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| Brian Quijada in "Where Did We Sit On The Bus?" Image sourced from Ensemble Studio Theater |
In the solo show “Where Did We Sit On the Bus?” Brian Quijada convincingly dances, sings, spits rhymes on top of live looping of his voice, music instruments and beat-box sounds to tell his story of being the son of immigrants from El Salvador and navigating race, culture, and education while striving to carve out a career as a Latino-American performing artist.
Quijada was born to a parents who immigrated to the U.S. and settled in a working class suburb in Illinois and he is caught between two worlds as a bilingual child. The feeling of being divided recurs throughout the show. The solo show’s title comes from a response that Quijada received when learning about Rosa Parks in elementary school. He asked “Where did we (Latinos) sit on the bus?” to which his teacher replied Latinos weren’t there. This reviewer hoped that Quijada would’ve use that as a jumping off point to include a couple of accounts of lesser known but equally pivotal contributions that Latinos have made to American history. Instead, Quijada solely focuses on his own childhood and recalls being transformed by watching Michael Jackson’s footwork on TV which then sparks his desire to become a professional performer much to his parent’s disapproval. The most poignant segments in this section are when Quijada recounts being mesmerized by the work of a DJ at parties in his community and incorporating Michael Jackson’s choreography into traditional Latin dance styles which is symbolic of the pop culture patchwork that is America.
Recalling his teen years attending a predominantly Jewish high school, Quijada caught flack for befriending Jewish classmates by his Latino friends who accused him of wanting to be white. He also experienced being racially profiled and discriminated against. In a poem, Quijada directly responds to Donald Trump's hate speech and demagoguing by explaining why people from Latin American are fleeing their home countries and what America stands to lose by preventing them from migrating to the U.S.
Quijada is likeable and works hard to get his points across, however, other artists of color have mined similar territory in their solo work over the past two decades. There’s a universality to Quijada’s stories and it’s clear that Latino men remain underrepresented on stage despite the successes of “Hamilton” and John Legiuzamo (from whom Quijada borrows the scene in the solo show "Freak" where Leguizamo does the voices of his parent's lovemaking during which he is conceived).
Director Chay Yew may have served Quijada better by getting him to delve deeper and making Quijada's narrative more of a sensory experience than giving us quick highlights from his accomplishments as a young actor. Quijada could’ve also expanded on a section of his upbringing for the entirety of the show as did Charlayne Woodard in her autobiographical solo show trilogy (“Pretty Fire,” “Neat” and “In Real Life”). This reviewer is curious to see Quijada evolve as a storyteller and performer and where his career transports him to next.
Quijada was born to a parents who immigrated to the U.S. and settled in a working class suburb in Illinois and he is caught between two worlds as a bilingual child. The feeling of being divided recurs throughout the show. The solo show’s title comes from a response that Quijada received when learning about Rosa Parks in elementary school. He asked “Where did we (Latinos) sit on the bus?” to which his teacher replied Latinos weren’t there. This reviewer hoped that Quijada would’ve use that as a jumping off point to include a couple of accounts of lesser known but equally pivotal contributions that Latinos have made to American history. Instead, Quijada solely focuses on his own childhood and recalls being transformed by watching Michael Jackson’s footwork on TV which then sparks his desire to become a professional performer much to his parent’s disapproval. The most poignant segments in this section are when Quijada recounts being mesmerized by the work of a DJ at parties in his community and incorporating Michael Jackson’s choreography into traditional Latin dance styles which is symbolic of the pop culture patchwork that is America.
Recalling his teen years attending a predominantly Jewish high school, Quijada caught flack for befriending Jewish classmates by his Latino friends who accused him of wanting to be white. He also experienced being racially profiled and discriminated against. In a poem, Quijada directly responds to Donald Trump's hate speech and demagoguing by explaining why people from Latin American are fleeing their home countries and what America stands to lose by preventing them from migrating to the U.S.
Quijada is likeable and works hard to get his points across, however, other artists of color have mined similar territory in their solo work over the past two decades. There’s a universality to Quijada’s stories and it’s clear that Latino men remain underrepresented on stage despite the successes of “Hamilton” and John Legiuzamo (from whom Quijada borrows the scene in the solo show "Freak" where Leguizamo does the voices of his parent's lovemaking during which he is conceived).
Director Chay Yew may have served Quijada better by getting him to delve deeper and making Quijada's narrative more of a sensory experience than giving us quick highlights from his accomplishments as a young actor. Quijada could’ve also expanded on a section of his upbringing for the entirety of the show as did Charlayne Woodard in her autobiographical solo show trilogy (“Pretty Fire,” “Neat” and “In Real Life”). This reviewer is curious to see Quijada evolve as a storyteller and performer and where his career transports him to next.
Where Did We Sit On The Bus? Written & Performed by Brian Quijada. Directed by Chay Yew. Scenic Designer: Angelica Borrero-Fortier. Lighting Designer: Diane D. Fairchild. Sound Designer: Brian Quijada. Projection Designer: Liviu Pasare. Production Stage Manager: Lloyd Davis Jr. At Ensemble Studio Theater at 545-549 W. 52nd St. New York, NY. Runs from Sept 10-October 9, 2016.
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