BWW Interviews: Patricia Duran Talks Connecting and Connections in CLOUD TECTONICS

CLOUD TECTONICS is an uncommon and complex yet typical and simple love story set, first and foremost between the mild Aníbal de la Luna and the magical, feisty Celestina del Sol, and secondly, in Los Angeles. Both are lost souls. Anibal picks up the hitchhiking Celestine in a portentous rainstorm. Celestine is searching for her untrue love who is also the father of her unborn child. She finds trueness in Anibal instead.

The play is written by Puerto Rican author and master author José Rivera. Please note: I don't label him lightly. (I'm sure you've noticed that I've never written, "White playwright ...") I mention his heritage because he is a constant and ardent investigator and explorer of ethnic identity, particularly Latino identity. He combines poetic language, Spanish language, and the bizarre, fantastic nature of magical realism - Celestina, of course, has been pregnant for two years - to create this unique and imaginative play.

I talk to actress Patricia Duran who is Celestina in the Mildred's Umbrella production of CLOUD TECTONICS.

BWW: My first question is an acting question. CLOUD TECTONICS is magical realism. How do you as an actor prepare for that genre of play? To be Celestina del Sol who is pregnant for two years?

Patricia Duran: It is just getting out of the logical and going, "OK, this is her reality therefore it's truthful." You have to honestly buy into that reality, because it is Celestina's reality completely. She says it, therefore it is.

BWW: I've seen the character described as a symbol. Do you agree?

Patricia Duran: I've read many things about that, and I can see where people would infer that, but that's not something I can say as an actor so I just have to, again, be truthful and play her as a person. Otherwise, it doesn't become tangible or honest. It's an abstract idea. If that audience member gets that abstract, symbolic personified character, then that's what they perceive. But I don't look at that so much. She's a real person, and this is her reality and the reality of the world that she lives in.

BWW: How you see her as a person?

Patricia Duran: She's really complex and beautiful as women are. In one aspect, she has this very strong, innocent, childlike nature about her. On the other hand, she's an extremely passionate and feisty survivor trying to fight through, searching for her baby's father, and not giving up her pursuit of love. There is kind of the rebellious nature to her as well that's so endearing. And there's a very soft, loving, motherly quality to her. She's very multifaceted. That's kind of how I see her.

BWW: I've seen the play described as a sort of twist or elevation of the love story. In your eyes, how is it a love story, and how is it more than a love story?

Patricia Duran: Everything is just so heightened. It's almost like an opera. Everything is a statement. Everything is heightened to a poetic and lyrical level. I guess that's how I would say it's more than a love story. The language is so beautiful, and I think it does a really great job of getting out our feelings of love and falling in love. It's hard to describe sometimes. And yet the story is very simple - boy meets girl.

BWW: Is that the draw of the play for the audiences? Of course, it's a José Rivera play, but do you think the intensity of emotions and language make the play seductive as well?

Patricia Duran: For an audience to see two characters connecting in an honest way, talking about their feelings and pasts, and revealing truths and secrets about themselves in an honest way is so seductive and so beautiful. I think that is what the feeling will be, I hope, for an audience - the sense of honesty and two people connecting.

BWW: José Rivera is known for exploring Latino identity in his work. Does CLOUD TECTONICS do this as well?

Patricia Duran: Absolutely. I'm really grateful. This is the third José Rivera play I'm getting to work on. It's such a blessing. He's one of my favorite playwrights. I worked on MARISOL when I was in college, and a couple of years ago at Virginia Repertory Theatre, I did a play of his called BOLEROS FOR THE DISENCHANTED. And then getting to do this - we've been wanting to do this for ten years. It just wasn't the right time to do it before, which is really funny, because the play deals with timing. It's so great that we're finally able to do it.

In terms of the Latino experience or identity, I think he [José Rivera] is obviously Puerto Rican. He grew up in New York. In the play, there's a whole moment where Celestina does a monologue in Spanish. The other character, Aníbal de la Luna, doesn't know Spanish at all. He is completely disconnected from that culture and that world. From my understanding, José doesn't speak Spanish either. And I think that there's just - I don't want to put words in his mouth by any means - an assimilation that happens. I've seen it. My father is Cuban and I've seen in different families where people only speak Spanish in the household or only know English.

In the play, there's this whole idea of home and connecting to your roots too. Having that connection to your roots, to your culture, as well as struggling to remember things of the past. When you meet another person and you fall in love, there's a feeling of home. This whole sense of home, love, nurture and culture plays a big part in the play. Like Aníbal's mother cooking different types of Puerto Rican/Spanish dishes. Celestina reminds him of this, which is what brings him back to his roots. That has a lot to do with the language as well.

BWW: That's beautiful.

Patricia Duran: Thank you.

BWW: It brings a tear to my eye.

Patricia Duran: [Laughs] Oh, please.

BWW: Do you have any advice - actually I'll make it specific - do you have any advice for Latino actors trying to make a career in the theater industry?

Patricia Duran: [Emphatically] Yeah. [Laughs] Follow your passion. I've never thought of myself as just a Latino actor or Latina. I'm an actor. I've never put that type of labeling on myself. I'm an actor, and I can play whatever I want to play with my imagination and if I'm open to it at the right time. And don't take no for an answer. Go for things. If it's in your heart, then follow it. It's been put in your heart for a reason. Do it. If you can't think of doing anything else, then you've got to do it. If you're pursuing it for the right reason - you've got to pursue it for the right reasons and only you will know what those reasons are - you will find so much joy out of it.

CLOUD TECTONICS, produced by Mildred's Umbrella, will run from January 22 - February 7, 2015.

Performances are on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Monday, February 2 at 8 pm. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $12 for students, seniors, and "industry," and Pay-What-You-Can on Monday, February 2. Mildred's Umbrella is located at Studio 101, 1824 Spring Street, Houston, TX 77007.

For more information, visit http://www.mildredsumbrella.com/current.

Photo credit: Rod Todd
Image courtesy of Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company