From the SDC Journal Spring 2019 issue

Pre-Show/Post-Show with Olga Sanchez Saltveit – University of Oregon

What I love about theatre is…it’s holy, at its best. Cleansing, restorative, transcendent. And it’s risky. All the artists involved are vulnerable. They sacrifice all kinds of security, not the least of which is self-worth, for something more important than ego. For the alchemy that happens when performance meets public. For truth in representation. For catharsis. For the times when we feel so much better at 10 p.m. than we did at 7:30. I agree with the idea of the stage as an altar or the theatre as a crucible. I love its inherently collaborative nature. Most of the time, human beings need others to survive. That’s mirrored in theatremaking. An actor needs an audience. Performance needs to be watched. A circle of theatre-crafting needs to expand to include the audience, the final ingredient. We need each other in order to create and enjoy theatre. To dare to jump into the volcano together. It’s hot.

I became a director because… I have feelings and thoughts about how it should be. You know when you’re in acting class, sitting in the back row next to your best friend—who’s a confirmed director—and while you’re watching somebody else’s scene, you lean over and whisper, “He should be standing,” and your best friend looks at you and whispers back, “You’re a director!” I believed her and registered for the next directing class. One of the actors from that class invited me to direct A Midsummer Night’s Dream the following summer. We worked in an outdoor amphitheatre with children and musicians and talented friends—it was wonderfully daunting. What a scary responsibility to envision and co-create a world that transforms over time for public consumption. I was hooked.

Someone who was instrumental in my artistic development was…Where to begin? I’ve been very fortunate to have spent time with wonderful artists, including Linda Hartzell, who infuses savvy artistic leadership with heart; Ruben Sierra (RIP), who bequeathed to me my commitment to Latinx theatre; Mark Lutwak, who never met an unlovable villain; Bartlett Sher, who preferred integrity of the scene over the cheap laugh; Mary Overlie, who broke open time and space; José Gonzalez, who never stops asking about art; Elizabeth Huffman, who reinforced the power of what happens outside of text; and Theresa J. May, who insists on presence and gratitude.

I believe a good director must be able to…be as vulnerable as their actors. Crack open time. Say what the words aren’t saying. Find the good. Do better. Hold the space sacred. Feel the whole. Keep space open for the collaboration. Incite the team to express their wild dreams. Champion humanity. Call out laziness. Condemn cruelty.

I started teaching in the academy because… I want to bring Latinx theatre into the curriculum. I know the benefit of identity-based work. For Latinx, the work reflects our stories and history respectfully. It’s empowering. For non-Latinx, the work builds necessary bridges of understanding in a welcoming environment. It’s demystifying. Yet for years I have witnessed how Latinx theatremaking around the country is undervalued, under-resourced, and misrepresented. I believe that one solution to this problem is to strengthen the presence of Latinx theatre studies in the academy, and I have attached myself to that mission.

As a director, I am drawn to scripts that…play with forms and words, and make the most of an actor’s tools: their voices, bodies, hearts, impulses, and skills. I’m a humanist, drawn to theatre about human impact on other humans, on selves, on the planet. What are the tools we have at our disposal to deflect (self-) destruction? What makes us grow?

Some of the plays/musicals I would like to direct are… A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Márquez, adapted by Nilo Cruz; Plumas Negras by Juliette Carrillo; Sweep by Georgina Escobar; Yellow Eyes by Migdalia Cruz; Policarpa by Diana Burbano; Cloudlands by Octavio Solis; The Last Paving Stone by Y York; Pork Kidneys to Soothe Despair by Alejandro Ricaño; and soon, if possible, Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega, adapted by William S. Gregory and Daniel Jáquez, or Volpone by Ben Jonson…

I think it is important for the American theatre to…dance more. Talk about how great we are at consuming and polluting. Acknowledge that America is hemispheric. Reflect on diminished power: when supremacy is lost, where do we find our value?

I balance my work and creative life by…sleep and yoga. I’m a workaholic (like so many of us are!), driven by the joy of art-making, its relevance, and the possibility that my work might generate some happiness.

OLGA SANCHEZ SALTVEIT, PhD candidate, Theatre Arts, University of Oregon, is Artistic Director Emerita of Milagro, the Pacific Northwest’s premier Latino arts and culture organization. Actor, director, writer, and scholar-in-training, she most recently directed Como Agua Para Chocolate at Gala Hispanic Theatre, and Tricks to Inherit, her translation/adaptation of Astucias por Heredar un Sobrino a un Tío by Fermín de Reygadas (1789) at the University of Oregon. She is a former TCG board member and serves on the Steering Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons. Her article “(Afro) Latinx Theatre: Embodiment and Articulation” is published in Label Me Latina/o.

For more content, subscribe to the SDC Journal here.