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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's guest is Valentina Berger. She is a Broadway producer that started working in the industry in her native country, Argentina, and then moved to New York City to work in marketing and many other things. Once she got there, she never looked back. She then founded Go Broadway, an educational program that connects the best teachers and theatre makers in the industry with artists from all over the world, but especially with Latin American artists. Her students are trained as triple threats and they have a taste of Broadway and the Broadway lifestyle while they are there. Valentina, I am super honored to have you over. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[1:41] Valentina Berger: Thank you, thanks for having me. My pleasure.

[1:45] Martín Acuña: Tell us a little bit about what made you choose the thespian path in life.

[1:50] Valentina Berger: Yeah, I think my instinct, which is how I guide most of my decisions. I was lucky to have great parents who supported me and said, okay, you can just do whatever you want to do in life, but really commit to it and you'll be successful, you'll do good. So they encouraged me and I was very curious. So I was able to find a program online when I was in high school and signed up for college and ended up getting a really big scholarship. So I moved to New York right before I turned 18. And yeah, the rest is history.

[2:30] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. So let's dive a little bit deeper into your journey in musical theatre. So how has it been working on Broadway, getting to New York, things prior when you were back home in Argentina, all of that?

[2:41] Valentina Berger: I think it's been a dream come true. I started out very young, so I feel like for the first couple of years, I wasn't aware of where I was working or what I was doing. I knew I was just learning and I was surrounded by very, very cool people. But now looking back, I am grateful that I learned so much on the job. I was able to meet such talented people along the way. So yeah, it's been great. I love it. So you have been working as a producer on Broadway. You also have Go Broadway, this educational program I mentioned before. But I want to know what is your approach to producing musical theatre? How do you start? How do you get your team? How do you dive heads down into something?

[3:25] Valentina Berger: So I think I've been a producer my whole life, and I just recently realized that even when I was like five or six and I was producing shows in my living room with all of my siblings and charging tickets and then bringing students here and producing such a wonderful experience for them to study in New York and just always organizing things. So I think I've been a producer my whole life. And now that I'm older or not necessarily that old, but just a little older, I do find my projects have to move me personally. And I do like to work with teams that I like. Those are like just my two priorities. I think the money and everything else comes afterwards, but I have to be moved by the story. It has to be a story I want to tell. And I do. And it's very important to surround myself with people that bring out the best of me. Otherwise, I feel like I can't work at my best.

[4:33] Martín Acuña: I totally agree with you and surrounding yourself with people that bring the best of you and they also bring the best of them to the table is super important in the arts and everywhere, actually. But in what concerns us, it's like a needed skill.

[4:51] Valentina Berger: A hundred percent. Yeah. And then you don't learn how to produce. I think you just do it. Right. And something interesting about producing in South America versus producing on Broadway is that in our countries, we're used to just knowing a little bit of everything and doing a little bit of everything versus on Broadway. The roles are very defined. So if you're a production manager, that's what you do. If you're in press, you do press. If you're set design, you do that. So people have very specific roles. So that's something I had to get used to when I moved here because we're used to having less resources and maybe less people. So we just learn how to do a little bit of everything. So that was like I think my biggest shock when I arrived here.

[5:34] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree with you. We're here in Latin American countries. We're used to doing a little bit of everything. If we need to move a light bulb, we go and we move it. If we need to rebuild some furniture for the show, we do it on our own. We don't ask. And yeah, it's totally a different industry and like M.O. on Broadway than in Latin American countries.

[6:00] Valentina Berger: Totally. So what would be a piece of advice that you would tell a younger version of yourself?

[6:07] Valentina Berger: Just to be patient and keep working hard because sometimes not every door opens and that is a good thing. And sometimes things just take longer to happen and then they end up happening in a completely different way. So just to trust what you're doing and keep doing it no matter what and just be patient.

[6:35] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree with you. One of the things that I love from Go Broadway, your company and your educational program is you are bringing Latin artists to New York. And I want to specifically ask you, what is visibility and representation for you?

[6:50] Valentina Berger: So my goal with Go Broadway is to have kids from all over Latin America have a taste of Broadway, right, and live the experience that I lived when I moved to New York. I think I consider myself really lucky to have experienced such an eye-opening experience when I was so young. So I want more students to do this and then just to go home and then build an industry. So it doesn't matter whether you end up working on Broadway or not. But I think spending some time here away from what you're used to, away from your people, away from your family, is just very important to have experiences like that where you're removed from your normal settings and then you grow and then you bring back everything to your country. I think that's really enriching. And I think that in just coming to New York can also open doors for people in other countries. So it's just definitely important to get out of your comfort zone.

[7:52] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree with you. So how do you think we can increase this Latin visibility and representation on Broadway?

[7:57] Valentina Berger: Well, that's definitely one of my goals. So first, by getting trained, just training and education in New York, I think in the US, I think it's very important. If you want to work somewhere, it's important to learn also how things are done in that country. And then I think the doors are already open. It's up to us to walk through those doors and ask the questions and ask for the meetings. But the doors and the opportunities are just laying right there for us. So I always say that I'm Argentinian. That's what makes me unique and that's what makes me special. So ever since I was really young, I always I don't hide that. I actually show it and I think I use it to my advantage. In every office I walk into, they love my accent and I bring mate and I eat choco torta and all these things that I enjoy doing at home.

I think it's what makes me special. And I never felt like there was no room for me. So I think getting off that mindset of self-excluding yourself, because no one's excluding you, it's the most important thing. And the worst that can happen is that if someone doesn't want to give you a meeting or it's not the right time or anything, they'll just say no and you'll move on. So I think asking is very important.

[9:19] Martín Acuña: Yeah, absolutely. It's happened to me a lot, especially with this season, that I've asked a lot of people and I've gotten no's, but it doesn't matter because what weighs more is the people that have given me a yes and I am featuring their stories through this season. And it's just, it takes 10 seconds of courage to ask for what you really want and no one knows, only the universe knows, but maybe you will get it.

[9:48] Valentina Berger: Totally, absolutely. If it's meant for you, it will happen. And now looking back, I think of so many opportunities come to mind of things that didn't work out and that what came after was way better. So yeah, just be patient.

[10:06] Martín Acuña: Yeah, totally. So for you, what is the most important part of creating and producing Latin characters in musical theater?

[10:14] Valentina Berger: Well, it's nice to be sitting in the audience and seeing on stage characters that look like us and have similar stories to ours. I remember sitting in 2009 in In The Heights and being like, wow, this is what I want to do. I can be there. These people are doing it. I can do it too. I think that's really nice. And then educating. I feel like I learned about so many other cultures through Broadway and it's just a nice way of, yeah, people from all over the world learning about our culture.

[10:44] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree with you. Valentina, thank you so much for coming over. If someone wants to contact you to learn more about Go Broadway, to maybe be part of the program, where can they find you on social media? What's your website? All of that.

[11:01] Valentina Berger: Absolutely. So our Instagram is @go_broadway. And then my Instagram is @valenburger. So yeah, just reach out and we're here to open any doors we can on Broadway.

[11:08] Martín Acuña: I love it. And one last question before we wrap up, which are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[11:15] Valentina Berger: Well, thank you for offering five, not one. So I would say Matilda, Aida, Scarlet Pimpernel, The Old Man and the Old Moon, and Rent. I love them.

[11:32] Martín Acuña: I love them. And you worked with Matilda, right?

[11:39] Valentina Berger: Yeah, I did. I have the rights to produce that in Argentina. So that's going to be coming soon, hopefully. I cannot wait to start seeing videos and pictures of that production in Argentina. Valentina, thank you so much again for coming over. It's an honor to talk to you, to meet you. And I really cannot wait to keep supporting you and Go Broadway in the future. Thank you for being here in Backstage Talk.

[12:02] Valentina Berger: Thank you and congratulations to you too.

[12:08] 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.