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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 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's guest is Gil Torres. He is a Mexican American actor, dancer, and singer, born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and growing up in Northern California. He'll remember making people laugh through song and dance. With his BA in Musical Theatre under his arm, he moved to New York City, where he's had the chance to work off-Broadway, regionally, and in one of his outmost passions, new works. I am super excited to introduce my Twitter friend, Gil, to everyone. So Gil, thank you so much for being here. I am honored to be featuring you on Backstage Talk. Welcome to the show. How are you?

[1:37] Gil Torres: I'm good. I'm so honored, especially because this is the part where I get to tell you, oh my god, that is the sweetest introduction ever. I can't just carry you around with me everywhere I go. So that, there it is. I have to say that. So there you go. I'm good. That was very sweet. I really appreciate it. You make me feel like someone important.

[2:08] Martín Acuña: You are. You are. Oh my gosh. First thing I want to ask you is, what made you choose the thespian path in life?

[2:16] Gil Torres: So the thespian life, you know that thing that people always say about how I can't remember, like, when I didn't want to do this? I, that's so generic and basic, but truthfully, I don't know any other way to describe it. Because ever since, I feel like it was the moment I came out of the womb. I was like, boom, okay, like, let's, let's get to, like, the show. Because since childhood, I just always remember, like, really loving anything artistic. I would sing, dance. I would, like, reenact telenovelas that I would watch on TV. I would, like, reenact the scenes. And so just from the childhood, and it wasn't ever like, oh, I am going to be a thespian. It was more like, yeah, no, this is just, like, what I'm into.

And then once I discovered theater specifically, I was done for. I was like, oh, okay, like, this is it. I'm done for. And it, I became this, like, crazy obsessed theater kid. And now I'm just becoming this theater obsessed adult. And so that's how we are here. I, but, I mean, along the way, there were a lot of, there were a lot of, like, little, like, milestones and little, little, like, checkpoints where I was like, okay, yeah, this is, this is what I want to do. This is, I'm meant to be doing this. I love it. I love it. So tell us a little bit about your journey in musical theater.

[3:38] Gil Torres: Okay. So my journey, I would say, started when I was a very little kid. And I have the earliest memories of loving all the Disney movies, specifically The Little Mermaid, of course. And my favorite thing to do was read up the movie and sing all the songs. And we had a family camera. And I remember I would grab it and I would, like, look over to see what was taped. And I would kind of decide, like, is it worth keeping this? And if it was, like, someone's, like, baptism or something, I'd be like, not really. And then I would go ahead and tape myself singing, like, part of your world over and over again, just like multiple takes, like the OG self tape, I would say. And so that became a thing. And then I remember, oh, God, I remember I was obsessed with this singing competition show that plays in Mexico called La Academia.

And basically, it was like their version kind of American Idol, but it's, they all lived in the house together. It was like Big Brother slash American Idol. And there was always, like, an educational component to it that I really liked. But the point is, is that I saw one of the girls, she sang this song that they were like, oh, this is a really hard song to sing. And it was called, it was Don't Cry For Me Argentina. So then me, the ambitious child that I was, was like, oh, well, if that's one of the hardest songs to sing, I'm going to learn how to sing it, bring it. And so I found the karaoke track for it. Mind you, this was in Spanish. So it was No Llores Por Mi Argentina. So I would learn it.

And then I'd be like, yep, nailed it. Like, I know it. I know one of the hardest songs ever. I was like eight, nine years old, like, singing Evita. No idea who this lady was. But I was like, yeah, nailed it. I got it. And then quickly after that, I had a music teacher who had told us like, oh, I just got back from New York City from seeing Wicked and The Boy From Oz. And I was like, Wicked? Boy From Oz? Mind you, I thought the two shows had something to do with each other, of course. And so I started just like looking it up. And I remember I stumbled on Wicked and I heard some of the clips and I was like, oh, my God. And then from then on, I begged for the cast recording. And once I got that, I made a copy of it so I could keep the original and never damage it and scratch it.

And so I would just listen to like my burned CD copy of it all the time. And then I just became like, I went nuts. And so musical theater from then on, I just became like this thing that I was like, oh, I have to do it. And immediately I was like, where do I audition? How do I do this? I want to be singing the songs. Where's the close community theater? Where's my high school play? Here we go. I love it.

[6:27] Gil Torres: Did I answer your question? Sorry. I forgot. I'm like, did I go through Rails?

[6:33] Martín Acuña: No, not at all. Not at all. I love it. So how did you end up in New York after your BA in musical theater?

[6:39] Gil Torres: Okay. So I went to school in Northern California in this very small town called Chico, California State University, Chico. I went there for musical theater to get my BA. I truthfully didn't really have a great experience. And so I just desperately always wanted to live in New York. I always wanted to be in the city. I wanted to be here right after high school, even though I didn't know anything about anything. And so I took it upon myself, once I got to school, I love learning. It's just, I didn't particularly enjoy college, if that makes any sense. And so I knew that I wanted to get out of there ASAP. And so I graduated a semester early. And right after that, I did what would have been my spring semester of senior year.

I got cast in a production of Hairspray as one of the council kids out in the Bay Area. And so I thought, you know what? This is a dream show of mine. I've always wanted to do it. Who knows if I'll ever get to do it. I'm just going to do this and just enjoy being in a show and just that. After having a really difficult three and a half years of theater school, dancing around, doing the pony to Hairspray for a couple of months, it sounded like the best thing ever. So I did that. And then right after that, the summer of 2015, dear Lord, I made the move. It was, I would say one of the easiest decisions of my life. I was always going to make the move. It was just a matter of saying yes to it. So I had a friend call.

She said, Hey, don't move to the city. My lease is about to end. And I just said, yeah. And then the next day we had book tickets and we were on our way. Yeah. So I landed here in June, 2015. And I just, I always knew I was going to end up here from childhood. I was always that annoying kid who I grew up in California. And so it was always that annoying kid who was like, okay, I'm in small town. I'm too big of a star to be here. I'm meant to be a celebrity. Get me out of here. I'm going to go to New York and like be famous. That's like what little me would say. Then change into like, okay, I want to like work in theater. I want to be an artist and I want to live in New York city. And so yeah, I arrived June, 2015 and I've been here ever since quite literally.

I've been back home to California since I moved here. It's been quite a, quite a wild journey. So you've gotten the chance to perform off Broadway regionally in a bunch of shows. I want to ask you, what's your approach to performing musical theater?

[9:32] Gil Torres: So my approach to it, not to get super actory, but first and foremost, of course, like I approach it with a sense of truth and I always approach it with like an acting first perspective. Like that's always like at the forefront. I was drawn into musical theater because it made me feel things. And there are moments that have like been like life changing for me. And I want to be able to recreate those moments for other people. So my approach to it is be as truthful as possible. However, something that I think gets forgotten a lot of the times is that it's supposed to be fun. And so I always approach it with the sense of fun. Even now, like I'm doing a production of Men of La Mancha, which actually opens on like the day after tomorrow.

And I keep on trying to remind myself, like, this is fun. Like I signed up for my seventh grade musical because I wanted to have fun and I was so excited to go to rehearsal and play around and pretend, you know, make believe. And so that's something that I always try to keep. I think it gets lost sometimes along the road on when you're training and you're like in these musical theater programs and you're auditioning and just doing the hustle in New York City because it is a lot of work. And I think a lot of times we are so focused on the perfection aspect of it that we forget how fun it is. Like right now, right when I was doing a self tape right before this, I was getting really stressed out because something just wasn't clicking and I just had to tell myself, have fun.

It's a monologue for a play that's on stage. And I think that takes off so much of the pressure of it. And I think that ultimately that's when I always say I do my best work when I just let myself have fun.

[11:28] Martín Acuña: I love it. I absolutely love it. So do you think, do you have any other piece of advice you would tell a younger version of yourself? Because I loved that having fun advice.

[11:32] Gil Torres: Yeah. I actually thought about this recently. The advice I would tell my younger self would be to, I would tell my younger self, don't worry about being good. Just do it anyway. And that's something that I am embracing now in my adulthood. I was always so worried about getting things right and being perfect and I always felt like, Oh, there's something wrong with me. Like, am I not enough? All of those things that you get told as a kid, especially when you're like a young gay Latino kid growing up, you know, in a very white city. Um, and especially like in the musical theater industry, uh, feeling like there wasn't really a spot for you. And so having that extra pressure of, Oh, I need to be extra, extra good because the odds are already so against me.

And then having that be a source of fear and then ultimately just kind of paralyzes you. And so for a while I did feel like a little bit stuck. I felt a little bit afraid and like, I felt held back. Like I couldn't go after the things I wanted, but now that I've kind of come around to thinking, don't worry about if the audition is good or don't worry if like, don't worry about the idea of being good. Just do it anyway, just show up to the audition, just sing the song the best you can.

[13:04] Gil Torres: And that brings me to a second piece of advice. I tell myself pretty much every day is that I'm doing the best I can, especially I'm doing the best I can with what I can this very day. So like right now, I was, yeah. And so those would be the two big things. Don't worry about being good. Just get it done. And then just truthfully, just do your best. I love them. I love those two pieces of advice. Thank you so much for that. So in your acting experience, and in terms of Latinx in musical theater, what is visibility and representation for you?

[13:45] Gil Torres: Visibility and representation to me is being able to see yourself authentically in all aspects of the industry. So it also means that being able to see yourself authentically in stories that are specific. And it's not just like one blanket story of that's supposed to fit every single Latino community. We're all so different. We're not a monolith. And so being able to see yourself represented, and for example, one of the first times I ever saw myself was in Ugly Betty with Justin Suarez. But it was because it was specific, like he loved musical theater. He loved fashion. He came from a Mexican-American home. And so in my mind, it was like, check, check, check. Got it. Like, that's me. And I think because it was sold in such an authentic and honest way, and like a lot of times, like some things weren't always pretty.

That's what's important to me. Something that like, even now, like now that I'm older, I look back and that's still like something that I look back on. I'm like, oh, I still see myself in that kid, even though I'm so much older than that, with Justin's age is that Ugly Betty. So that to me is important. I'm like, if I still see myself in that, like so many years later, that's a good stuff. That's what matters.

[15:11] Martín Acuña: I agree with you. It's so important to, and in any stage in life, it's so important to see ourselves represented in characters across the industry, not only in theater or on Broadway, but also in films and TV and in books, actually, to just like see and be like, that character could be me. And it's so important. So in that order of ideas, how do you think that we can increase Latin visibility and representation on Broadway?

[15:46] Gil Torres: Well, on Broadway specifically, oh, well, I know that we've all heard about how we need to see representation in all aspects of the industry, whether it be actors, directors, you know, from the top to the bottom, like people in the Broadway League, producers, theater owners, everyone, that we need that representation throughout. We don't just need, oh, we have a few cast members in our show, like check, like, what are you complaining about? However, something that I feel doesn't get as much attention is that I think we can increase a lot of that visibility and representation through our educators, because that's something that I always struggled with, that being a Latino, I never truly felt like I had a mentor growing up or like a teacher that really understood me.

And I think a lot of times that holds kids back from pursuing a career in the theater. It holds them back thinking, oh, I have this vivid memory of like being in college and like going through with my acting teacher, going through a bunch of monologues and having him not able to come up with one and just say, oh, you know what? Just write your own because I can't think of anything for you. That's from an educator. So how are we, so, and I know that that's the case for a lot of other kids. So how are we supposed to tell them, like, hey, there's a spot for you when there's people that, like to me, like I had to do a lot of my own education. So I, if I, since I didn't have a mentor for me, it was, let me look up who's writing plays in New York City about Latinos and reach out to them.

Or let me see, like, let me buy whatever play I can find by a Latino and read it because clearly like I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves and do it myself. And there's a certain honor and pride that comes with that, but there's also like a really like deep sense of resentment that can sometimes be built when you don't have that person to guide you. So I think having like more diversity in like musical theater programs, for example, that would have been like such a, like a valuable piece for me to see like, oh, someone who looks like me, who has, who understands me, who like connects with me, they're reassuring me there's a place for me because they've done it and they're out there. So I think increasing visibility in that will continue to inspire kids to pursue them because I feel like there's so many that really want this, but because they don't have that resource, it's almost like they tell themselves, well, then there must not be a place for me.

So maybe I shouldn't pursue it. And that's, that's how we get with the Broadway that we have today, essentially. It's getting better, of course, you know, but I think for how much the theater community has grown, I think we still have a long way to go. Yeah. We're on the good route though, but there is still a lot, a lot of ground to cover, but fortunately things have been better and will continue to get better. I bet on that.

[19:01] Martín Acuña: Yes, I agree. I hope so. Yeah. So going back into your acting experience, what is the most important part of creating Latin characters in musicals?

[19:27] Gil Torres: Most important part of creating Latin characters in musicals. I think the most important thing is to look at them as people, like less as characters. And that, cause I think that's when you really understand like the different layers of a role, like the best roles, you always hear that like, oh, there's so many layers to it. They're like such like a flawed individual, but that's true. When we, when we create Latin characters, like again, I think being specific is so important because somebody who grew up in Mexico doesn't have a different experience than a Puerto Rican, you know, from things like the, like the way they speak Spanish, the culture, like family dynamics, like everything. And so I think when we're creating characters, Latino characters in musical theater, you have to remember, we can't just say, oh, that's Latin character.

We have to get like, no, but like, where are they from? Like, like, what is their family like? Make them into a person and not just shark number two from the left, Bodo and Westside. And you know, like all of those things pave the way for us, but when we're making characters, like, look at all of like these like amazing complex roles that are out there, you know, like we have like the Jean Valjeans, we have like the Elphabas, like all of these like great roles, and they're always like so complex and layered. Why, why couldn't, why can't that be the case for this? Why is this any different?

[21:02] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree. I totally agree with you.

[21:08] Gil Torres: So before we wrap up.

[21:08] Martín Acuña: Oh, no, no, no. Go ahead. If you have less thoughts.

[21:13] Gil Torres: I was going to say like, and ultimately, I just think there has to be a lot of heart. I think, like, if there's something that does connect a lot of the Latino community is that we're very loving people. And I think getting a bad core is how you end up with shows like In the Heights, you know, like those like really emotional shows where like, there's so much heart into them. And they're written with so much loving care. And I think, I think that's also something that needs to not be overlooked. I mean, I don't even know what I'm trying to get with this. But that's just the word heart came to mind.

[21:48] Martín Acuña: Yeah, absolutely. No, I agree with you. Once we start, like being more true to who we are, and all the variety and diversity that we have as Latins, we will connect more to our hearts. I totally agree with you on that. You know, me and my mom always have the saying, we're like, ay la llevamos. And that's kind of how I feel about this. Like, once upon a time, we're getting there. We're getting there. And I'm, I'm a very hopeful person. Very optimistic. I think, I think we're gonna be okay.

[22:23] Gil Torres: Oh, we are. We are. So before we wrap up, if someone wants to follow you on social media, take a look at the work you've done, maybe want to work with you, where can people find you? What are your social media handles?

[22:39] Gil Torres: Of course. Okay, so my social media resume is Instagram, you can find me at Gil Torres NYC. That is Torres with two R's, Gil with only one L. And then on Twitter, you can find me at Gil Tweets Stuff, which has been my username since I made my Twitter account in choir class in high school. And so let's see. And then Instagram, what else is there? Oh, I just started posting on TikTok. And so you can find me there at Gil Torres NYC as well. So yeah, I'm starting to put up, you know, like videos of me singing and just theater related stuff. I'm actually losing my mind because just probably first thing just followed me after I tagged him in something. So I'm like, kind of losing it. But you know, I'm very excited. Nevertheless, yeah, I would say those those are the three spots. You can find me Instagram, Gil Torres NYC, TikTok, Gil Torres NYC, and then Gil Tweets Stuff on Twitter.

[23:42] Martín Acuña: Awesome. And last question. Which are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[23:49] Gil Torres: Oh, I should have known you're gonna ask this. Okay. I'm not gonna overthink it. I'm gonna say one, Wicked, In the Heights, Into the Woods, Hairspray. Oh my god, the fifth. Oh, I'll throw in. Oh, bear with me. What did I say? Wicked, In the Heights. Martin, what did I say? In the Heights, Into the Woods. Oh my god, I forgot the other one. Yeah, Wicked and Hairspray. Yeah, there we go. There we have it. And then my fifth one. Yeah. Oh my god. I'm gonna throw in a fifth one that's just like, I love it so much. It's my favorite flop musical ever. And it's All Shook Up. I'll just throw that in there because it was the first national tour I ever saw. And I was doing a 50s musical at the time. And they took us to go see this 50s musical to like, kind of tell us like, show us how it's done.

And I remember going to see it and I, like, my jaw was on the floor. I was like, wait, these people sing this well, like every single night. They do this every single day. And I got the cast recording and then I was determined to sing like Cheyenne Jackson, like if it was the last thing I ever did. So that's, that also just has a really, I listen to it often, actually. So I'll say that's my fifth just because of the sentiment behind it.

[25:15] Martín Acuña: I love it. I absolutely love it. Well, Hilt, thank you so much for joining me here in Backstage Talk. It's been an honor, a pleasure to have you. And I really cannot wait for the success that will come to you. I know that. So thank you so much for being here.

[25:35] Gil Torres: Thank you. So sweet. Thank you. I appreciate it. This is so much fun. Congrats on the podcast. This is amazing.

[25:42] 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.