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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi everyone, I am Martín Acuña and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:16] Martín Acuña: Jonathan Larson asked how can you make someone take off and fly in one of his songs from Tick Tick Boom? And I, for the past two years, have learned one way to do it, through the power of community. Welcome to the Latinx in Musical Theatre special for Season 3 of Backstage Talk, where we will be featuring artists from across all positions in musical theatre, from several Latin American countries and different Latin heritages. I am proud to showcase my Latinx family. I hope you enjoy.

[0:51] Martín Acuña: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today, I am super excited to have Caesar Samayoa with me. He is a Broadway actor, best known for his roles in Come From Away, Sister Act, and the Pee Wee Herman show. He lives to inspire through his performances, and his work has taken him to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. We can see his work in the Come From Away pro shot, in which he is still performing through October. Caesar, it is an honor to have you here. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[1:31] Caesar Samayoa: Oh, thank you so much, Martín. I'm so excited to be here and to meet you.

[1:37] Martín Acuña: So, Caesar, first thing, what made you choose the thespian path in life?

[1:42] Caesar Samayoa: Oh, I love this question because I love teachers so much. You know, my family is from Guatemala, and we moved to the States. And honestly, this Broadway live theatre, it was just not part of our world. And my teacher introduced me to theatre. And I remember going to see a show, and it changed my life. I just knew at that moment that that is exactly what I wanted to do. I think I was in fourth grade, maybe, here. And if it wasn't for my teacher, I probably wouldn't be here right now, because I started annoying my family about it. I started, you know, putting shows on. We started putting shows on together. And here we are, little by little, I started embracing the arts and really become a part of the arts in my community. And kind of now, this is what I do for a living. So I remember that moment when I was a little boy, and I saw my first live performance and knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

[2:50] Martín Acuña: I love it. But wait a minute, which show was that?

[2:53] Caesar Samayoa: It was a Peter Pan, if you could imagine, with Sandy Duncan. It was on Broadway. I just didn't understand what was happening. You know, this incredible person who plays Captain Hook comes on stage, and all of a sudden, I was like, that guy, that's the guy that I want to be.

[3:11] Martín Acuña: I love it. So tell us a little bit about your journey on Broadway, on musical theater, and how you got there, how you got to one of the greatest stages in the whole wide world.

[3:24] Caesar Samayoa: Wow. You know, I was always involved in the arts growing up, in kind of a community performing arts center that I went with my friends, but I never thought it was going to be part, truly part of my life. Because, you know, my family valued education and college and career so much that acting was never part of it, right? So when I graduated high school, I went to a university and studied something completely different. I was studying Japanese and international relations. And I saw that some friends were going to school for acting. And I was involved in every possible acting group you could be in. And I remember coming into the city and seeing Anna Deavere Smith in her one woman show, Twilight Los Angeles.

And it gives me goosebumps talking about it, because this woman transformed herself into, I don't even know how many characters, telling this true life story. And that moment, I was sitting by myself in the theater. I said, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to a conservatory acting school, which I applied to. I got accepted into a couple of them. I started studying acting. And that's what I've done for the rest of my life. I went 100% into it. I came into New York. My first show was this show called Shakespeare's R&J, which became the longest running Shakespeare in history in New York City. And I played, it was four actors who played all the roles. And I played Juliet and Benvolio.

And gosh, I played half the characters in that show. I did for two years. And from that moment on, thank God, I kept working in this industry and doing some incredible productions, which have led me. I've done a lot of multi-character productions, which kind of felt like it was shaping me to do Come From Away, where I am now.

[5:23] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I love it. I love it. I was actually going to ask you about that. How do you approach performing musical theater and how has this process, multi-character process, that started so long ago and has taken you all the way to Come From Away with these iconic characters from Gander?

[5:45] Caesar Samayoa: Yeah. It's such a beautiful question. I love hearing how actors approach characters because we're all so different. Everybody does it differently. And for me, it's the story. It's the moment I read something, I can almost feel in my body how that would kind of happen for me. I almost feel the person that I'm reading when I'm reading a script or a play or reading some music as well. So in terms of multi-characters, I treat everyone as if it's the only character I play in the entire show, trying to fill their lives as much as possible and how would they walk and how do they breathe and how do they react. And it really always comes down to the words, always from the first moment. It's the words.

It's the playwright's work that really kind of infuses everything that we do. And we are blessed with Come From Away because our team, David and Irene, my gosh, they have written gold for actors. Gold. All you have to do is show up and you know who these people are. For example, I play Kevin Young in the show. We couldn't be more different. And we've had friends and family come from the show and say, oh my gosh, you guys are so much alike. It's crazy, you know, and that is from the script, truly from the script.

[7:19] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I love it. I love it. And it's beautiful, that approach to different characters all the way from the story, from what's written. It's beautiful. I love that approach. So Caesar, what advice would you give a younger version of yourself?

[7:38] Caesar Samayoa: Oh my gosh. Yet another teacher told me this. He said, no matter where you are in life, be the best person that you can possibly be in that moment and in that room. You know, be the light in the room. I didn't know what that means. And I think it means different things for different people. But I took it as being the person that people can depend on, the person that will quietly.

[8:10] Caesar Samayoa: Almost be present as much as possible in a room. The person who will be prepared as much as possible in a room. The person who will be the friendliest, and the most open, and the most honest. Not the most, but you know, one of the people who are that. And I think those are beautiful qualities. I thank my mentor so much for saying that to me. And it's helped me ever since I was a little boy. You know, every room I walk into, I think of Anna Freund, one of my first voice teachers. And I think of her advice, and I try to live up to it.

[8:51] Martín Acuña: I love that because you, besides being an amazing performer, you are also a teacher. You're also a mentor. And it's so inspiring the way that you show up for yourself and teach a lot of young people through what your mentors have taught you. And that is absolutely beautiful.

[9:17] Caesar Samayoa: Oh, thank you so much, Martín. There is no feeling in the world than when you see a student's face light up because something clicked. And you see their kind of soul just shine and explode in their work. It's part of my life's work, absolutely. And I love it. I love it. So your family comes from Guatemala, from this Central American country. And right now we are having like this explosion of Latin work on Broadway, in musical theater, off-Broadway, everywhere basically. I wanted to ask you, what is visibility and representation for you?

[10:02] Caesar Samayoa: Oh my gosh, it's everything for me, especially coming out of the pandemic where we, where the world was hidden, right? So many of us were hidden, and not in a repressive way, because of everything that was happening. The doors opened up after this pandemic, Broadway opened up, and the amount of talent, the amount of Latinx talent on Broadway and in the entertainment industry is astounding. It's almost like we burst the door open and said, finally, we are here and you're going to be paying attention to us because it is no joke. It is no joke. The people in this industry, my brothers and sisters in this industry are some of the most talented people. The people that you have had on your podcast, Martín, and the people that you will have on your podcast are leaders that are changing the way this industry works.

So visibility is massive. It's massive. I can't imagine seeing this amount of talent when I was little because I didn't see it. I didn't see Latinos, Latinx artists, you know, everywhere, especially on Broadway, you know, maybe one or two people. And now to see us everywhere, and I'm thinking of my nieces and nephews that come to the theater and get to see that, and it is normal. It is normal for people to be playing the leads, to be writing these shows, to be doing the scenery. It's amazing. I love it.

[11:40] Martín Acuña: So you, as an actor, being on the stage, how do you think that we can increase Latin visibility and representation on Broadway?

[11:47] Caesar Samayoa: I think exactly what we're doing right now, Martín. We have to be vocal about it. We have to be vocal about it and we have to keep on putting our community out there because no one else is going to do it. And it's really starting to happen in such a beautiful way. The support that I feel from our community, it is real. You know, the entertainment industry can be full of a lot of lights and glamour and a little bit of fake and everything else. But our community is solid to the core and we lift each other up, and that is very hard to find.

[12:36] Martín Acuña: Yes. One of my last questions for you, Caesar, is what is the most important part of creating these Latin characters in musical theater?

[12:43] Caesar Samayoa: Well, I think it's so important that our stories are told and that our stories are heard. I think people who are not Latinx need to hear our stories and need to understand what our culture is like as well. But what it really means to me is that little child who comes to a show or who goes to the movie theater or who turns on the television and sees themselves represented simply and beautifully.

[13:25] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I love it. I absolutely love it. Caesar, if someone wants to see what you're doing, what you will do next to just contact you and follow you, where can they find you on social media?

[13:32] Caesar Samayoa: Please find me on Instagram. It's just my name at cesarsamayoa. I'm also on Twitter and my website, which is changing as we speak, at cesarsamayoa.com. I have some beautiful projects coming up that I wish I could speak about, but they are telling some amazing, amazing stories from our community. So please stay tuned.

[14:02] Martín Acuña: I love it. And last question before we wrap up everything, which are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[14:06] Caesar Samayoa: Oh, that's, I love this. It doesn't have to be musical theater. Can it be, can it be both? Or would you want me to stay with musical theater?

[14:19] Martín Acuña: Oh no. Open it up to straight plays.

[14:25] Caesar Samayoa: Yeah. I, well, one of my first all-time favorites is Sweeney Todd. I just love it so much. Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight Los Angeles was incredible. I also love, I mean, A West Side Story, that music, are you kidding me? There's nothing more beautiful than that music. You turn it on, you're just swept away by it. What else do I love? I am such a musical theater nerd. I love so many of them. I remember, I'm trying to go back and remember what I saw when I was younger. Oh, A Light in the Piazza changed my life, and Parade, Jason Robert Brown's Parade, another score that is transforming. And I have to, I have to say In the Heights, because when I saw that show, I was up, I was up and dancing and feeling that joy in that theater. I know I went over my five, but I could honestly add like 10 more. Like, I have a Broadway network on when I'm walking down the street. This is what I do. This is my life, and I'm so proud of it.

[15:37] Martín Acuña: I love it. Caesar, thank you so much for coming over, for sharing your thoughts. We wish you an incredible rest of your run with Come From Away, and we wish you the best with this new project that you have coming up.

[15:56] Caesar Samayoa: Thank you so much, Martín. What a pleasure.

[15:56] Martín Acuña: Thanks, everyone, for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.