Growing up, Fior Rodriguez spent her summers with aunts, uncles and cousins putting on a show that her grandmother, a playwright in the Dominican Republic, would write for the whole family to enjoy. When Rodriguez decided to pick up acting after college, however, it wasn’t met with the warmest reception.
“I come from a family with theater in it, but, of course, those weren't the people that were raising me day to day,” Rodriguez said. “It was my aunts and uncles and my grandma and stuff. They were always super supportive, but at home, it was like, ‘can't do that.’”
Pursuing the arts as a career is often discouraged in many Latino and other Black and brown families, Rodriguez said.
“I know the whole ‘art isn't a career trope’ spans across cultural identities,” Rodriguez said, “but maybe if there were more Black and brown people in that creative space, Black and brown families wouldn't reiterate that school of thought of ‘that's not for you.’”
As she started to step into the theater world, though, Rodriguez said she found that there weren’t many stories that reflected her culture and background. The ones that she did find often focused on the same tropes surrounding immigration and poverty.
“There was nothing like me that looked or sounded like me or my family, or told the stories that I'm familiar with on stage,” she said.
Then, she got an invitation to audition for a play named “Calling Puerto Rico” from the Pa’lante Theater Company.
“Pa’lante puts on fresh stories, like regular people, stories of people that just happen to be Black and brown,” Rodriguez said.
After getting the role for Melosa, a nurse and landlord, she found herself in her first Hispanic production, playing a Latina for the first time on stage.
“It was the first time I didn't feel like I had to… change my whole life or my whole foundation, my whole focus for that role. It was just like, bring what you know, for once, to the table,” Rodriguez said.
The evolution of theater for us, by us
Inspired by the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater Company, a theater troupe based in New York, Rafael Feliciano-Roman said he launched the Pa’lante Theater Company in 2016. He brought in outside theater companies to present shows featuring people of color in Western Massachusetts.
However, when Feliciano-Roman moved back home to Waterbury in 2021, the company went dark, but his vision for a theatrical space for his Afro-Latine community did not.
In 2023, the Pa’lante Theater launched its inaugural season with “Calling Puerto Rico” in partnership with Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury.
Feliciano-Roman said the season was a resounding success with sold out shows and a visit from then-U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. They even brought “Calling Puerto Rico” back for a statewide tour.
As the company grew, Feliciano-Roman said they needed to find a home of their own. They found that space in the heart of downtown Waterbury in 2024 with a small Black Box theater.
Feliciano-Roman said his dream is to have Pa’lante Black Box theater spaces in cities that have Latino, Black and Caribbean folks that currently lack theater companies meant for them.
“The dream for Pa’lante is that we're there,” Feliciano-Roman said. “You can get into a space and see a good show, good comedy night, a good lo que sea, and it's rooted in our identity in Black and Latin. Of course, everyone's welcome, right? It's not that we're saying you're not welcome, but also to have spaces and places of, like, wow, I'm there. I could see myself on that billboard, on that poster, and that the cast is primarily of me, right?”
Since opening the new theater in Waterbury, however, Feliciano-Roman said they have faced challenges.
‘What is a black box theater?’
According to Feliciano-Roman, the theater company had to push back its opening several months and cancel some shows due to a delay in getting city permits.
“When I put in the application for our permits for this building, I got asked at least 10 times, what is black box? What is a black box? You're not a real theater, right?” Feliciano-Roman said.
Feliciano-Roman said an official allegedly kept saying that the city did not want the space to turn into a nightclub.
“Why is it that my community always needs to be identified with a nightclub?” Feliciano-Roman said. “That's not what we want to do. That's not what we're advocating for.”
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said a lot of the back and forth was due to a misunderstanding around what the space was going to be used for.
“In order to get the permits, we have to understand what you’re putting there,” Pernerewski said. “[Feliciano-Roman] was going to have a liquor license, so there was going to be a bar there, potentially a coffee shop. So the concern was, what's it going to be? A theater, a coffee shop, a bar? If it's going to be all three, you're going to have to try to meet the needs of all three.”
According to Technical Director Elias Ocasio, the liquor license now allows them to serve drinks during events at the theater. Eventually, they’d like to have the space serve as a coffee shop during the day to help with costs and expenses for the building.
Feliciano-Roman said he is grateful for the city’s support, because the company got a grant for new lighting and sound equipment from Main Street Waterbury, a non-profit that works to revitalize the downtown area, but he said “it’s like pulling teeth in these municipalities" when it comes to getting permits.
The city has to move through its normal process to ensure the safety of its buildings, Mayor Pernerewski said. Regardless, Pernerewski said he’s excited to have this addition to the downtown area that promotes culture and community.
The show must go on
In early May, Pa’lante Theater was one of several across Connecticut that had its grant rescinded after the Trump administration called to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts.
According to Feliciano-Roman, they received only half of the grant funding that was promised.
“Now we're gonna be facing a fiscal cliff in October, because $65,000 got pulled from under us, like last minute,” Feliciano-Roman said.
Feliciano-Roman said he and his board put in their own money to keep the theater afloat.
“We might not be able to stay physically open for like, past a year or two, right?” Feliciano-Roman said.
To help keep that from happening, the company has started hosting new monthly events to draw in more audiences and funding, including an open mic Wepa Comedy Club and a Midnight Madness Drag Cabaret show.
“Let’s just say it doesn’t materialize. Fine. We’re not going to just close and say we’re done,” he said.
If it means going back to the traveling theater troupe style the company started off with, Feliciano-Roman said he’s okay with that, so long as Black and Latino stories are still being told in theaters.
Feliciano-Roman said he’ll do all he can to keep the vision, the hope, and the spirit of Pa’lante alive.
“Pa’lante literally means go forward,” he said. “Move forward.”
