(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for this episode of "Que Pasa NJ with Carlos Medina" has been provided by, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Hackensack Meridian Health, the Engineer's, Labor Employer Cooperative 825, PSE&G, ROI NJ Business Magazine.

- Welcome, familia, today we have a special episode of "Que Pasa" that explores three stories of passion, perseverance, and the power of legacy across the world of art, sports, and advocacy.

First up, we shine the spotlight on J. Antonio.

Rodriguez.

Known for his role as Orpheus in the "Hadestown" Tour, Antonio faced a significant setback with his DACA status, putting a pause on his performance and challenging his dreams.

Next, we welcome Ryan Morales Green, a trailblazing advocate in the musical theater world.

As the founder of the Latine Musical Theater Lab, Ryan is at the forefront of championing diverse and underrepresented stories in musical theater.

Lastly, we dive into the world of baseball royalty with Roberto Clemente Jr, who not only follows in the footsteps of his legendary father, but also carved out his own path as a broadcaster, philanthropist and advocate for diversity.

(upbeat music) Today we're honored to welcome an inspiring guest whose journey embodies perseverance and hope.

J. Antonia Rodriguez, an exceptional artist, faced a challenge when his role as Orpheus in the "Hadestown" Tour was paused due to an expired DACA status.

Despite these obstacles, he stands before us as a beacon of hope.

Please join me in welcoming J. Antonio Rodriguez.

Welcome to "Que Pasa".

- Hi, happy to be here.

- Tell me a little bit about your family's journey.

I know you were born in Mexico and then you guys journeyed to Oklahoma at the age of two.

- I was born in Mexico and then when I was two years old, I had a lot of health issues.

Up until that point, I had a lot of rashes.

I guess I had a lot of fevers, in and outta the doctor, in and outta the hospital.

And so my parents decided to come to the United States.

We went to a little town called Ardmore, Oklahoma of all places.

And so I stayed there for the next 24 years.

I'm 26 now, so I mean, I've been here my whole life.

The United States is my home.

- Excellent, what got you into theater and the stage?

What attracted you to that medium?

- Yeah, I mean, we're Latinos, music is a big part of our culture.

My dad would always have the Mariachis playing and so I really loved that.

And when I was seven years old in a music class, my teacher heard me singing and she was like, you wanna come be Tiny Tim, a Christmas carol in our community theater?

And I was like, I will be Mexican Tiny Tim.

Absolutely I will do that and so I just stuck with it.

My mom would always threaten to take my video games away if I didn't keep up with it.

And that's very important to me.

And so I just kept on.

- From there to playing Orpheus in "Hadestown" and the traveling theater.

Tell me, what was that process like?

- Ah, I mean, it was crazy.

I graduated in 2020, everyone's favorite year.

And so, I mean, there was nothing for like a year and a half.

And so I moved to the city.

I had an agent out of a virtual showcase, five months of living here.

And then I booked the tour as a swing at first.

And so immigrant mentality, work hard, do your thing, do everything right.

And a year later I was promoted to Orpheus.

- Did you always know that you had the DACA status or that you were considered a dreamer?

'Cause we had a guest prior who really didn't know until unfortunately, ICE was knocking on her door.

She always thought she was born in the United States.

- My parents were always pretty open with me.

They really sat me down and talked to me about what it really meant when I was 11 or 12 years old.

And you don't really, as a kid, you don't really process it correctly.

They really were like, you can't go to college really without it.

You're gonna have to go to college without financial aid or if you can even go to college, which at that point I couldn't, you're not gonna be able to drive legally, which as a kid, you're growing up, that's what you do with your friends and you're not safe from deportation, which is the biggest one.

And so that was really, really hard to come to grips with as a kid.

You kind of have to really toughen up, grow up real quick.

And then, thankfully 2012 President Barack Obama enacted the Dream Act and then put DACA into place.

And so every two years I renew, I can work, I can drive, I can do everything.

But unfortunately there's no path to citizenship with this.

And so every two years, you just gotta keep doing it.

You gotta pay money and then this past year, it really got backed up in the system.

What were we to do?

600,000 of us just waiting for our stuff to get renewed.

There are people who've been waiting since August, and I was one of the lucky ones, and I waited three months.

It's weird knowing that in my heart I'm American, but there's a piece of paper that tells you that I'm not really American.

- Now you were a valedictorian of your class in high school.

- [J. Antonio] Yes.

- But you wrote about always feeling like a second class citizen.

Can you elaborate a little bit about that?

I know you described life being a dreamer.

- Absolutely, I mean, it really does come down to, I have to ask permission to even be in this country.

Second class also, in terms of, I can't vote.

I have no say in anything, even though I've lived here my entire life.

I get no federal aid from the government.

I had no federal aid from the government to go to college.

My dad and my mom and dad busted their butts to get me through without any student debt.

Like he mowed lawns 14 hours a day just to get his kids through.

I feel like I don't belong, you know?

And if they send me back to Mexico, what am I gonna do there?

You know what I mean?

I don't know.

I'm very proud of my culture, very proud to be Mexican, but I'm Mexican American.

- Diversity representation.

I see that you've written about the challenges and from Mandy Gonzalez to Javier Munoz, they all are in agreement that we are still not represented in a manner which matches, we're 20% of the population more or less, but roles we're one, 2%.

How do you feel about that?

Are we making progress?

Do you see more opportunities for Broadway, Hollywood actors?

- Absolutely, I feel like progress is progress, and we always gotta be grateful for that.

I wish it were a little faster.

It's always nice to say that it's so cool being one of the first people to do this, but I wanna live in a world where you're joining a lot of other people doing the same thing.

Like it's so cool going across the country and leading the show where it wasn't necessarily written for a Latino to do it especially like a more darker skinned, indigenous Latino to do it.

But I always get messages from other Latin kids that come to the show, and they're like, it's so cool to see someone that looks like me, that you hear it all the time, like doing this show, doing this role.

And it's so cool that they say that they feel that they can do it too.

And for me, that's everything.

(overlapping chatter) - That's consistent with why I do the show.

So people can see themselves on the screen and see role models.

Give us a little advice for young people that are struggling.

And perhaps after hearing your story, they realize it's really not as bad as I think, I just gotta keep put my nose to the brimstone, so to speak.

- Yeah, I always thought that I had to go through things alone and internalize them and really be strong by myself.

Like, I can do it, I can do this, I'm so and so.

But I have learned the importance of leaning on your community.

The past two weeks, whatever support systems you have, the theater support system, my Latin support system, my family, my friends.

You should never, ever feel bad or weird about going to those people that love you because they will hold you up and they will care for you.

And they will love you and tell you that you can keep going.

Because, I mean, I think I held it up pretty well.

I held up pretty well, but it was because of those people that loved me and carried me.

- Sure no, that's beautiful, that's beautiful.

And now you're part of the "Que Pasa" familia, so welcome.

- Yes, yes.

- Thank you for coming and thank you for telling your beautiful story.

- Thank you, thank you for having me.

(lively music) - Our next guest is Ryan Morales Green, who's the founder and producing artistic director of the Latine Musical Theater Lab, an organization that develops and advocates for new Latina written musicals.

Ryan is a Puerto Rico Italian, producer, arts advocate, and actor based in New York City.

Welcome to "Que Pasa".

- Thank you, thank you for having me.

- Tell me the path to this lab, which helps young writers, actors.

It seems like an amazing project, an amazing organization.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

So I actually started in the industry as a musical theater performer.

Got the BFA and the whole shebang, went to college, moved to New York to be an actor, and I really thought that was what I was gonna do for the rest of my life.

And I think the pandemic really helped, I think it created an opportunity for all of us to see that there was more that we wanted to see in the world, and that we also had the power to make that change.

So during the pandemic, when everything slowed down, you couldn't really perform anymore.

I did some advocacy work for the Actors' Equity Association.

I started doing some producing stuff of like a summer festival for my acting studio.

And it kind of lit this like bug in me of wanting to do more than just act.

But I didn't really know what to do with it.

Neither of those things felt like, okay, this is what I'm meant to do.

So I went back to acting.

I was like doing a showdown in Florida, but I, I still had this like, little voice in me that was like, this isn't enough, like something's changed, something's shifted.

And so I was talking with a mentor and I was saying how I really wanted to be better connected to other Latinos in the theater industry and the musical theater industry.

And I also wanted to do more new musicals 'cause that was always my favorite.

I always felt like the most energized getting to perform and work on a new musical.

And so my mentor was like, "Well, why don't you just combine those?

Reach out to Latin musical theater writers."

And I was like, oh, yeah, I totally know five of them.

And I was like, wait, wait a second.

I've been in this industry for a decade.

How do I only know five writers?

And so I started reaching out to anyone I could and nobody really knew.

A lot of writers, everyone sort of knew like one or two.

And I was like, oh, wow, it's not just me.

Like nobody really knows who the writers are and that they're out there doing this work.

But within a week, I had a list of like 50 writers.

And so I started reaching out to those writers and asking them like, Hey, I'm not anybody.

I just wanna know you.

And the question that I kept coming back to is, why didn't I know you?

Like, why isn't your work out there to the level that it should be?

What's the barrier there?

And they were like, rude, but also here's what we feel like is missing.

and it really boiled down to like space, resource, programs, and ultimately some sort of institution is what it really looked like to me.

I was like, what does it look like to have a space intentionally dedicated to Latin musical theater writers and providing them the kind resources they need to develop their projects and ultimately develop their careers?

And so, I saw all of that and I was like, let's just make it, let's throw it together.

And from the very first conversation and reach outs to people of like, hey, who do you know, to forming the initial LLC, it was a month.

- Wow.

- Yeah one month, start to finish from the idea kind of starting to form to just saying, let's jump in, let's do it.

- So you're of Puerto Rican heritage.

Tell me how your family came to the Tri-state area.

- Yeah, so my grandparents, and even some of my mom's older brothers and sisters, I think her oldest brother and her older sister, they're all from Puerto Rico, and then they came to New York.

And so my mom was actually born in the Bronx Hospital, and then she grew up in Connecticut.

- A word that I see often when describing much of your programming is the nurturing that you do.

Can you tell me some of the programs that the theater has currently, the lab has?

- Yeah yeah, so I think a big thing is that we work with professional Latin writers, and our goal is to help them in their process.

Writing a musical is actually a really tricky thing.

There isn't just like one way that you create a musical from start to finish.

It's also a really long process.

There's a lot of experimenting.

It can take eight to 10 years.

And so we're about two and a half years old now.

And so a lot of our focus is on providing really meaningful moments to help push the development forward.

And so we do things like our (speaking foreign language), where we take four 15 minute excerpts of different shows and present them for an audience so that the writers can start to see their characters alive on stage.

They can get that audience feedback, they can use the videos of those excerpts to then help push the project forward.

We do our Table Reading series, which is where we bring in actors and we just read the script.

So often when you're developing a musical, everyone's really focused on like the big picture and the music, but no one sits down to like really think about the libretto and to really make sure that the characters are relating and speaking, the story is flowing.

And so we provide that.

And then another example of a program is our Julia de Burgos cohort named after the late great Puerto Rican poet.

And we bring six teams of writers together over the course of three months with outside facilitators to develop the show together in a cohort, getting to work with the creativity of fellow writers.

And then it ends in some sort of capstone project, like a concert recordings of the work or some other presentation usually of the work.

So we're getting to develop it, but then, give it that next step forward.

- So your members include Oscar winner Alex Dinelaris I believe is how you say his name.

You have Lin-Manuel Miranda as part of your organization.

Tell me, what advice do you give to aspiring writers that are in the industry besides becoming members of your organization right away, but what other advice can you give them as they embark on their journey?

- There's a saying that writers need two things.

They need audiences and deadlines, right?

Writing a musical is this nebulous thing that generally happens, and it usually happens with collaborators, but finding the time to do it because you don't get paid until very far along in the process can be really difficult.

And I think a big reason why the organization exists is because we also really believe, especially for Latin writers, that they need a third thing.

They need to feel like they belong, they need belonging.

They need to feel like it's possible for them to survive and thrive in this industry.

And so the advice I would give is to think about like as a writer or as you as a writer are creating your project, how can you find the kinds of people, the kinds of places, or create your own form of support where you can get those deadlines, right?

So you're not just always on your own time.

You can bring your work to audiences, big or small, even creating your own audience online, especially for younger writers who are out there and very versed in social media, build that online audience.

The feedback I receive from writers over and over and over again is that that feeling of belonging and connection to other Latin folks in the industry and to the industry as a whole is the most valuable currency there is, because without that, this talent really stars on the vine.

They don't have that undercurrent to help them do the really hard thing of writing a musical.

- Now viewers are gonna be very interested in finding out more.

So what's the best way that a viewer can support the lab or reach out to the lab?

- We have a newsletter that we send out.

Our social media is probably one of the best places.

Latinemtlab on Instagram.

And also reach out to us.

We're an organization based here in New York City.

We do a lot of projects and programs, including things that are open to live audiences here in New York.

We're also we're a budding nonprofit.

So the support that we receive from donations, but also volunteerism of folks, not just artists, but folks in the community that can show up and show out, help us continue to build partnerships, not just in the arts community, but also in the corporate world, in the Tri-state area.

That's also how an arts organization grows.

It isn't just what we're able to accomplish in the industry.

We need that support from the community as a whole.

I think that's really how we grow.

So you can reach out to us directly if there's some way that you might wanna be involved personally on a bigger way, but in a general sense, follow us on Instagram, come to some of our events and keep sharing about the organization.

The word of mouth is everything.

- Great, thank you for joining us.

It's a very worthy organization, and it's been a pleasure to chat with you.

- Thank you so much.

(lively music) - And as our final guest, I'm thrilled to shine a spotlight on a figure who carries a legacy as rich and inspiring as the game of baseball itself.

Roberto Clemente Jr, son of the legendary Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente.

Our guest has built a distinguished career within the realms of sports and is a broadcaster, philanthropist, and advocate for individuals with special needs.

Join us in celebrating the enduring legacy of Roberto Clemente and welcome Roberto Clemente Jr. (speaking foreign language) - Very well, thank you.

- How have you been able to find your own career path, your own identity?

Obviously your father is such a legend to baseball, to the Hispanic community, to the world, everybody knows Roberto Clemente and all the good things.

How have you found your own path and identity, Roberto?

- Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was always Robertito and forever, any time I go to Puerto Rico, I'm still Robertito to this day.

But I truly believe that because of my journey, it took me a while to really understand what I was here to do.

Obviously I'm the son of The Great One, and growing up was pretty tough for me.

It was a really tough thing because I missed my father.

People would forget that I was seven years old when I lost him.

And I'm consulting people since that day.

But for me, I truly believe that my journey has really, really got me to a place of health and wellness and technology that I'm very proud of.

I'm actually not only with the foundation, with our mission of the foundation, but outside of that, have embarked mostly on technology, performance based technology and brain technology.

So for me, I've been a Guinea pig all my life, looking at different modalities, technologies to make things better for people.

And that's been my passion and it's still my passion today.

- And you've been in broadcasting, philanthropy of course and business.

Are there other areas you still wanna explore?

- Every day, there are opportunities to arise and for me I have a young family right now, but I think that technology base is really keeping me busy.

I truly believe that I have a calling into producing some films.

I truly have some stories that I really want to tell of impact.

I really wanna be able to tell my story and be able to really utilize my platform to help others to understand that they're not alone.

That there's hope in everything they're going through.

- Talking about storytelling, tell me about the project with LeBron James and the documentary on dad's life.

- That is an unbelievable project.

Obviously, there have been many documentaries.

Not one has been to like a film festival or been in the big screen to this magnitude.

I believe that the director, David Altrogge did a fantastic job.

He was relentless in getting to us at least two years to be able to sit down with me.

And he's here in Pittsburgh.

So it took a while.

But once I met with David, I understood where he was coming from.

and I think a big part of it was the fact that he was able to interview my mother before her passing in 2019.

That was her last interview.

So that really kind of swayed us into getting to the deal with making the documentary.

And obviously we got LeBron in Spring Hill getting involved.

We're very excited of how it came out.

There's a couple things that we're tweaking before it releases out to the public.

But I'm very happy that we're gonna be able to have it show the younger generation, the older generation knows the story, but there's some stories within the story that they don't know about.

And I'm very excited for them to learn about.

and my father had so many layers and layers throughout his life.

Who he was, that this documentary is only one layer really, of his life.

So there's a lot more to tell.

But I truly believe that David and the team did a fantastic job.

- That's great, that's great.

I know you're very involved with the Roberto Clemente Foundation, obviously.

Can you tell me any recent projects that the foundation has undertaken?

- Well, yes, right now, the foundation, we just had a board meeting yesterday.

We're excited because the clinics that we're doing and getting all the networks of the organizations that carry the Clemente name, we're pushing to be able to have those as an aid center when there's a natural disaster, having those kids get involved in and gathering some aid to help at that moment.

So for us, doing the clinics and being able to touch those kids and pushing the story of Clemente, making sure that they understand that they can be of impact in their communities.

You don't have to be a big name, you yourself, have the power to really be of impact in your own community.

So we wanna make sure that those kids understand that at a very young age.

- Roberto, there's also every year the Roberto Clemente Award, and I think Aaron Judge wanted in '23.

Tell me a little bit, how do you feel about having that award?

What do you think of Mr. Judge?

He's a local tri-state area legend, obviously.

- Listen, I can tell you that for the over 50 years that the award has been given out for Major League Baseball, every single player has deserved it.

The guys that have come in, second, third, whatever, I mean, all the nominees deserved the award, only one can take it.

But every one of those players really have expressed how special this award is for them and for us to have them as a Clemente Award family member to understand that they're using their platform for good just like dad did.

It shows who they are.

Aaron Judge, I can tell you from all of 'em, I truly believe he's one of the youngest to receive the award.

But the makeup of this young man is truly impeccable.

I truly believe he's the face of baseball.

And all those kids that are Yankee fans are gonna be able to watch this man continue to evolve and elevate his game, but also the person that he is in that community.

- Thank you so much, Roberto.

I'm really honored that you've been on the show, and God bless you.

- No, thank you, Carlos.

Thanks for having me.

- Ladies and gentlemen, that's a wrap.

I have a can't miss event for you.

I'd like to share with you a fundraiser that's coming up for the Labyrinth Theater.

It's the Labyrinth Theater Company's annual gala, celebrity charades.

Join them for a fearsome and hilarious competition where celebrities go head to head in a game of speed charades on May 20th, 2024.

Past events have featured appearances by Chris Rock, Kristen Wig, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, Edie Falco, Ed Norton, and Paul Rudd, just to name a few.

And don't forget to ask yourself, ladies and gentlemen, "Que Pasa".

- [Narrator] Funding for this episode of "Que Pasa NJ with Carlos Medina" has been provided by, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Hackensack Meridian Health, the Engineer's Labor Employer Cooperative 825, PSE&G, ROI NJ Business Magazine.

Thanks to the statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Find out more about our familia at shccnj.org.

This has been a production of the Modesto Educational Foundation.

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