Interview: San Diego Repertory Theatre invites you to LUNCH BREAKS WITH HERBERT SIGUENZA

Herbert Siguenza, is a San Diego favorite performer and a man of many talents; actor, writer, performer, Co-founder of Culture Clash, and the Playwright in Residence at the San Diego Rep, he can really do it all! This includes brightening everyone's weekdays and making lunch a little bit more fun and art inspired with virtual Lunch Breaks with Herbert Siguenza hosted by San Diego Repertory Theatre.

Every day at 12 pm the San Diego Rep will release a video on the REP's main Facebook page. All you have to do is come to the page to watch!

Herbert was nice enough to chat with me before his Tuesday lunch break, about how these lunch breaks are a fun distraction for everyone, including him from current events.

I dedicate an hour to it every day and make the video and it helps me and helps the San Diego Rep to keep in touch with our audience and keep people engaged.

So I said to the Rep "What if I tell them what I'm eating, cooking up, and cooking up in my brain?"

The lunches are live on Facebook, which means that everyone participating can interact with Herbert, ask him questions, or hear him talk about what he is working on. You can respond to what he is saying and he is able to read it and interact in real-time.

This week I started reading pages from my new play "Isaac Asimov Grand Master Funk", it's about the science fiction writer. There's a little bit of a pandemic in the play as well, so I'm reading a page or a couple of pages a day online.

Technology isn't just helpful in these lunch breaks with San Diego Rep audiences, or inspiring some of his new play - it also allows him to relax drawing on his iPad, something he recommends for those that enjoy drawing.

We have all this technology now, I have the iPad it keeps me really entertained. I'm a trained artist so I love doing that.

Currently, pop culture and comics have been an inspiration to him as well.

One thing I am doing, that is influenced by pop culture and comics is I'm drawing a Joker, like Batman's Joker. The movie really impacted me and I'm drawing this dark unsettling Joke every day. Drawing a Joker every day. I like Joker better, the Joker is more honest than Batman.

With the theatres closed, art is reaching into the new frontiers to find new and exciting ways to reach their audiences. The connection is important, even if we're all connecting from home- and how often do you get to have lunch with a playwright?

Lunch Breaks with Herbert Siguenza are weekdays at 12pm - click here for the Facebook page and more information. For information on the San Diego Rep you can go to sdrep.org

Photo credit: San Diego Rep and Joker picture courtesy of Herbert Siguenza

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