Today we’d like to introduce you to James Vásquez.
Hi James, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I was young, my school celebrated Future Day as a part of our Spirit Week. The assignment was to dress up as your future self. I took my Grandfather’s robe, cut out the letters D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R and glued them on the back. I threw on a scarf, beret and sunglasses and confidently walked into my kindergarten class.
I am very lucky to have grown up in an arts household. My Dad is a poet, and my Mom a crafter. From as young an age as I can remember, I was surrounded by a diverse, wacky and multicultural world. It made sense when I was 12 and handed over my baseball glove for a pair of tap shoes. Up to that point, I had split my time between the baseball field and the Patio Playhouse YouthTheatre. I think the real turning point, though, was spending the summer at the Old Globe’s Camp Orbit, a summer intensive for high school students. I was technically too young to participate, but they made an exception. It was that summer I saw Jack O’Brien’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the Lowell Davies Festival Stage. So much of that production still sticks with and inspires me today. Seeing a stage turned into a magical forest (with another real forest and zoo in the background) complete with faeries flying through the air transformed me.
The summer at the Globe spoiled me a bit if I’m being honest. It gave me an up close and hands on look at the behind the scenes of putting on a show. From that point on, I noticed myself not really watching the stories on stage or screen but instead analyzing the how, why and what of it all.
I left San Diego at 18 to attend the Juilliard School of Drama in NYC and graduated in 1994 with my BFA. I was going to be a star! But I found myself stuck in a weird place of not knowing who I was. My full name is Pedro James Vásquez. My Dad is Mexican and my Mother Caucasian. I was told by agents and casting directors I didn’t look Mexican enough to play those roles and wasn’t quite American enough to be a Timmy or a Bobby. We agreed to drop the Pedro and lead with my middle name, James. That helped. Yet I found every acting job frustrating, ultimately because deep down I wanted to be directing.
I returned to San Diego to open a show at the Theatre in Old Town in 2001. It was an open-ended run, but I was not going to stick around my hometown longer than three months. A couple of weeks before my contract was set to end, I met my now husband. I stayed with the show for its entire year run, and now 21 years later Mark and I have a magical backyard constantly being dug up by our fantastic four dogs; Doug, Theodore, Pippi and Walter. Honestly, they run the house. All of them are rescues from Helen Woodward Animal Center.
It was the incredible San Diego theatre community who really encouraged, supported and shoved me into directing. The artistic leaders in this town believed in my storytelling and have given me incredible opportunities to play, and fail and grow. But I am often stopped in my own tracks when I think about the artistic homebase the Old Globe Theatre has become for me. This holiday season, I’ll celebrate my 20th year in Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas. I started as an actor in the show and have been directing for the last 12 years, both onstage and on the radio. I am serving my second year as a Resident Artist. And this past summer my production of HAIR reopened the Old Globe Theatre on the Festival Stage, where I saw my first show a thousand years ago it seems!
It was also the Old Globe that has welcomed the Pedro back into my life. To be seen as a Mexican-American artist and encouraged to bring that authenticity and my truth to every story I tell has given me power. It’s allowed me not to live in that weird place any longer and to trust my voice when representing and celebrating the Latino community onstage and on film.
I believe storytelling can be life-changing. I have always seen myself as an activist through my art. My hope is that every audience leaves the show and has their own Act 3 on the car ride home and talks about what they’ve seen. I hope they see themselves onstage in the stories I tell. I hope they view humanity a little differently post show. And then I hope you all come back for more!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The arts industry is hard regardless. There are a lot of “no’s”. In fact, early on in my career it was mostly “no”. And again, early on the industry didn’t want to see me as Pedro James Vásquez. I think either stubbornness or perseverance – or a combo of both – has always made me unafraid of the “no”. I was always going to find a way to do it anyway, and often better because I had to get creative.
I’ve had a lot of odd and random jobs so I could keep my heat and lights on and my water running. My entire industry just spent close to the last two years completely shut down because of the pandemic. It was really hard and disheartening. What we do is so dependent on being together, in person, and expressive. A lot of artists decided to follow other passions, and a lot of theaters are struggling to reopen and keep open their doors. But we adapt! You have to. And as I said above, we’re going to find a way to do it anyway. And it’ll probably be better and more exciting because it’s coming from a deeper need right now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I direct and develop live theatre, as well as write and direct film. I started as an actor but always knew my passion was in guiding the story. I love the immediacy of live theatre and in doing so, celebrating the talent and ensemble, it takes to put on a play. Then I love giving it away and watching an audience respond. Big musicals. Wacky comedies. Intimate family dramas. I love directing them all.
A typical project usually starts eight months to a year in advance. In a few weeks, I’ll head to the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut to direct a production of Cabaret. I’ve been collaborating with designers since November of last year, and we held our first casting sessions five months before to our start date. I tend to walk through the entirety of the staging of whatever show I’m directing in my kitchen prior to first rehearsal – only to have it all change once I get all the missing pieces of the puzzle, the cast. My training at Juilliard was ensemble based and it remains the way I like to work. I may be sitting in the big chair, but I have the greatest teams of experts working alongside me. I’m always awed by artists who can take my initial vision, add their magic and expand upon it to help create our onstage world.
The idea of ensemble, or community, is the heart of what makes my work stand out. I grew up in a diverse and inclusive world. That is the world I am inevitably going to share on stage; works of authenticity and hope. I believe a community that offers authenticity and hope can be electric and change the world. I hope my work challenges people to see and be open to stories of humanity that may be different than theirs. Above all, I think it’s most successful when underrepresented audiences walk away having seen themselves onstage, celebrated with valid and dignified stories.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My Grandfather, and now my Father says often, “remember who you are.” It has always been that friendly reminder to lead with respect, compassion and truth. Honestly, that’s the advice I take and pass along. Networking is so important. Have a presence – on social media, go see shows, involve yourself in your local theater community. Do so with respect, compassion and truth. Yes, talent is what I’m looking for when putting together a show, but honestly, more and more I want to work with good people. And I want to refer good people to other good people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jamesvasquez.com
- Instagram: @the_jimmyv
