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

[0:10] Martín Acuña: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today's guest is Joél Acosta. He is a performer right now, performing at The Great Gatsby, the immersive show. Joél, thank you so much for being here. I am so excited to have you. How are you?

[0:29] Joél Acosta: I'm doing well, Martín. Thank you for having me. How are you?

[0:32] Martín Acuña: I am very well, very excited. I know that you recently had opening night, and it was insane. I saw a bunch of friends at the opening night show, at the opening night party, all dressed up. And I'm hearing a lot of good things about this show, so I'm really excited. But before we dive into The Great Gatsby, tell us a little bit more about you, about your Latin heritage. I know that you're from Cuba, but raised in Miami, so tell us more about you.

[0:55] Joél Acosta: Yeah, my name is Joél Alexander Acosta. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. I'm a first-generation immigrant. My parents came from Cuba during the Mariel boat lifts in 1980. I spent most of my life in Miami, being a little nerd, growing up on video games and watching TV all day, figuring out what I was going to do with my life for a really long time, until eventually I got to high school, and my friend invited me to a thespian club meeting. And I went to it, and I've fallen in love with acting ever since. So I started acting, I would say, my sophomore year of high school, and I slowly fell more and more in love with it as I went. I have a little brother and sister named Ariana and Paki.

I love the crap out of them. I have an older brother named Janelle. You know, a big classic Cuban family, and a big Cuban family that has not left Miami, as most Cubans do. I'm the only one who ended up leaving, but here I am in New York in pursuit of that big old dream, I guess.

[2:11] Martín Acuña: I love that. And actually, I think you're the first guest that has ever said a friend brought you to the theater, instead of like a family member, or just going to a high school production. So that is really exciting to have this new story on the show. Why did you choose musical theater, theater in general, and that dream to pursue Broadway as this place to work professionally?

[2:37] Joél Acosta: Well, I think as a kid, I was looking for a lot of different mediums to express myself. Growing up, being raised by a single mother, I didn't always have a parent around. So I had to find a lot of ways to entertain myself. And when I was younger, I was really drawn to video games and television, specifically video games. And this is just the corny theory that I've rehearsed in my mind, and I'm saying it out loud. So I hope it doesn't sound corny. But so I played a lot of role-playing games when I was a kid. And I think that subconsciously translated to playing roles. Like, it is corny when I say it out loud. So when I was in high school, I was first studying medicine because my school had a program where you could choose like a focus; they were trying to simulate university or college.

So I started doing that. But I wasn't falling in love with it, I wasn't passionate about it. And like I mentioned, a friend invited me to a thespian club meeting. And I was like, Thespian, what is that? And I went and they talked about the competitions they were going to do that year. And then at the end, they said, All right, now we're going to do some improv. And they started playing some improv games. And eventually I was called up. And I was, even though I wasn't a theater kid, I was already a ham. So I made the most of it. And it was a lot of fun. And everyone was so encouraging. And the community that I immediately found myself in and supported by felt really warm and nice. And it felt right.

And in Florida, we have the Thespian Festival, which is basically a competition where high school students from different high schools in the state will bring different numbers. So a solo musical theater performance or group musical theater performance, and get rated based on that. And that then eventually got me pulled into the Roxy Performing Arts Center in Miami, Florida, which I know you interviewed Gabby Diaz.

[4:41] Martín Acuña: Yes.

[4:41] Joél Acosta: A while ago. And that's where I met her. And she's like grew up in that spot. And I came in a little bit later than everyone else. A lot of those kids grew up there at the Roxy. And I came in during high school, but they were so welcoming and warm. And I did a lot of shows there. And I realized how much I loved musical theater and theater in general.

[5:04] Martín Acuña: That is amazing. And how did you end up in New York? Like you did just a big jump from Miami to New York to pursue performing?

[5:13] Joél Acosta: Essentially, yeah. I mean, I had a little bit of a transition, you know, from like wet food to dry food kind of thing. So I went to Miami Dade College for two years to get my associates. At the time, I wanted to stay home in Miami and continue supporting my family through a rough patch. But I still wanted to keep going to school. So I got my associates at Miami Dade College, I believe the country's largest community college. I don't know.

[5:39] Martín Acuña: I think so.

[5:39] Joél Acosta: Maybe. Yeah. So I did two years there. I got my associates. And when I was done there, I knew I still wanted to get my BFA. So instead of transferring to a BA program and just having two years left, I started back from the bottom to do a BFA program over at the Mason Gross Conservatory in New Jersey. So I wasn't in New York yet, but I was New York adjacent. So I slowly made my way to New York, which was great because New York was always just a train ride away. So on the weekends, I would go and see some shows. But I started studying in New Jersey and then slowly made my way. Well, not slowly. As soon as I graduated, I went to New York after a year in London because I was also part of the Mason Gross program, which was really cool.

[6:25] Martín Acuña: That is amazing. And OK, let's dive into The Great Gatsby and this immersive, amazing show full of music, full of amazing costumes based on a really traditional good book. So how has been your experience with the show?

[6:34] Joél Acosta: It's been like, it's so hard to describe. When I first saw what the show was, I was extremely curious about it. I've always been interested in immersive theater, especially growing up in Miami. Right now at the moment, I think immersive theater is really popping off in Miami. And I would say in a lot of Spanish-speaking countries, they're just groundbreaking in that way. And I had an idea of what immersive theater was, especially with things like Sleep No More. But as I've begun this process and I started learning the vocabulary that Alexander Wright and the rest of the team at Immersive Everywhere uses, it really is its own craft. It's hard to describe without seeing it, but there really isn't anything like it.

In a lot of immersive productions, what happens is that these performers will do the show on some sort of loop. And it's a lot of circular storytelling where the audience member could come in at any point, wander into any room, and they experience things in different orders. But at the end, they get to piece together their own version based on what they experience, which is really cool. But this show has a really specific story that we're trying to tell that a lot of people already know. And what differentiates this from other shows is that walking into a different room doesn't make you miss out on an important plot point, but rather it's about seeing that plot point through the eyes of a different character.

So you might follow Gatsby into a room and he'll tell you about his plan for T and how excited he is to see Daisy after all this time. And he might reveal to you that everything that he's done up until this point has been solely for Daisy. But if you follow Charlie McKee, a reporter who's infiltrated the party, they're really piecing together this narrative and audience members will be given notepads and they have to go out and figure out the story themselves. So it's really cool how many different experiences you might have and how involved you are in this experience. Not just in the sense that you can walk around and interact with things and touch things, but you could talk to characters, you could ask questions, you could challenge them on some of their ideas.

And it's really cool to see that open up. And we'll get a lot of people who know this book like the back of their hand, the amount of English teachers we've had come with their knowledge, with their plan, with their, what is it called, with their lesson plan in the back of their head ready to talk to us about it. It's really fun to engage with them on it. And to really be challenged by people sometimes. It's a really good acting lesson too, because the stakes for me are so high already, but they're even higher because I've got to keep this person involved in this story. And I can't have them thinking about the fact that they're in a show. They need to believe that we are real people in front of them, experiencing these things in real time.

So even though they know that the part where Gatsby's about to throw his shirts is coming up, they're still present and here and focused because they don't know how it's going to happen that night. It's crazy.

[10:02] Martín Acuña: Plus, it's like you and the rest of the cast are bringing into flesh these characters that have a limited framework because a book only has so many pages, right? And yes, we can do theories about what happened before or next when the book ends. But I love that you've had a lot of English teachers that are there with their lesson plan being like, I want to know more about this specific character or dive deep into this situation that is only limited in the book. So I think that is really fascinating and really entertaining to a lot of people. And it's, as you said, a really good acting exercise to just go beyond the pages, go beyond the writer, go beyond with these characters that are limited in the book.

[10:57] Joél Acosta: Yeah, at the end of the day, this book, the entire novel is told through the perspective of one man, Nick Carraway. So even within that, it's a limited view, a beautiful view, a beautifully worded view, especially. But in this story and in our adaptation, we're able to expand the perspective.

[11:20] Joél Acosta: So instead of just through Nick's perspective, it gets to blow up a little bit more, especially in the case of a character like Daisy. If you see a story being told from the perspective of a man or this woman, it might be very limited sometimes. But to give Daisy so much more agency in this story is so fun and exciting to see because people have a very limited idea of who Daisy is through Nick Carraway's perspective. But if you follow her into a room and you hear her point of view and where she's coming from, it's a really big learning lesson for people sometimes in the most fascinating way. So a lot of these characters have more opportunities to speak. I mean, even Gatsby himself, as enigmatic and mysterious as he is, there are opportunities to really see him be vulnerable in ways that you don't get to experience in the book.

[12:13] Martín Acuña: Ah, I love that. That is amazing. And it's mind-blowing. Um, I want to ask you now, how has your heritage impacted or influenced your artistry? And like really specific this work with Gatsby in which you as a Latin, as an American with a Latin heritage, it's so different from the background and the heritage these characters have.

[12:41] Joél Acosta: Yeah. So in bringing it into Gatsby itself, first of all, I think one of the most beautiful things about this production among many other things is that we have such a beautifully diverse cast. Almost everyone in this cast is a person of color or ethnicity, which is quite a beautiful thing to see. Uh, with myself personally, I try to bring who I am and where I come from into every role I approach. And that goes for Gatsby too. In my mind, I think Gatsby is an immigrant or at least the son of immigrants. And as a Latino, you know, that's like right in my wheelhouse. And the thing that I resonate most with Gatsby is that it doesn't matter how much he's achieved or where he is now, this mansion, all this money, these parties and nice suits, you know, he's achieved what essentially is the American dream for a lot of people, especially at that time.

It doesn't matter what he's achieved or what he's accomplished. People don't care about where he is. They only care about where he's from and they continue to knock him down a few pegs or write him off because he's not one of them. It's that conversation about old money and new money, especially back then new money has this big stigma and it's trashy, it's tacky. But I think those are tools that people use to try to maintain their own social order. And when new things come in, when new people come in, when new shades of skin tone come in, when new cultures come in, when new food comes in, when new music comes in, people who've been trying to hold onto something get scared and afraid rather than letting that grow into something even more beautiful.

So my Gatsby is Latino. I'm Latino for the record. And I bring that into everything that I do. And I think that need to prove himself to these people and to Daisy and to step into this world and try to take up space in a world that doesn't want him. I think that's a very Latina experience. And I try to bring that into my performance as Gatsby.

[14:49] Martín Acuña: I love that. I absolutely love that. So what is for you the best thing about being a Latin artist?

[14:57] Joél Acosta: Man, I can only say one thing. No. Okay. We have a, I mean, at Latins, we have a plethora of things that we can name as best, but spill it.

[15:10] Joél Acosta: Yeah. So speaking of plethoras, I think for me, one of the biggest things is the huge diaspora that we have where my community isn't just made up of other Cubans, but it's the entire Latin community and the huge diaspora that we have and the blending of food and culture and appreciation that we have for one another. I love meeting another Latina person out on the street and be like, and then they'll say where they're from and I'll say where I'm from. And it feels like we're trading Pokémon cards or something. It's really funny. Oh, okay, great. I got it. Okay, sweet. And a Colombian. Okay. Mexican help. Yes. Amazing. I love, I love trading cultures and stories and then also resonating with food.

But another huge thing for me is what excites me about Latinidad is the huge untapped potential that we have in the greater world and more specifically in this industry as well. I've learned as I, as I've gone on and I've become more in touch with Latina culture, the more personal our stories are, the more universal they are. Yes. And to see someone's deeply personal story to go within that and see so many things that resonate in my life and to see the person that resonates with the person next to me who may not be Latina, identify with that experience. It's really heartwarming. I think Latina stories are human stories at the end of the day. So it's beautiful seeing that, especially nowadays we have, you know, all these stories coming out.

There's Latina work being made almost every other day, which is more beautiful to see of the beautiful musical Azul that's like making waves right now, which is amazing to see. We have two Spider-Man right now, which is amazing in the same movie. Who would have thought we made it, we got Spider-Man, which is amazing. And even like within films, we're getting so much more specific references to the Latina community and the experience in mainstream stuff. I mean, in the newest Spider-Man film, they're making references to food and music and jokes that the Latina community really enjoys, which I love. Yeah. And so many other things, of course, I mean, food, music, you name it, but those are the things that's at the top of my head right now.

[17:33] Martín Acuña: I love them. I love them. Thank you for sharing that. Who is your biggest Latin inspiration?

[17:41] Joél Acosta: My biggest Latin inspiration. I mean, I'm going to be corny again and say my mom, it has to be my mom. At the end of the day, you know, I could, I could go with like Lin-Manuel Miranda or Oscar Isaac, which are people that I idolize and whose careers I definitely want to emulate to a certain degree. But I mean, you know, my mom did such a good job at raising four kids now and encouraging our dreams and being an immigrant who came here wanting a better life for her family to be told by her son that the thing he wants to do with the opportunity that she's given him through all the sacrifice is I want to sing and dance and act on stage. That must have scared her so much because she's like, no, I came here so that you could make money.

So I, and I know, especially in conversations that we've had as I've gotten older, how truly worried she was for me and my future and my wellbeing. But despite all of that worry, she still supported the thing that I wanted to do most of all. And that selflessness and lack of ego is something that I want to emulate every single day because that was the biggest driving force for her to just make sure her family was okay and to kind of ease up on that so that I could pursue my dreams is I think one of the most powerful things a human could do. So yeah, my mom.

[19:22] Martín Acuña: I love that. I love that. I got nostalgic. Thank you for sharing that. And for your candor, I know that your mama has said this, but I know she's proud of you and your siblings. So I know that.

[19:37] Joél Acosta: My last question for you is what are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[19:41] Joél Acosta: Okay. All right. First I'm going to pick something that's more recent because I don't want to just pick the older things. Some Like It Hot is right now in my mind right now. It was so surprising how well adapted that story was to today. It's beautifully told because I mean, the original film, like the main premise was kind of problematic, but they've adapted in such a way that they really turned it around and told this really beautiful story from so many different walks of life in this classic movie musical, which I thought was really impressive how they did it. I got to say, Hamilton, I'm a big Hamilton fan. You know, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? What's good is good. So Some Like It Hot, Hamilton, The Last Five Years, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

I will say that because it was the first show that I was a lead in at the Roxy Theater Group. So that's always going to have a special place in my heart. And then Sleeper Hit was a one-person musical called Where Did We Sit on the Bus by Brian Quijada. And it was this beautiful one-person show that was a musical of this Latin kid who one day was learning about civil rights and the relationship between white people and black people back then. And it started with the question, where did we sit on the bus? Where did Latina people sit on the bus and where we fit into all of that? And that just went into a whole journey of self-discovery and his connection with Latinidad as someone who wasn't immediately connected with it and found it later on in life.

That's something that I really resonated with. And that's the fifth one I'm going to put because too many Broadway musicals. I got to put one Sleeper Hit in there, but it's a beautiful show. I know there are some productions going around of it. So if you ever get the opportunity, I highly recommend it.

[21:52] Martín Acuña: Absolutely. And sounds amazing. Joél, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your story, for being this candid. This has been amazing. I cannot wait to see where you go next. All my best wishes to you. Thank you so much for being here.

[22:08] Joél Acosta: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And I hope you get to check out the show one day. It's a crazy show. I'd hope you see it a couple of times. You get the full picture.

[22:17] Martín Acuña: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. I had a great time.

[22:22] 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. We'll see you next time.