I’m six years old, living in Havana, Cuba, where I was born, being taken to see Cuba’s Prima Ballerina, Alicia Alonso, dance Swan Lake by my Mother and Tía Dulce.  

There, I am transported to a world of imagination and beauty created by the story, characters, dance, music, and spectacle.  The impact of this experience: the birth of a life-long love for the performing arts.

I begin taking lessons at Alicia Alonso’s School of Ballet in Havana. The ballet mistress is very strict.  After awhile, I notice her criticisms focus on certain students, and it seems they are aimed at those she feels have ability and can improve. This isn’t to say she is neglectful of the others, she is just stricter with those who seem to be able to flourish.  The lesson I learn: criticism is not a negative thing but a means to help improve oneself.

The school is closed by the Cuban Revolution.  My family and I emigrate to the United States when I am 8 years old.

Several years later, while in the 7th grade, I read aloud a story in class.  To my surprise, the other students laugh and enjoy my characterization.  I learn that giving expression to the spoken word is a joy for me.  

In high school, I join the drama club and thrive.  My first role is in West Side Story, a dancer with one line, “Tonight is my last night as a blond.”  I’m hooked. The drama club is where I shine; it is my solace, the place where I can express myself with confidence.

Heading north to be as close to New York as I can, I enroll in Livingston College, which is part of Rutgers University in New Jersey.  I perform and study acting.   Upon graduation, I head to New York City where I join the Puerto Rican Playwrights and Actors Workshop hosted by The Public Theater.

I act in new plays of social relevance, tour New York State Correctional Facilities and conduct theatre workshops in prisons and centers for troubled youth with The Family, Inc., a company of ex-inmates founded by my mentor, Marvin Felix Camillo, a brilliant director who brought Short Eyes by Miguel Piñero to New York (with the help of Coleen Dewhurst and Joseph Papp).

I study at HB Studios with Uta Hagen.

At Marvin’s urging, I begin directing plays.  It is his influence and the challenge that collaborating with writers and actors brings that inspires me to apply to Carnegie-Mellon University where I earn an MFA in Directing.

Returning to NYC, I begin working again for Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival.  This time in his Education Department.  We bring over 100,000 students, teachers and parents to Shakespeare on Broadway at the Belasco Theater.  I am Assistant Director to Stuart Vaughan and Steven Berkoff for the Shakespeare Marathon.  Joe Papp retires and I go on to direct new plays, work at the Los Angeles Theater Center and work as a teaching artist with K-12 bringing storytelling alive for them, their teachers and parents.  I teach at the University of California/Riverside and Carnegie-Mellon University.

Teaching internationally is a major passion, first in Singapore at the LaSalle School of Drama, then Semester at Sea out of the University of Pittsburgh, where I dramatize a Native American tale with a group of students, who perform in South Africa, India, The Philippines and Japan.

Back at Carnegie-Mellon Drama, I teach acting, directing and theater history and direct new plays.  I become faculty member at their Entertainment Technology Center teaching applied improvisation, story-telling structure and presentation skills to graduate students in Australia, Portugal, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.  I head the satellite campus in Osaka, Japan.

Now in New York City, I continue acting, directing and teaching applied improvisational techniques, focusing on communication and collaboration, with graduate students and school administrators at Lehigh University School of Education.