A brief history:

I was born in Havana Cuba in 1965, six years after the Cuban Revolution triumphed. In 1970 we moved briefly to Mexico City and then finally to Buenos Aires, Argentina where I grew up.

My father was an opera singer who introduced me to the world of not only opera but the Arts in general. In 1972 I saw my very first opera: Lucia di Lammermoor with the great Beverly Sills and the legendary Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus. This production was designed by Ming Cho Lee who was to become my teacher seventeen years later at the Yale School of Drama.

I’ve been very fortunate to work in most of the great Regional Theaters and Opera Companies in this country and also in Europe. As I look back at my work I realize how much I’ve changed through the years. Perhaps the most important factor has been the life-changing working relationships I’ve developed with directors and playwrights. My first professional play was Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World at the Yale Repertory Theater, which introduced me to both the American Repertory Theater and then to the Public Theater in New York City. It is in these two theaters that I’ve developed so many incredible relationships and where I began to grow up as an artist. George C. Wolfe is most certainly the most powerful influence I had in the first decade of my career. With George I worked on more than 17 productions, including my first Broadway shows: The Tempest and Bring in ‘da Noise/Bring in ‘da Funk back in 1995. Along the way we collaborated on TopDog/UnderDog, Caroline, or Change, Mother Courage and so many other life changing experiences. The Public Theater under George’s guidance became a true home for artists of different colors, creed, ethnicity in what he called a theater of inclusion. For twelve galvanic years I learned invaluable lessons. It introduced me to amazing artists with whom I continue to collaborate with to this day. 

At the American Repertory Theater, I was again incredibly fortunate to be a part of Robert Brustein’s vision, which introduced me to European Theater, and to Robert Woodruff who became another profound influence on me. He single-handedly taught me to see theater with different eyes - more aggressive, more provocative and direct. And today it is an honor to teach alongside with him at the Yale School of Drama. The experiences I had at ART also led me to European directors like Arthur Nauzyciel, the great Hungarian film and theater director Janos Szaz, and finally to my collaborations with Diane Paulus, the current Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater and with whom I’m collaborating right now on the musical Jagged Little Pill coming to Broadway.

All these great theater artists made me see Stage Design as something completely different from what I had envisaged as a young man. They taught me about theatrical spaces that are not descriptive or plainly two dimensional but spaces that invite our imagination to soar. In the same way an actor is real, the materials I began to use had to be real; wood, steel, aluminum, plywood, glass, Plexiglas, dirt, rocks, leaves, water, all were used in all their innate beauty so that a truthfulness was achieved in the service of a play, opera or musical. Granted, all of this required more funding, but I learned to fight for the materials, because I knew this was critical for the poetic reality we were all in search of. It was then that I truly began to practice “the less is more” quality that made spaces so visceral and poetic that Ming had taught us. It is one thing to be in the classroom and practice your skills with theoretical models and another vastly different experience when you are in the real world surrounded by demanding artists and performers. At times it was chaotic and scary, but always exhilarating! How many times did I see George spring into action and in complete surrender to his instincts create the most astonishing theatrical gestures…the same surrender I’ve been able to see with Woodruff, Arin Arbus, Rachel Chavkin… these great theater artists opened up my eyes in their actions to trust in the unconscious and in instincts. Ten years ago I made the decision to commit myself to teaching, first at Princeton, followed by three years full time at Suny Purchase and currently at the Yale School of Drama. And now it is something that I cannot live without. It has made me re-think so much…how to approach not just Scene Design but Theater as a whole, as if I myself were a student, how to provoke and inspire today’s generation, how to understand their hunger? We must not teach ready-made answers…new rules that apply to today - there’s no such thing. What I have discovered has been beyond my wildest imagination. There’s a hunger out there, these sad times we live in today have deeply affected our youth…they have so much to say…so so much, and we need to listen. More than ever!  It is my profound mission, to spread the knowledge I’ve acquired and share the experiences I learned in my career. The work that is currently being created has agency, questions deeply, it is bold! As I write this I realize how our individual journeys are interconnected, including teachers and students, how all the great artists we grow with are all part of an amazing life tapestry. Developing these relationships is what makes us grow not only as artists but likewise as human beings. I encourage you to seek out the new, the unknown and sometimes uncomfortable discussions and discoveries that help us to capture and present for a brief moment the very essence of humanity.  We live in difficult times, and we must remain committed to strengthening the many voices that make us who we are. As theater artists and educators we must continue to build upon the foundations of artists like George C. Wolfe and Diane Paulus, and a new wave of Artistic Directors in the American Regional Stage - let us celebrate this diverse leadership as they embark on nurturing a more inclusive and dynamic stage like we have never seen before. Let us all join in this new vision fiercely committed to challenging and celebrating our reflection in a daring American Theater.  

When we accepted the honor of being here we were all asked to write a few words of advice to young designers. I thought and thought and wrote a lot of nonsense until my wife said to me: this is all wrong, you are going at it completely wrong…she said just write it from your heart. Whatever it is you feel you need to share with young aspiring designers. And so I wrote in a stream of consciousness fashion. If you don’t mind please allow me to read it in its unedited version. 

Why theater? What is this thing you cannot live without? What is this profound summoning? What is this “other” reality that is so appealing? So truthful? Perhaps more so than the world we live in? Why the attraction to create spaces? What are these spaces? What do they themselves summon? Why is the silhouette of an actor against an immense finite yet “infinite” white surround so powerful? So universal? Why is the sound of a distant guitar in a Chekhov play so moving, or the sound of a whisper, a sigh, or rain, or a distant train so enthralling? So many questions, and no ready answers…other than the pull into that ephemeral glimpse into “the wafting Universe of the World-Breath”… If you feel these, if you dare take a peek into these mysteries…well then, prepare yourself for a life riddled with awe and unending surprises, where “anything can happen; everything is possible and probable. Time and space do not exist; on a slight groundwork of reality, imagination spins and weaves new patterns made up of memories, experiences, unfettered fancies, absurdities and improvisations” as August Strindberg begins his Dream Play, perhaps as an allegory to Theater… Dare to be a dreamer! Dare to go against all that seems probable, dare to provoke, to question, to inspire, to flow with the flux of change, and chance. Once on this path, discipline yourself in the Liberal Arts so that you can learn from Literature and Poetry, History, Philosophy, Music, Film, and from all the great theater makers past and present from Antonin Artaud to Ingmar Bergman, from Angelica Liddell to Romeo Castellucci, from María Irene Fornés to Suzan-Lori Parks. The world awaiting you is vast and elusive. It is life changing and profoundly rewarding. I don’t know how else to talk about theater…