Thankfully, actress Rita Moreno didn’t take her own best advice. When actor Ricardo Chavira asked what wisdom the “beautiful, legendary soul” could leave with 300 students gathered Tuesday morning at the Empire Theatre, she paused dramatically and said, “Shut up.”
The enthusiastic audience, spellbound for 45 minutes as the two actors conversed onstage, laughed heartily at 91-year-old Moreno’s bit of self-deprecation.
“I have a big mouth,” she continued, after marveling at Chavira’s own advice to listen to the actors around him to learn more about the character he was playing.
Moreno and Chavira were invited by the Las Casas Foundation to present a master class for students from 16 area high schools, most of whom study theater or are involved in stage performance.
‘Never give up’
The two actors began by recounting Moreno’s seven-decade career on Broadway, television and film, imparting lessons learned along the way to students eager to begin their own performance careers.
Several have already begun. During the question-and-answer period, Malik Sykes from Edgewood Fine Arts Academy asked Moreno whether he should seek out a travel agent.
At first, Moreno averred, having liberally dispensed advice on dedicating oneself to hard work and patience rather than zooming ahead to some innocent notion of stardom. Then she asked where he needed to travel.
“New York City, West Virginia, Oklahoma, I’ve been to Philadelphia,” Sykes said, for dancing and singing gigs.
“Damn!” Moreno exclaimed, drawing laughter. “That’s impressive. Maybe you do need a travel agent.”
Caleigh Funderburk of Southwest High School said she already has an agent and manager in California and New York but for now is focused on finishing her senior year. Funderburk said she first saw Moreno in the 1961 Oscar-winning role of Anita in West Side Story while in middle school and was thrilled to see her in person.
Asked what she would take away from the experience, Funderburk said, “She makes me believe never give up. … I’m kind of giving up hope because I haven’t received [any roles] in a long time. But coming here and watching her, it gives me that hope back.”
A rare EGOT
Moreno and Chavira will be back onstage Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Majestic Theatre for another conversation about her life as one of the few “EGOT” performers, the term for those who have won the rare combination of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards for television, music, movies and theatrical performances.
From her home near Berkeley, California prior to her San Antonio visit, Moreno said the conversations with Chavira — an Eagle Pass native famed for his roles in Desperate Housewives and Selena: The Series — would be improvised. But, she said, they would touch on the persistent racism both actors have experienced as they struggled to overcome Hollywood stereotypes of Latinos that have limited their roles.
Moreno said she would also talk about The Electric Company, the trailblazing children’s show that innovated new approaches to educational television in the 1970s. As a young immigrant from Puerto Rico, Moreno said she understood the importance of learning a new language from an accessible and understandable source.
“To me, it was especially important,” she said. “I came to this country not knowing a word of English, and I literally was thrown into kindergarten not knowing one word.” She also told the story of her husband’s Jewish aunt who emigrated to the United States also unable to read English, and who learned to read the ingredients on a can of peas from watching her niece-in-law’s show.
Moreno will also recount what it was like to star on Broadway in The Glass Menagerie and play such leading roles as Maria Callas in Master Class and the tragic Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
Tickets are available from $29 to $186 for the evening performance.
Las Casas Foundation is a financial supporter of the San Antonio Report. For a full list of business members, click here.
