L to R – Celebrants: Jeremy Rabb, Thom Rivera, Amin El Gamal – photo credit: Craig Schwartz
By Cris Franco
“Double, double toil and trouble!” Inspired by Macbeth’s witches’ haunting chant, here’s a double interview of two of L.A.’s finest classical actors now appearing in A Noise Within’s daring new production of the Scottish play: Thomas Rivera inhabits numerous evil character roles and David DeSantos portrays the noble nobleman, Macduff. These two dynamic actors crystalize the rich diversity within our fertile artistic community.
CRIS FRANCO: What are your backgrounds?
Thom Rivera
THOM RIVERA: My dad’s dad was from Lake Chapala, Mexico; my dad’s mom was from Torre de San Miguel, Spain. My mom’s family is from the Azores Islands.
DAVID DeSANTOS: I am Mexican American, but was raised by the American side of my family in the San Fernando Valley.
CF: Fer sure, dude. How did you get into acting and what are some career highlights?
TR: I started acting in high school and initially took a drama class so I wouldn’t have to take another English class. I wasn’t the most enthusiastic student and the arts definitely saved me. In my senior year, our drama teacher, Bill Weatherford, took us to see the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Having Shakespeare make sense to me for the first time was a life changing experience.
DD: My family were all in the film business, on the post production side as film editors and such. My career highlights would include playing Grumpy in Snow White in 3rd grade and my first entrance on the Elizabethan stage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2008.
CF: What attracts you to doing classical work like Macbeth?
DD: Classical plays’ themes and ideas are larger than life, closer to God, I guess. Yet they remain prescient and timeless. Who can’t relate to a play about a man who is willing to destroy everything around him to vault his ambition?
TR: I have always loved language. I have done several of Shakespeare’s plays and find that every time I return to them I hear new things. Partly because different actors are interpreting the roles, but also I’m in a different place in my life each time and things resonate differently with me.
CF: Does being Latino inform your acting process in any way? And has being Latino impacted your career?
David DeSantos
TR: I think who I am definitely informs my work. Our director, Larry Carpenter, assembled a great diverse cast and I think that informs the world of the play as well. Being Latino has definitely impacted my career. It’s presented me with both opportunities and challenges. When I started in L.A., my last name and newness to the business definitely limited the roles I was asked to audition for. This, combined with not looking “Latino enough,” was really frustrating. It’s why I moved to Oregon and then New York, to focus on theatre. After 12 years, I am back in L.A. and happy to say that my experience has been much better. The industry has changed, and while things still can get better, it feels like there are a lot more opportunities now than when I left.
DD: Being Latino doesn’t affect my process at all. I am a just an actor. But, yes, in my younger years I was pigeonholed into certain roles. But as an actor on the stage, my ethnicity has no bearing.
CF: Aside from advertising “Free Passport Photos” on the marquee – how can we get more Latinos to see more live theater?
TR: Tell stories that are relevant to the Latino experience.
DD: The Mark Taper Forum’s production of Luis Alfaro’s Electriciadad brought Greek tragedy into the barrio and made it accessible to Latinos. They offered unbelievably lower priced tickets to local kids in Boyle and Lincoln Heights and a lot of them saw the show. It is the theatre’s responsibility to create for the community, not just for the elite. And to realize that when the younger generations see a relatable play, they will have an enduring experience and will return to the theatre.
CF: Beheadings! Murdered children! Satanic worship! What’s fun about performing in Macbeth?
TR: Ha-ha! You know, all that stuff is what makes theatre exciting. Who wants to sit in a theater watching people be nice to each other? There is also a lot of humor in Macbeth. I love that – the dark humor.
DD: For me, performing in any play is fun. The theatre is a sacred space, and when you enter, you know you are going to be (even for a short time) transported to a place deep in your imagination.
CF: What about your personal (or professional) background has prepared you to perform in theatre’s most terrifying tale?
TR: Thankfully, nothing personally! Although I think we can all tap into having feelings of ambition or self doubt or regret.
DD: I have a boundless imagination, so I am prepared to inhabit any world. Thankfully, I’ve never experienced a wife and children being slaughtered, but till the show’s run ends on May 11th, my imagination can allow me to.
CF: Just as Lady Macbeth goes insane, I’ve heard that at least one actor in every production of “the Scottish play” ultimately goes crazy. Is anyone in your cast losing it? Is the play, indeed, cursed?
DD: I can only speak for myself, that through the rehearsal process I was haunted by bad dreams, but those tapered off as we got into the theatre. And until the end of the run, I’ll speak of nothing more. ;o)
TR: In the director’s concept of the play, all the actors are celebrants performing a ritual. I am one of three main celebrants who also play the Witches in addition to multiple characters including the Bloody Captain, the Gentlewoman and the Murderer. I have always gravitated to character parts where I can lose myself in the role.
CF: I’ll take that as a yes, Thom. You’re the cast member who’s going insane. Who’s scarier: Macbeth, La Llorona, El Cucuy, La Chupacabra or Republicans?
TR: I think Macbeth IS Republican, whereas La Llorona, El Cucuy and La Chupacabra are definitely Democrats. Although La Chupacabra is leaning towards the Independent Party. I, myself, am non-partisan.
DD: La Chupacabra for sure. Why? He’s a bug that walks.
CF: I think you mean “El Chapulín Colorado” but he’s scary, too. Last question: What’s your favorite Macbeth line?
DD: It’s not one of the famous lines per se, but it speaks to the nature of man in this play. I play Macduff, who in my opinion is the play’s heart and soul. Shakespeare created him as the play’s “hero,” but also as the part that is allowed to feel. Macbeth lives in a world of thoughtlessness and impulsiveness, and when Macduff is told to “dispute it like a man” and responds with, “I shall do so, but I must also feel it as a man,” it’s clear that Shakespeare allows Macduff a depth of humanity denied to Macbeth.
TR: “…the times have been, that, when the brains were out, the man would die, and there an end.” It’s Macbeth’s line after he see’s the ghost of Banquo whom he had killed [spoiler alert!]. It’s hilarious – that in a moment of terror we see Macbeth being irritated that he’s being haunted. Tells us a lot about his character. Some nights the audience gets it, some nights they don’t, but it’s always my favorite moment.
To see your favorite moment, attend this ingeniously reimagined Macbeth running in repertory until 11 May 2014 at A NOISE WITHIN: 3352 E Foothill Blvd,?Pasadeand, CA 91107; BOX OFFICE: P 626.356.3100 boxoffice@anoisewithin.org. For all show info including times, tickets, maps and more: <anoisewithin.org>.
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