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Pat Riley has a tree that has borne fruit for decades; two Van Gundy brothers, Doc Rivers, Mark Jackson and Eric Spoelstra are a few examples. Steve Carrell, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, Rob Corddry, John Oliver and Larry Wilmore are some of the more prominent graduates of the Jon Stewart stable of comics. And in Miami, a local hero has lifted up his hometown through original stage performance, teaching and advocating for others.
Teo Castellanos is that person. Last December, American Theatre magazine published a beautiful profile of Castellanos by Miami-based arts writer Jordan Levin, and I’ve drawn substantially on her story in writing this article. Here’s a link to the original:
https://www.americantheatre.org/2022/12/26/teo-castellanos-miami-theatre-transformer/
We cannot tell how many stories Castellanos has been responsible for, but he has inspired lots of kids — often poor, Latin, Black and without much support — to try spoken word, acting and performing. Whether hip hop breakers, combat vets or plus sized dancers, Castellanos has guided his pieces and influenced their pieces. Everyone everywhere in Miami theater knows him.
He did it his way. He got a theater degree from FAU. His wife Lorna, for a third of a century, has been a loving force. Their daughter Jaquen has written a number of television scripts from her home in Los Angeles. He is an ordained Buddhist monk. He’s praying. He’s on the bicycle. He’s gardening. And he’s constantly working on new concepts. His brain is moving.
Castellanos has loved this community and dedicated himself to it; he could have gone to work elsewhere long ago. Like after winning the Fringe First Award at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival for his play N.E. 2nd Avenue, where he played all the parts to rave reviews.
But he didn’t. Castellanos began doing his own thing in his own particular voice and lingo, fully conscious that his culture was not the mainstream culture, and dedicated to the need for his culture and other too often neglected cultures that have been marginalized, to have a stage. He studied theater arts as though through his personal background; Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Africa — these inform his canvas. He was a 2021 Doris Duke Artist in theater and a 2019 United States Artist Fellow. He has done this his way.
Tarell Alvin McCraney, chair of the Yale School of Drama’s playwriting program, co-author of Moonlight, the critically acclaimed film which won one of its three Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, and creator and producer of mountains of personal and profound material, was Teo’s student as a 15-year-old.
“I call Teo my father in art,” he said to American Theatre. “Teo made me the author of my own story.”
Rudi Goblen, like McCraney, was a constant presence for Castellanos.
“There hasn’t been one stage I’ve been on that Teo hasn’t been there with me,” Goblen told Levin in her article.
“My dreams have become reality,” added Castellanos. “I never equated success with becoming rich and famous. I did equate it with forging my own path, creating my own life and lifestyle, doing what I love, and loving what I do.”
Miami trees bear sweet fruit that is our own: mamey, carambola, mangos, etc. That theater orchard here has been generously and lovingly pollinated by Teo Castellanos and the fruits of his labor for a lifetime.
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