Jade Esteban
Estrada is arguably one of the
hardest working actors
making a living in live theatre today. Watching him
perform after a recent performance of his self-written, self-performed "ICONS:
The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1"
in Tallahassee,
Florida, it's interesting to see the former Charo dancer/Back Street Boys
scratch vocalist walk into a venue, create a team, delegate and put up a
show in about two hours or less reminiscent of the golden days of
vaudeville.
The show the audience doesn't get to see is as intriguing than the one he
does later that night proving the Comedy Central star to be a one-man
traveling theatre.
At the time I arrived, Estrada was not available to speak to reporters.
His youthful looking assistant was amiable in explaining to me the venue
was available late and that Estrada had to devote all of his time to his
on-site technical staff to prepare for the show.
Speaking at a loud level to the sound technician high above, he works
through cues in the script and gives him advice here and there. The sound
tech makes more than a few mistakes but Estrada stays calm.
He sings through a song in the show for about ten seconds to get a sound
level, make adjustments with the monitors.
"OK, let's say we did that…next cue, please," he says as he
asks his assistant for the time seemingly every five minutes.
When rehearsal is done, Estrada wishes everyone a good show and disappears
into make up and wardrobe.
After Estrada's entertaining performance of "ICONS" where he portrays six
key figures in gay history (and by the way, it's not a drag show), I had
the opportunity to sit down with him after the show and talk about his
sequel, "ICONS: The Lesbian Gay History of the World, Vol. 2."
He is now relaxed and his make up is gone with the exception of a trace of
lingering eyeliner.
"I knew there were going to be a lot of people interested in seeing
"ICONS 2" after seeing
"ICONS" one so I wanted to make it a completely
different experience for them," Estrada said as he drank a glass of
water with no ice with a piece of lemon speared by an unused straw.
In this show, Estrada plays Alexander the Great, Susan B. Anthony, Queen
Christina of Sweden, Billie Jean King, Harvey Milk and Mark Bingham. The
show walked away with the 2004 Audience Favorite Award in Solo Performance
in it's opening weekend at the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre
Festival.
Estrada attributes the success of the show to Frank Barnhart, the producer
of the Ohio festival where he debuted both volumes of his shows.
"Without him, there would probably never have been an "ICONS."
The show recently earned him a nomination for Best One-Person Performance
at the 2005 Spotlight On Off-Broadway Theatre Awards, which will take
place on September 24, 2005 in New York.
Although, he will be onstage performing that night in Prescott, Arizona,
he hopes he will win the award, as it will help him "catch a wave to
the next level."
"I want to reach as many people as I can, while I still can. When
"ICONS 3" runs it's course, I'll be done," he says matter-of-factly.
Estrada performs each of the historical portraits in a series of vignettes
with the help of Broadway-caliber music and extravagant costumes. Each of
them comically and sometimes more seriously, describe the struggle endured
during their own time period.
"ICONS 2" is a "darker, more serious" piece says the
Mexican-American performer who revealed that he wanted to make sure he got
away from the cabaret feel of the original volume.
"I think my favorite icon so far in "ICONS 2" is Mark Bingham. I love
telling the story of a man who was so good at heart," Estrada mused.
"That's what theatre really is, isn't it? Telling stories? The
historical content is merely the theme of the trilogy. Whoever says that
there is no correlation between education and entertainment doesn't know
much about either."
"My next "ICONS 2" show is in St. Louis. I'm really looking forward to
that run."
So are we.
