by andy knight

Bienvenidos to Destiny of Desire and the dramatic and melodic town of Bellarica, where “fortunes are made and lost in the blink of an eye.” Telenovelas seep into the daily life of many Latin Americans. But when my family emigrated from Mexico to the United States, telenovelas seemed destined to become a thing of my past….
Except they didn’t. American shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Dallas” emulated them. And as a theatre artist, I noticed that the word “telenovela” became a disparaging word some outsiders used to erroneously describe work of Latine theatre artists.

Frustrated, I decided to write the best stage telenovela I could and clarify to others (and myself) what telenovela really is. I wanted to examine my own feelings about this popular and populist art form and both honor and test the genre. I wanted to give a large cast of Latine actors, musicians, designers, and directors an opportunity to show virtuosic chops… and show the joy and pathos that make telenovelas one of the most popular forms of storytelling on the planet.

Today, at The Old Globe, you will see Tony Award–winning Ruben Santiago-Hudson direct a fabulous team of actors and designers. It has been a joy. But theatre has many masters, and I also want to acknowledge all the amazing actors, artistic teams, and regional theatres that have helped get this play to this point. It takes todo un pueblo to make a path and destiny for a new play. I especially want to thank Molly Smith, who first selected this play for Arena Stage mainstage for the Women’s Voices Theater Festival in 2015 in Washington DC, and celebrate the gifted director José Luis Valenzuela, who believed in this play and made it magical from the beginning.

Writing Destiny of Desire became for me a subversive political and artistic act… and one of expanding family, friends, fun, and fate.

Mil gracias,
Karen Zacarías