Posts Tagged GIRL Theatre

Marisa B. Tejeda: Catch Her If You Can

by Matt DiCintio

Tell me about the characters you play in Might As Well Be Dead. What kind of women are they? What makes you excited about playing them? Do you find it exciting to play multiple characters within one play?

 I love both of the characters that I play. And although they both are quite different than who I am as a person, they have traits that I can definitely connect with. Rita Arkoff is a rich society woman who is quite ditzy and unaware of her surroundings. Delia Brandt is a hipster beatnik who is a junkie and liar; she is very smooth and owns her sexuality. They both have been really fun to play because they both are extremely different than one another. And for a gal who loves character acting, they both have been a blast to play.

I know you’re early in your career, but do you find Nero Wolfe typical of the genre you’ve performed in? Are the characters typical for you? Perhaps in that vein, I see you trained at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. I wonder if you could tell me about that training, and maybe how you see it fitting into/giving life to your acting career. 

I’ve been in one murder mystery musical before, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but nothing prior to that. I’ve been very blessed that I have played so many different types of people, from romantic leads in Shakespeare plays to kooky characters in new works and musicals. I am so thankful for all my training that I have received at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Brian B. Crowe, Stephen Brown Fried, Bruce Cromer, Benard Cummings and Donnie Mather who taught classes in the three-month program have helped and shaped me immensely as an artist. I was one of the apprentices cast in the Main Stage show and got to work with topnotch artists who made me really want to pursue this life as an actor/artist. It was the toughest three months of my life, but I believe that I am a working artist today because of all the tools I was given at that program.

I see that you graduated from Concordia last year. Are you from the Twin Cities area? If not, I wonder if you could talk about why you’ve stayed and decided to pursue theatre here? And even if you are from the Twin Cities, could you give me your perspective about theatre in the Twin Cities? 

I’m originally from Hastings, Minnesota, but at 16 I wanted to start auditioning for shows outside of school. I worked with Young Artists Initiative, Youth Performance Company and Stages as a student actor. When I was 17, I moved to the Twin Cities so I could be an actor in A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie and I transferred to a project-based high school that allowed me to perform more often. I decided to stay here in the Twin Cities because I felt like I belonged here and had a lot more to learn from the artists I have met here. I decided to go to Concordia in Saint Paul because of the head of the department, Mark Rosenwinkel. Mark has been one of my biggest sources of inspiration and support, and I owe so much to him for helping shape me and push me as an artist, and not just an actor.

Where do you see yourself as an artist in 20 years?

Well, I just started a new theatre collective called Theatre Unchecked. It’s a theatre company dedicated to producing original work created by young POC, Queer and Female-Identifying artists. Although our city is very diverse, I see a lack of diversity in the people creating, directing and producing the work. I wanted to be a part of changing that, so my dear friend Ben Swenson-Klatt and I started Theatre Unchecked. Our show was accepted into the Twin Cities Horror Festival 2017 at the Southern Theatre, so we will be producing that this fall. I hope in 20 years that Theatre Unchecked is producing full seasons of original work, and I hope I am fulfilled by all the art I am creating, whether that be acting, educating, directing, writing or producing.

Of all the roles in all the world, what’s your dream role?

It is a three way tie: Cassius in Julius Caesar, Medea and Natasha in Natasha Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.

What’s next for you after Might As Well Be Dead finishes up at Park Square?

 I am in GIRL Theatre’s Broad Sex in the Twin Cities, playing at Strike Theater in Minneapolis, as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival going on August 3-13. It’s a fun comedy inspired by the cult classics Broad City and Sex and the City and follows two quirky millennials who enjoy love, laughter and the light rail. Our show times will be August 4 at 10 pm, August 5 at 5:30 pm, August 7 at 8:30 pm, August 10 at 5:30 pm and August 13 at 4 pm.

A scene from Might As Well Be Dead (Marisa is in red)

Alexandra is a Park Square Ambassador; we think you should get to know her! Check out her recent presentation.

By Alexandra Harder

Some of you may recognize me because I spoke at last year’s fundraising gala. Last year, I spoke about being a Park Square Theatre Ambassador. This year, I can not only speak about being an ambassador, but also about being an intern, an employee, and a member of the Park Square family. But first, for those of you who don’t recognize me, I started here at Park Square as a Theatre Ambassador. What this means is that one Saturday a month, I come here and spend an entire day and night with 19 other young theatre lovers. We learn from master classes, speak with a diverse variety of theatre professionals, see a Park Square show and discuss it afterwards with our peers. My favorite part of the program has always been speaking to Twin Cities artists about what they do. In the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to pick the brains of Regina Williams, Ricardo Vazquez, Joel Sass, James Williams, Ann Michels, and more.

IMG_23711So that’s how I started here at Park Square. Shortly after the gala last year, I started In the Ambassador2 program as a second year ambassador. Our summer training involved meeting with Richard Cook, Mary Finnerty, Michael-jon Pease and other staff members, and learning about how Park Square works day-to-day and what their mission and goals are. During these meetings, not only did we get valuable information on how and why Park Square exists, we were also asked for our opinions and thoughts. Think about that. Several successful adults genuinely wanted to know what we, a group of teenagers, thought about their company and how it could be more accessible for people like us. If that doesn’t show how inclusive Park Square is as a company, I don’t know what does.

In the fall, I started as an intern in the Education Department. During  six hours each week, I learned to do things like book matinee tickets for schools, send out emails and invoices and even make phone calls to teachers. This may sound very mundane to a lot of you, but I’m a Virgo, so these things are very exciting to me. My long term goal has always been to own my own theatre company, so interning has given me invaluable skills I couldn’t have gained anywhere else, especially at such a young age. Megan Losure and Mary Finnerty (the two women the education program could not run without) go out of their way to make sure I’m learning not only how to do the things they ask me to do, but also why they are done, and how I would go about doing them if I had my own company in the future. This opportunity has given me the confidence to go out and actually take a big first step towards my dream.

This winter, I decided to start my own independent theatre. A friend and I, both seniors in high school started GIRL Theatre, a company dedicated to the empowerment and liberation of young women in our community. We produced a short devised piece titled Into the Red at Bryant Lake Bowl this February, entirely on our own. Thanks to Park Square, I had both the artistic skills to create a bold and imaginative piece and the practical skills to build an audience, sell out our shows, and actually make a bit of a profit.

Now, as if Park Square hadn’t already given me enough, I was recently offered a job as an Education Assistant. I will work part time through May, June and July, and I will be paid. As a young person who plans on going to college in the fall to get a degree in Theatre who is constantly being lectured on how wanting to be an artist will lead to a life of poverty, unemployment and tragedy, nothing gives me more hope for my future than being given a paid job at a theatre company at the age of 18.

AlexandraFor two years Park Square has tirelessly pushed me to grow as an artist and as a person, given me unparalleled opportunities and invested enormously in my future. If they had done all of this for me, just one young person, they would have done enough. But I am not unique. Park Square treats young people the way they have treated me. Thousands of kids have been touched by Park Square this year alone, and I guarantee you, I’m not the only one with glowing reviews!

Alexandra Harder is a senior at St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, director, and founder of GIRL Theatre. Her upcoming project will be co-directing American Idiot with TASU Theatre Co. opening this month. 

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