Q & A with Satya Chávez
You are a multi-hyphenated artist: singing, composing, and instrumental performance among your many talents; what about the art of live theatre in particular sparks your passion?
Theatre is the vehicle we need to be able to see and feel each other. I say that as a performer and as an audience member. Theatre is important because we get to experience something together in real time. It is cathartic to hear an audience all shed a tear and sniffle, it brings us together. We live in an individualistic culture, and the pandemic enhanced that. We need community. Ultimately being isolated keeps us from organizing and fighting back against the systems of oppressions, and the point of creation is to give back and help others.
What attracts you to SCT’s mission of providing children of all ages with access to professional theatre and theatre education?
Theatre is an elitist art form that unless you grew up watching it you don’t know how to access it, or what it does, or how it can impact you. It is a beautiful art form that is not appreciated by the global majority because they don’t have access to it. When you create and craft in a space that serves young people you have to be constantly aware that the work is important. Young eyes are watching and it is not enough to just entertain. You have to have purpose, the stakes are higher.
I am so excited at the idea that we can start crafting and creating a new model of theatre for young impressionable minds that can then take it forward. I am here for SCT’s mission and I love working with kiddos. This is the demographic that is going to change the world.
What projects are you looking forward to during your 2023 Artist in Residency with SCT?
I have fallen in love with the piece we created to perform at MOHAI called A Seattle History Remix. We are using MOHAI’s collections to learn about and take lessons from the past, so we can create change instead of repeating history for the worse. It is an exciting reminder for myself as an artist that there’s nothing I can’t write a song about. Not everything I write needs to be heard, but if you are called to create – create and create every day. There is something you’ve experienced each day to create about. I hope this teaches kids that they have endless creativity to tap into and that they should explore it. That’s what makes the world a better place.
Why did SCT feel like the right home for your artistic residency?
I am looking forward to creating an artistic family here. I am such a huge fan of Idris Goodwin (SCT Artistic Director). For the longest time I have admired Idris and dreamt of bringing theatre to the community. I have known Idris for many, many years both creating together and supporting each other’s career paths. Our work is social justice oriented and our plays seek to honor and hold space for identities that don’t always get honored in our society. That’s a huge part of why I am here at SCT. I’ll follow Idris anywhere!
Idris and I share a dream of a utopian theatrical model that supports the artists involved in the project and to perform free theatre for the community, in the community, and by the community. The Seattle History Remix project at MOHAI is the perfect example of bringing the dream to life. Seattle History Remix is about looking to the past and acknowledging it, not so that we leave it behind us but so that we can take what we’ve learned and turn it into something that serves us now.
We are so excited to see you in Luchadora! (On stage February 22, 2024 – March 10, 2024) this season. Can you tell us a little bit about the show, and what you hope audiences will take away from the show?
I will be doing two Lucha libre productions this year. I recently moved to Puebla, Mexico which is one of the places that Lucha libre originated from. I spent time being in that world and watching the shows for research. Mexico is a classist country, and Lucha libre is considered a low-class activity.
I am dedicating myself to Lucha libre plays this year to introduce that culture to the communities who don’t experience it. Breaking classist structures is a lifelong goal of mine. And to remind us that art is art. I want to create spaces that honor cultures and bring people from those cultures into those spaces and allow people to feel proud of where they come from. Luchadora! is about a young girl and her breaking out of the mold and carving her own path in a male-centric industry. It is action packed and Johamy Morales (SCT Artistic Director and Luchadora! Director) is going to make magic with it.
How do you hope your time at SCT will contribute to your development as an artist?
It already has! I am a better writer, a better collaborator, and I am excited to hone in on finding ease and trusting the process of developing new work. I am excited to expand the breadth of my artistry, expand my skills, and make artistic connections.
Being an artist of color, there is often an immense pressure for perfection. From that comes the pressure of being ahead of the curve, thinking ten steps ahead, to be as concise as possible. Anyone with a marginalized identity can identify with not wanting to take up space because it might give someone the chance to say “See, they didn’t have what it takes. This is proof we should never give people like this an opportunity.”
I am already taking away a sense of ease and a trust of the process. And a trust in myself as an artist and that what I have to offer is enough. I am enough and my work is enough.