PATERSON — Leticia Diaz calls herself a vagabond. After starting her stage career at Paterson’s Rosa Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts, she went on to perform in off-Broadway productions in New York City.
But eventually the 47-year-old Paterson-born actress got tired of what she called the “dogfight” of the Manhattan theater scene.
“You find people from New Jersey there — neighbors of mine are going to the city to work in theater,” Diaz said. “Why can’t we do it here?”
So the woman who grew up in Paterson housing projects that have since been demolished moved back to Passaic County during the pandemic and has been itching to perform ever since.
Last summer, to prove a point that “theater can be done anywhere,” she and friends performed five nights of plays and monologues in her Haledon driveway for her neighbors.
Later this week, Diaz will be putting on her first full-scale production since returning home, “Anna Bella Eema” — at Prototype 237, at 237 River St., from Nov. 10 to 12.
“I’ve had this play on my to-do list for years — it’s all so unexpected,” she said.
What is the play about?
The nontraditional 90-minute ghost story is about mental health, and the telling of the story is distorted to mirror how one of the characters experiences the world around her. Two actors play more than one character, and they take turn turns narrating.
The play is being staged at an artists’ commune housed in a century-old warehouse that has never hosted a staged production before.
When Prototype 237 opened two years ago, it billed itself as a music venue. However, since then, it has opened its doors to other genres including slam poetry and an open mic. Last month, it hosted two European performance artists who produced a live-action finger puppet performance.
“Now Leticia has a place to do her show,” said Eric Saltzman, communications director at Prototype 237. “We’re hoping to make it more of a black-box theater.”
The unconventional space, which doesn’t have a typical raised proscenium stage, worked in the production’s favor, making the experience more “immersive,” said director Sarah Gorden of Nutley.
“The language of the script speaks about being claustrophobic — so the play needs to be in your face,” Gorden said. “You feel like you’re in their house, you’re sitting among them, you’re in their space.”
There is no clear delineation between the actors and the audience, just as there is no clear boundary between fantasy and reality in Lisa D’Amour’s script. Theatergoers will leave the performance intentionally unsettled, with many questions about what happened. Prepare for the actors to make eye contact with the audience. Gorden said the audience should embrace the awkwardness — it’s all part of the experience.
“The lines between our world and their world and the dream world are all blending together,” said Gorden, who, falling short of words to describe the liminal aspects, begins gesturing. “I’m speaking with my hands.”
The show, set in a remote trailer home in a forest, takes place in one continuous act without breaks. The characters traverse the stage very little. But there is still plenty of action, including intricate choreography and songs. Though not a musical, it incorporates a lot of dissonant, mood-setting a capella music.
The play is deconstructed, meaning the actors take turns narrating and performing the stage directions and special effects. In fact, as Diaz was speaking to Paterson Press, she was twirling a pink prop balloon that would later be used to — spoiler alert — simulate a gunshot.
Besides Diaz, the cast includes Annick Vasquez of Wanaque and Ro Schaeffer of Bloomfield.
“It’s wonderful to have three women carrying equal weight and still being individual,” Diaz said about the all-female cast.
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New Paterson arts scene
Since moving back to the Paterson area, Diaz said, she has seen other arts begin to thrive. Poetry has found a voice with the help of Talena Lachelle Queen’s annual festival and Rashad Wright’s slam team, New Jeru. The Hamilton Arts Festival spotlights new playwrights with staged readings of their works.
But there isn’t a local homegrown production company putting on full-scale productions.
“I gave myself the job,” said Diaz, dressed as the “Anna Bella Eema” titular character in paint-stained denim overalls. “This is a way for me to do the shows I want to do.”
Darren Tobia is a contributing writer for Paterson Press.