Photo by Vaco Studio
Audio By Carbonatix
It was a fun-filled morning at the Moonlighter FabLab space on Miami Beach, where a second consecutive in-person CreativeMornings Miami networking for creatives event was held.
The crowd settled in for a gathering of creatives ready to listen to producer Victoria Collado drop knowledge on what “reverie,” the morning’s topic, means to her.
Collado is a Cuban-American director whose credits include assistant director of John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons on Broadway and director of local theater groups Miami New Drama, Juggerknot Theatre Company, and others. After collaborating on The Amparo Experience, a Miami immersive theater project written by Vanessa Garcia, she went on to direct the production. Their successful teamwork and mutual inspiration led to the creation of the Abre Camino Collective.
Taking her spot up front, microphone in hand, Collado quickly let everyone in attendance know this would be no ordinary event.
“As a child, I was diagnosed as an overthinker,” Collado said. “My mother took me to therapy, and after just two quick sessions, that was changed to ‘a child with an overactive imagination.'”
That would be one of the many times Collado’s talk that morning drew laughter and smiles from everyone. She went on to say that as a child, she was always creating imaginary worlds, going as far as to act out scenes from television shows when she was walking into her grade school classroom.
Collado labels her overactive/overthinking as “sitcom brain,” which she describes as “ways that I figure out how to create magical moments in the middle of conversations.”
At the start of her professional journey, she wanted to be an actress, but something changed after time spent auditioning in New York City.
“My move to New York City after college was not what I expected. I was going to auditions, but it wasn’t for me,” she said. “Then came a turning point in New York City, while I was sitting there waiting to audition, I realized I wanted to create as a director.”
She blamed the disillusionment at the beginning of her career on “not giving my brain time to think.” But now, as a director, she looks for prompts to get the creative juices flowing. Often, Collado uses music as prompts, even dancing, something she grew up doing.
At one point during her talk, Collado asked two volunteers to join her, and she created an improv situation for them. As they went through the motions, those in attendance shouted scenarios and situations for the volunteers to act out. The immersive, impromptu act resulted in rousing laughter and applause.
Collado closed her talk by encouraging everyone to see GableStage’s latest production, Native Gardens, which Collado directed.
– Josie Gulliksen, ArtburstMiami.com
CreativeMornings Miami. 11 a.m. Friday, July 7, at Moonlighter FabLab, 1661 Pennsylvania Ave., Miami Beach; creativemornings.com. Admission is free with RSVP.
