1. Profile on Playwright: "The Loop" Magazine, Issue # 64, 2007.

2. Look at Me: Gay fraternity and Me. Arizona State University, 2007.

3. One Singular Opinion: Esno White Review. CarliforniaWest Magazine, 2001

P.O.P (Profile on Playwright) Carlos Manuel
By Patty Jang

As a "quadruple threat" - playwright, director, choreographer, and actor - how do you think that your expertise in several roles affect how your work? Do you think your ability to wear several hats helps you in the rehearsa1 process?

My work is very influenced by all the areas I have studied throughout the years. Most of the plays I write involved some type of movement or some type of song. As a director, I always tell the actors that "dancing" is essential to their development. The actors don't have to be dancers but they need to be able to move on stage-- and by that I don't mean walking. I find myself very interested in finding a particular gesture or movement and I ask actors to find such gesture of movement within them, and then incorporate it into their characterization.
"Practice what you preach" goes the saying. When my role on a production is that of an actor, I apply everything I tell the actors (when directing) to myself. I am a physical actor (method acting bores me) and I love becoming characters via my body by standing in the mirror and seeing how I can look like an old man or a drag queen.

What are you working on now?

Right now I am in Montreal at the LASA (Latin American Studies Association) Conference, doing my one-man show, "La Vida Loca," which is a play about my personal experiences about being a Mexican immigrant. It explores being an immigrant, being in the closet, gay bashing, musical theatre, Catholic religion, pop culture, and culture clashes. I play 42 different characters without ever changing costumes. I only use voice intonation and body language. I sing, dance and give "Mexican Spanish lessons" in order to explain cultural differences, double meanings, and the differences between Mexican food and Mexican food in the United States. The show contains images, interactive video, music, and much more.

Could you talk a little more about how your ethnicity has affected your theatrical career? As an artist, what kind of responsability do you feel when you represent Mexicans?

Back when I was beginning to study theatre, I was cast in the musical "Godspell" but after a week, the director decided to replace me because "people wouldn't understand my accent." When the show opened, I knew why I was replaced. The entire cast was ALL WHITE STUDENTS and I was the ONLY brown face. It was so strange to see a show about JESUS with only WHITE kids. Then, it came to stereotypes. Once in a show, everyone was wearing tuxedos. And as we all pass by the costume designer and director, they were saying, "Oh, my God you look so handsome,""Look how elegant you look." And when it came to me, the words that came out were: "Well, Carlos, you sure fit the waiter part very nicely."
While in college, the department did a show called: Stand Up Tragedy. It is a drama about Mexican high school kids and the main role was surely something I could play. However, the main part was given to a white student. I complained, I fought, I revolt, and at the end, I was told that I was in a white school and that it was better for me that way because after all, that is how it was in the real world.

These kind of experiences turned me into a hard ass actor, director, arid playwright. I cast by talent not by looks. I act in shows that will allow me to give of who I am. I write bilingual plays for and about the Latino experience. I wrote my one-man show, LA VIDA LOCA, because I wanted to share my experiences as a Mexican Immigrant. My play, "ESNO WHITE", which literately means: It's Not White" starts with your typical "Disney" Snow White, then it switches to a Latina with long black hair because the story teller follows the directions of a little Mexican girl who is constantly questioning the story. The play is bilingual and at the end, the ESNO WHITE character saves the world. The last scene of the play has the character of SNOW WHITE (the original) calling out to the stage manager and asking if she is going to be used in the story again.
So, yes. I feel a certain degree of responsibility. I think about my experiences and say, well, I am now in a position to change things so I will. I will create work for Latinos and I will use anything other Latino artists have to offer and use it with other Latino artists. I mean, realistically, mainstream theatre does mainstream theatre. We are always going to see plays coming from England and the same white authors being done - and those plays don't have parts for Latinos or Mexicans.
Perhaps I limit my opportunities as a playwright. I see the open submissions and know that I don't write for that mainstream American audience. But what I write comes from me. It is about me, my people and our experiences so I know that somewhere there is a place for it. I write about being Mexican, an immigrant, being illegal because of the color of our skin, our accents, our "limitations." I represent who I am and where I come from because, the bottom line is, if I don't, who will? Certainly not B roadway.

Carlos recently received a MFA degree in Play- writing from Arizona State University. He holds a MA degree in Directing from The University of New Mexico and a BA in Theatre Arts from Santa Clara University. Carlos has received several awards: The Anna Roseinzweig Memorial Theatre Award, The Quezada-Ocampo Fellowship, The Virginia Piper Center Fellowship in Playwriting, and The Special Talent Award. He received the Best New Work Award of his one-act Midnights, the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role as Papa Ge in the musical Once on this Island, and Best New Short Play Award for Creation. His play, Esno White, a bilingual children's fairy tale, has been published and he currently works as a freelance writer for a Latino Gay magazine while struggling to survive as an artist.

Look at Me
Carlos is 39, an ASU grad student in theater, an immigrant-and a member of a gay fraternity.
By Lee Kauftheil

Look there. A Latino fraternity student is singing to a sorority girl. It is all part of philanthropy. Fraternities and sororities compete to raise money for charities.

Look closer. He is from Sigma Phi Beta, the gay fraternity. He is on his knees singing for her bracelets. She gives the 5 feet 7 inches 170 pound brother three bracelets.
Keep looking. Short brown hair and brown eyes look different. He looks older. This girl is 20 or younger. He is over 20. Not 40. He's 39 and loving life. He has earned 150 points for his fraternity. Philanthropy is a fundraising event where a sorority or a fraternity plans events for other sororities or fraternities. Carlos' frat took third place for this event. He is a grad student in Arizona State University's theater program and looking at a fast approaching future outside of being a student. Keep watching. He is finished with his song but his act is never quite done.
Are you watching? Carlos starts his day early every day with a run where he hears the dialogue of his characters in his head. He carries around a healthy 170 and intends to keep it that way.

"My biggest worry about rushing was that I am much older. I was worried about stigmas."

**********
With age comes wisdom and sometimes arrogance. When he talks about his past accomplishments you can hear it in his voice. When he is working with actors on his plays, he will casually drop references to his long career in theater. He has worked in all fields-from acting, choreographing, producing and directing. From his first day at school in Mexico City to this very point he has been involved in learning. The move to the United States added two extra years to his high school education. He spent two years at San Joaquin Delta Community College. He moved to Santa Clara earning his B.A. He followed his B.A. with a Masters of Theatre Directing and Arts at the University of New Mexico. So those 39 years and the ego are not empty.

Now he is working on his second masters in playwriting. He is older than many other students he teaches and works with and depending on the situation he either plays up or plays down his age. "My biggest worry about rushing was that I am much older. I was worried about stigmas. It is a gay fraternity." The stereotype is "an older man looking to hook up with young boys."

Nathan Arrowsmith, the president of Sigma Phi Beta, said, "I always liked Carlos from the start. He is one of the few people that I could tell right away REALLY wanted to become a part of the Fraternity. I always have concerns about older individuals rushing the fraternity because I fear that they will not fit in. However, this was never really an issue with Carlos. [He] currently serves as the chairmen of the Pledge Education committee. He is one of the most dependable brothers I have and I know that I can count on him."

Carlos' fraternity is a big part of his life and he often spends his weekends with them volunteering in the community and working with the rest of the brothers to raise money for charities. He likes the fact that he blended in well with the pledges and that he still blends in. The only time he doesn't feel like he fits in is when Carlos sees them acting in less than responsible ways.

"I get tired." He doesn't drink and party as hard or as long as the younger members. He sees himself as a kind of protector. He tries to keep the younger ones out of trouble and make sure they don't do anything they will regret later.

With his role as brother and protector along with plenty of fraternity events Carlos enjoys the life he leads. With age also comes change. His final year as a student looms and he feels the uneasiness that comes with over thirty years of the same environment. Currently he plans to apply for a full-time teaching job. "The idea is to apply for teaching jobs around the country. That is the immediate plan ... the distant plan is to work for a university as a professor."
Have you seen what he has done with his 39 years?

*********

Watch him. That's what you do when you are with Carlos. The actor/director, teacher/student, he has no lack of facets to his personality. He spent his first 16 years in Mexico. Mostly he lived in Mexico City and spent his summers with his grandparents in a village in rural areas.
"I remember my childhood through dreams." He says. "I remember dreaming about being bit by a snake. Because we were in a tiny town they knew how to take care of it." The memories of the swelling and pain have stayed with him leaving him with an intense fear of snakes.

"I used to watch the Muppets and re-create the stories."

"In Franklin High School [in Stockton California] I was always in the theater." Growing up Carlos constantly demonstrated an artistic flair. "I used to watch the Muppets and re-create the stories." In addition to recreating the scenes from television shows he also read and would convince his friends to help him create the scenes from his favorite stories.

Though he came out of the closet to his family in the middle of his college sophomore year he always knew he was different. "I had different tastes in things." He remembers that as he grew older his close friendships began to mean something different to him than it did to other boys. He remembers looking at his friend differently as they changed and didn't talk about it with anyone. After he came out he was beaten in school. The scar above his eye has all but disappeared.

These experiences have shaped many of his plays. In his early years he wrote many poems confronting the issues he was dealing with. The conflict between him and society was a constant theme.

Carlos' mother moved to northern California in 1979 when he was 13. She came for work illegally after her divorce with Carlos' step-father. She brought him, his sister and two brothers with her in 1984. The move set him back in school. He had already received an education in Mexico City, but it was not worth much in the states. He was forced to retake classes he had already taken, but because of the language barrier he progress was slow. His first and only non-academic job was working for a Russian immigrant who owned a pizza parlor. "I think he liked me because we were both immigrants."

The summer he spent working in that pizza parlor helped him learn English. Eventually, the owner moved him from the back as a cook to front to work the till. Struggling with accents and slang, nervously Carlos worked though his uncomfortably with the language. When school was back in session he began working as a teacher's assistant in high school. He helped other Latino students who had not progressed to the level of proficiency in English Carlos had gained over the summer.

Once in community college Carlos to pursued classes in theater, tap, jazz, singing, and other performance art. He joined a ballet company and for five years he studied with Dorothy Percival's San Joaquin ballet company. "She was a hard teacher but it was a very good experience."

Keep watching. As he works though school and his story brings us back to ASU. He is as a T.A., a teacher, and as a student working on plays and continually earning credits towards a future that no longer includes life as a student. Here he is teaching a screen writing class.

The class is in the basement of the Architecture building. It is a place you would imagine classes go to die, banished from the other side of the campus. Far away from the Language and Literature building where the screenwriting offices are based though Carlos' theatre program is in the Dixie Gammage building. To get there you have to descend two levels of stairs. While the walls rise up, the sunlight and the plants that greet you as you enter the stairway disappear. Double glass doors stand as a last warning; they are tinted to keep out any remaining light. Once inside pass by three doors, all look exactly the same. You don't have to listen hard to hear the toilets flush upstairs as the pipes move water through the building. It is cold and damp below ground. Things smell exactly as damp and old as you would expect them to be.

Opening that third door are bland rows upon rows of desks. Dull from years of use, they are functional without a hint of comfort. Each chair sits on a pipe that stretches for half the room making each dull brown desk immovable. There are a few empty spots along the pipes where a chair should have been, but some combination of student boredom, lack of maintenance, or just age has necessitated the removal. Judging by the uniformed look of the chairs it doesn't appear that any of the ones that go missing ever come back.
Carlos' students for the day all take their places. Like any college class they have their mix of individuals. They have been coming to class long enough now to carve out their territory in the classroom. There are enough seats and few enough students that each of them has their own little island of deserted area. They can put their feet up on the chair in front of them and put their books on the seat next to them. A few pairs of students sit together. One pair is obviously a couple and they relish the time they spend together. One of them probably convinced the other to take the class. Judging by their enthusiasm it would be hard to guess which one.

"Carlos is direct, making most things easy. If he's not happy, he'll let you know."

Carlos walks in wearing what he calls his Peruvian hat. It was given to him during an international festival of plays. He became close with a Peruvian girl and she gave him her hat when he told her how much he liked it. Brightly colored, it clashes with the dull room. He walks quickly to the front recapping a previous class assignment and goals for the day. He doesn't address anyone specifically. When he gets to the front of the class he turns around and without missing a beat continues talking. Before he gets started into the day's events he hands out a postcard flyer for a night of one-act plays that he and three other graduate students have put together called "Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo: A night of non-buffalo related one-acts." After making another circuit around the room he wastes no time in getting the students up and participating. Their assignment was to write a back story for a character from a well-known movie.

With no directions beforehand he has the first student begin. They walk up stand on the raised section at the front and proceed to read what they had most likely written the night before. The room's high ceilings and myriad of dangling lights and vents flattens and chokes the life out of the student's speech. It is flat and sounds like a fourth grader's book report. Carlos writes on his pad and occasionally glances at the reader.

When the back story for Hannibal Lecter is finished Carlos looks around, gives brief some instructions on looking for more of a summary than a by rote recitation of their homework and calls the next Lecter profiler up. Never speaking encouragement or offering critique, he waits for the rest of the students to finish.

When all the Lecters have finished, he initiates a class discussion. "Any questions?" Maybe one is asked. The student in the back is too busy working on his crossword to think about a movie character's imagined background. Carlos has his own questions. "Why do they all have bad childhoods?" He is not looking for a definitive answer just some more discussion about what would motivate a person to turn out like Hannibal. A few rise to the challenge but the question about why Norman needs a bad childhood is not resolved.

Halfway through the next student's presentation the pumping air conditioning upstairs kicks on and drowns them out. Carlos repeats his quiet assessment of them and cracks a few jokes between presentations. When it is time to get serious he quickly separates himself as the leader of this class.
Casting for his one-act play is conducted in much the same way as he runs his class. Carlos is casting for his one-act contribution to the buffalo presentation. Watch him as a director/playwright. Everyone else in the room watches him.

Surrounded by other playwrights, friends, and directors, he opens up. He and his roommate, Paul North, liven up the room. They compete and play off one another for attention and general enjoyment.

Paul is 26, but the two of them get along without a sign of the decade of age between them. When they have time at home the two of them debate the merits of plays and movies. With their busy schedules they see each other more often in class than at home.

Paul likes Carlos. He likes the way he deals with his feelings and problems. "Carlos is direct, making most things easy. If he's not happy, he'll let you know. [This] makes many a person feel quite uncomfortable, but that doesn't bother me much at all. It's just how we roll."

The people in this room are equals. The aloof, quiet teacher is gone. Louis Farber, a director for one of the other Buffalo plays, and Carlos meet for the first time but an observer would have no idea from the way Carlos' immediately begins joking with him. He does it without asking for a name or identification. Carlos knows who is surrounded by and who to be. He avoids asking questions and none are asked of him.

As soon as the prospective actors come into the room Carlos and the others stop their joking, their singing and their dancing and turn into a single pack. All eyes watch the nervous students. They are looking for any sign of weakness that must not be allowed to intrude into their plays. On a piece of paper Carlos makes notes and barely acknowledges the actor's presences.

Carlos says he only needs to hear them perform for 30 seconds of the three minutes allotted each actor before he knows if they will work for his play. For the rest of the three or more minutes they are performing he doodles, works on another play, or writes random notes to himself. Carlos knows who he wants for his play "Midnights" and he has to occupy his mind somehow in the down time.

At the house where Carlos lives, he has turned his room into a museum of his personality. His fraternity has no centralized house so all its members find their own living arraignments and meet up at various unofficial areas. Carlos' place is sometimes used when his other two roommates are gone.

Walk into his room, and you are flooded with information about the man. On his stereo he has musical CDs ranging from show tunes to Latino playing on a constant random rotation. His walls lined with hats, each hat comes with its own story that relating to an important event Carlos' life. The hats frame his walls in the same way they frame his life. His desk and night stand are covered in papers and magazines. His closet is organized and stuffed with some shoes, some shirts, and pants. Shoes are stacked and his shirts and pants are hanging. Pouring out from the closet are some of his shoes and other assorted clothes. Bags and boxes form a labyrinth that allows only one person through at a time. One misstep-and an article of clothing is flattened by the offending foot. To understand the man requires the same care it takes to navigate his closet. You can make snap judgments based on what you see but you need to take a closer look to truly understand even if he does leave so much of himself hanging out there.

"Carlos says that he considers himself part of the Aztec religion."

His bookshelf is an eclectic mix of English, Spanish, and Italian language works. "These are just the books I need for this semester." Carlos doesn't restrict his bookshelf to just books. There are plays, critical essays along joining the novels. Scholarly works about Aztec culture pop out once or twice. Several pictures of his family and partner Miguel Gonzalez sit on the shelves. Toiletries, hair product, binders, a deck of playing cards, and a My Little Pony doll are just some of the other items to litter in the shelves in a half organized half lackadaisical way. Like his closet, Carlos can navigate the collection, but an outsider would be lost at first.

"I wasn't in that play." Carlos was asked to be part of the dance number at the end. "They needed some dancers…It was the easiest play I have ever been in." He showed up once for rehearsals. The three other pictures hanging on his wall surround a clay tablet carved and color in the form of an Aztec goddess.

For his thesis play, "Lloronas," Carlos mixes a modern Mexican-American family's story with that of a 17th-century family's story and scenes from the time of Aztec rule in Mexico. Carlos says that he considers himself part of the Aztec religion. He doesn't participate in human sacrifice but "I do believe in the theology of the Aztecs."

Like many Latinos, Carlos has embraced some of the beliefs of his Aztec ancestors. For his play he has learned to speak the Aztec's language of Nahuatl.

His Aztec beliefs are displayed beyond his room. In the house his roommate Paul and he have hung posters and art. An accurate reflection of his interests you can tell whose posters are what because Carlos' are plays and Aztec themed while Paul North's, are movie posters. Look in the living room, there are Aztec-type masks next to by North's more whimsical dinosaur mask.

A Mexican flag is displayed prominently on the same north wall as the Aztec art and Carlos' pictures. Its green and red stand out against his pale white walls. The flag hangs close to the entire length of his bed situated in the corner of his room. His pillows are bear animated characters. Two stuffed Mickey Mouses surround a Marvin the Martian pillow.

Every year for the entire eight years of their relationship, Miguel and Carlos visit Disney Land. His refrigerator is a testament to their trips with a flood of pictures of the two of them in front of a Disney landmark, placed inside Disney frames. Carlos claims to own every Disney movie. To relax, he sometimes watches them in Italian or Spanish. He doesn't use subtitles.

As important at Mickey and his crew are to Carlos, Marvin the Martian holds the most important seat in Carlos' beloved pantheon of animated characters. On one arm Marvin is tattooed and on the other arm Marvin's dog joins him. Carlos' car has a picture of the alien next to stickers of the fraternity that Carlos belongs to.

It all started at a workshop. He was asked to come up with an answer to the question "If you were an animal what animal would you be?" Carlos disliked that assignment "I'm not an animal." He asked if he had to be one or if you could be something different, something animated. Reluctantly the teacher agreed. Carlos chose Marvin because of the connection he felt between the two of them.

"[Marvin] is always trying to get Bugs [Bunny] to take him to his leader." Carlos wants politicians to listen to him and his feeling about gay and immigrant rights.

"He's an alien…because of my accent, people know I'm not originally from here. People see it as an exotic tropical accent."

"He started as a representation of me [and now] I can't stop the obsession." Over the years Carlos has collected anything Marvin related. Cups, pillows, stickers, and anything else he can find. In his family's place back in Northern California Carlos claims to have a room completely devoted to the Martian.

Looking further around his room, there are more hats and below them hangs his paddle board etched with the Greek letters of his fraternity. A large window takes up most of the east wall and the space that is left is taken up by a poster. Its subject is shirtless males hanging out and having a good time. It is a supportive and provocative display of gay brotherhood that is displayed directly across from the entrance into Carlos' room. If someone entering had any lingering questions regarding Carlos' sexual preference his rainbow flag placed opposite his Mexican one would seal the deal. As a nod to the University Carlos spends most of his time, a map of the ASU is just to the left of his rainbow flag. At this point in his life Carlos is very comfortable with his sexual orientation. He doesn't flaunt it but he doesn't try to hide it either.
Every spot in his room is cluttered with materials relating in some way or another to Carlos and the complex web of activities that interact to make his life a larger whole. Walking in anyone would be disorientated but Carlos navigates it as effortlessly as he navigates his desk to find that piece of paper in the third pile from the right 2 inches down.

"You should see my room at home." His mother, siblings and Miguel all live in Stockton California close to San Francisco. Living in Arizona for three years has not changed how he sees himself or his place in the family unit. Home has always and will always be where his family is.

Soon this intensely personalized room will be empty and Carlos will have to fill another place when he finishes in spring '07.

* * * * * * *
Ahead of Carlos is the future. It is uncertain and without any of his current comfortable guarantees. He has the love of his family and has found a person to build a life with.

Watch him as he goes into a Hawaiian restaurant for the first time. You can get a possible glimpse of how he will handle the other new unknowns looming just ahead for him. Outside of the controlled comfortable environments Carlos is not as sure of himself. He is neither the aloof teacher, nor the energetic center of the group. Experiencing Asian-Pacific food for the first time he studies the menu full of strange sounding food. Looks around the restaurant, leans over and quietly asks, "What should I get?"

The food is ordered and before him, a plate of chicken katsu and spam masubi sit. Without much hesitating he tries them both. Just like that, Carlos has added a new experience to his life list that informs his playwriting and his interactions with the future.

His last semester at ASU is approaching. Soon he will be forced out into a different world. There are new problems and experiences waiting for him. There is one guarantee, whatever it is, it will be worth watching.

One Singular Opinion: ESNO WHITE MUCH MORE THAN FRACTURED FAIRY TALE
By Bobbie Wallinger

ESNO WHITE, an original Children's Theatre production has more twists and turns than Jack's Bean stock and the Yellow Brick Road put together.

This marvelous bilingual adaptation of the familiar Snow White has all the markings of a classic tale combining the humor, culture, and style of both traditional English children's theatre and Teatro de Latino. In other words, it's a keeper.

Author/Director, Carlos Manuel, has unabashedly "borrowed" from a huge variety of story lines and playwrights to create a montage of sights and sounds appealing to both the American and Latin ear. With the inclusion of everyone from Macbeth to Elvis, the story is both engaging and humorous in two languages. Approximately ten-percent of the script is written in Spanish, but the author has cleverly adapted an instant translation which makes it easy for anglos to follow.

The diversity issue is covered in a most interesting way as he describes the Seven Little Dwarfs, as "half" brothers is but one of the many subtle changes to the fairy tale which make it politically correct. His ending which reveals Snow White opting to, "Take it slow…we won't get married right away", rather than the traditional they-got-married-and-lived-happily-ever-after" routine also addresses a contemporary awareness not usually stated in children's literature.

"Grumpy's" Shakespearean persona is well played by Melinda Formby and all the half-brothers played half by girls and half by boys are adorable. The hip Snow White, (Emy Robles) is beautiful, confident, and engaging.

Other outstanding performances were given by "Page", (Shylia Altamirano), the "Old Witch", Mary Anne Fry and "Rigt and Rong" portrayed by Cheryl Ann Forsythe and Natalie Lynch were superb in eight-inch platform shoes and twelve inch fingernails.

Christa Griffith was exceptional as Macabra. She, like Lynch and Forsythe are young women to keep your eye on.

The well rounded cast, far to many to mention individually are a great ensemble wrapped in the fabulous attire and masques of Costume Designer, Lawrence Dominquez and creatively made-up by Makeup designers Christa Griffith and Brian Stewart.

The scenery and lighting designed by John White who integrated Azteca and Mexican architectural appeal with the added mystic of "Curanderos", (witch craft) props using skulls reminiscent of El Dia de los Muertos can only be described as spectacular.

And finally, the choreography and direction by Carlos Manuel solidify the playwright as a man with "triple threat" ability.

Enow White is indeed, a "Fiesta" every Anglo and Latino will enjoy.