December 21, 2024 • 32 mins
What happens when a legendary nightclub closes its doors, but its spirit lives on in a groundbreaking musical? Join us as we uncover the heartfelt story behind "Arena: The Music-AL," a vibrant homage to the house music scene of the 1990s and the experiences of gay Latinos. Abel Alvarado, an openly gay Chicano playwright, takes us on a journey of self-discovery and community that he experienced within the walls of the iconic Arena Nightclub in Hollywood. Abel shares poignant memories of friendships, identity, and the profound impact of HIV/AIDS, translating these personal experiences into a lively narrative that celebrates his comunidad. With Arena, Abel not only keeps the beat of the past alive but also amplifies the voices of those who danced through challenges to claim their identities.
Abel discusses the musical's unique blend of gospel and house music into the production. After leaving the church due to its stance on LGBTQ+ individuals, Abel found creative liberation, crafting a new narrative with the guidance of Josefina Lopez. Inspired by the trailblazing DJ Irene, Abel's journey is a testament to resilience and creativity. As we explore themes of familia and acceptance, Abel challenges stereotypes through the touching narrative of Lucio, a young man reaching out to his father. The episode wraps up with exciting plans for an "Arena" concert production and the possibility of a cast album, promising to leave a lasting impact on audiences and encouraging growth and understanding within families and communities.
Abel Alvarado
Designer/Playwright/Producer
IG: dzynabel
Welcome to the RADIO QGLLU podcast, the show that TAKES A DEEP DIVE INTO WHAT THE QUEER, GAY, AND LESBIAN LATINE COMMUNITY IS TALKING ABOUT.
https://www.glluarchive.com/multimedia/radio-qgllu-podcast
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Out Agenda.
Coming to an archivekpfkorg,well, we have another segment of
Radio Q Glue podcast, a showthat takes a deep dive into what
the queer, gay and lesbianLatina community is talking
about.
I'm Rita Gonzalez.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm Mario J Navoa and I'm Eduardo Archuleta.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
In today's episode we're talking with Abel Alvarado
and his show Arena the Musical.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Abel Alvarado is a celebrated playwright and artist
whose work resonates withauthenticity and cultural
significance.
His award-winning work has beenseen on numerous stages
throughout the Los Angeles area,including Casa 0101, the
Pasadena Playhouse, 24th StreetTheater, the Renberg Theater,
(00:59):
plaza de la Raza and the SanGabriel Mission Playhouse and
the San Gabriel MissionPlayhouse.
His musical Arena, a HouseMusical has played to sold-out
crowds, with raving mediareviews.
As an openly gay Chicano,producing the largest and
longest-running festival, brownand Out is one of his greatest
(01:20):
highlights and fulfills hislifelong mission to always
amplify and uplift the voices ofhis comunidad that he loves
through stories, music and art.
His acclaimed production, arena, a House Musical, debuted at
Casa 0101, bringing to life thevibrant house music scene of the
1990s at the legendary ArenaNightclub in Hollywood,
(01:45):
california.
The musical follows LucioTorres, a young music minister,
grappling with his identity andseeking freedom, belonging and
self-expression.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
This is Eduardo and we're here today with Abel.
Welcome, abel, thank you.
I'd like to ask what inspiredyou to write Arena, a house
musical.
How much Lucille Torres'journey reflects your own life
experience reflects?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
your own life experience.
So there was a couple of things, but the main thing was on
December 31st 2015, I was at theclosing party for Circus Disco
and Arena.
Circus Disco had been open for40 years at that point Arena for
25 years and Arena happened toopen my senior year in high
(02:44):
school.
That was in Baldwin Park,california, where I was in high
school, and I kept hearing aboutthis place and that it was
going to open.
It was going to be this amazingclub in Hollywood and I just
was like, well, I'll never gothere because Hollywood seemed
like a world away from BaldwinPark.
It's only 25 miles west, but itmight as well have been on the
(03:05):
other side of the world.
And not only that, it was a gayclub and at the time I was very
in the closet.
And lo and behold, eventually Imade my way down the yellow
brick road or the 10 freeway tothe 101, exited Santa Monica
Boulevard and I ended up at thearena.
And when I walked in there andI ended up at the arena, and
when I walked in there, I justcould not have even prepared
(03:27):
myself for what I saw, which wasabout 2,000 openly gay at that
moment on that dance floor,latinos having the time of their
life, and it really resonatedwithin me.
And so, in my journey, as Iwent there more often and made
friends, it really became aplace where I met other gay
(03:49):
people, other gay Latino people,other people who lived in my
community One of my best friendsto this day.
He lived about four blocks fromme in Baldwin Park, but I met
him at Arena and so it reallyresonated within me.
So in 2015, when it was closingand I was looking out at a sea
of about 10,000 people, I justknew that this was a story that
(04:14):
needed to be told.
Stories about Latinos, chicanoswho are openly gay are few and
far in between, much lessstories about Latinos in the
genre of musical theater, whichis my cup of tea, which I mean.
Surprise, surprise, a gay manwho likes musical theater, right
, and that's what I work in,that's what I do.
(04:37):
And so I just knew the storyhad to be told, had to be told.
As I walked around the crowd, Iheard people crying, laughing
and how impactful both of theseplaces had been Throughout the
years.
I had met people at theanniversary parties who were
there the first night whenCircus Disco opened in 1974, all
(04:59):
the way to young people like meat the time and then.
So that night it was like acoming together of a people
that's the only way I couldexplain it and I knew that the
stories were in the stories thatI was hearing, and so that is
what inspired to tell the storyabout Arena.
And the reason I focused onArena was because of that,
(05:22):
because it was the first gaynightclub I went to.
It was the first Latino gaynightclub I went to and it
really spoke to my generation ofGeneration X, and that's where
I developed the story and theinspiration from.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
This is Mario Looking at people at the closing of
Circus.
You must have remembered backon the people that you met there
.
Can you share a little bit moreabout your memories and in
terms of its culture, theculture that you found within
Arena or at Circus, or both thatreally informed the way you
(06:00):
wanted to tell the story?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Yes, like I mentioned , my best friend to this day.
You know, he lived four blocksaway from me in Baldwin Park but
I met him at Arena.
He was an amazing club kid, anamazing artist, drag queen, and
when we met he was just thisfabulous person and he was only
like 21 years old and here I waslike 23 and I just was so
(06:27):
mesmerized at how someone likehim, who grew up in Baldwin Park
, in the San Gabriel Valley notin Hollywood, not in the the
limelight and he came fromworking class, you know, latino,
chicano parents was so open andso just well self-assured to
walk out of his house in BaldwinPark in full drag to go to
(06:50):
Arena, right.
That was very inspiring.
There was other people that Imet who some people who were
very young, like me at the time,and were living with HIV and
AIDS at the time and were livingwith HIV and AIDS, and some of
them I would meet them and a fewmonths later they were gone and
I would ask about them and theywere like, oh they, you know
(07:19):
this was the early to mid 90sand it just that was another
thing that really impacted methat people my age were dying
and I would meet them, like Isaid, and then a few months
later I'd ask about them or Ijust wouldn't see them around,
where's so-and-so.
Oh, he died and it was justlike such a for a young person.
You know, we don't think aboutdeath, but it was like something
(07:39):
that became very relevant to meand other people that I met was
the infamous Miss Martin.
You know that was one of thefirst drag queens I ever saw
performing.
And here was this 6'3",300-pound drag queen with crazy
hair and crazy makeup, and shewas everything that the world
(08:01):
would not deem as beautiful,that the world would not deem as
beautiful, but it was just amesmerizing, beautiful
experience to see her up theremoving light, as a feather and
kind of.
You know, without saying a wordabout anything kind of saying
telling the world this is here Iam, look at me, and none of us
(08:22):
could keep our eyes off of her.
And you know, as an artist youknow, that's what I've always
thought is a true artist createssomething that impacts people
and that's exactly what she wasdoing in those three, four, five
minutes that she was performingon stage.
I also ran into people who Igrew up with that I knew that
(08:44):
were.
You know, I didn't even knowthey were gay and they would be
there, and it was like thiscoming out experience with them
and what it really did was youknow, it's just one night a week
that you would go there, but inthose five hours that I would
spend there, every time I walkedout the doors, I had a little
(09:04):
bit more bravery, I had a littlebit more sense of who.
I was, to the point where thatjust built and built and built
and I was able to, within aperiod of time, come out and
also live openly gay and not beafraid of who saw me and not be
(09:24):
afraid of who was, you know, wasgoing to reject me because I
had found a new community ofpeople, who, who?
We were all in the same boat.
We all, many of us thought verydifferently, but we had one
thing in common, which was thiscoming out experience, yeah, and
I would meet older people.
Eventually, when I went tocircus, you know, I met some
wonderful people who who, like Isaid, had been at, you know,
(09:48):
circus the day it opened andthey were friends with Jean
LaPietra and they were olderpeople and just listening to
them and hearing them and, youknow eventually becoming friends
with them and hearing theirstories of what life was like,
you know being, you know, acloseted gay person and then an
openly gay person in the 70s,coming to Circus Disco and
(10:08):
feeling that they didn't have tohide in the shadows.
But there was this beautifulplace with beautiful lighting
that celebrated who they were.
It was like an epiphany to methat the coming out experience
wasn't just something that I wasgoing through, but it was
something that all of thesepeople had went through or were
(10:30):
going through.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
You talked about both circus and arena and there the
music was at circus back in theday was disco, because I
remember, because I went therein the late 80s, early 90s, and
then house music pretty much atArena.
(10:54):
How did that play a role inyour musical or your concept of
creating this musical, and howdid you go about incorporating
that into what became your play,your musical?
Speaker 4 (11:07):
yeah.
So one of the very importantpieces is that, you know, house
music defined my generationgeneration x it was.
It was something that was newto us.
It's kind of like disco musicinspired the generation before
us.
It was such a new concept.
The driving beat and me, beinga musician and understanding
(11:29):
music, I really I would go toarena and one of the most
powerful things I would hear waswhen the resident DJ, dj Irene,
would shout the words where'sall the Latinos in the house
tonight?
And the crowd would go wild.
And at the time I didn't quiteunderstand what a powerful
(11:50):
statement and how empowering itwas to hear 2,000 people
responding back with yes.
But it was very impacting to me.
And the music.
It was so new and it was likethis, because house music is
just an extension of disco.
Right, it's just the bass beatis driven up a little bit more,
(12:15):
it's more in the forefront andit's you know, the beats per
minute are a little bit faster,and so I would go and this is
the part that's true to themusic.
Well, lucio is raised in anapostolic home and he's the
music director at his church,which is what I was at the time
(12:36):
I grew up.
Apostolic Pentecostal.
I was third generation, I'mwhat people say.
I was born under the pews ofthe church and I came from a
family that was music oriented.
I started, you know, picking upinstruments at a young age and
the church really facilitatedthat artistry.
The Apostolic Church, thatPentecostal Church, really one
(12:59):
of the biggest driving forces isthe music and by the time I was
going to Arena I already had achoir.
I was a music director atchurch.
I led church services with thepraise and worship, church
services in with the with thepraise and worship, and what I
started noticing was that thehouse music sounded like my
(13:21):
favorite music, which is blackgospel music, and I was like,
wow, the beats are very similar.
The messages of hope, themessages of of having a good
time you know whether it'shaving a good time on the dance
floor or having a good time.
You know whether it's having agood time on the dance floor or
having a good time in thepresence of God at church those
messages really resounded to me.
So even I would get homesometimes and I'd be like, you
(13:42):
know, this was before there wasinternet, you know, and the only
way and they wouldn't play thismusic on the radio.
The only way you could get thismusic would be if, you know,
your friend was a DJ and youwere like, oh, make me a
cassette or make me a CD, andthat's how you would hear this
music.
Because it didn't get radioplay Right, because house music
was considered underground music.
And I would get home and I'd belike, oh, you know that song
(14:04):
Deep Inside, how would it soundif a choir sang it?
Like, how would it sound if, ifI drop you know a harmony into
it, it sound if I drop you knowa harmony into it?
And I so, from a young age, Iwould do that and, unbeknownst
to my choir, I was throwing alittle bit of that into songs we
were learning.
And so I immediately connectedthe two, which was gospel music
(14:26):
and house music.
And you know, later on I foundout that house music does have
its roots in gospel, as doesdisco.
So that's why it was importantfor me to write this in that
fashion.
(14:49):
House music kind of represents abreakaway from what society at
large was listening to.
You know, popular music and,like I said, it was underground
at the time.
Music, and, like I said, it wasunderground at the time and it
was very powerful that a mujer,a Latina lesbian, was leading
the charge of all of this, whichis DJ Irene, who was the only
resident female DJ at Arena, andshe built it to what it was
through her music.
I I've often told her I'm likeit was like your music ministry,
(15:11):
right, because we would gothere and listen to it and the
music gave us the freedom todance, the freedom to to laugh,
the freedom to to just beexpressive.
So, yeah, that's, I connectedall of that when when I started
writing and I love house musicbecause of that.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
This is Mario.
What were some of thechallenges you faced in bringing
Arena to the stage at Casa 0101?
And how did you overcome them?
And I also wanted to ask youwhat it felt like to finally see
it on the stage.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
So, as I mentioned early on in life, my first love
of artistry was music.
Early on in life, my first loveof artistry was music when I
left the church it was.
I was never told to leave thechurch but when I came out it
was like I was gently shown thedoor right and it was like, well
, you can stay if you don't saythat you're gay, but you can't
(16:07):
hold ministry, you can't.
And there was stuff thathappened and I was right around
the age when I was about 24.
And my choir was going to besigned to a gospel record label
and I just knew that at the time.
If I signed to that, I wasalmost, like you know, chaining
myself to it and I was nevergoing to be able to come out.
So I left all things.
(16:30):
Music when I left the church,but I'm an artist, that's the
only thing.
I know.
The church, but I'm an artist,that's the only thing I know.
How to be in life is an artist.
And I started designing and Istarted doing other things in
artistry and then theater and Ieventually started writing
because I had been designing andCasa did the Brown and Out
(16:53):
Festival and I got startedgetting involved in that and
Josefina Lopez was veryinstrumental in helping me
explore other avenues of myartistry.
And one day I was telling her,you know about my upbringing,
and she said you play the piano.
I was like, yeah, and she'slike, well, you need to do that
more, do it again, like.
And then the writing part I hadshown her a short play that I
(17:17):
had written.
She's like, well, you need todo that more, do it again.
And the writing part I hadshown her a short play that I
had written.
She was like you need to writemore.
So she was very instrumental inthat.
So when I started writing Arenaone of the challenges like this
is a side challenge that Istarted interviewing people and
everyone had their version ofwhat arena was right, oh, we
were the most popular house.
(17:38):
Oh, we, we were the most.
And I, you know, and no, that'snot how it went.
It went this way.
And someone else would say, andI was just, you know, I would
just listen.
And I was like, oh, my God, howam I going to tell this story
without offending people?
And then it was just a matterof well, take the stories and
write them.
And I started doing that andinterweaving it with my story
(18:03):
and my experience.
And so one of the challengeswas well, there's never been a
house musical and I was veryclear that I wanted to make it a
house musical with house musicand.
But when I presented it toJosefina for the first time, she
just it was a very shortversion and I thought, oh, I'll
(18:25):
do a 10 minute version at Brownand Out.
And when she read it, she toldme straight up, she said this
isn't a 10 minute musical, thisis a full production and out.
And when she read it, she toldme straight up, she said this
isn't a 10 minute musical, thisis a full production.
He said.
And she sat with me, um, andI'm forever grateful for this
that josefina lopez, you know,renowned playwright, sat with me
for six hours and outlined thestory, helped me outline it, and
(18:47):
we sat there at casa fina.
She called me up, she said meetme at casa fina and we sat down
and we ate and we and we justoutlined it, and then she said
write the book.
Don't think about the music,write the book.
So I started writing the book,the play, and started noting
(19:08):
where the music would go, and soit was the first time that that
I was like jumping into thisrealm of writing a full devised
musical, and so at some point Iknew that I couldn't be the
composer, because, although I doplay the piano, I'm not that
level of composing music andtracks and writing out the music
(19:29):
, and so it was about findingsomeone who was as dedicated.
I had went through the musicalwriting workshop at New Musicals
Inc and fortunately, I metreally good composers and I met
the composer that wouldeventually become the composer
of Arena, which is Ben Larson,and my friend Gabby Maldonado,
(19:53):
who's also a music director atCasa, became the lyricist.
So that was one of thechallenges was putting a team
together that really felt thestory, and it was hard because
some of these people are 10, 15years younger than me.
They never even knew what Arenawas.
So it was about getting peopleto understand this artist who
would help me write it andgetting them to understand what
(20:16):
the story really represented,and that was one of the biggest
challenges.
And then COVID.
Covid hit right when we weregoing into rehearsals for the
first workshop, and it was.
We were literally in the secondweek of rehearsals and producers
came in and said we're shuttingit down because the whole world
(20:37):
is shutting down and you knowthat was really depressing, you
know, because you know you seesomething going forward and then
suddenly it's just shut downand who knows what's going to
happen.
And but it really.
You know, the producers werewonderful Conrado Terrazas,
emmanuel Deliaz they really,they really helped navigate the
(21:00):
process of producing, of comingup with the money, and instead
of taking that moment as astrike against us, they took it
as a moment to rethink okay, howcan we retool this?
Where can we really find themoney for this?
And so when COVID startedlifting and we went into
rehearsals for the firstworkshop, again, that was very
(21:23):
challenging Wearing masks do youwear masks In a musical?
You have to sing In a play, youhave to see people's facial
expressions and those werechallenges that I think the
whole world was facing and asartists, we were trying to come
up with solutions for all ofthese things.
So those were major challenges.
And also there were challengesof, you know, looking for
(21:45):
financing and other peoplesaying or thinking oh well, this
story about gay people hasalready been told you know,
there's already rent and myresponse was always, yeah, but
it's never been from a Chicano'sperspective Exactly, in from a
Chicano's perspective, exactly,it's never been based out of LA.
(22:06):
Like, I would tell people aboutCircus and Arena and they had
no clue what it was and I waslike, do you see how important
this story is?
These two places were culturalhigh grounds for people.
Circus Disco was around since1974.
It was around before Studio 54and long after Studio 54.
And it wasn't a place likeStudio 54 that was exclusive, it
(22:27):
was looking to exclude people.
Circus was there to includeeverybody and that was one of
the most amazing things thatGene LaPietra told me when I
interviewed him was that he andhis partner, ed Lemos they
wanted to create a place wheretheir gente, their people,
latinos, could come and not beturned away at the door and be
(22:52):
who they were.
And that circus was open about15 years before Arena.
But in those 15 years so manypeople came through there and so
many Latino, lgbt people wereempowered because of that place,
which led to Arena being open.
And that was one of thechallenges of getting people to
(23:14):
to understand that that that'swhy this story is relevant.
That's why this story.
It's not just another, anothercuento of a of a nightclub like
people, because you know peoplethink of nightclubs as places of
debauchery and you know youknow stuff that happens in the
dark, but arena and circusproved to be more than that.
So, yeah, so getting people tounderstand that was, but people
(23:38):
who heard it and got itimmediately, oh, they were just
behind it.
100%.
You know that first workshop,when it opened in fall of 2021,
was completely sold out forseven weeks, wow.
And then it was cut short atthe fifth week because of COVID
and the lead got COVID and fiveother people got, so we had to
shut down literally on a Fridaynight if audience was getting
(24:01):
there, which was happening a lotin theater at the at that
moment.
And then in 2022, the um, thepremiere production it was also
sold out for a six-weekproduction and four weeks in
same thing, covid just kind ofmessed things up, so that was
challenging.
You know, like yay we're going.
We're going forward, stop wait.
Yay, we're going forward, stopwait.
(24:23):
You know it was.
That was challenging, you know,um, but the team was absolutely
amazing of really um ensuringthat I, as the writer and
creator of this, and the otherpeople on the team, that
everyone was always encouragingeach other with no, we have a
great product here.
We have a great product here.
We have a great story here.
We're going to keep going andyou know that's what it's proven
(24:46):
to be, because in the past fouryears, there has been a
production or a version of theproduction of this show every
year.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Wow, this is Eduardo again, and the themes of
identity, self-expression andbelonging are central to the
play.
What's your message?
What do you hope the audiencetakes away from Lucio's journey?
Speaker 4 (25:10):
That it really does take.
There's journeys that we haveto take in life right.
Everything isn't just like youknow, I woke up one day and I
was this like proud, openly gayLatino man.
It took steps for me to getthere, but I had to take those
steps Right.
Also, one of the themes of itis the story is really about a
(25:35):
father and a son.
During the productions, I hadso many gay men come to me and
say that was my journey with mydad when I came out and some of
them never resolved it and someof them still were working on
resolving it and some of themdid resolve it and you know it
(25:56):
was very important for me.
I think Latino fathers have beenlong portrayed as these
machistas, misogynistic,unloving people, and even right
now, in this current climate, alot of that is being said about
Latinos and I, although thatdoes exist, but I also want
(26:18):
Latino fathers to see thatchange is possible, that you can
love your gay son, you can loveyour trans daughter, you can
love them because they're yourchildren and, at the end of the
day, that's who they continue tobe.
And familia is something thatis very important to Latinos.
I think it's important in allcultures, but I can only speak
(26:41):
on the Latino experience, howfamilia is very, very important
to us.
You know, it's a unit that wefeel we belong to, and to be
left out of familia is kind ofone of the worst things that
could happen to a Latino.
But I do think that we asagente, we as a people, we can
(27:02):
define what that familia is.
That familia is our parents,our tios, our siblings, but it's
also your friends that you meetat Arena 30 years ago, who are
still part of your life and whoknow your parents and who know
your tias.
And we're a people who reallywe do define familia.
(27:25):
You know, I have so manymembers of my family that
they're not blood relatives butthey were immigrants who came to
this country and had nowhere togo and my tia met them at work
and was like, well, let me helpyou.
You know I'm a citizen, but letme help you get.
And we helped them and theylived at my grandmother's house
and and they became part of ourfamilia.
(27:49):
You know, and that is one of thestrongest themes in the show,
you know Lucio in the in in thestory, my friend Ray he he told
me how he came out to his dadand he's like I just started
writing this letter and before Iknew it, I had this 20 page
letter that I sent to my dad andhe said it was when I was going
to UCLA and he said he said youknow that his dad was a former
(28:10):
gang member and he told his dadone of the things you taught me
was loyalty, and I need to beloyal to you and tell you the
truth of who I am.
If not, I'm lying to you, dad,and I want to be loyal to you,
loyal to this familia, loyal toour people.
And so I took that was one ofthe parts that I wove in and
where Lucio's writing thisletter throughout his journey in
(28:34):
this show and in the end hisdad reads the letter and he says
those exact words Like mijo,your letter, you told me one of
the greatest things I evershowed you was loyalty.
And Lucio tells him yes, and Ican't be loyal to you if I'm
lying to you, because lying tosomeone is not being loyal.
And it really like resounds inthe final song that the father
(28:58):
and son sing together.
It's called no Se Como.
The father and son singtogether.
It's called no se como and thelast uh, two lines of lyric.
They both say he says the dadsays I don't know how to accept
you and lucio says I don't knowhow to forgive you.
And they both say together butI'd like to try.
(29:19):
And that really hits home topeople because oftentimes, as
gay people, we're not saying, oh, accept us and all we who we
are and all my locura, but we'rejust saying what can you try?
You know, and I think that islike in humanity if we try to
learn from each other, if we atleast give the step, if we take
(29:40):
that first step of trying, youknow, there's a lot of great
things that could come out ofthat.
Relationships can be mended,acceptance can, can happen.
So that was one of theresounding things through it.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah, this is Mario.
Again, abel, what what's nextfor you?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
well, arena was just produced again a couple weeks
ago, a few weeks ago as aconcert, and it was absolutely
amazing to see.
I was often in musicals,because people are moving around
so much and dancing and jumpingwhile they're singing.
You know the songs come throughbut they don't come through as
when the actors are juststanding there and singing these
beautiful notes and singingthese beautiful melodies and
(30:19):
harmony.
So we just did that and allthroughout, but especially after
the concert, a lot of peoplehave been asking where can I
find the soundtrack to this?
Like I want to bump it in mycar, you know, because, like you
know, it's Arena, a housemusical.
So there are some house songsin there that are from the 90s
(30:41):
that we retooled to be in theshow as musical theater, but
then all of some of the originalsongs are written in the style
of house music, but then there'sballads in there that are
beautiful and people just likeit.
So we're looking at producingwith DJ Irene.
Dj Irene has been a strongsupporter of the show since the
beginning and now she's come onboard as an associate producer
(31:04):
and one of the things that we'reexploring is Irene producing
the singles of the two maintitle songs and then possibly
even doing a cast album.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Thank you very much for joining us today, Abel.
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Thank you so much, and yeah, Thank you to our guest
Abel Alvarado, who shared hisstory about making Arena a house
musical.
I'm Mario J Navoa and I'mEduardo.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Archuleta.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
This podcast is a segment of the Out Agenda.
Radio Q Glue is a product ofKPFK.
I'm Rita Gonzalez and we wantto hear from you.
Like us on our Facebook page oremail us at theoutagenda at
gmailcom.
You can find Radio Q Glue onall podcast platforms.
Thanks for listening.
(31:56):
Have a wonderful week andremember that being out is the
first step to being equal.
Now stay tuned for this Way Out.
Welcome to the Out Agenda.
Coming to an archivekpfkorg,well, we have another segment of
Radio Q Glue podcast, a showthat takes a deep dive into what
the queer, gay and lesbianLatina community is talking
about.
I'm Rita Gonzalez.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm Mario J Navoa and I'm Eduardo Archuleta.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
In today's episode we're talking with Abel Alvarado
and his show Arena the Musical.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Abel Alvarado is a celebrated playwright and artist
whose work resonates withauthenticity and cultural
significance.
His award-winning work has beenseen on numerous stages
throughout the Los Angeles area,including Casa 0101, the
Pasadena Playhouse, 24th StreetTheater, the Renberg Theater,
(00:59):
plaza de la Raza and the SanGabriel Mission Playhouse and
the San Gabriel MissionPlayhouse.
His musical Arena, a HouseMusical has played to sold-out
crowds, with raving mediareviews.
As an openly gay Chicano,producing the largest and
longest-running festival, brownand Out is one of his greatest
(01:20):
highlights and fulfills hislifelong mission to always
amplify and uplift the voices ofhis comunidad that he loves
through stories, music and art.
His acclaimed production, arena, a House Musical, debuted at
Casa 0101, bringing to life thevibrant house music scene of the
1990s at the legendary ArenaNightclub in Hollywood,
(01:45):
california.
The musical follows LucioTorres, a young music minister,
grappling with his identity andseeking freedom, belonging and
self-expression.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
This is Eduardo and we're here today with Abel.
Welcome, abel, thank you.
I'd like to ask what inspiredyou to write Arena, a house
musical.
How much Lucille Torres'journey reflects your own life
experience reflects?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
your own life experience.
So there was a couple of things, but the main thing was on
December 31st 2015, I was at theclosing party for Circus Disco
and Arena.
Circus Disco had been open for40 years at that point Arena for
25 years and Arena happened toopen my senior year in high
(02:44):
school.
That was in Baldwin Park,california, where I was in high
school, and I kept hearing aboutthis place and that it was
going to open.
It was going to be this amazingclub in Hollywood and I just
was like, well, I'll never gothere because Hollywood seemed
like a world away from BaldwinPark.
It's only 25 miles west, but itmight as well have been on the
(03:05):
other side of the world.
And not only that, it was a gayclub and at the time I was very
in the closet.
And lo and behold, eventually Imade my way down the yellow
brick road or the 10 freeway tothe 101, exited Santa Monica
Boulevard and I ended up at thearena.
And when I walked in there andI ended up at the arena, and
when I walked in there, I justcould not have even prepared
(03:27):
myself for what I saw, which wasabout 2,000 openly gay at that
moment on that dance floor,latinos having the time of their
life, and it really resonatedwithin me.
And so, in my journey, as Iwent there more often and made
friends, it really became aplace where I met other gay
(03:49):
people, other gay Latino people,other people who lived in my
community One of my best friendsto this day.
He lived about four blocks fromme in Baldwin Park, but I met
him at Arena and so it reallyresonated within me.
So in 2015, when it was closingand I was looking out at a sea
of about 10,000 people, I justknew that this was a story that
(04:14):
needed to be told.
Stories about Latinos, chicanoswho are openly gay are few and
far in between, much lessstories about Latinos in the
genre of musical theater, whichis my cup of tea, which I mean.
Surprise, surprise, a gay manwho likes musical theater, right
, and that's what I work in,that's what I do.
(04:37):
And so I just knew the storyhad to be told, had to be told.
As I walked around the crowd, Iheard people crying, laughing
and how impactful both of theseplaces had been Throughout the
years.
I had met people at theanniversary parties who were
there the first night whenCircus Disco opened in 1974, all
(04:59):
the way to young people like meat the time and then.
So that night it was like acoming together of a people
that's the only way I couldexplain it and I knew that the
stories were in the stories thatI was hearing, and so that is
what inspired to tell the storyabout Arena.
And the reason I focused onArena was because of that,
(05:22):
because it was the first gaynightclub I went to.
It was the first Latino gaynightclub I went to and it
really spoke to my generation ofGeneration X, and that's where
I developed the story and theinspiration from.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
This is Mario Looking at people at the closing of
Circus.
You must have remembered backon the people that you met there
.
Can you share a little bit moreabout your memories and in
terms of its culture, theculture that you found within
Arena or at Circus, or both thatreally informed the way you
(06:00):
wanted to tell the story?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Yes, like I mentioned , my best friend to this day.
You know, he lived four blocksaway from me in Baldwin Park but
I met him at Arena.
He was an amazing club kid, anamazing artist, drag queen, and
when we met he was just thisfabulous person and he was only
like 21 years old and here I waslike 23 and I just was so
(06:27):
mesmerized at how someone likehim, who grew up in Baldwin Park
, in the San Gabriel Valley notin Hollywood, not in the the
limelight and he came fromworking class, you know, latino,
chicano parents was so open andso just well self-assured to
walk out of his house in BaldwinPark in full drag to go to
(06:50):
Arena, right.
That was very inspiring.
There was other people that Imet who some people who were
very young, like me at the time,and were living with HIV and
AIDS at the time and were livingwith HIV and AIDS, and some of
them I would meet them and a fewmonths later they were gone and
I would ask about them and theywere like, oh they, you know
(07:19):
this was the early to mid 90sand it just that was another
thing that really impacted methat people my age were dying
and I would meet them, like Isaid, and then a few months
later I'd ask about them or Ijust wouldn't see them around,
where's so-and-so.
Oh, he died and it was justlike such a for a young person.
You know, we don't think aboutdeath, but it was like something
(07:39):
that became very relevant to meand other people that I met was
the infamous Miss Martin.
You know that was one of thefirst drag queens I ever saw
performing.
And here was this 6'3",300-pound drag queen with crazy
hair and crazy makeup, and shewas everything that the world
(08:01):
would not deem as beautiful,that the world would not deem as
beautiful, but it was just amesmerizing, beautiful
experience to see her up theremoving light, as a feather and
kind of.
You know, without saying a wordabout anything kind of saying
telling the world this is here Iam, look at me, and none of us
(08:22):
could keep our eyes off of her.
And you know, as an artist youknow, that's what I've always
thought is a true artist createssomething that impacts people
and that's exactly what she wasdoing in those three, four, five
minutes that she was performingon stage.
I also ran into people who Igrew up with that I knew that
(08:44):
were.
You know, I didn't even knowthey were gay and they would be
there, and it was like thiscoming out experience with them
and what it really did was youknow, it's just one night a week
that you would go there, but inthose five hours that I would
spend there, every time I walkedout the doors, I had a little
(09:04):
bit more bravery, I had a littlebit more sense of who.
I was, to the point where thatjust built and built and built
and I was able to, within aperiod of time, come out and
also live openly gay and not beafraid of who saw me and not be
(09:24):
afraid of who was, you know, wasgoing to reject me because I
had found a new community ofpeople, who, who?
We were all in the same boat.
We all, many of us thought verydifferently, but we had one
thing in common, which was thiscoming out experience, yeah, and
I would meet older people.
Eventually, when I went tocircus, you know, I met some
wonderful people who who, like Isaid, had been at, you know,
(09:48):
circus the day it opened andthey were friends with Jean
LaPietra and they were olderpeople and just listening to
them and hearing them and, youknow eventually becoming friends
with them and hearing theirstories of what life was like,
you know being, you know, acloseted gay person and then an
openly gay person in the 70s,coming to Circus Disco and
(10:08):
feeling that they didn't have tohide in the shadows.
But there was this beautifulplace with beautiful lighting
that celebrated who they were.
It was like an epiphany to methat the coming out experience
wasn't just something that I wasgoing through, but it was
something that all of thesepeople had went through or were
(10:30):
going through.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
You talked about both circus and arena and there the
music was at circus back in theday was disco, because I
remember, because I went therein the late 80s, early 90s, and
then house music pretty much atArena.
(10:54):
How did that play a role inyour musical or your concept of
creating this musical, and howdid you go about incorporating
that into what became your play,your musical?
Speaker 4 (11:07):
yeah.
So one of the very importantpieces is that, you know, house
music defined my generationgeneration x it was.
It was something that was newto us.
It's kind of like disco musicinspired the generation before
us.
It was such a new concept.
The driving beat and me, beinga musician and understanding
(11:29):
music, I really I would go toarena and one of the most
powerful things I would hear waswhen the resident DJ, dj Irene,
would shout the words where'sall the Latinos in the house
tonight?
And the crowd would go wild.
And at the time I didn't quiteunderstand what a powerful
(11:50):
statement and how empowering itwas to hear 2,000 people
responding back with yes.
But it was very impacting to me.
And the music.
It was so new and it was likethis, because house music is
just an extension of disco.
Right, it's just the bass beatis driven up a little bit more,
(12:15):
it's more in the forefront andit's you know, the beats per
minute are a little bit faster,and so I would go and this is
the part that's true to themusic.
Well, lucio is raised in anapostolic home and he's the
music director at his church,which is what I was at the time
(12:36):
I grew up.
Apostolic Pentecostal.
I was third generation, I'mwhat people say.
I was born under the pews ofthe church and I came from a
family that was music oriented.
I started, you know, picking upinstruments at a young age and
the church really facilitatedthat artistry.
The Apostolic Church, thatPentecostal Church, really one
(12:59):
of the biggest driving forces isthe music and by the time I was
going to Arena I already had achoir.
I was a music director atchurch.
I led church services with thepraise and worship, church
services in with the with thepraise and worship, and what I
started noticing was that thehouse music sounded like my
(13:21):
favorite music, which is blackgospel music, and I was like,
wow, the beats are very similar.
The messages of hope, themessages of of having a good
time you know whether it'shaving a good time on the dance
floor or having a good time.
You know whether it's having agood time on the dance floor or
having a good time in thepresence of God at church those
messages really resounded to me.
So even I would get homesometimes and I'd be like, you
(13:42):
know, this was before there wasinternet, you know, and the only
way and they wouldn't play thismusic on the radio.
The only way you could get thismusic would be if, you know,
your friend was a DJ and youwere like, oh, make me a
cassette or make me a CD, andthat's how you would hear this
music.
Because it didn't get radioplay Right, because house music
was considered underground music.
And I would get home and I'd belike, oh, you know that song
(14:04):
Deep Inside, how would it soundif a choir sang it?
Like, how would it sound if, ifI drop you know a harmony into
it, it sound if I drop you knowa harmony into it?
And I so, from a young age, Iwould do that and, unbeknownst
to my choir, I was throwing alittle bit of that into songs we
were learning.
And so I immediately connectedthe two, which was gospel music
(14:26):
and house music.
And you know, later on I foundout that house music does have
its roots in gospel, as doesdisco.
So that's why it was importantfor me to write this in that
fashion.
(14:49):
House music kind of represents abreakaway from what society at
large was listening to.
You know, popular music and,like I said, it was underground
at the time.
Music, and, like I said, it wasunderground at the time and it
was very powerful that a mujer,a Latina lesbian, was leading
the charge of all of this, whichis DJ Irene, who was the only
resident female DJ at Arena, andshe built it to what it was
through her music.
I I've often told her I'm likeit was like your music ministry,
(15:11):
right, because we would gothere and listen to it and the
music gave us the freedom todance, the freedom to to laugh,
the freedom to to just beexpressive.
So, yeah, that's, I connectedall of that when when I started
writing and I love house musicbecause of that.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
This is Mario.
What were some of thechallenges you faced in bringing
Arena to the stage at Casa 0101?
And how did you overcome them?
And I also wanted to ask youwhat it felt like to finally see
it on the stage.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
So, as I mentioned early on in life, my first love
of artistry was music.
Early on in life, my first loveof artistry was music when I
left the church it was.
I was never told to leave thechurch but when I came out it
was like I was gently shown thedoor right and it was like, well
, you can stay if you don't saythat you're gay, but you can't
(16:07):
hold ministry, you can't.
And there was stuff thathappened and I was right around
the age when I was about 24.
And my choir was going to besigned to a gospel record label
and I just knew that at the time.
If I signed to that, I wasalmost, like you know, chaining
myself to it and I was nevergoing to be able to come out.
So I left all things.
(16:30):
Music when I left the church,but I'm an artist, that's the
only thing.
I know.
The church, but I'm an artist,that's the only thing I know.
How to be in life is an artist.
And I started designing and Istarted doing other things in
artistry and then theater and Ieventually started writing
because I had been designing andCasa did the Brown and Out
(16:53):
Festival and I got startedgetting involved in that and
Josefina Lopez was veryinstrumental in helping me
explore other avenues of myartistry.
And one day I was telling her,you know about my upbringing,
and she said you play the piano.
I was like, yeah, and she'slike, well, you need to do that
more, do it again, like.
And then the writing part I hadshown her a short play that I
(17:17):
had written.
She's like, well, you need todo that more, do it again.
And the writing part I hadshown her a short play that I
had written.
She was like you need to writemore.
So she was very instrumental inthat.
So when I started writing Arenaone of the challenges like this
is a side challenge that Istarted interviewing people and
everyone had their version ofwhat arena was right, oh, we
were the most popular house.
(17:38):
Oh, we, we were the most.
And I, you know, and no, that'snot how it went.
It went this way.
And someone else would say, andI was just, you know, I would
just listen.
And I was like, oh, my God, howam I going to tell this story
without offending people?
And then it was just a matterof well, take the stories and
write them.
And I started doing that andinterweaving it with my story
(18:03):
and my experience.
And so one of the challengeswas well, there's never been a
house musical and I was veryclear that I wanted to make it a
house musical with house musicand.
But when I presented it toJosefina for the first time, she
just it was a very shortversion and I thought, oh, I'll
(18:25):
do a 10 minute version at Brownand Out.
And when she read it, she toldme straight up, she said this
isn't a 10 minute musical, thisis a full production and out.
And when she read it, she toldme straight up, she said this
isn't a 10 minute musical, thisis a full production.
He said.
And she sat with me, um, andI'm forever grateful for this
that josefina lopez, you know,renowned playwright, sat with me
for six hours and outlined thestory, helped me outline it, and
(18:47):
we sat there at casa fina.
She called me up, she said meetme at casa fina and we sat down
and we ate and we and we justoutlined it, and then she said
write the book.
Don't think about the music,write the book.
So I started writing the book,the play, and started noting
(19:08):
where the music would go, and soit was the first time that that
I was like jumping into thisrealm of writing a full devised
musical, and so at some point Iknew that I couldn't be the
composer, because, although I doplay the piano, I'm not that
level of composing music andtracks and writing out the music
(19:29):
, and so it was about findingsomeone who was as dedicated.
I had went through the musicalwriting workshop at New Musicals
Inc and fortunately, I metreally good composers and I met
the composer that wouldeventually become the composer
of Arena, which is Ben Larson,and my friend Gabby Maldonado,
(19:53):
who's also a music director atCasa, became the lyricist.
So that was one of thechallenges was putting a team
together that really felt thestory, and it was hard because
some of these people are 10, 15years younger than me.
They never even knew what Arenawas.
So it was about getting peopleto understand this artist who
would help me write it andgetting them to understand what
(20:16):
the story really represented,and that was one of the biggest
challenges.
And then COVID.
Covid hit right when we weregoing into rehearsals for the
first workshop, and it was.
We were literally in the secondweek of rehearsals and producers
came in and said we're shuttingit down because the whole world
(20:37):
is shutting down and you knowthat was really depressing, you
know, because you know you seesomething going forward and then
suddenly it's just shut downand who knows what's going to
happen.
And but it really.
You know, the producers werewonderful Conrado Terrazas,
emmanuel Deliaz they really,they really helped navigate the
(21:00):
process of producing, of comingup with the money, and instead
of taking that moment as astrike against us, they took it
as a moment to rethink okay, howcan we retool this?
Where can we really find themoney for this?
And so when COVID startedlifting and we went into
rehearsals for the firstworkshop, again, that was very
(21:23):
challenging Wearing masks do youwear masks In a musical?
You have to sing In a play, youhave to see people's facial
expressions and those werechallenges that I think the
whole world was facing and asartists, we were trying to come
up with solutions for all ofthese things.
So those were major challenges.
And also there were challengesof, you know, looking for
(21:45):
financing and other peoplesaying or thinking oh well, this
story about gay people hasalready been told you know,
there's already rent and myresponse was always, yeah, but
it's never been from a Chicano'sperspective Exactly, in from a
Chicano's perspective, exactly,it's never been based out of LA.
(22:06):
Like, I would tell people aboutCircus and Arena and they had
no clue what it was and I waslike, do you see how important
this story is?
These two places were culturalhigh grounds for people.
Circus Disco was around since1974.
It was around before Studio 54and long after Studio 54.
And it wasn't a place likeStudio 54 that was exclusive, it
(22:27):
was looking to exclude people.
Circus was there to includeeverybody and that was one of
the most amazing things thatGene LaPietra told me when I
interviewed him was that he andhis partner, ed Lemos they
wanted to create a place wheretheir gente, their people,
latinos, could come and not beturned away at the door and be
(22:52):
who they were.
And that circus was open about15 years before Arena.
But in those 15 years so manypeople came through there and so
many Latino, lgbt people wereempowered because of that place,
which led to Arena being open.
And that was one of thechallenges of getting people to
(23:14):
to understand that that that'swhy this story is relevant.
That's why this story.
It's not just another, anothercuento of a of a nightclub like
people, because you know peoplethink of nightclubs as places of
debauchery and you know youknow stuff that happens in the
dark, but arena and circusproved to be more than that.
So, yeah, so getting people tounderstand that was, but people
(23:38):
who heard it and got itimmediately, oh, they were just
behind it.
100%.
You know that first workshop,when it opened in fall of 2021,
was completely sold out forseven weeks, wow.
And then it was cut short atthe fifth week because of COVID
and the lead got COVID and fiveother people got, so we had to
shut down literally on a Fridaynight if audience was getting
(24:01):
there, which was happening a lotin theater at the at that
moment.
And then in 2022, the um, thepremiere production it was also
sold out for a six-weekproduction and four weeks in
same thing, covid just kind ofmessed things up, so that was
challenging.
You know, like yay we're going.
We're going forward, stop wait.
Yay, we're going forward, stopwait.
(24:23):
You know it was.
That was challenging, you know,um, but the team was absolutely
amazing of really um ensuringthat I, as the writer and
creator of this, and the otherpeople on the team, that
everyone was always encouragingeach other with no, we have a
great product here.
We have a great product here.
We have a great story here.
We're going to keep going andyou know that's what it's proven
(24:46):
to be, because in the past fouryears, there has been a
production or a version of theproduction of this show every
year.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Wow, this is Eduardo again, and the themes of
identity, self-expression andbelonging are central to the
play.
What's your message?
What do you hope the audiencetakes away from Lucio's journey?
Speaker 4 (25:10):
That it really does take.
There's journeys that we haveto take in life right.
Everything isn't just like youknow, I woke up one day and I
was this like proud, openly gayLatino man.
It took steps for me to getthere, but I had to take those
steps Right.
Also, one of the themes of itis the story is really about a
(25:35):
father and a son.
During the productions, I hadso many gay men come to me and
say that was my journey with mydad when I came out and some of
them never resolved it and someof them still were working on
resolving it and some of themdid resolve it and you know it
(25:56):
was very important for me.
I think Latino fathers have beenlong portrayed as these
machistas, misogynistic,unloving people, and even right
now, in this current climate, alot of that is being said about
Latinos and I, although thatdoes exist, but I also want
(26:18):
Latino fathers to see thatchange is possible, that you can
love your gay son, you can loveyour trans daughter, you can
love them because they're yourchildren and, at the end of the
day, that's who they continue tobe.
And familia is something thatis very important to Latinos.
I think it's important in allcultures, but I can only speak
(26:41):
on the Latino experience, howfamilia is very, very important
to us.
You know, it's a unit that wefeel we belong to, and to be
left out of familia is kind ofone of the worst things that
could happen to a Latino.
But I do think that we asagente, we as a people, we can
(27:02):
define what that familia is.
That familia is our parents,our tios, our siblings, but it's
also your friends that you meetat Arena 30 years ago, who are
still part of your life and whoknow your parents and who know
your tias.
And we're a people who reallywe do define familia.
(27:25):
You know, I have so manymembers of my family that
they're not blood relatives butthey were immigrants who came to
this country and had nowhere togo and my tia met them at work
and was like, well, let me helpyou.
You know I'm a citizen, but letme help you get.
And we helped them and theylived at my grandmother's house
and and they became part of ourfamilia.
(27:49):
You know, and that is one of thestrongest themes in the show,
you know Lucio in the in in thestory, my friend Ray he he told
me how he came out to his dadand he's like I just started
writing this letter and before Iknew it, I had this 20 page
letter that I sent to my dad andhe said it was when I was going
to UCLA and he said he said youknow that his dad was a former
(28:10):
gang member and he told his dadone of the things you taught me
was loyalty, and I need to beloyal to you and tell you the
truth of who I am.
If not, I'm lying to you, dad,and I want to be loyal to you,
loyal to this familia, loyal toour people.
And so I took that was one ofthe parts that I wove in and
where Lucio's writing thisletter throughout his journey in
(28:34):
this show and in the end hisdad reads the letter and he says
those exact words Like mijo,your letter, you told me one of
the greatest things I evershowed you was loyalty.
And Lucio tells him yes, and Ican't be loyal to you if I'm
lying to you, because lying tosomeone is not being loyal.
And it really like resounds inthe final song that the father
(28:58):
and son sing together.
It's called no Se Como.
The father and son singtogether.
It's called no se como and thelast uh, two lines of lyric.
They both say he says the dadsays I don't know how to accept
you and lucio says I don't knowhow to forgive you.
And they both say together butI'd like to try.
(29:19):
And that really hits home topeople because oftentimes, as
gay people, we're not saying, oh, accept us and all we who we
are and all my locura, but we'rejust saying what can you try?
You know, and I think that islike in humanity if we try to
learn from each other, if we atleast give the step, if we take
(29:40):
that first step of trying, youknow, there's a lot of great
things that could come out ofthat.
Relationships can be mended,acceptance can, can happen.
So that was one of theresounding things through it.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah, this is Mario.
Again, abel, what what's nextfor you?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
well, arena was just produced again a couple weeks
ago, a few weeks ago as aconcert, and it was absolutely
amazing to see.
I was often in musicals,because people are moving around
so much and dancing and jumpingwhile they're singing.
You know the songs come throughbut they don't come through as
when the actors are juststanding there and singing these
beautiful notes and singingthese beautiful melodies and
(30:19):
harmony.
So we just did that and allthroughout, but especially after
the concert, a lot of peoplehave been asking where can I
find the soundtrack to this?
Like I want to bump it in mycar, you know, because, like you
know, it's Arena, a housemusical.
So there are some house songsin there that are from the 90s
(30:41):
that we retooled to be in theshow as musical theater, but
then all of some of the originalsongs are written in the style
of house music, but then there'sballads in there that are
beautiful and people just likeit.
So we're looking at producingwith DJ Irene.
Dj Irene has been a strongsupporter of the show since the
beginning and now she's come onboard as an associate producer
(31:04):
and one of the things that we'reexploring is Irene producing
the singles of the two maintitle songs and then possibly
even doing a cast album.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Thank you very much for joining us today, Abel.
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Thank you so much, and yeah, Thank you to our guest
Abel Alvarado, who shared hisstory about making Arena a house
musical.
I'm Mario J Navoa and I'mEduardo.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Archuleta.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
This podcast is a segment of the Out Agenda.
Radio Q Glue is a product ofKPFK.
I'm Rita Gonzalez and we wantto hear from you.
Like us on our Facebook page oremail us at theoutagenda at
gmailcom.
You can find Radio Q Glue onall podcast platforms.
Thanks for listening.
(31:56):
Have a wonderful week andremember that being out is the
first step to being equal.
Now stay tuned for this Way Out.
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