Cynthia Young. . . Interview with Alina Troyano

Interview between Cynthia Young (USC Department of English; Program in American Studies and Ethnicities) and Alina Troyano, an Obie-award winning performer who is well known for her performances as Carmelita Tropicana. She performed last spring at an event co-sponsored by the Center for Feminist Research and the USC Arts Initiative.

CY: How would you describe your identity as a performance artist?

AT: I’m both a performance artist and an actor/playwright. As a performance artist, the work is less scripted, the connection to the audience more immediate. The fourth wall crashes, the audience becomes more directly involved as part of the performance. My work aims to entertain while examining social/sexual/cultural issues. For example, in 1991 I was asked to be in a performance art panel for the Dance Critics Association, but instead of giving a talk, I assumed the persona of Carmelita Tropicana and came up with my Performance Art Manifesto. In the last part of the lecture/ performance, I asked the audience what I was holding in my hands. When they responded, “a toilet plunger,” I told of the time when I first saw Jack Smith a formidable performance artist dancing with a toilet plunger while putting out a fire he had started in the performance space. That dance with the plunger changed my perceptions of an object. Jack had transformed a plunger into a work of art. He died of AIDS in 1989 so my piece was an homage as well as a tongue in cheek explanation of performance art.

As a performance artist, I recycle pieces and may not fully rehearse or have written text as much as ideas of what I want to do. The last performance art I did was after 911, titled “Dial 911.” In that piece, I lost my sense of humor. I was afraid to do it because there was not a shred of humor in it. It was dark but I felt I needed to do it, especially in Iowa and other states that had not witnessed the event except through the eyes of the media.

CY: Why the name Carmelita Tropicana?

AT: I came upon it when I was doing a show on the radio called The Well of Horniness by Holly Hughes, and I wanted anonymity. I thought of the most Latino sounding name I could and that came out. It was a fortuitous, spontaneous combustion because the name worked in both the Cuban and American worlds. In Cuba, Tropicana is the name of a legendary nightclub, and in the U.S. it’s the name of a popular orange juice. Fruits! What can be more tropical and sexually charged than that? Weeks later I enrolled in a comedy class at WOW cafe, a theatre space, and the character and persona of Carmelita was born.

CY: What drew you to performance work? Who were other role models or inspirations for you besides Jack Smith?

AT: My collaborators Ela Troyano, and Uzi Parnes. Both are directors who introduced me to the fluid performance art scene of the mid 1980’s. My sister, Ela Troyano is a filmmaker and was doing expanded cinema/slide shows at nightclubs with music sometimes by John Zorn. Uzi Parnes is also a filmmaker who does slide shows. Both knew Jack Smith and urged me to go see his shows. All were inspirations as performance artists as was Holly Hughes, a dance duo called Dancenoise, the amazing Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, Ethyl Eichelberger, and Jennifer Miller of Circus Amok. The novelty aspect and the dangerous quality of performance art I find especially enticing.

CY: What are the specific kinds of interventions you see yourself making as a Latina performance artist?

AT: I’ve performed in many spaces, for example the Museum of Natural History in NYC. I was hired as a Latina after I did an excerpt of Milk of Amnesia, a solo piece about going back to Cuba in 93. A Latina next to the pachyderms. As such, I had all ages in the audience and I tailored my performance to them. I performed a game show where I asked questions relating to Latinidad. What color is a Latino? Where did chocolate come from? Who were the first people to chew gum? Who is your favorite Latina-Latino? I was amazed at the answers. The questions created a dialogue and made it fun for kids. The prizes were multicolored crayons.

CY: Can you talk a little bit about the challenges and rewards of doing solo performance work?

AT: The singular and direct connection to an audience that allows for improvisation. Trying to do material that can reach people, make them think.

CY: Recently, you performed A Tail of Two Cities: Miami and Havana in the Age of Elian Gonzalez here at USC as part of the Center for Feminist Research’s performance series, curated by David Roman, Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Program in American Studies & Ethnicity. Describe the work.

AT: In A Tail of Two Cities: Miami and Havana in the Age of Elian Gonzalez I use a real event, that of Elian the boy whose fate became a cause celebre. It’s a tragic story of a boy who is shipwrecked and whose mother drowns. It is a tale ripe with drama and modern day issues: custody battles, overzealous media, international politics and U.S. immigration policy towards different immigrant groups.

CY: Why did you choose the Elian story? What are the central points/opinions you want to convey or reveal about that episode?

AT: The piece is a work in progress. So far what is evolving is the similarities in how both cities Miami and Havana struggled for custody of the boy. The cities almost mirrored each other during the battle. I originally wanted to do the piece because Elian was such a volatile issue. Families were torn apart, and voices were silenced by a vocal majority. If anyone had a different opinion from the majority, it was silenced. The child became a symbol.

CY: Why the irreverent fairytale tone? What does it add to the story? What is its narrative function?

AT: The piece became for me the story of a child. Fairytales are the stories we tell kids. Kids believe in fairytales. Both sides in this were proclaiming the truth of their fairytale, their political views of the world. I wanted the juxtaposition of news events with the magical realism of the child who, as he told a reporter, was saved by dolphins. I wanted to mix the different worlds, the animal world with the human world and juxtapose a roach as a CNN [Cable News Network] reporter with news clips. The roach provides insight into and social commentary on the actions of humans.

CY: Say more about your use of a cockroach as a narrator.

AT: The cockroach la cucarachita Martina is a famous fairytale character in Latin America, as well known as Cinderella. Plus, there’s a very well known song in both the Latin and the Anglo worlds called “La Cucaracha.” Roaches are very loathed creatures, the lowest on the totem pole. As such, la cucarachita Martina provides social commentary as a despised minority. The dislike of roaches is analogous to the dislike by closed-minded citizens in wealthier industrialized nations of immigrants. Roaches are dirty, gross and everyone seems to have feelings about them whether good or bad. I thought it would make a very entertaining way to tell the story. I work with humor as a political tool.

CY: You found a subtle way of weaving through the political minefield surrounding the Elian Gonzalez incident. Did you struggle with that? What choices did you reject or make to help you negotiate the strong opinions on the Elian subject?

AT: I’m still struggling with the Miami portion because I want the Miami relatives who want to keep Elian in U.S. to have a voice that is not stereotypical. I want it to be more complex. I want to give them their due even if I, the writer, differ from them.

CY: Thank you for talking with me.

AT: You’re welcome.