In the first of our interviews with the cast and crew of Caeneus and Poseidon, Nicky Martinez tells us a bit about their role and their process as an actor. Thanks Nicky!
Which character do you play?
Caeneus
What are you most looking forward to about playing this character? Is there anything that is particularly challenging about playing this character?
I'm looking forward to representing a trans character set in Grecian mythological times. As a person identifying as Genderfluid; which means that at any given day, week, month, and even year/ hour my gender changes. I have days where I am really in tune with my femininity and use pronouns she/her. But there are other days where I feel very masculine, bind myself and go with the pronouns he/him. And then there are days where I feel in between or something undefined and go by they/them. Being Genderfluid means I'm under/ a part of the *trans umbrella, and representing a transgender man on stage that is set in this time period is so important. I feel that a lot of people who are exposed to only the media representation of transgender identifying people are limited to this societal perception, and I know from personal experience, that people think that being trans is a "trend" or a new term that has only been around for the past few years. I can tell you this isn't true. Transgender and queer folk have been around for Centuries and having a play like this that highlights Transgender issues in a timeless setting is important. I hope it generates interest to people who haven't been exposed much to the LGBTQ community or their history and ask questions/ research our history that isn't taught in schools... unless you go to college to study gender and sexualities. I think educating ourselves about new things, especially about minority issues, is important in our day and age. And I think coming to experience this play is a step in the right direction to be exposed and open for something new.
The challenging thing about taking on the character Caeneus is to take on such a huge role. I really hope I give the character justice and to represent my community in a way that makes them proud.
Have you been involved with Dragon Theatre before?
Nope, this is my first time, and I'm really excited about it.
What other theatre projects do you have coming up?
I recently got a job at CounterPulse, being their new Program Manager and I am in the works of expanding my own work titled "Missing: GENDER." It was my senior project, performed back in March 2016 at the University of San Francisco and it was also performed in Noh Space in May 2016. Now I'm back to the drawing board trying to expand this original 15 minute piece that was also filmed and could be seen on
youtube here. I hope to make it a full length play, but we'll see what the future holds.
How do you prepare for a role? Is there anything special you do to get into the mindset of a character you're playing?
I do a lot of script work. I have two worksheets that I've sort of built myself, taking a lot of what I've learned from my schooling in theater, and also from listening to a lot of actors that I admire. The first worksheet consists of analyzing every scene I'm in and answering several questions split up into 3 categories: one, being questions for moments before the scene, two, questions for moments during the scene, and three, questions that pertain to the overall scene. The other worksheet is a list of questions that I like to call my Character's Biography. It helps me answer every personal question like I am the character. The other thing that I've done for a long time, that's worked for me, is to create a playlist for the character. Really finding the music of the character's emotions and actions have really pushed me that extra mile to embody the character I'm playing.
What is your dream role?
I love Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros", I even have a tattoo dedicated to his play that has a Rhino head with the last line of the play enscripted in typewriter font, "I'm Not Capitulating" on my left arm. I would love to play his lead character Berenger. It's just such a powerful stance against conformity in an absurd lense that I'm in love with the role. I read the play at least once every year. Since Trump's presidency I've read it about once a week.
Who’s your favorite mythological character? (doesn’t have to be Greek)
I enjoy Persephone the Queen of the Underworld just because I love the story of how she became Hades' queen and how she controls the seasons.
Anything else you'd like to share with us?
I am very excited to be a part of this show and I hope people enjoy it too!
Caeneus
What are you most looking forward to about playing this character? Is there anything that is particularly challenging about playing this character?
I'm looking forward to representing a trans character set in Grecian mythological times. As a person identifying as Genderfluid; which means that at any given day, week, month, and even year/ hour my gender changes. I have days where I am really in tune with my femininity and use pronouns she/her. But there are other days where I feel very masculine, bind myself and go with the pronouns he/him. And then there are days where I feel in between or something undefined and go by they/them. Being Genderfluid means I'm under/ a part of the *trans umbrella, and representing a transgender man on stage that is set in this time period is so important. I feel that a lot of people who are exposed to only the media representation of transgender identifying people are limited to this societal perception, and I know from personal experience, that people think that being trans is a "trend" or a new term that has only been around for the past few years. I can tell you this isn't true. Transgender and queer folk have been around for Centuries and having a play like this that highlights Transgender issues in a timeless setting is important. I hope it generates interest to people who haven't been exposed much to the LGBTQ community or their history and ask questions/ research our history that isn't taught in schools... unless you go to college to study gender and sexualities. I think educating ourselves about new things, especially about minority issues, is important in our day and age. And I think coming to experience this play is a step in the right direction to be exposed and open for something new.
The challenging thing about taking on the character Caeneus is to take on such a huge role. I really hope I give the character justice and to represent my community in a way that makes them proud.
Have you been involved with Dragon Theatre before?
Nope, this is my first time, and I'm really excited about it.
What other theatre projects do you have coming up?
I recently got a job at CounterPulse, being their new Program Manager and I am in the works of expanding my own work titled "Missing: GENDER." It was my senior project, performed back in March 2016 at the University of San Francisco and it was also performed in Noh Space in May 2016. Now I'm back to the drawing board trying to expand this original 15 minute piece that was also filmed and could be seen on
youtube here. I hope to make it a full length play, but we'll see what the future holds.
How do you prepare for a role? Is there anything special you do to get into the mindset of a character you're playing?
I do a lot of script work. I have two worksheets that I've sort of built myself, taking a lot of what I've learned from my schooling in theater, and also from listening to a lot of actors that I admire. The first worksheet consists of analyzing every scene I'm in and answering several questions split up into 3 categories: one, being questions for moments before the scene, two, questions for moments during the scene, and three, questions that pertain to the overall scene. The other worksheet is a list of questions that I like to call my Character's Biography. It helps me answer every personal question like I am the character. The other thing that I've done for a long time, that's worked for me, is to create a playlist for the character. Really finding the music of the character's emotions and actions have really pushed me that extra mile to embody the character I'm playing.
What is your dream role?
I love Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros", I even have a tattoo dedicated to his play that has a Rhino head with the last line of the play enscripted in typewriter font, "I'm Not Capitulating" on my left arm. I would love to play his lead character Berenger. It's just such a powerful stance against conformity in an absurd lense that I'm in love with the role. I read the play at least once every year. Since Trump's presidency I've read it about once a week.
Who’s your favorite mythological character? (doesn’t have to be Greek)
I enjoy Persephone the Queen of the Underworld just because I love the story of how she became Hades' queen and how she controls the seasons.
Anything else you'd like to share with us?
I am very excited to be a part of this show and I hope people enjoy it too!
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