Today we’d like to introduce you to Yari Cervas.
Yari, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story is an ongoing struggle to cultivate resilience and stand firmly in my own agency. I was a highly sensitive child and being in a mixed race, mixed status family exacerbated my natural sensitivities. My mother raised me nearly alone when I was young because my father was always away on naval deployment. Even so, there was continuous conflict between my parents. As many children of immigrants do, I struggled to be the perfect daughter (being genderfluid and closeted made this a bit complicated) and the perfect student. I spent a lot of time bullying myself into being “brave” and developed an internal dialogue that motivated me but also filled me with shame.
After leaving for college, my codependent relationship with my mother produced some new ill side effects. Being away from home without any trusted friends deepened my already existent depression, anxiety, and insomnia. But I’d never had nightly panic attacks until then. The struggle to smother my difficult feelings and be a perfect student became more difficult.
I was fortunate enough to be a theatre major. Theatre had always been a part of my life because I found a rare joy in performing. The rehearsal black box where students played games and told embodied stories became my refuge. As a part of my degree, I was trained in mindfulness, breathwork, and somatic meditation. I learned how to let emotions flow through me organically and intuitively to support a sustainable performance. The skill to feel and move forward was invaluable, though I didn’t know it.
Fast forward a few years … I left an administrative job at a nonprofit theatre to find new artistic opportunities as a director and produce through MaArte Theatre Collective. My meditative training proved useful to actors as we created stories on intergenerational trauma within immigrant families, gender identity, and mental illness. At the same time, I was beginning cognitive therapy – and hated it. Unraveling trauma by talking was easy. I could point out most of my own mental fallacies, but the panicked and immobilizing sensations I felt in my body still weren’t soothed. Then, my second counselor integrated breathwork. I spent so long guiding others through mindfulness practices I forgot what it was like to be guided myself. Something clicked. I knew how to manage passionate emotions for performance but had never used those skills in real life. Suddenly, my theatre training and understanding of resilience took on a whole new meaning.
This is where I am now. Sitting, breathing, listening, feeling, and caring for my body in a way I haven’t in years. My work as an embodied artist is transforming alongside my self-care practice. At this moment I’m developing a series of somatic workshops to confront trauma and empower people with tools for resilience.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As a person, reckoning with ingrained trauma responses is my ongoing struggle. Every day I reject self-victimization, reframe old patterns of thought, breathe through what sensations arise, and root into my individual agency. This is sometimes difficult as a genderfluid femme-bodied POC, but I think it makes me more powerful too.
As an individual working artist, the most difficult barriers are maintaining a consistent flow of revenue and advocating for fair compensation. I’m still working on these, although it’s become more difficult since the beginning of Covid.
As a theatre company finding rehearsal and performance space, equally dedicated collaborators, and sustainable resources is a big challenge. But, MaArte has usually been able to pull through and create work unlike anyone else in San Diego. I’m so grateful for the vibrant community support MaArte Theatre Collective has already received from Filipinx leaders and individuals.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’m proud to serve as the Artistic Director of MaArte Theatre Collective, San Diego’s only Pilipinx theatre company. We were founded by San Diego artists Reanne Acasio, Ciarlene Coleman, Shaun Tuazon-Martin, Patrick Mayuyu, Claudette Santiago, and myself in San Diego in 2018. In the beginning, we had no intent to form a company. We planned to host a one-night event of mis-cast musical theatre songs and scenes. We wanted to give Filipino artists the opportunity to perform roles they loved but may never be formally cast in. While organizing we accidentally formed the only company in Southern California dedicated to creating space for the Pilipinx experience through fearless storytelling.
We’re best known for our Summer New Play Festivals in 2018 and ‘19 which explored themes of Pilipinx pride, heritage, colonization, immigration, gentrification, and queer identity. Collectively, the festivals featured new work by 15 Pilipinx playwrights and gave opportunities to more than 50 young artists of color. Most recently, we produced the docudrama You’re Safe Here created by myself and Allain Francisco MD with support from the UCSD School of Medicine and Gaya Gaya Bar and Kitchen. Our goal was to foster understanding and empathy for the experiences of patients navigating their relationships with mental health care providers. MaArte is now on hiatus due to the pandemic but I’m hopeful we’ll offer new programs in the future.
Individually, I am a bodyworker, community-based activist, poet, musician, and (of course) theatre maker. As a director and producer, I specialize in new play development, devising, docu theatre, and community organizing through storytelling via the Viewpoints, Suzuki, Fitzmaurice, and Rodenburg training systems. This summer I am offering foundational movement and speech courses designed to hone the actor’s toolbox through newly-opened Maraya Performing Arts in Chula Vista.
What are your plans for the future?
As a director it is my honor to care for the hearts, minds and bodies of my actors. Channeling empathy through theatrical intimacy is vulnerable work. Maintaining mental wellness is essential. I train my actors through breathwork, guided meditation, and physical release to support their emotional and psychological health in performance. But as of now, the theatre world is changing drastically. Large gatherings, social distanced or otherwise, are a long way off. Theatre makers need to reimagine the manner and purpose of their craft in order to survive.
Between a global pandemic, environmental chaos, and social unrest our world and interactions are rapidly changing. If you’re anything like me, social isolation has exacerbated depression, anxiety, panic, and any number of unhelpful thought patterns. It is impossible to navigate such a stressful and uncertain time alone. Our collective psyche is in pain.
So, I am reimagining myself as a bodyworker and artistic healer. Using mindfulness, breathwork, somatic meditation and Polyvagal theory as a framework (as well as other recovery practices), I am weaving together something entirely new. Communal (online as of now) workshops offer the opportunity to build a toolbox of coping mechanisms that will help us be resilient through whatever emotional, mental, and physical difficulties may arise. This space will especially allow BIPOC + LGBTQ persons release and heal what pain/fear they may feel when confronting a sometimes dangerous world.
I believe freedom can be reclaimed on the individual level. This begins with freeing our own hearts, bodies, and minds. When we are emotionally and mentally resilient, we are better prepared to survive and change the oppressive forces of the world. To those of you who are resonating with these words, I invite you to contact me and join us. We are our own healers and liberators. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
There are many wise teachers and guides whose wisdom has brought me to this point. First among them are my mother Elvie Cervas Nathanson, my Inang Eufemia Villanueva Cervas, and her father, my Imong, a midwife and hilot. A few others include Kirin Macapugay, DJ Kittin Kandi, Thelma Virata de Castro, Anjanette Maraya-Ramey, Lorraine Harpur, Cris, Em, Ant, Mela, Paula, and Liyang Network, Dr. Leny Strobel, Jana Lynne Umipig (JL), Olivia Sawi, and the Center for Babaylan Studies, Resmaa Menakem, Jennifer Patterson, Blake McCarty, Mitchell Thomas, Dr. Felicia Wu Song, and Dr. Rachel Winslow. A few valuable friends whose solidarity I am thankful for are Feresa, Carole Lynne, Kristian, Keana, Alyssa, Dahn, Katrina, Jaime, Cristina, Luz, Alexis, James, Soleil, Viandy, Michaela, Mickey, Allain, and especially Seileach.
Pricing:
- Sliding Scale dependent on need.
- Recommended $15-50 (Larger offerings help cover the cost of those who have lesser means.)
Contact Info:
- Website: yaricervas.com; maartetheatrecollective.com
- Email: yaricervas@gmail.com; maartetheatrecollective@gmail.com
- Instagram: @titababyboi; @maartetheatrecollective
Image Credit:
Wesley Anthony
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