By Barrett White
“You just don’t have the look.” This was the argument that queer Latino actor and playwright Emilio Rodriguez continuously faced from casting directors. After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre studies from the University of California at Irvine, Rodriguez eagerly entered the industry only to have one audition inquiry after another declined. “So, I began writing roles for characters that look like me,” Rodriguez explains. “To represent characters who were experiencing what I went through, no matter what the headshot looked like.”
Rodriguez grew up as an Army brat, but came of age in Riverside, California. After attending university in Orange County, he found his theatre home at the Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and began his work in playwriting. As he further honed his skills, it became important to Rodriguez to create three–dimensional roles for actors of color to not only tell those stories, but to give an opportunity for actors to showcase their talent, regardless of race.
His newest work, Swimming While Drowning, will be performed as a staged reading, directed by Trevor Boffone, at the University of Houston on April 3. In Swimming, we meet teenager Angelo Mendez, who has left home to avoid disappointing his homophobic father, only to discover a world he’s not yet prepared for—the interior workings of a Los Angeles homeless LGBTQ youth shelter. “I had just discovered the LGBTQ homeless shelter in L.A.,” Rodriguez says. “It was such a powerful and needed space for people who felt like outsiders; who literally didn’t have a home, but also metaphorically didn’t have a home where they feel comfortable and safe. So, I started researching that and found how many there are across the country.”
For Rodriguez, this passion project quickly became more than a play. He began researching as many resource centers online as he could, and even volunteered with shelters near his home. Now based in Detroit, he worked with the Ruth Ellis Center and various other smaller resource centers throughout the Motor City. “Every time I would do a reading, a workshop, or a performance, I would visit whatever resource centers are available in that city . . . and meet people who were utilizing those spaces.” Rodriguez intends to keep with his tradition of service while in Houston for the upcoming staged reading.
In addition to Swimming While Drowning, Rodriguez is workshopping a second play, Angel of the People Mover. The play, told in vignettes, follows the life of Maya, a black trans woman in Detroit, as told by her mother, Gloria. Described as “a subtle blend of Alice in Wonderland, Diva Icons, and Detroit culture,” Angel of the People Mover grapples with Gloria’s determination to relate to her daughter, examining the difference between tolerance and acceptance.
This work comes at an integral time for LGBTQ youth who seek representation in the media. With a film like Love, Simon garnering acclaim at the box office, Angels in America selling out on Broadway, and Rodriguez’s new play finding its space at the University of Houston, Rodriguez says it’s all a sign of the times. “I think this is continuing to be a great time for LGBT artists, but more importantly for LGBTQ audiences looking to be represented with a variety of people, a variety of races, ages, and backgrounds,” he says.
If you would like to keep up with Emilio Rodriguez’s new works, he can be found on Twitter at @TheatreAnteater.
What: A staged reading of Emilio Rodriguez’s Swimming While Drowning
When: April 3, 2017 at 6 p.m.
Where: University of Houston Student Center Theater
Details: Sponsored by the University of Houston Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program, LGBTQ Resource Center, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Hispanic Studies, Counseling & Psychological Services, Student Health Center, and the English Department. More information here.
