Recently I heard José [Gonzalez] describe my first
involvement with Milagro, and it almost sounds like someone else’s story: a shy
but bright teenager discovers professional theatre and is in turn discovered by
it.
Few who watched me belt out «La Cucaracha» in The Shrunken
Head of Pancho Villa, bear my soul (and body) in Heroes and Saints
or sashay through a Marilyn impersonation in Clean, might not believe
how timid I was back when I first came to Milagro. The confidence derived from
appreciative audiences and the support of the company, which soon gave me my
first play writing commission, went very far to help me claim my place in the
world as, among other things, an «artivist.»
Over these many years Milagro has served as artistic cradle,
virtual soapbox, and of course, friendly home for innumerable artists who, like
me, aren’t always supported or even known by the larger community. The
collaborations that emerge sometimes are wonderful universes in themselves.