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

[0:10] Martín Acuña: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today's guest is Sebastián Treviño. He is a performer from Monterrey, Mexico. His Mexico City Theatre credits include Wicked, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Man of La Mancha, and Rent. And Sebastián is currently part of the On Your Feet Musical's second U.S. national tour. Sebastián, thank you so much for being here.

[0:37] Sebastián Treviño: Thank you, Martín. I'm so happy to be here and just be able to talk about Latins and Broadway and theatre.

[0:45] Martín Acuña: Yes. I know that I just read your bio, but what else do we have to know about you? Tell us a little bit more about yourself.

[0:53] Sebastián Treviño: What else do I want to tell you about me? I am a chocolate lover, an addict to cookies and anything covered in chocolate. I am the youngest of three and actually my mom is Colombian, so I'm half Colombian.

[1:14] Martín Acuña: Love it.

[1:17] Sebastián Treviño: From Pereira. For those who know or have traveled to Colombia, and if not, you should go. It's beautiful. What else? Yeah, I've been working professionally in theatre and acting for 10 years now, and I've been in New York for four of them. So it's been a minute that I've been here, but my excuse to come into the country was as a student, and the first two years I was studying, and yeah, now it's like out in the open and out in the wild in New York City.

[1:53] Martín Acuña: I love that. So let's dial it back a little bit, and I want to know why musical theatre, why Broadway as this dream and like your origin story in Mexico.

[2:06] Sebastián Treviño: I started acting when I was in sixth grade, so I was like 11 or 12. That was my first play at school, and it's all because of my, honestly, because of my dad. He would always take me and my family to, he loved the arts in general, so he was always looking for stuff to do. Like he would take us to like a ballet or to watch like a concert, a symphony, a musical theatre piece, something. He always wanted to do something like that, and I remember at first being like, no, no, why are you dragging us to this, blah, blah, blah, and then I started liking it. I started liking it and was very interested in it, and I actually remember one specific moment where, like an eye-opening moment, where my dad took me to see a chorus line, the Tec de Monterrey production.

Tec de Monterrey is a university, a big university in Mexico, and that campus specifically does large-scale musical theatre shows. Anyway, he took me to see that show, and I remember being just like blown away and not understanding that they were students, like because I would just see them as grown-ass adults, and there were probably like 20 or something. I was like, oh my god, and yeah, and when my dad explained like, no, those are students, they're part of the university, like if you ever end up studying here, you could do that, and it just blew my mind to think that it was so quote-unquote easy to get involved in it, and that kind of started sparking the flame, the fire in me, and I started doing everything I could at school, auditioning for anything that I could, and that got me to Mexico City to start working professionally, and I don't know, Broadway was always a dream.

As soon as I started getting into it and like doing my research and whatnot, I became obsessed with like watching the Tonys and all the Tony presentations, seeing who was nominating, googling about the nominees, the shows, and that's like, I want to be there, I want to do that, I want to be on those stages, and yeah, so that's how the dream started. I love that, I love that. You mentioned that you went to the States to study, and you mentioned in our recording in Spanish that you were part of AMDA.

[4:38] Sebastián Treviño: Yes. And you've been now working professionally across the States for two years now, and I would love to know how has your heritage influenced your artistry?

[4:49] Sebastián Treviño: I think my heritage, how has it influenced my artistry? I feel like you, like whatever character that I come across that I'm portraying, obviously you end up grabbing from your own personal experiences, your own personal background, so of course it's always involved, no matter how much you try for it not to be, if that would be the case, but it's always there. It definitely helped me a ton for this musical, for On Your Feet, for the tour, because it's a Latino show, it's a Latino story, and the whole cast is pretty much Latino. 70% of us are foreigners, and the other 30% are Latinos from the state, and so that influenced a lot of the casting decisions for sure, but also I've realized how I've only been like out and about auditioning in New York for two years, and in those two years I've done three shows, three of them which I've been Latino characters, so that should tell you something, and it's not usually, it's not up to me in some cases.

It's actually, it's funny because in the first show that I ever did in the States, it was a small black box production of this new musical called The Jury, which is amazing, and I hope it lives on even though I'm not included in it down the line. I hope it lives on because it's just so beautiful, and the music is spectacular, but I'm digressing. It was eight of us in the cast, and we all had our character name. Mine was Gabe, and there was a moment in the show where we had some like a folder, and they all had our names, like the character name, and you had to pick it up, and that was relevant to the story, and when we go, when we get to the theater, and we have the set, and the props, and everything for the first time, I see the folder, and my name in the show was Gabe, and I read that the folder says Gabriel Martinez, and I'm like, I mean sure, great, but why did I have to be Latino?

You know, like why could I be like Wilson or something, you know? So in those little details, you see that it's usually Latino characters that they're gonna cast you as, at least for now. At least for now.

[7:38] Martín Acuña: What is the best thing about being a Latin artist?

[7:45] Sebastián Treviño: The best thing about being a Latin artist? Damn. Well, it's funny, because the things I want to say, I think any culture could say that for themselves, you know, but I'll say that the best thing about being a Latin artist is just having that innate flavor that we have culturally, and applying that to any project that we're in.

[8:21] Martín Acuña: Oh yeah, I absolutely agree with you.

[8:23] Sebastián Treviño: Yes, this question can be applied to any culture, but Latin people just have this flavor, this spiciness, that it's unique to us.

[8:29] Martín Acuña: Yeah, for sure, for sure, and I think it makes the project special when we bring it.

[8:36] Sebastián Treviño: Oh yeah, totally. So who would be your biggest Latin inspiration?

[8:45] Sebastián Treviño: I think right now I'm very, very focused on, or have been very focused on the Estefans. They've been like, you know, in my mind all the time because of the tour, and it's funny because I didn't know much about them before the show, before I did the national, before I was cast in the national tour. It's funny because I didn't really know much about them before being in the show, and now that, like it was once I started rehearsing and doing all the research for the show that I learned about their lives and everything that they struggled and fought for to be where they are right now, and I mean of course I knew like the general, the general things about their lives, but not to this degree, and because of doing the show, and because of now knowing so much about their lives, I'm in awe of what they've done and how far they've come, and they definitely have paved the way for so many artists, Latino artists. They're like the OG crossover, let's say, and yeah, so I think that they've inspired me quite a lot, especially in this New York face of my life. I love it, I absolutely love it.

[10:07] Martín Acuña: So last question, what are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[10:13] Sebastián Treviño: Oh my god, it's such a hard question, and I hate it when like you're out and about in life, like having, I don't know, a drink at a bar and then like, oh you're an actor? What is your favorite musical? My top five favorite musicals, in no specific order, but maybe subconsciously, Wicked definitely. Wicked has played a big part in my life, not only because I have the fortune to be in it in Mexico City, but just in general, I remember being in high school and just falling in love with it and being obsessed with it, going to bed with it. I'm like, I'm gonna put some music and let me fall in love. I remember that very specifically. Wicked, Spring Awakening, obsessed. The Wedding Singer, I was very obsessed with it at the time.

I think the ones, the constant two are Spring Awakening and Wicked, and then the other three kind of vary depending on like what I'm obsessed with at the moment, but The Wedding Singer is a very fun show. I really love it, and when it came out, I had the chance to see it. I came to New York and I was just obsessed with it. Hamilton, we love Hamilton, and it's funny because I, out of the two shows that Lin-Manuel has done, my friend Lin-Manuel, my friend Lin, In the Heights and Hamilton, even though In the Heights is a Latino story and it's Latino rhythms and I love it all, I fell in love more with Hamilton and just like the intrinsic story and the different elements that Lin-Manuel included in his show.

It astonished me, it just really like blew it out of the park with that. I mean, we've seen how successful it's been and it's definitely because it has like a special magic to it. Love it. And the fifth one, Dear Evan Hansen, I really like it. The music is beautiful.

[12:32] Sebastián Treviño: Celestin, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your story with us. We cannot wait to see you be more successful than you already are.

[12:38] Sebastián Treviño: Thank you for being here.

[12:45] Sebastián Treviño: Thank you so much for having me, for allowing us to have this space and just chat. And yeah, I hope to see you again on here or anywhere.

[12:51] Martín Acuña: Yes, for sure. Thanks everyone for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.