INTERVIEW: Gonzalo Quintana finds success with ‘Unsuccessful’
Photo: Micaela Fariña performs in La consagración de nadie (Unsuccessful). Photo courtesy of Gastón Marin / Provided by press rep with permission.
La consagración de nadie (Unsuccessful), the new show created by Micaela Fariña and Gonzalo Quintana, will have its North American premiere at La MaMa in New York City, Thursday, Feb. 27, to Sunday, March 2. This weekend engagement comes after successful runs of the unique theatrical experience in Argentina and Croatia.
In the show, which is directed by Quintana and performed by Fariña, an opera singer retells the stories of her life, showcasing her anguished desire to leave everything beyond to capture her dreams, according to press notes. La consagración de nadie (Unsuccessful) is the latest collaboration between the two creators, who have been working together for more than a decade. Often their pieces center on music and the “musical treatment of bodies in space.”
Recently Quintana exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox to delve deeper into the creation of the show. Originally from Argentina, the artist has many roles attached to his name: actor, producer, audiovisual producer, writer, director and playwright. He has a particular connection with the artistic community in Zagreb, Croatia, where he currently lives and develops new works. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
When did the idea for this piece first come to you and Micaela Fariña?
Micaela and I have been working together for 15 years, and over the years we interchanged our roles. She was directing me as an actor in her shows, and I have directed her. In this way we learned a lot about each other, and we actually have a very similar and a very passionate way of working together. The trigger for this project was working on experiences from Micaela’s private life and her deep desire to become an opera singer for which she also trained for many years. We began to investigate the world of opera singers, and the starting point for this research were all the failures and disappointments but also hopes that Micaela had during all those years of trying to enter the world of professional opera.
Usually the process for each of our shows is the same. We always start rehearsals in Micaela’s house, in her living room, with her dog Ofelia as our only audience. It was the same for this piece. We started rehearsing scenes based on her personal archive, photos, recordings, videos, emails with her opera tutors.
Are you familiar with the world of opera? Did you have to research the opera world?
Years ago, when I still wanted to be an actor, I trained in lyrical singing. Since then, I started listening to some arias or operas, but I was never an expert on the subject. Micaela has a great deal of training and experience in that world, so a large part of the contribution came from her side. We have done a lot of research on singers, styles, and operas, and on how the human voice behaves when singing. However, even if the worlds of opera and independent theater in Argentina or Croatia might be completely different, what this show manages to find, if I am permitted to be so blunt, are the similarities on a purely human level — of performers trying hard to discover their place, to express themselves and to dig deep into the material to be shared with the audiences.
How would you describe the main character in the piece? What’s her motivation for telling this story?
This point is interesting because although the play is about Micaela’s real life story, I always refer to her as a character. That is what interests me about the crossover between the documentary genre and the fiction that is generated in the staging. I am fascinated by investigating the place that exists between the intimate and the public, between person and character. The character of the piece is a dreamer, super consistent and focused on her goal. It is a reflection of what Micaela is like in real life, completely hard-working, with a great sense of humor, overflowing talent and a great fighter to achieve her goal.
After the pandemic (COVID-19), my relationship with my artistic work changed in the face of such a display of real science fiction that we were going through. In a world that is becoming increasingly violent and complex, I believe that we have to go out and recover the real and particular stories that define us and remind us of our mission and place in the world. For me, theater is that possibility that we have to transform reality, and my motivation with this story arises from that place. This play and the theatre are our chance to get revenge and to change the paths of destiny.
Micaela had stopped singing opera. She was frustrated, tired and determined not to do it anymore. This piece allows us to change the course of that destiny. Now we travel the world. She has started singing again. She is finally fulfilling a dream that she had abandoned, and I have moved to the wonderful city of Zagreb to continue imagining new projects.
How did the engagements in Argentina and Croatia go? Has the piece changed over time?
Croatia has changed the course and destiny of the play forever. Thanks to Zvonimir Dobrović, who runs the Domino Association, we were able to travel to Zagreb to finish this piece. At FIBA, the largest theatre festival in Buenos Aires, we were able to participate in the Work in Progress section and show programmers and producers from around the world 20 minutes of this work. There, Zvonimir saw us and invited us to finish the piece in his city for a period of a month and a half.
Micaela and I come from independent theatre, and we never had the financial or technical resources for our work. For more than 15 years everything was always very self-managed. Zvonimir’s enormous support allowed us to have the time and resources to finish our piece and take our work to the next level, a technical and artistic level that we were needing. The play mutates and changes every time; that is the wonderful thing about theatre. We are not interested in the result, but rather in the play being alive and dialoguing in the context in which it is happening.
How did you end up living and working in Zagreb, Croatia? What do you love about that city?
The year after my experience in Zagreb, Zvonimir invited me to come back to the city for three months and work with Croatian actors and performers on a new piece. That is how my latest project called Infinite Archive #1 Unstoppable was born, where I worked with artists from different disciplines to put on a Queer show that we presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. That experience was very moving and wonderful. Directing in another language, having to manage from another place that is not the one I know, challenged me and forced me to improve. That intense search is what led me to decide to move and be able to continue working with Domino on different projects. I am here looking for the best version of myself.
Zagreb is one of the most incredible places in the world. The people are wonderful. They have a great sense of humor. The city is beautiful and super safe. People here still don’t understand why someone from Buenos Aires has decided to live here. For them, the city is boring, and in general people leave, they don’t come. But for me, Zagreb is a bit like people. It has not yet realized all its potential and beauty. Sometimes you need someone to look from the outside and remind you how beautiful and special you are.
What’s next for you after this commitment in New York City?
The future is always an uncertain place, and I like it that way. Since I decided to come to Zagreb, I’ve only been guided by that fragile but wonderful companion called intuition. I like to believe that all places have something that escapes our imagination and invites us to redefine our destiny, so I’m open to what New York City has to offer me. It’s my first time in New York; I’m so excited. Anyway, I’m already working on my next play, which will premiere at the end of May at the Queer Zagreb festival, where I’ll be working with Maiamar Abrodos, who is a prestigious Argentine trans actress and teacher. It’s also a documentary about certain aspects of her wonderful life. Then I’m also working on a performance project with immigrants in the city of Zagreb.
I believe that theatre has to be a transformative experience, for those of us who are working on the project or for the spectator. I like to know that theatre is that place where the impossible becomes possible.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
La consagración de nadie (Unsuccessful) plays Thursday, Feb. 27, to Sunday, March 2, at La MaMa in Downtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
