yeah, who stays down on the first round?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
You don't? Right? I probably would, but not in life.
I don't want to get my ask, not the fy,
not the theay.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You need that that's the money maker, right, Oh my god?
But but yes, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Absolutely we've been through some things. Daphne, Yes, girl, that
you're like, I had to learn how to walk again.
I am doing Shakespeare in the Park this summer. I
saw that. I saw that I'm gonna come. Yeah, it's
gonna be fun, but I have a torn meniscus. Oh,
so let me just tell the world that, like, I'm
(10:48):
gonna if I have to be like a hobbling Mariah
is she gonna hobble on that stage and she's gonna
incorporate it into her character. Of course, however, I'm not
really thinking about doing that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
But I thought, it's gonna get back. You're gonna get back.
You're gonna you're gonna be walking the same way you
used to walk before.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, whatever it is, you're gonna do it. Whatever it is.
If you need another silicone, whatever you need, if you
need cement, epoxy, anything, you get that shot. And then
after the you know, the run, I might just have
to get any replacement. You know.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
The body kind of like starts to trick us and
it starts to go one before, So you had one before. Yeah, Oh,
you're sounding like Lisa Lisa right now.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
She had both her knees. She did. Yeah, we need
to talk to me and Lisa Lisa. By the way,
were you at that performance? I was, yeah, I was.
Were you singing all cried out? I'm still singing all
cried out.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
She's such a legend, She's such an icon.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I was sitting right behind her, Oh you were.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I was on the other side, and you know, my
husband was like, Lisa, Lisa's there, Lisa Lisa's day, and
I'm like really, he said, yeah, she has the little
hat on, and I was far, like straight across, but
she's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We could talk about her forever.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
But yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Know, I just felt like, you know, Liza was amazing,
David was amazing, Judy Torres case seven, like it just
all came together so perfectly, and it it just identifies
with us so purely, like the music, the time, the clubs.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
You know, it's amazing, like if you live long enough,
so this is the amazing thing of living many lives.
I have been in a theater company with Judie Reyes
and Thees, Liza Cologne, David zayis a whole bunch of
that possing.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You guys are like, you guys have like your own
breakfast club situation going on. I love it kind of yeah, yeah, yeah,
is this what Labyrinth Labyn Theater Company. You're one of
the founders, right, Well, I.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Was there in like ninety two. Okay, I like to
call myself a founding member, but originator, I was one
of the early ones. But I legit, you know that
I was asked to join, So I guess that that
means I wasn't. I wondered.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I'm like, how is it that they all work together
and they're all because we as a unit?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Because back in the day when we were studying and
loving to do this craft that we do, so you
all know each other since you're young kids. Well yeah,
I mean I love that, you know. I remember one
juncture we were like yeah, no, but we were all
that young, and it's like, now that we look back,
it was like, yeah, we were like we're kids. We
were pretty god damn young thirty years So yeah, we
(13:33):
were young. And we were auditioning for you know, Death
and the maiden projects that were going to be on
and off Broadway that were considered Latino content, that were
Latino content written and or had Latino actors, and auditioning
(13:54):
was very, very hopeful and and you know regular act
you know, the actors the norm would get it. So
it was like, you know, you can study this, but
you can't be in it. So that's how the Latino
Actors base started. It was at Intar that was a
Latino based theater company. We were intrepid. We just people wrote,
(14:20):
you know, Stephen Geergez. Anybody that was had a little
melanin or melanin adjacent or tambing. You know, there was
you know, white kids everybody, right, I mean Philip Seymour
Hoffman was a huge part of that posse for a while.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
If you love the culture and you're here for it,
yeah you welcome it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah. So so to see going from pajama party to
seeing Lab members pay homage to freestyle at music was
really beautiful.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Now, Mimi Marquez, yes, do you get tired of talking
about you know, Brent and everything? Because I'm like, oh
(15:17):
my god, I wonder if she's talked about this so
much and she's like, I hope she doesn't bring it up,
or is it still so important and dope to you
that you'll have a conversation with anyone who brings it up.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Now, I have, I have been gotten sick of it,
But you know it's so long ago that not anymore
it's really weird to but not weird. But it's always
kind of curious to see how how people have absorbed
it this much later, I just wanted to say one
more thing about Pajama Park, and I don't know, it's
on my heart to give it to me. It was
(15:49):
a strange experience watching the play, yeah, and knowing that
George wrote it like and the whole posse like bronx.
It's a bronx worn. It wasn't even part of you know,
we weren't quite hip a yeah, that kind of niche thing,
(16:11):
and but that made from you know, the two turntables
and the microphone in the basement with the blue lights.
Minimal and Pajama Party was not that though. Pajama Party
a la franca was something made sort of for us,
(16:31):
but not by us. It was made you know, lament
Ente your nose were the only three lyrics in Spanish.
And I was the blonde a white woman, yes, okay,
I just want to be straight on. Next like was
the you know, as were the subsequent brunettes, you know
(16:54):
what I mean, So like we were and so when
I was listening to the show and watch like the
Fabulous you know, and it was like the Bronx, the Bronx,
and it was like, Okay, I grew up in Greenwich Village. Okay,
you know there was Long Island, there was Brooklyn, there
(17:16):
was Queens, there was New Jersey Bronx. Let's just keep
that really clear. And so I'm honored to be part of,
you know, the culture. I'm honored, But it feels like
there's a little imposter syndrome. I was going to say
(17:37):
the word.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I'm like, do you feel like like, yeah, no, But
it was my label, the group itself.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Is that what? Yeah? It was? It was and I
and you know, now, like thirty years later, it was
like I was legit the ubiquitous urban element, I feel.
And I just need to say that because her boss. Yeah,
(18:02):
and so that aspect really gave me credible education, Like
to watch the other sisters and brothers doing that thing
was better than any university I could have imagined. So
that allowed me to go on to to Rent And
(18:22):
I'll tell you, I told Betty that Betty was a
huge inspiration in building the character of Mimi.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Mimi felt soberbious or you it was just like the
whole thing, just like.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That, Betty. But yeah, you know, just the prance saying
there was something prancier but I don't know that's that
sounds like a toy way of describing it. But just
the and the vivacity, the life force coming out of her,
you can feel.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It just felt like raw ingredy and just kind of
like rellious.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, feel like I feel like they came from you,
and I've I've seen rent on Broadway, but it's just like,
I don't know. When I was watching you back, it
just felt different. It just felt like you had this
firing you what were you going through? It just felt
so like strong.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, before Jonathan Larson died, I was going through a
lot of like I was just like a puppy, you know,
like I'm on the stage doing the damn thing, and
like tell me where to go, what to do, and
I'm with people that I trust in the theater, you know.
Michael Greif was, you know, just I loved working with
(19:34):
him and the entire cast. We were really really blessed.
We were truly truly like but after Jonathan died, because
I think I was angry. I knew that the piece
was good and that I loved it, and I came
to represent me. HINTI people, you know, like somebody that
(19:57):
looks like me is up here doing.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
That and that doesn't happen a lot, and it.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Doesn't happen a lot. And it was interesting because I got,
you know, a very loud and enthusiastic gay love crowd.
As far as Latina women, I think that they were
quieter or maybe I know that some of them were
like that's not me, you know, but seen in Bargo,
(20:24):
you know, I make it a but the rebellious part
was knowing people that lived like Mimi growing up in
the village, very sex worker, junkie with AIDS adjacent, you
(20:46):
know it. It was a reality and it was like,
I'm going to make this this sort of demonized filthy
Pulta into a really beautiful human being. The Panama No,
there's it's just like there's something very difficult about that
(21:08):
subject matter. I think that, you know, the young people
are definitely starting to go like it's time as far
as what goes just the conservativism of AIDS, homosexuality, Uh,
I feel like a lot of sex work, we drugs,
(21:31):
it's very.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
You know, it exists.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Let's say in Dominican Republic, you know, we have you know,
sex workers. You know, sometimes it's like all the time,
it's like, oh, guys, trip the women, the sex workers
are like okay, do you think do you think? But yeah,
the people that are in the island, let's say, the politicians,
let's say are leaders, they.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Don't want that to be part of our identity.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, okay, that's fair.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
They want to hide it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I mean I think that like, do the Netherlands have
sex work and sure as their identity? Oh, not as
it their identity. But they are there well of course,
but they're taken care of, you know what I mean.
You know, and if I'm speaking out of pocket, you know,
let me know. But I think that we don't have
to incorporate. But that's the thing. In other words, I
(22:16):
went to Panama and it was like, oh, it's your identity,
and it's like, no, it's not. It's a role that
I play. So it's interesting in Panama. I think that
a lot of the yeah or just you know, denial.
You know, I think it's changing. I know, she you know,
(22:44):
I thought I don't even have to go to Panama.
I can stay right here and talk to you know,
girlfriends and they're like why honey.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
But it's just like at this point your career is
so you know, like the length of your career and
the amount of roles that you've played. Like when I
was looking at your IMB and D, I'm like, what
is this the amount of work that you have done? Congratulations?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Like have you always existed in the actor space? That's it?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Have you ever had one job.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
That wasn't like acting?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Like, did you one day be like, oh my god,
I'm gonna have to work here at this store?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Oh god, thank god? Not since I started acting? No, God, blessed,
thank you, thank you. Yes, but that's also to be
frank because I'm I'm a married woman and I have
a husband that has a job. Yes, husband, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I have a husband that has a job. And in
the very very few and far between times that you know,
(23:43):
that wasn't the case. I was you know, we were good,
We were good. Thomas held it down. Yeah, he did.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Me, lay on me, he said, not that memoir. I'm
now you were a mom, Luca.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yes, yes, how does he twenty? Sorry, buddy, I just
put you on. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Twenty
is young. Listen, now we know young, right. You know
I have a hard time calling him. You know, if
I say the word b o y, that's a problem.
That's that's it, that's it. It's but yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
But I'm like, you know what, you're my you know, no, no, well,
(24:23):
you know, when he turns twenty one, then maybe I'll
give myself a you know, that's never been a credit
card swipe every time I say, boy.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
That's gonna be my baby, that's gonna be your baby
ever ever.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
My sister, she calls her her son is twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
She's like, because you know, we do it for the kids.
I'm like, those are girl up kids. But she'll never
stop saying the kids, Yeah, they're the kids. Yeah, you're
a dog mom too, right now, Yes, I'm a dog mom.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I say, I have a crazy mini golden Doodle's.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Can you take him on the plane? Absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I don't think he'll behave he's a pop I feel definitely.
He's only two two years old.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, and he goes to a car ride and'll be
that day.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I wanted to take them to Miami. You know, we
had to do we had to drive to Miami because
we didn't trust him on a plane.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Okay, okay, that's fair. That should tell you how crazy
he is. Okay, there's the thing. And you know I'm
not about it because it's like if you have eight
thousand dollars but bark, bark air, bark air people. Okay,
that's free advertising. Bark hair. Cut the check. Yeah, you
can take your damn dog and like, you know, sign
(25:34):
up for like we want to go to DR on twelve.
Like who wants to go to DR on the twelve?
All want to bring their dog and then we'll all
fly to d R with our dogs. That's the premise.
Little I don't think they're going to d R yet.
I'm gonna look, I'm gonna look into this. They're probably
just going to La Dubai. But better right, you're not
(25:55):
necessary thing. Bark here and get it. But Miami know
that take this ride with me. Gas dog and he's
for today is Oystin oh I S T I N.
He's named after Oystin's on the Bay in Barbados. It's
(26:19):
it's a joint. It's like you know this fabulous place,
it's a bar restaurant exactly.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
You fell in love with that place.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, my son fell in love. We all fell in
love with that place. It's the best fish fry. You know.
It's just a hoot and holler in time and Barbados.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
You know, she said, where did his name come from?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
So my son just called him Oystin and everyone goes,
I don't like that name, and it's different.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
I've never heard it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
But you know, happy birthday to Oyston. Thank you. We
call him oyster because he's gray.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I thought that's what you were gonna say, oyster.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, you can absolutely call him oyster. Now, movies, let's talk.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I like it like that.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I love that movie r Villas.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
She is I need to talk to her.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Do people tell you that you resemble Lauren and Lorraine.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I get Tessa Thompson.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
That's what I testa too, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
I get that one.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And Rita Aura she's like a uk Aura. Yes I
get her. But yeah, no, I like it.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Like you're all from the same sort of I bet
you you're.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
All related, kind of like the little vibe.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
There's the there's a tapestry. We're all entwined. You know.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
It's becaz now that you're speaking like this, Like I
loved Dolorius Roach.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That was one of my favorite shows, and I'm like,
when I was looking as she was the Boys, Yes,
the Horror of Dolorus Roach podcast or rather, you know
this show on Amazon was based on the podcast on
Gamblet Spotify, and that was based on a solo show
(27:59):
called Panda Loa, which was a solo thing. So Pana
led to Doors Road. Yes, never, you're lying to me.
I not lying. I'm how are you kidding? The whole I.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Mean the I was obsessed with that show. Did you
see I've watched parts of it. I didn't see the
whole thing that was your one woman show.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yes, at the Labyrinth the Oh my god, this is
all making sense now. Yeah. H So where that brings
us to is writing another piece that's like that? Oh really? Yeah.
I enjoyed it so much.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
It was just so different and like so like I
identified with it so much.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And when they were like when I'm getting on another seas,
I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, come on.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I need this in my life because I don't really
connect to a lot of shows.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
You wanted another season? Oh yes I did.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It was just like, you know, I love Justina, I
love you know the concept. I'm like, oh my god,
I put everybody on my mother in law, my sister.
I'm not saying, you know, they didn't give it the
show and they were like, ah, I'm like, listen, if
you're listening right now and you're looking for something to watch,
you know, especially New York centric, Latino centric. There's Dominicans,
there's Puerto Ricans, there's Panadas. And it's shot in New
(29:16):
York because for me that is super important as a
born and raised New Yorker.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, it's based in New York, but I ain't gonna
nic it's shot in Toronto. It looked good. Thank you.
Oh my god, I take absolutely no credit. Yeah, oh good,
I'm glad. I'm glad. But yes, it's based. It's a
New York based story. It felt like New York. Yeah.
Well the the podcast on Spotify is hell of Fire. Also,
(29:43):
oh I'm gonna have to bringe that now. Yeah, that's
got two seasons. Actually, do you voice it? I voice
it with Bobby Cannavale and Margaret Cho and Richard Kind.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Bobby that's my guy from Boardwalk Empires.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I loved him in that show. Yeah, and he was.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
In David this is in it actually, and I'm sold
you you don't even have to tell me.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, there's a whole lot of.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Badass, mo' I'm gonna binge it. Listen, guys, I know
you listening to us. That's come again the podcast right now.
But I feel like there's still room for you to
explore other podcasts, especially if they're led by other latinos.
And you know, it's it's content that's created for us
and we must consume it in order for it to
continue to be created and to continue to exist. What's
(30:40):
the name of the podcast, full name, The Horror of
Dolores Roach Roach, Dolores Roach. I feel like I want
to revisit everything about this now that I have this this.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Well, you know the element that was missing like in
the TV show, which is which is like a much
more shall I say, sanitized version of the other one.
So so the TV show is above ground and the
podcast is literally underground, like she has to live underground
(31:17):
after all the things that she does. And you know
the underground New York system, but did you know that
there's a lot of that during the depression there, you know,
rich people on Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue built subway
systems right under Park and Fifth specifically so that they
(31:41):
would never have to go above ground because you know,
you don't want to do that. Lidtle little They were
like golden you know, toilets. Yeah, there's like marble candelabra,
you know, not the cand marble floors and crystal candelabras
and pianos and there was a whole swag down there.
(32:03):
I'm sure that something's happened to it by this time.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
But just to know that it existed, like you were
putting me on yes, now in the Heights. Did you
see In the Heights on Broadway?
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yes? So did I. It was just so spectacular. And
when Limau Miranda decided to bring this to the big screen.
I was like, yeah, yeah, we were happy.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
How did you end up connected with this project?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Kiyata Alda Hudis who wrote the book Four in the
Heights and subsequently a lot of shows that I've done,
including a musical called Miss You Like Hell and two plays,
one called Daphne's Dive Not Relation and in My Broken Language.
(32:54):
She wrote a book called My Broken Language. Kiara is
a very good friend of mine. So yeah, it wasn't
nepotism shit. I auditioned a lot of people wanted to
do in the Heights.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
The hype behind that movie was yeah, insane.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Yeah, I mean the Pandemic really just stabbed it in
the heart in a way. But we shot in twenty
nineteen before we knew that there was gonna be anything.
But they see The Pandemic and it was legit the
best one of the best summers of my life. Just
(33:34):
making a film with that whole gang was super fabulous.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Salon, why you see me imre look, I feel like
I belonged there.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yes, you do, you did, You should have been there.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
It just felt so like Realeah, you know, in the
musical numbers and just the way everything was put together.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
It was just it just felt so authentically Latino. I
was like, this is really for us, Yeah, it really.
It really was a collaboration that was genuinely for us.
And I hope that one day whatever, you know, it
gets suck with ele you know, like somebody pulls it
out and like yeah, just a well in the sense
(34:17):
of like not not necessarily bringing it back because it's there,
it is. We can just always take it out and
appreciate it without all the can say okay, keb yeah,
you know, people didn't want to sit next to each other.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Look at I watched it on a plane. Actually you
were sitting next to people.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I was look at that. But I enjoyed it so much.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I was just like, it was like the best couple
of hours I've spent on a plane ever in life,
because usually I'm like, I hate this, change it. I
watched something and then I fall asleep, Like I stood
up the whole entire time, Like, kudos to everyone that
worked on that Pride.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
What about that Anthony almos Oh, he is amazing. Oosnabi
Snabby and Melissa and Leslie Corey Hawkins.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Come on listen. They were stellar, to say the least.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Not because I'm a Latina, not because I love I
love thatsh like, not because I love everyone. I feel
like this this is one of the best movies I've
ever watched. And I'm a musical girl, and I've been
probably to like thirty Broadway shows and I watched them
all on TV. But this just felt real authentic and
connected with me in a way that a lot of
(35:27):
things done.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Honestly, I think that it will stand the test of time,
No for sure, and you know, down the road a
piece when we're old and you know, when we're not
even here, it'll still be here and Pe'll be like, Wow,
that shit was good. You know, what do you watch
that's not related to you? Like, what are your shows?
Oh my god, you're gonna laugh. You're gonna think I'm
(35:51):
such a geek.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
No, no, no, I probably watch the same things.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I love YouTube really because I get to curate my
stuff and I you know, like I said, I'm writing
this other piece, so I get to do these deep
dives about certain times of history. So right now I
am hella into a People's History of the United States,
(36:18):
which is a huge book written by Howard Zinn. But
there's a YouTube of the book. It's not like the
book being written, but it's really much more about Howard
Zinn And what would have you know, a man at
that time write a book about, you know, not the
(36:41):
usual writers of history, but from the point of view
of those who usually are never mentioned, right, the rabbits
as as they're called, as opposed to the hunters. And
so there's that. And then I watched I watched old
(37:04):
black and White, like Alfred Hitchcock shows. I like the minimalness,
but they're really corny. I think they just reminded me
of when I was little in Panama and there was
this background noise, and it's amazing to see just the
kind of backward shit we grew up on. Oh well,
it's crazy. Was kantine Flass a thing in Panama? Yes,
(37:27):
Canteen Flah, My Wilita love.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I'll watch any kantein plus movie if it's plain, I'm
watching it because that was her guy.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
There was something. Yeah, there's something about watching a black
and white Kanteine Fluss that's like a lullaby, I know, right,
And he was just so sweet and it was just
so like wholesome the content. Did you guys, well, did
you guys watch Lada Corte? No? Oh my god, that
was something else.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
My grandmother used to love Charles Chaplin.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Charlie Chaplin was kind of that was her thing, genius.
She loved to be a hundred you can you can
only imagine how far back what I used to watch goes.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Wow. Yeah, yeah, my aunts they died it. She died
it ninety eight, the one I'm thinking of. And yeah,
it was amazing to hear her talk about the canal
and her father building the Panama Canal. That's been such
a like, you know, do we what do we do?
(38:27):
Are we here?
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Is it America? Is it Panama? It's just like I
feel like right now we're in the middle of something.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Where am I wrong? No, You're not wrong at all.
You know we've always been in something, we just haven't
been so aware. And you know things are as they
are right now. That like there's just a big it's
not a spotlight, it's like a cleague light. It's those
(38:53):
movie lights, yea from back in the night movie lights,
like the ones that like look at airplanes and stuff on.
And we have devices in our hands constantly telling us,
giving us information that we never ever had before. No,
(39:15):
before you were read about in a book. Yeah, there's
like the Encyclopedia Britannica. You know that joke. I mean,
it's not a joke. Or you'd have to go out
of your way to find out information, which was very
biased and very limited unless you wanted to go to
some Library of Congress and stuff. My mother used to
(39:39):
be very honest and proud, but sometimes people would say
where are you from? And she wouldn't say Panama, Colombia,
or are they say Cooba, Kiris, caguensa porky Nadi Nai
(39:59):
Malaria la Hula and I was like heartbroken, Like well,
it was also the canal building narratives. Yeah, the mentality
like I don't want to go build a canal. So,
like you know, all of us people from Jamaica and
Barbados and the West Indies and China and Italy, I
(40:20):
mean other places too, came to build the canal Miagolo.
And there was the myth of the silver people of Panama.
Have you ever heard of this? So the silver people
of Panama were the black people of Panama that came
(40:43):
to build the canal that were in the silver pavilions
of town as opposed to the gold pavilions. And then
my aunt told me that my grandfather died from lead
poisoning from painting the canal, and that because he was
fair skinned, they put him in the gold pavilion and
(41:06):
I was like, yeah, well that's where he belonged. But
then his wife, who was dark skinned, my grandmother, very melanated,
would come to visit him as his maid so that
he would keep his space. But his oldest son with
black black, dark skinned could not visit him because and
(41:30):
then when they discovered that it was his son, he
went to the silver pavilion. Yeah, and said Moodio, because
in silver pavilions they just didn't want to pay your pension,
so they would people didn't want to go to the
silver pavilion in Gorgas Hospital in the Canal Zone because
(41:53):
they would die in Segitha. I say all that to say, widow,
know what our ancestors did. I know that if my
ancestors built major shits. I know everybody in this room's
ancestors built major, major shits. And it's not just about color,
(42:16):
but it is about class. Yeah, but like we built it.
I needed to say that because it makes me really proud.
And I think that as a proud woman, she couldn't
own that, and that sucks. It's like, you know, I'm
proud to say it.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
By the map, it all these misconceptions that you guys have,
and you know, these labels that you have, you're not
allowing me to be proud of who I am the
way I want to be.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Yeah, but that's not new kill me, No, it's not.
That actually adds to a bigger question that we're not
just you know, like you know, there's all these questions
in my business about representation and well you can't really
play the role because you're not really this thing, you know,
(43:04):
and then we discover that, well, you're not that thing either.
You're an actor, I mean, like you know, guess what
we're supposed to act and and and pretend that we're
things that we aren't. But when you look at what
we are actually made of, it's like so many things.
(43:25):
We are, so not one thing that to be what
we are, there's like Scottish.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
So anyway that brings me, you know, I can tell
you this, Like I I was always like, I'm Dominican,
I'm Dominican. I'm Dominican until I did my twenty three
AE mean, and then I was I was Portuguese and Nigerian,
like one percent Dominican. I'm like, what is this? So
you know, it kind of like correlates directly with what
(43:53):
you're saying. It's like we're not just one thing. And
you're talking about roles, like playing roles that if you're
not that role, you shouldn't play it.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
That doesn't make any sense, right. It was like, oh, well,
you know, you're not really Mexican, and I'm like, better
just reactivities. And then I see my twenty three and me,
and it's like the fuck, I'm not like, wow, I'm Mexican.
It's almost like.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Listen, you seen Naponi at Kuana, Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
So for me, Latinos were all one, and you know,
like with Puerto Rican and Dominicans, it was as like, oh,
Puerto Ricans don't like Dominicans.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Dominicans on like Puerto Rican.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Guess what.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
I married to Puerto Rican and he loves the Dominican
and I love Puerto Rican. So it's kind of like
it's not a thing as far as like all of
our Spanish speaking countries. And I see a lot of actors,
you know, flip flop and I'm like, you're Puerto.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Rican, but you're in every Mexican year. What is going
on here? I'm trying to make some sunny That's what
it is. But yeah, yeah, all the all the I
think that I heard about that, I mean, we all
want to keep our proud identity. But if you put
us all in a building like put a him blow again,
like old school Panama, the Deep divees about turn of
(45:12):
the century, I'm obsessed. There's a there were two houses,
the Casa Mula and Casavaggio, for example. There were many others,
but we're like all the blacks from all the islands
like Guyana, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and we wanted to
keep our identities. But in order to have a community,
(45:35):
we had to work together, you know, Lo, Maximo, No.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
I want to talk about all as well in New York. Yes,
I loved that project. Now was that shot in New York?
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Because if you tell me if it wasn't, I'm gonna
be like, no, no, no, what can you tell? Can't
you tell? New York's a character and that piece.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
And you know, I love the story and I loved
how it was a story of sisters and even though
you were a sister in law, you still came through
as like a sister and you know everything about this project.
And I'd be listening to the episode right now. All
as well in the New York. I watched it on
Amazon Prime and I loved it. It was just like
(46:33):
the cast was amazing and your character. It was hard
watching Yeah, the way you know your daughter, Yes treated you.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
I'm like, are kids really like this? Do you have kids? No? Yeah,
well I have a son. I think it's completely different
when you have a son versus the daughter. Yeah. Probably
I knew that. I know that. I'm I couldn't have
been easy, you know, as you know, as challenging as
(47:04):
it as it is. With my son. It's like he's amore.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
You know, he's a piece of He's nothing like Connie.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
He's not Connie. Oh my god. When Connie was going
in on you, I was like, I know right, it
was right on cue. I was like, yeah, there you go,
right on time, right. I love I love working with
that crew. I mean, that's the lab right there. I
(47:34):
could tell ye. I was like, there it is. It's
the Labyrinth. And so we are family, you know. I mean, yeah,
we don't see each other for years and then you know,
you just get back right back into it, like, uh
so that's a beautiful thing. Who put this project together,
you know, Elizabeth and Ben Snyder. I think Elizabeth had
(47:55):
worked with Ben Snyder, the director and co writer with
Elizabeth Rodriguez. Elizabeth rod and Ben Snyder approached me, you know,
asking me if I wanted to collaborate on this project
where we got to build the story together based on
(48:20):
experiences we'd had that you came in early that we're
also adjacent, right, but things that we knew and then
just sort of giving them shape and recontextualizing them. For example,
like you know, for me, just like you know, the
(48:40):
boyfriend getting his puffy uh you know slashed. You know,
just stuff like that. That's like very New York in
the nineties, right. I was dying laughing.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
I was like, she's going she said that it is
ugly anyways and.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Nice yeah, and just cer conversations that are you know,
about nothing but so sort of poignant. You know, they
hit different. It definitely hit so the character, my character, Serene,
had an issue with her voice. I was gonna ask
you that. I'm like, what happened to Serene?
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Like, wow, us it is she acting like she doesn't
want to speak up. I couldn't really grasp what happened
to your character's voice.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
It was just went wait, yeah, it was some never
go away some but some are triggered by by trauma.
And when I heard that in the film, when I
hear bad news, you know, when shit gets really raw,
(49:49):
I start losing my voice. I was wondering.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
I'm like, but nothing happened. I'm like, all of a sudden,
you know Serene talks low.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
You know what happened was I got the news of
my ex husband's being in the hospital, and that's when
that's what triggers that.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
So this condition can be you know, that can be
triggered by it.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
It can be Yeah, never heard of this. There are
also many other things that might might trigger it, and
there's neurological and not neurological. But there was something that
was fascinating about how she spoke and tried to get
(50:34):
her words out and she had to be very careful
about it. So I think Ben Snyder thought that was interesting.
But then it kind of called too much attention to itself.
So we brought it down, We brought it, we modified.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
It, we scaled it. Yeah, attention now Desmond's storyline. You know,
we don't have to get into it.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
But for me, it close. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
You know it's just like you know, how no drugs alcoho,
how you can just you know kind of like ostracize
yourself from happiness, family and you.
Speaker 1 (51:11):
Know just kind of like close yourself off and end
up you know, wasting your life in a way. Yeah,
you know, the way this film was received, I don't
pay attention to to you know, reviews because as you should.
It doesn't know, but in a way it can. It
(51:32):
takes away, right. I really deplore expecting someone like making
you feel like, although I know that that's what we do,
I don't want to manipulate your feelings so much. It's
like you feel what you feel, right. People thought this
show the film was dark or like the shadow side,
(51:55):
like we're always flawed characters when we're real characters, and
it's like it was very real. Okay, what do you
mean though, Like like if we're not flawed, I'm not
interested in an unflawed and we're not interesting. Who's not flawed?
Speaker 3 (52:14):
Someone make him believe they're not flawed.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Yeah, that's a flaw right now.
Speaker 2 (52:21):
And you know all is I wanted it to be
a series, like I felt like I wanted more, even
when you know, when when the movie ended with you know,
you guys just at a table.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
Eating, I'm like, I was like, that's it.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
As I want more and I feel like, you know,
these types of projects where I feel so identified and
you know, it feels so relatable. I want more because
that's the same thing that happened to me, you know,
with Dolores Roach I was just like, I want more
of this, and I kept googling is it coming back?
Is there another season? You know, It's like, keep doing
(52:52):
what you're doing, man, because this is we need this,
you know, And it's the reason why I do this podcast,
because voices like yours need to be heard and stories
like yours need to be told. Because you've been representing
us since what nineteen, what ninety.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Three something like that, Yeah, like ninety ninety Yeah, I'm
a party's nineteen. Listen.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
You put in that work, and you know your body
of work is something that's you know.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
I was looking at us as this woman doesn't work
that ass off? So does she not take a break?
I there's yeah, no, I I take breaks. I'm not
really trying to prove anything. So you know, I don't
mind calling myself an artist. I'm not doing I do. Yeah,
(53:45):
I think I still have shit to say. Yeah, No,
I think that there's so many ways to communicate and
tell stories that we can relate to for us and
buy that aren't shaming, you know that. And it's not
(54:06):
like dark and it's not.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
Like sad, but it's real and that project was very
real and to me, it wasn't dark in anyway.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
It was like my family, Yeah, it was ellis sad.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
It was sad, but I feel like I've been through
so much that it was just like, Okay, yeah, I
know people went through this, so I know moms who
went through this.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
But what are you working on currently? Because I'm like
I was looking.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
I was a twenty twenty four, twenty twenty four, like
what are.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
You working on right now? Like what is your main priority?
Making sure my knee and my body is completely on
point for Shakespeare in the Park at the Dela Court
this summer, we're doing twelfth nights with Lupita and Yngele
and her brother Junior, and Sandra Oh and Peter Dinklish
(54:54):
and Jesse Tayler Ferguson and Bill camp in a whole posse.
Speaker 3 (54:59):
I saw that I was on the website. I was like,
this is gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
Yes, s Ali is directing, and it's gonna be the
opening up of the new refurbished Telecort Theater, so it's
gonna be on and popping.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
Listen we outside this summer. Yes, yes, nah man, this
this conversation. You know I wanted to have it, you know,
I've been seeing you for years. I admire you, and
I admire you know, just the freedom that you have
when you're acting. It just feels real. It just doesn't
feel like acting. It just feels like you're just doing
(55:35):
what you want to do.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
That's what people tell me. It's like, hmm, is that gee?
I wanna I wanna look like I don't want to
look like I'm acting, but yeah, like you look like
you're not doing anything, which means you're an amazing, amazing
actor because it just looks it just comes up so
so real. Man.
Speaker 3 (55:55):
I want to thank you, you know, for pulling up today,
taking this time and allowing me to be, you know,
in your space and getting.
Speaker 1 (56:01):
To know you. You're fantastic and you're my hero. I mean
for real, for real, come.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
On listen Latinas. We might get knocked down, but we're
not gonna stay on the ground. We're gonna get back up.
Speaker 1 (56:15):
We're gonna fight, Yallo, Savage. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
It's my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Daphne Ruben d ment bigger nobody, but thank you so
much for sitting down with me today.
Speaker 1 (56:32):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (56:33):
Keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
Glacia More This year Honest Grassiers Come Again. I will
Speaker 3 (56:43):
Graciers come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
and partnership with iheart's micro podcast network
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!