Interview: Brenda Palestina of REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES at ALLEY THEATRE

Brenda Palestina is an actress, director, and producer in Houston. The Alley Theatre was lucky enough to snag her for the role of Ana in REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES. It opened on January 23rd and runs through February 15th! The work is by playwright Josefina Lopez and has been adapted into a successful play and musical, but this is the original script being produced for Alley audiences. BROADWAY WORLD HOUSTON writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk with Brenda about the message of the play and what it means to her as a Latina artist. 

Brett Cullum: Tell me about REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES. What is the center of the piece? 

Brenda Palestina: It's a special play. A lot of people might be familiar with the movie or the musical, but the [theatrical] play came first. Josefina Lopez wrote this when she was 19, and it is a story about five immigrant women in East LA. They're Chicana women who work in a sewing factory. And the sewing factory is owned by one of the women in the show, my character’s sister. Most of the women are recently documented, but Estela, the shop owner, is still undocumented. The crux of the play is that we have to finish making 100 dresses in 5 days so Estela won't go to court and won't risk deportation. The play touches on a lot of things, obviously immigration, but the title, REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, it's also, all of these women are either fat, or just not thin, or not this conventional, small-bodied woman, right? So we talk a lot about body image as well, and what it means to be a woman in this world. These are heavy topics, but the play is funny. The play is a comedy. The play kind of comes at all of these things with a side-eye, and with a joke, and with laughter, and that's what this play is.

Brett Cullum: I've seen the movie, so I feel like I know what I'm getting into now. I wondered, when I saw the title, “Is this the movie that I saw?” This is, obviously, the source material, and it's the original play. So, I'm excited to see where all of this came from. My gosh, the movie came out in 2002, and was where I first saw America Ferrera, who played your part, Ana. To have this material still be relevant and timely is just so amazing, and it speaks to how far we have NOT come. We still have body issues, immigration, and everything else.  

Brenda Palestina: It's also interesting because that's when the movie came out, 2002, but this play, she wrote it in 1989! The play is set in 1987, so the source material is even older. And when we were talking about the play early on in rehearsals, it's kind of a period play at this point. 1987 is almost 40 years ago, but it is also just so deeply true today. 

Brett Cullum: Tell me a little bit about the character that you're playing. It's Anna, is that right? What is her story?

Brenda Palestina: Anna is this amazing woman, honestly. She's 18, just graduated from high school, and she's kind of been in East LA her whole life; she really wants to get out of Los Angeles. Her dream is to go to New York, attend NYU, and become a writer. She is a writer in the play, and we see her writing. She's this amazing young feminist who comes into this play and into the world, wanting to share this, wanting to preach this feminist gospel, and there's a sort of arrogance to that. I relate to feeling like this, a young person who knows so much about the world, and just thinks that if you listened to me. I could fix some things, and then, over the course of the play, she's humbled and schooled by the older women around her, who teach her about intersectionality and why maybe the feminism she's hearing isn't actually encompassing their needs as poor brown women. She gets to learn a lot from these women about feminism, the world, sisterhood, and herself. It's a real coming of age for her, before she's sent off to big, bad New York.

Brett Cullum: From what I know about you, it sounds like you're perfect for this part. Tell me how you ended up here at the Alley? What was the audition process like?

Brenda Palestina: I have been auditioning for the Alley for some time. I went to school in Houston, graduated from the University of Houston, earned my BFA in acting a few years ago, and met Brandon Weinbrenner, the Associate Artistic Director at U of H. He was working there, and I had been in contact with him, and then continued auditioning for the Alley. Brandon emailed me the audition call and said, “Hey, we would like you to submit a video,” actually for a different role than the one I have. And I thought, “Sure, great, I'll send a video!” I didn't really think I was gonna get it. I sent a video, and I got a callback. I came in person, but this time they also threw in Anna's character. They were like, “We just want to see you read for Anna as well.” And then after that, I got the offer. It was a short and sweet audition process, and it felt nice to come in person and get past the video stage.

Brett Cullum: So, how did you start acting? I know you went to U of H and got your BFA, but what prompted that?

Brenda Palestina: I feel like I've been acting forever, my whole life. As a child, I was always very theatrical. I was always running around doing skits in my house. I think there are some really embarrassing videos on my mom's Facebook somewhere! My parents put me in theater when I was pretty young, which is pretty awesome of them. I just kept going, so I did theater in high school and acted while I was there. I ended up going to U of H, and it was a really good fit for me. I did acting, but soon after graduating, I shifted to directing. I've been doing a lot of directing and producing my own work over the past few years, and acting has kind of been pushed to the side for a bit. But when I have gotten to act, it's been really special, and I feel like I get to do really special projects like this one. Even though that's maybe not always my focus in my career. Long story short, I feel like I've always been performing.

Brett Cullum: So, where are you producing shows? I mean, is it here in Houston, or is it elsewhere?

Brenda Palestina: Here in Houston, the first show I produced was CLOUD TECTONICS by Jose Rivera, and that was very self-produced, and I did it at the MATCH. Rented a space, did it with friends, actually did it with Sophia Marcel, who's also in REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES. She's playing Rosalie, and we went to school together, so we did that project together, and it was really, really special. I directed, and she acted. I also work at Rec Room Arts downtown, and I get to use their space, so part of what I do there is the happy hour readings, which are Emma Bacon and me. It's a monthly play-reading series where we read either a new play or one new to us on the first Monday of each month. We also do staged readings: very cold readings monthly, and staged readings with some rehearsal, actors, lights, and things. This year, we're gonna do our first full production, which is really exciting. 

Brett Cullum: Yeah. Well, I have to tell you, Brenda: those happy-hour readings are legendary. I hear about them all the time. They inspire so much. I know that companies have actually produced the stuff they heard at the happy-hour readings.