Press for "Charla, A Chat With José Martí"

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Miami New Times

Charla: A Drama About Cuban Patriot José Martí
Date/Time: October 25 2007
Price: FREE
Contact Info: Event Website

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BY CARLOS SUAREZ DE JESUS

For those who grew up in a Cuban home, childhood stories of José Martí described the legendary poet and revolutionary charging the Spanish lines astride a white steed, waving his sword overhead. Parents spoke in reverent tones of the “Apostle of Cuban Independence” and his heroic death, making it impossible to separate the man from the myth. Tonight at 6:00 at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Cuban-American actor Chaz Mena will don period dress and a push-broom mustache to channel the spirit of the island’s founding father during Charla: A Drama About Cuban Patriot José Martí. In Mena’s one-man show, it’s 1891 and Martí struggles to persuade his countrymen living in Ybor City to join him in overthrowing Spanish rule. Mena will engage the audience by peeling the layers off the legend to reveal what made Martí tick.

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At the University of Central Florida we organized a series of events on Cuban culture and invited Chaz Mena as one of our featured speakers. An accomplished theater and TV actor, he performed masterfully in front of a room-full of students, professors and community guests. Mena made Martí come alive. The physical resemblance was remarkable— the receding hairline, the thick black moustache, the matching goatee; the attire matched Martí’s to the last detail, including his signature three-piece black suit, the silver pocket watch, even the iron ring made from the chain’s that Martí wore as a teen-aged prisoner of Spain’s tyrannical government.

Mena’s impeccable acting skills are matched by his profound knowledge of Martí’s life and works. Throughout his soliloquy and during the question and answer session that follows, Mena demonstrates his mastery over Cuba’s founding father’s voluminous body of work as well as the extant scholarship on him.

I enthusiastically recommend Mena’s performance as an inspiring, entertaining, and intellectual experience. My students, my colleagues, and myself thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be a special learning opportunity.

--Luis Martinez-Fernandez, Professor of Cuban History, UCF & Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Cuba

A Chat with José Martí” del actor Chaz Mena logró capturar la imaginación y el interés de un teatro lleno de estudiantes universitarios que habían dejado atrás su vasto mundo de tecnología y distracciones. El método de Chautauqua empleado por Mena permitió que los estudiantes sintieran, vieran, y percibieran de una forma visceral y auténtica la pasión de la vida de José Martí. Después del show, algunos estudiantes comentaron que, gracias a la energía y el entusiasmo de Mena, querían aprender más de la vida y obra del Apóstol y también de la independencia de Cuba. Para estos estudiantes José Martí dejó de ser una figura literaria de un pasado remoto, sino un hombre que les inspiró y les tocó el alma.

-Casa Iberia, Dept. of Foreign Language, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL

As someone with only a limited knowledge of Cuban history, I was enthralled by Chaz Mena's brilliant one-person performance piece "Charla: A Chat with José Martí." He did not play at being the revolutionary poet: he became José Martí. I have been involved with theater as an author, playwright, and professor for many years, but I had never enjoyed the experience of seeing an actor inhabiting another persona with such profound understanding--and such love for the subject. "Charla" is a unique blending of education and the empathy that only theater allows. It will enlighten as well as entertain the many who are fortunate to see it. In 45 minutes Mr. Mena made up for my lifetime neglect of this great poet.

Richard Janaro,Retired Associate Dean of Theater, New World School of the Arts. Co-author of The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living" (9th edition, to be published in July, 2008). Emmy Award winner for The Way of the Humanist (1981)

First of all, I was very impressed on the effect your role had on the non- Cuban attendees. We Cubans are somewhat addicted to the “Apóstol”, but to see Anglo-Americans, African-Americans and individuals from diverse nationalities equally engaged with José Martí was a new experience for me. This provides additional evidence of the universality of Martí’s message. I can tell you that I really felt that José Martí himself was talking to us. I was really able to disconnect from my current reality and feel like if I was there in Tampa listening to him.
Dr. Rolando Montoya
Wolfson Campus President, Miami Dade College

Chaz Mena’s portrayal of José Martí taught my students more about Cuban history, North American politics, and virtuoso acting in forty minutes than any of them had learned in an entire semester. Chaz Mena gives a master class in historical research, in dramatic expression, and how to relate directly to an audience with respect, humor, and intelligence. His way of including the audience in a dialogue, and to do so subtly, is indeed amazing. Before you realize it, you become so engulfed in a fictive world that, because of Mena’s flawless work as a historian, has all the proper trappings of the complex life of José Martí.

Ron Cooper, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy,Humanities & Social Sciences Department, Central Florida Community College, Ocala, Florida

Chaz Mena’s performance as José Martí is nothing short of miraculous. The synergy of Mena’s intelligence, wit and charm coupled with the legendary accomplishments of José Martí makes for a riveting evening of history, literature and theater. To watch Mena, still ‘in character’, field questions from the audience after his heartfelt performance was a very special experience. This was not just theater at its best. It was witnessing the beauty and artistry of total immersion. What more could anyone ask for?
David Kwiat, Professor, Theater Division, New World School of the Arts, Miami FL

José Martí comes to life in "Charla," Chaz Mena's dramatization of one night in the life of the Cuban poet and independence leader. Mena's performance is well-paced and intelligent; he did his homework. The Chautauqua format (where the actor interacts with audience in character) also demonstrated his impressive knowledge of the life of Marti and of the politics and trends of his times. It takes an extraordinary actor to write a piece like Charla and perform it with such convincing command of his craft, as well as his material. Chaz Mena did it.
Dr. Juan Carlos Espinosa
Associate Dean & Fellow
Honors College,
Florida International University
Miami, Florida