In between rehearsals for Guapa, marketing assistant Stefanus Gunawan recently chatted with actor Michelle Escobar who is making her Milagro debut in the title role. We’re thrilled to have Michelle in our cast, and happy to find out more about her.

Thanks for taking your time to chat with us.  This being your first time performing with Milagro, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Having grown up in Portland, I have wanted to be in a Milagro play since high school.  After graduating from college, Milagro was the first place I auditioned, and I feel so lucky to be a part of this project!  In school I studied theater and Spanish and was always intrigued by Spanglish and code-switching–particularly as a second-generation Latina.  There is a little of both in Guapa, which I love.  I have also been studying martial arts for almost 3 years, so when I’m not in rehearsal, I’m training as much as I can.

You were very energetic during the last photo shoot—even though it was on an early Saturday morning—and connected extremely well with the rest of the cast.  Tell us how you feel about the cast in Guapa, and what exciting things you all have been practicing to create a cohesive unit?

The experience so far with the rest of the cast has been wonderful.  We spend a lot of time together, and I’ve been enjoying getting to know these talented actors.  The kids all range from ages 19-26, so it’s really interesting to see where all of us are in our acting careers, most of us just starting out.  I really look up to the women in our cast because they’re both doing what I want to be doing with my acting future. Then, there’s a lot of soccer practice that happens in rehearsal.  We like to kick the ball around and practice our lines or just try to destroy as many things in the rehearsal room as we can.  Mostly, we try to see how many times we can bounce the ball on our heads before we feel like we might pass out.

Based from your experience, who is Guapa?  How do you tie yourself with your character?

Guapa has to be one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever had the chance to play.  She has one big dream but faces so many obstacles.  One of the most important things about Guapa, I feel, is her understanding that her role models’ influence as part of her drive to move forward and succeed.  Part of what she desires is to become a role model and inspire other guapas to be something bigger. She is determined, focused, and a little off.  Although I have been blessed with much support and resources to follow my dreams, I can relate to the hunger that drives her to be disciplined and refuse to accept defeat.  Also, neither of us has any table manners, and we don’t really know what to do with our hair.

Any last words you would like to share with your future audience?

Guapa is a beautiful play that is being handled with a lot of love by Olga, the cast, and the crew.  Each character has an important story to tell that reminds us all to not lose sight of our fire, to appreciate the wildflowers, to work hard, and to gather strength from our families.  We become who we want to be.