Celebrate HHM with 'Cloud Tectonics' a play by Latinos to Everyone

If you are not sure how to celebrate this Hispanic Heritage Month and you live in the LA area, you don’t want to miss the play Cloud Tectonics with a stellar cast of your favorite Latinos. Directed by veteran filmmaker Marissa Chibás and written by Oscar winner José Rivera, the story follows two people stuck in a storm– one cast out by those she trusted, the other stuck in the mundane – and how they found each other. The pregnant Celestina can stop time, but it’s a power that she can’t control. Everything beautiful about love, both timeless and fleeting, is turned into magic.

The play will take place at Inner City Arts on September 22, 23, and 24, 2023. Inner City Arts is home to The Rosenthal Theater, a creative space for innovative and diverse performances that seeks to nurture the creative spirit of young people and adults by enabling them to
create, present, and experience new work.

We got to talk with the actors and with the director, and this is what they have to say:

BOBBY SOTO

– What attracted you the most about the world that Jose built in this play?

The first time I read Cloud Tectonics, I became hooked on the world Jose Rivera created. The truth that he understood and laid down in his writing is that when we do one kind act of goodness, magic happens, and maybe sometimes time stops, and we affect each other’s body, mind, and spirit forever. That love is the healing power for all of us. This play makes so much sense to me because not only do we get an insight into the dreams and memories of a man, but we get to see how men are so beautiful inside when given a chance to be truly seen, and just this once it happens to be a goddess in the form of a pregnant woman, “and what better way to respond to a miracle than to fall in love with it.” And I fell in love with his play, and I know that the audience will feel a dent in their hearts, an imprint of love and connection. And that dreams come true when we come together to support one another and give time to see and hear each other. We all have that magic and power to love enough that it heals, and I hope to heal my audience with the performance of this play, these words, and our time.

– Why is it important that this is taking place at Inner-City Arts?

Inner city arts is a community center that is an oasis in DTLA , that serves the youth in the arts and i am filled with joy when i know that my work is being given to the community that will lead our future of artists that are from underserved communities.

CLAYTON CARDENAS

– Coming off from such a mainstream show as Mayans, why is it important to you to do something with a live audience in a much more intimate setting?

Coming off such a mainstream show, it was important for me to do theatre so that I could stay connected to my truth. The truth of why I first started acting was the feeling of empowerment being able to tell a story from beginning to end with a live audience in an intimate setting. The fear, the rush, the excitement, these feelings are strangely attractive to me. It reminds me of my years as an athlete. Prepping for a big game with my teammates and coaches. The pressure of all of us performing well to get the best result in the end. These feelings are what fuel me and keep me at my best. My early acting class days were very much like a theatre setting. We were schooled on all the great playwrights and were trained very much like theatre actors are. So to say I am beyond excited to hit the stage would be an understatement.

– What attracted you the most about the story in Cloud Tectonics?

What attracted to me most about Cloud Tectonics was the writing. Jose Rivera is a mastermind when it comes to storytelling. The nuanced characters and text allow the audience or reader to develop their own understanding of what they are absorbing which might be completely different from another viewer absorbing the same thing. Both will take away their own truth and both will be right. Also this play is about Latinos in LA. To represent a community in a shining light with the power to influence others, especially Latino youth who may have never even thought about acting is extremely satisfying for me.

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ANDREA LONDO

– You play Celestina, a pregnant woman who can stop time. Is that a blessing or a curse?

I think from the outside, or from the human perspective, most of us would see the ability to stop time as a “blessing”. But as the person experiencing it, I think it’s a very lonely curse.

– What is the takeaway you want people to feel after watching the play?

I hope people leave the play pondering their own relationships, how they “alter the physics around [them] in some way: changing the speed of light and the shape of space and how you experience time.”

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MARISSA CHIBAS

– How did you get involved in Cloud Tectonics?

My dear friend Gary Perez recommended me. I had a Zoom interview with Bobby where we talked theater, acting, philosophy, and the esoteric and found many points of connection. It was a deep and powerful conversation that kept continuing. I was thrilled to be brought on board of one of my all-time favorite plays with Bobby, Clayton, and Andrea performing. I’ve known and loved Jose and his work for decades now. This felt like a full-circle moment.

– What are the challenges to direct magical realism in a play?

Jose Rivera and I share an aversion to the term “magic realism.” Mostly because in our Latinx/e/a/o culture, the magical is just part of the everyday. My Tia Delia would often stop family gatherings with her visions. Many of my family members regularly talk with ghosts. So, the magic is ordinary, if we choose to see it. That’s at the heart of Cloud Tectonics.

Partly, what Jose is doing, right from the instant the play begins, is to knock us out of the illusion of missing out on the magic that is constantly surrounding us. I’m just facilitating that by allowing these extraordinary actors and our superior designers to let their imaginations run free with what Jose has entrusted us with. The result is an excellence, orgullo, and cariño (pride and warmth) that is filling each and every rehearsal. We so rarely get to do work where the majority of the team and the writer are Latinx/o/a/e. Because of this, each day, I see this team and outstanding actors throw it down.

If you are as excited as we are, click here to buy the tickets.

Celebrate HHM with ‘Cloud Tectonics’ a play by Latinos to Everyone