I'll never get a 16LTC of what am I calling this Pacific Northwest Regional Convening But to really say that without the sharing and the generosity of this community, that it wouldn't have been able to have this event. So first and foremost, the School of Drama at the University of Washington. Before I introduce the mics, I wanted to do two quick reminders. One is to turn your phone on by the way you are. This is sort of a performance we're about to do, so don't interrupt it. However, we encourage Facebook, Twitter, maybe not Facebook Live, but like other stuff. So you can use hashtag LTC Seattle. Hashtag capiondra when you're posting. Feel free to do that. Take photos. These guys are all professionals. It's fine to get lighting. It's wonderful. So I'm glad you met here in your journey. Not only from the things you learned tonight, there's going to be some really awesome things to talk about. But as we move through the weekend, please do that. Without further ado, I'd like to start us off with presenting two of our amazing host community members, Roy Araus and Rose Gano. Good evening.  Welcome to our city. Bienvenidos a nuestra ciudad. We're from the Pacific Northwest. We're going to be involved in the national conversation about Latino theater and about rowing and the pipeline and everything that is happening with it. We're very excited about that. So thank you for including us in that conversation. Yeah, let's see what else. We started planning this about eight months ago, and Rose Gano brought me on board originally. She asked me if I wanted to do this. What is there? And from there, we reached out to people, see who wanted to help us put this together. And an amazing group of people came together. We had meetings twice a week. And it seems like that was just yesterday. And look at us. Here we are. Everybody's here. And it's happening. So this is truly exciting. We have a jam-packed schedule for you that you all have in two different portions. Serious Committee and the one in your program. There's a lot of work. There's some fun. So hopefully it'll show you that Seattle has got some fun stuff going on as well. So take advantage of that. And Rose? Bienvenidos. And first of all, happy Latino Theater Day in Seattle. We're so happy it coincided. Not by jam. So thank you for those of you who have flown and driven and taken the bus and come here tonight. I wanted to shift the tone a little bit. The Latino Theater Commons was formed in this way. Look at the circle around you. Isn't this a beautiful theater? This means everybody in this space is together. Everybody's voice is equal. So right now I'm facing north. So I just wanted to invite you. You can stand or sit to just face north for a second. And honor our ancestors and our storytellers. And to the east. That's a random question. The ancestors and storytellers that have come before us to the east. Ancestors and storytellers that have come before us to the west. I'd like to honor Chief Seattle, Chief Sel, and his tribe, the Duwamish. The whole reason that this city is here. I hope. Thank you. Have a seat. So to open up this amazing convening, we'll be here in this space for the next three days talking about things that are really important to us in our community. I wanted to introduce two people that are going to start us off with an amazing poem. First is Jorge Viches, poeta y pintor, nacido en la ciudad de México, Nendefe. It's Jorge Viches, a poet and painter, born in the Distrito Federal de Mexico City. And I also want to honor José Carrillo. We'll be reading the poem with him. José Carrillo is a Mexican, Aztec American son of the sun. Musician, actor, poet, born in Durango, Mexico in 1932, grew up in San Francisco, bachelors in theater, San Francisco State University. His resume lists over 60 years of performances of an actor in live theater, Woodwinds player in Latin Jazz band, writing and performing poetry. He moved from San Francisco to Seattle in 1987, very lucky for us, to be with his two daughters, Lia Denise, and later, his granddaughters, Alicia and Una, Beyes Miedas. And I just wanted to add to José's long list of credits that he is the longest- continuous practitioner of theater here in the Northwest, as far as we know, because I don't know anyone else before. And I don't say that lightly. I think we really are here about honoring our longevity, our ancestors. It's not that we just arrived a few years ago. I think it's really important the space that he has preserved and held for us. He's been in the struggle in the lucha all these years, and I'm especially thrilled that it can be here tonight on the Latino Theater. After many years in the trenches, Contando Nuestras Historias, one of the founders of Seattle Theater in the 90s, José Carrillo. Come on. Two layers for our life. One, two layers for our life. This is a little occasion poem. It's short. It stands from the end of the great poem by Octavio Paz, in which he says, We must sleep with open eyes. We must dream with our hands. We must dream the dreams of a river seeking its course, of the sun dreaming its worlds. We must dream the dreams of a river seeking its course, of the sun dreaming its worlds. We must dream aloud. We must sing to the song with what? Roots, trunk, branches, birds, stars. We must sing to the dream and genders in the sleeper's flank, the red weed here of resurrection. Welcome, our wonderful host here at the University of Washington. He was the artistic director at New York's New Dramatists for 18 years, for 18 seasons. He is a strong advocate of new works and of upcoming playwrights. He has been with the University of Washington now for two years. Ladies and gentlemen, the executive director, Todd Linden. Happy you are all here. I was, you know, one thing about moving to a new place and a really new world, a different world, is first of all, you have in-the-round theaters, which are no-speakers' dream. Secondly, it's just... Oh, God, you work as idols. Okay, thank you. They don't call them vomitorums, for example. So, one of the things that is so great about this moment is, I miss so much about my old life in New York, and there are many people here who are part of that old life. So, it's really wonderful, and many people here are part of the new one. So, it's kind of a double blessing. So, thank you for being here. I have a few things to say and then introduce our next guest. But first, I pulled this off my wall, because I have this stack of pictures on my wall that includes Ibsim, this great photograph of Ibsim, and August Wilson, and this photograph of someone you will recognize in reality, is a picture taken by Susan Yohan for Irene's signature season in New York. We have to figure out a place to put it, but for now, I'll just put it here where some people... So, just a few things. First of all, welcome to Seattle. It's a beautiful... If you haven't noticed, it's really a beautiful place. Get out a little bit this weekend. See the mountains, they're all around us. The water, the trees, this campus is gorgeous. Just take breaks and go for a walk. And then move here. That's really lovely. This is about creating critical mass for the Latino Theater in Seattle. I guess that's really true about this. We have a new president at this university who would be here if she could and is really happy that this is happening. And it's not just the rarity that we have a woman president at a large state university, but we have a Cuban-born out lesbian woman president. So this is a project that's truly near and dear to her heart, and I just wanted to communicate that. We're also here because of accidental and purposeful connections. Susan Fink, who made a connection with Rose Kano, who's longed to everybody knows Rose.  There you are. And the host committee, so thank you to everybody for doing this all and to the awesome Abigail Vega from Poland. So a few things. So I'm going to move to another one. So, as you heard, I was at New Dramatists in New York for 18 years, and the first day that I got there before I even had started the job, I walked into the room that would be my office because I wanted to see what my office would be like, and there was an empty space with a desk, and on the desk was an ashtray with a cigar butt in it. And the cigar butt belonged to Eduardo Machado. I'll play right, some of you may know. And he was defining that space as his. Even though I was coming to it, and those who know Eduardo know that this is actually true. But it was a space that was, for me, my life and the place, New Dramatists, was actually defined in a large way by Latino and Latina playwright. And I just want to read a list of the writers who were there for seven years each who have shaped my life, and some of them are in this room, and Garcia Romero, Carlos Murillo, Rogelio Martinez, Naomi Azucca, Luis Alfaro, Michael John Garces, Andrea Tom, Christopher Diaz, Alejandro Morales, Milo Cruz, Roger Dirling, Sylvia Gonzalez S, who should be here. She's from Mexico. Jorge Ignacio Cortinez, Chiara Hudes, Eddie Sanchez, Octavio Solis, Matthew Paul Olmos, and then there were other people like Irene who were alumni of the place who were very important and instrumental. And so I bring them into this room with me because they've taught me a bit about the theater. A thing about the space that we are in, this far away, this is forget that camera, forget that. This is the Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theater. And the School of Drama is 75 years old this year. This theater is 75 years old. It was built in 1940 out of the WPA. And what's amazing about this building, I knew about this building before I knew about this university, because it is the oldest permanent in-the-round theater in America. And it was the theater that helped inspire Margot Jones in Dallas, Nina Banks in Houston, and Zelda Fitchhander in Washington, D.C. to build their arena stages. That is this building that we are in here now. And it used to be down by the water and some deal was cut with the biology department and they cut the building in three pieces and trucked it up to this part of the building. But this is the same building and it's from the WPA and that's why I think it's important to know that and part of the thing about this in-the-round, you know, this thing, this scheme is that we are all equal in it and it's a town hall. So the last thing I want to say is related to that because this is a community space and I think a lot about the WPA when I think about it and I think about the Federal Theater Project. And I believe that what we are engaged in is a third great era in the making of a national theater. And the first part was that Federal Theater Project that lasted for four years, that was pioneered by Hallie Flanagan, that was meant to employ artists across the country, all kinds of artists doing all kinds of work and to build an audience for theater, an audience of millions. And that lasted for four years and then was killed by the same fuckers who are now running for president. They're all part of an ancestry that is not the Duwamish ancestry. The second great era is that one in the 60s and 50s and 60s that grew out of this arena space that is the regional theater movement and there was a particular key moment, now I'm going to be a history geek for a minute, there is a key moment in the early 60s when theater communications group funded by the Fort Foundation decided to take out of its mission community and university theaters and focus on 13 professional theaters of a particular side. And now you can feel the energy at TCC for the last 20 years trying to get back to that energy. And now we're in another era that I believe began five years ago with the founding of Hallie, which is the era of the commons and what's confusing and different about the commons is that there's nobody to point to to say it's their fault when things go wrong. There's nobody who's in charge except for us. And so everything that happens here happens because we make it happen and everything that happens across the country happens because we make it happen. And so that is, as I understand it, our charge for this weekend. It's been the charge of the Latino-Latino theater commons for the last three years since you gathered first in Boston and then in LA and Chicago and Dallas and now, thankfully, here. And this is what we're here to do. There's nobody to point to to say that this theater, this national theater is inhospitable to any of us. We are the ones to point to. So that's our charge, I think. Good luck to us all. And as Lynn Manuel Miranda writes, history has its eyes. So now the moment you've been waiting for, which is the reason of the population, I want to introduce one of the great arts advocates, as I understand it in this area, especially for Latino and Latina arts and culture, Miguel Guillen, is the grants to, grants to organizations program manager for the Washington State Arts Commission. He's spent several years, several years, managing arts programs for the private sector and providing support to community-based arts organizations. He is an artist himself. He supports small arts groups, community-based projects, individual artists across the state. He is also the volunteer executive director of an organization that seeks to raise the profile of Latino artists working in Seattle and surrounding districts. Please welcome Miguel Guillen. Thanks, everybody. It's an honor to be here representing the Washington State Arts Commission. It's an honor to be here reading the city of Seattle and for the mayor of Mayor Murray this proclamation. I can't follow up that wonderful talk very well, so I'm just going to go ahead and launch right into this proclamation because I'm eager to read it to you because I know you're eager to hear it. City of Seattle proclamation. Whereas the city of Seattle has long been home to people of all cultures and national origins and draw the immense strength from the diversity of its citizenry and whereas the Latino-Latina community plays a significant role in our city, which is known throughout the world for its great diversity, technology, industries, intellectual and talent, intellectual vitality and talent, and whereas the University of Washington School of Drama is celebrating the 75th anniversary of their nationally recognized theater training program and has chosen to partner with the Latino-Latina Theater Commons LTC to host the 2016 LTC Pacific Northwest Regional Community in the historic Glen Hughes Penthouse Theater and whereas the Pacific Northwest has long celebrated a vibrant culture of grassroots theater, arts and activism generated by the Latino-Latina community which has led to progressive social changes and whereas throughout its history the LTC has brought Latino-Latina artists and allies together to build towards a national movement of Latino and Latina theaters in cities and regions across the country including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas and whereas the City of Seattle is pleased to host the national participants of the 2016 LTC Pacific Northwest Regional Convening and I encourage Seattle's residents and visitors to support and celebrate this partnership. Now reading from Mayor Murray now therefore I, Edward D. Murray, Mayor of Seattle do hereby proclaim April 15, 2016 to be Latino-Latina Theater Day. And I'm Chris Goodson. And the words that Todd said and I'm really struck by the idea that history is all around us and I think that's what we're here to celebrate. This weekend is in a momentous occasion and we recognize this weekend the incredible history and growth of Latino theater here in the Pacific Northwest. Younger companies like S.A. Teatro, where's Rose? And Latino theater projects, Fernando, have joined long-standing companies such as Indagro. We started researching Latino theater here in the Pacific Northwest. We were struck by the sheer number of artists and companies and productions that have come through here over the years including the residency and work of the incomparable Maria Irene Fornes. In the next hour, we're going to present a brief overview of the legacy of Latino theater here in the Pacific Northwest as well as present short readings from five Fornes's plays as a tribute to the work that she did here. Unfortunately, it's impossible to recognize all of the artists that have come here through the years but we felt it was important to recognize and honor the collective multi-generational efforts of artists in this region. Now I'm going to work the bounds. The Pacific Northwest has a long and rich history of Latino and indigenous peoples. The Latino community represents the largest non-caucasian population in the entire Pacific Northwest. Here in Seattle, the demographic has increased more than 30% in the last six years. And in King County alone, more than 100,000 residents speak Spanish. In 1970, one of the first guerrilla-style theater groups started here in Seattle. The actual vertical. Formed right here at the University of Washington was influenced by the Farm Workers Movement of the 1960s and 70s that had reached Washington's Yakima Valley. Visits to Seattle by Cesar Chavez and Theatro Campesino had a major impact on the group and Theatro del Piojo developed many of their own actos, depicting power struggles both on the fields and off. In 1960, the United States took the leadership role and he became one of the most influential Latino artists here in the Pacific Northwest in that time. Los Piojos performed in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah in campos, community halls, picket lines, prisons, and universities. And they also hosted the first stop in the Themas Festival in 1975. Now, before I turn this over to Chris, I want to touch upon the name Theatro del Piojo. The name Theater of the Lice refers to the degrading process experienced by Chicano children when their teachers would search their hair for lice before classroom lessons would even begin. Now, the group chose this symbol as a base upon which to build something better. From a negative image of the past, something positive will arrive. From whatever bad things are spoken against them, they will use those words and create something good. The two cherry trees outside the old New City Theater building on Seattle's Capitol Hill and Coyote de Fornes on her 100th birthday in May 1991 with both Irene and her mother present at the dedication. John Jose Carrillo, our actor and poet, played the flute on that occasion 25 years ago. Although it was written at the time that the bronze plaques would serve as permanent reminders to the Puget Sound community afford as a special interest in and unique influence of theater in this area, the plaques are now gone. In fact, the old theater once a funeral home is destined to be demolished later this year and it is uncertain whether or not Carmen's trees will be preserved. Now, in that building between 1888 and 1993 Fornes conducted four writing workshops with over 50 local writers and directed her plays, Fethel and her friends, Mud and Enter the Night. Now, maybe we're stating at this point that one of the goals of the Commons is to, quote, transform the narrative of American theater. Now, the artists who have directed tonight's scenes chose to present exclusively the work of Irene Fornes not only because of her commitment to the development of Latina and Latino writers but also because of their own personal connection to her work over the years in our region. Now, while it's outside the scope of this event to transform the narrative of Irene Fornes, what we are perhaps attempting to do tonight is fill in certain gaps in her legacy as an artist. For instance, although Fornes made numerous trips to Seattle in premiering one of her final works here scant records of the personal history of this appear in the handful of books on Fornes and when her work does appear in the record, it is often little more than a footnote here and sometimes those footnotes are inaccurate. Kai Gottberg, an award-winning playwright NEA Fellow and now Chair of the Performing Arts Department attended all of Fornes' workshops at New City as well as three in Padua Hills becoming close friends with the playwright and often visiting her in New York. Kai played the role of Emma in Fornes' production of feku in 1989 and after a separation of the play from the play of 27 years she recently directed it at Seattle University. When I asked her about Irene's legacy in the Pacific Northwest Gottberg, who like Fornes also moved away from the isolating nature of being a visual artist so passionately about Fornes' teaching method which she continues with her own students today. She said Irene had found this really beautiful way of making writing less lonely and being in the mix with other people and letting their ideas infect and influence your own work. Irene was such a champion of a period of intent of a period of vision that you just felt like of course that's what I want to do of course that's what I want to be and in a world that is so focused on the commercial and the theater world that is so focused on what's my next job and how much money am I going to get and does anybody know my name it was refreshing and exciting to be around someone like her obviously so focused on the transcendental nature of being a creator. The beauty of Irene always was you need to stop thinking you know how the world is organized because that is death in the theater. Here to present Act 2, Scene 1 from Febu and her friends are the performers Maggie Carino-Adams and Angela Laises they have been directed by Roy Araus. Roy Trista Febu and Emma bring boxes of potatoes carrots, beets winter squash and other vegetables from a wood cellar and put them in a small wagon. Betel wears a hat and gardening gloves. You think about genitals all the time? Genitals? No I don't think about genitals all the time. I do and it drives me crazy each person I see in the street anywhere at all I keep thinking they're genitals but they don't like the position that they're in I think it's odd that everyone has them don't you? No I think it'd be odder if we didn't have them I mean people act as if they don't have genitals How do people with genitals act? I mean how can business men and women stand in a room and discuss business without even one reference to their genitals I mean everybody has them they just pretend like they don't I see you mean we should do this all the time No I don't need that, think of it Am I right? Yes I think you're right Emma, Emma, Emma, Emma That's my name Well you see it's generally believed that you go to heaven if you're good and if you're bad you go to hell that is correct however in heaven they don't judge what you think they don't they have a divine registry of sexual performance in that registry they mark down sexual activity in your life if your faith is not entirely in it if you just perform as an obligation and you don't feel the most profound devotion from your spirit your heart and flesh is not religiously delivered to it you're condemned they put you down in the blacklist and you don't go to heaven heaven is popular with divine lovers and in hell you're the dead that's probably true I knew you'd feel that way Oh I do I do you see on earth we are judged by public acts and sex is a private act the partner cannot be said to be the public since both partners are engaged so naturally it stands to reason that it's angels who judge our sexual life naturally I don't want to give into it if I do I'm afraid I will never recover it's not physical and it's not sorrow it's very strange I'm on and I can't describe it it's very frightening normally there's a lubricant not in the body a spiritual lubricant and without it life is a nightmare and everything is distorted a black cat started coming into my kitchen he's awfully mangled and big he's missing an eye and his skin is diseased at first I was repelled by him but then I thought this is a monster who was sent to me and I must feed him and I fed him and shat all over my kitchen foul diarrhea everywhere he still comes and I still feed him I'm afraid of him how about the money made how about a game of croquet fine not from the stars do I my judgment pluck and yet me thinks I have astronomy but not to tell good or evil luck of plagues and dirts or seasons quality nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell pointing to each fender rain and wind or say with princes if it shall go well I oft predict that I in heaven find but from thine eyes my knowledge I derive and constant stars in them I read such art as beauty truth whether thrive if from myself to store that would convert or else of thee this I prognosticate thy end is truce and beauty is doom and date strictly a latino institution it would be impossible to speak about the movement in Seattle without mentioning the group theater co-founded by Rabin Sierra and others in 1978 of their debut production short eyes by Miguel Pinheiro critics remarked the production was very and powerful a play that was impossible to forget with a tough and memorable bunch of performers and with that the group began for the next 20 years they produce regional and world premieres of plays by Lisa Loomer Jorge Huerta, Miltre Sanchez Scott Jose Rivera, Diana Diana Rodriguez and many others at their original location just a few blocks west of here at the university's ethnic cultural center local audiences saw for the first time plays like Marisol real women have curves roosters, vocone not to mention the great number of latino and latino actors and directors some of whom are here tonight but with that said we also shouldn't mischaracterize the nature, the vision, or the people who made up Seattle's group theater in their effort to educate the general public as to the basic compatibility of all ethnic groups the company also produced work by Derek Walcott Apple Feudard Kanda Pingchong Enshizaki Shange Maxine Gorky, Talvin Wilkes and Eugenia Chan and if that list doesn't sound radically diverse enough they also did you can't take it with you as their artistic director Tim Bond wrote the group's multi-ethnic effort to challenge audiences to see their own lives reflected in the plays of another culture was always going to be an uphill climb in Seattle there are some people who just don't want us around he wrote that's why we started our own thing emerging from the group's world premiere of Jose Cruz Gonzales' Harvest Moon was the independent Teatro Latino described by Olga Sanchez as a grassroots organization of Latino artists that produced work on a project by project basis the company produced not only plays but original ritualistic performances that incorporated archetypes and poetry a practice that ultimately led to Seattle's Via de los Muertos annual celebration perhaps the crowning achievement of Teatro Latino however it was the creation of the bilingual children's show with Draco's leaners in pictures it was a tour to regional libraries and where hundreds of school children saw their first glimpse of theatricalized tales from Latin America community engaged efforts like this were in the words of Jose Camillo made to tear down the temple that run the commercialized theater when Ruben Sierra passed away at the age of 51 in 1998 the very same year the group shut its doors the Seattle Times run an obituary in addition to praising the visionary actor, director, professor and mentor the article had concluded that the multicultural practices that Sierra and the group theater began had become quote so common that its specialty was no longer needed one we're here to a particular exception of this assessment writing after reading his obituary I just had to respond Mr. Sierra's practices had become so common that the group's specialty was no longer needed it may be common elsewhere but here in Seattle the group's demise has left a gaping cultural gap in our artistic scene to what extent the cultural gap left by the group's demise still has yet to be filled is hopefully part of the many conversations that will begin at this convene Mudwood's Mudwood's first produced in 1983 at the Padula Hills Playwrights Festival in California and then it was produced here in Seattle by New City Theater in 1990 and again last year in 2015 the play follows the lives of the overworked May for companion Lloyd and the literate Henry and their dysfunctional love triangle as May struggles to educate herself and escape the mud of her world and die clean Mud bears its themes of poverty class divisions emotional and sexual domination and the violence that these can inflict upon a person's soul Many critics tend to focus on the despair found in the play but Fornes actually claims that mud is the opposite of the play's hope at the beginning of the play an example of what is possible Fornes received an Ovia Award for writing and directing Mud one of the nine that she received throughout her career and when she first started working on Mud Marie and Marie didn't even know where the setting would be she arrived in California for rehearsals and the play hadn't even been written so for the auditions she decided that she would just write a little good scene so that way the actors thought that there was a play behind it the next day she went to a local flea market and she saw an axe and a pitchfork and she immediately knew that the play should be set in the country she saw Lloyd working the land and May standing at her ironing board the play had revealed itself to her Rhodes Kano, Artistic Director of Essek Diatro remained in 1984 when she came here to workshop a play at the Seattle Rep Rose wanted a Spanish translation of Mud because she thought the play's themes would fit the contemporary reality present in the class divisions in Urban and Rural Lima, Peru in 1990 Rose translated Mud into Bottle for the first Young Directors Festival in Lima she kept a pure translation and only changed one word axe to machete for those of you who know the Puerto Rican history, yes, that is very significant the play was remounted in 1991 with the support of the cultural arm of the U.S. Embassy in Peru and Rose and her own writing for Rose and her own writing Mud along with Forna's other plays signified the connection between North and South and Bottle was the exchange between the two hemispheres and now performers Fernando Cavallo, Sophie Franco and Marco Bolli will present a scene from Bottle, directed and translated by Rose Kano I don't want to give you medicine until you go I'm not going They want you to do an analysis They can't give you medicine until they know what you have They said that it could be something bad They didn't say They gave me that book What did you say? I can't read it I tried but I can't I got Henry to read it It's out Why can't you read it? It's very difficult So much time studying and you can't read it I tried to read it and it's very difficult That's why I got Henry to read it It's very difficult for me It's advanced and I'm not advanced yet I'm intermediate But I can't read it I would have liked you to read it Me too I would have liked to read it Come on Henry Sit down Come on Henry I'll give it to you I was drinking He's sick What does he have? What does he have?  What happened to Robby? What happened to him? He died He died Aha Why did he die? Alcohol Why did he drink? He drank because he was the owner of alcohol And because he was the owner of alcohol Because there was a pharmacy And because that led to a man drinking Because he kept alcohol in the pharmacy There are two things Alcohol and nothing to do So what happens?   You drink it Do you have money to buy alcohol? You buy it You don't have money, you don't buy it Do you have alcohol Mario? He doesn't have money to buy it If today you had money you would have a drunk I wouldn't If you're not drunk You're not drunk, it's because you're poor This is the book Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis and treatment Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis Diagnosis un diccionario especial uno que tiene términos médicos, términos técnicos seguramente diccionario de día todo tipo de términos sintípicos desde términos de construcción a ingeniería hasta términos sintípicos con física a diccionario así parece un chavo el ojo es un chavo es un chavo y tu color esta mal no es tu lengua el hoy su lengua esta blaca y su aliento no es mal que tienes yo quiero que vaya al doctor pero no va porque no vas al doctor el hoy no quiero ir se va a quedar capudriéndose no me voy a pudrir yo te bien quería contigo tú me dijiste que no podía ir él quería ir con un machete él es un animal no vas a la clínica con un machete no puedes hacer eso no lo hice nunca fui si, apesta se está pudriéndose tú no vas a ir nada ponte a acabar tu tumba mientras fueras el hoy porque yo no te lo voy a hacer ya le dije que encuentra un sitio y cabe se necesita una persona fuerte para acabar tan hondo yo no lo puedo hacer ni lo haría si pudiera quieres van Henry tenemos mantequilla si gracias quieres comer tenemos sopa si gracias quédate entonces todavía no me he empezado si vale no there was no grand mission only the driving thought of how can we stay working in theater because this is what we want to do this led to the husband and wife team to produce their first show relatively speaking now as Jose remembers we for some unknown reason quickly got a reputation as guerrilla producers and in a community with only a handful of established theater companies Jose and Danielle became actively sought after and Miracle Theater was formed out of necessity in 1985 now the company initially produced cheeky melodramas Eastern European avant-garde productions and Greek classics but in 1988 a homesick Jose suggested to Danielle that they move back to Texas however after a summer visit to Texas that proved to be brutally hot I guess I know leaving Jose no wonder well if I can't go back home there then maybe I can bring home here so thanks to the cool and yes rainy Pacific Northwest weather Jose and Danielle remained in Oregon and reached out to Latino artists dancers, musicians and actors in an effort to assemble an artistic community now by 1992 the soul of Miracle or Milagro Theater was distinctly Latino and when Olga Sanchez joined as artistic director in 2003 key initiatives were implemented efforts were made to seek out the large population of Spanish-speaking Portland people and by slowly introducing all Spanish language events such as poetry readings and music festivals audience spaces were developed and actors were trained who were fluent in Spanish eventually full-length plays were produced once a year for Spanish-speaking audiences Milagro saw these productions as one more way of breaking down cultural barriers and as a way to make an inviting space for all members of the Latino community as Jose describes Milagro is not just a theater it's a family now Oregon is also home to a significant ally of Latino theater the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is Christopher Siebel here? yeah! I didn't see you Alma Seth is an active producer of Latino, Asian and African-American works and it limits a diverse and inclusive theater initiative under the leadership of artistic director Bill Rush in the last ten years the company has produced five Latino-penned world premieres and four to five non-world premieres and recently implemented the Latino Play Project as a way of cultivating Latino playwrights in showcasing the plays with leadership positions built by Christopher, Luis El Fado and many others, OSF works towards having ethnic diversity represented not just on stage but at the administrative level which is crucial this results in thoughtful conversations about some of today's hot topics season selection and casting practices as Christopher says the OSF just subscribes to a matrix of casting philosophies specifically based for each show color-conscious casting practices not colored blind and racially open casting practices are thoughtfully considered as a result, when Latino actors are hired the actors are cast across the entire season avoiding the all too common practice of pigeon-holing Latino artists on average five to twelve Latino actors are cast in multiple shows for each season OSF and Milagro have both succeeded as long-standing theater organizations that continually earn the trust of Latina and Latino artists and audiences by valuing the art that comes from the community and providing a collaborative space for it to be showcased the only time that John Kazanje and the artistic director of Seattle's New City Theater ever said no to Irene Fornes is when the playwright wanted to cut a hole in the ceiling of this theater for the world premiere for 1993 play Enter the Night and it's honoring this wish meant that he would not only have to cut apart the whiting grid but also demolish a section of the asbestos-layered ceiling Kazanje felt that a first time no was indeed in order after all as per his policy to give invited artists quote-unquote total creative freedom Fornes had already cut a ten foot by ten foot hole in the theater floor so the actors could ascend from the basement during the action although Irene was displeased with John this aesthetic compromise was the only conflict the company ever really had during their many collaborations with the playwright an artist to whom visual and pictorial aesthetics often meant more than anything not only was their long relationship extremely fruitful the more remarkable fact may be that if it hadn't been for the work of Fornes there may not have been a new city theater at all in Seattle Mary Ewald featured here for those of you who can see and John Kazanje first came out from New York because Mary had been cast as Julia in the Northwest premiere and her friends in 1981 a role she would later play under Fornes's direction Mary consequently looked at Seattle's Intamon theater John had the opportunity to take over a space that would become New City and the couple stayed in Seattle where they had over the course of 35 years hosted the likes of Richard Forman Len Jenkins, Kristen Cosmus Steven Jesse Bernstein Susan Laurie Parts and countless other playwrights this award-winning artistic duo are unfortunately unable to be here tonight but I think they have a rather legitimate excuse at Seattle's oldest experimental theater they are currently producing The Tempest with Mary Ewald now well into her 60s alternating nightly the roles of Prospero and Caliban while that's another legacy that has yet to be written I will simply tell you what Mary told me about her experience working with Irene as an actor she learned to just quote, strip it away strip it away, strip it away but how much are you willing to just strip it away trust the words, trust the exterior vision and choreography that Irene has layered upon it she awakened to trust in my own instincts without having to over rationalize everything she works from such a deeply instinctual and subconscious place of her own that if you can kind of let her material wash over you and not try to control in any rational way kind of trust the writing where it's going to take you you can leave yourself open to be surprised by what's happening to you on stage which is a wonderful thing as an actor to allow yourself to explore something in real time in front of an audience and not have to feel that everything is worked out in her review of the world premiere of Enterly Night which you're hearing which Fornes wrote with Mary E. Moll one great speculated on how much of the power of the production was due to Fornes' direction quote, certainly a great deal would be missing without the stylized choreography of the mind seems and given the sparseness of the dialogue the direction of the play's elusive visual language seems crucial while the final structure of the play remains dreamlike and open-ended as a succession of haunting moments rather than a aggressive march that possesses considerable cumulative power here to present a scene from Enterly Night of Veronica Nunez, Amalia Alarcon Morris, and Roberto Astorna they have come up from Portland, Oregon and have been directed by Melva Ores Howard, thanks with you all right, I suppose the same what do you mean I'm not well what's wrong I pretend I'm well no one has told me that I'm well but I ask as if I am as if I've been told by the doctor that I'm well and I can go ahead and do whatever I want though I haven't been told that if I stop taking my heart medicine I'll die Paula, yes I keep doing the work on the farm and I keep saying it's not going to harm me I keep saying it but there's a voice inside that tells me keep doing what you're doing you're going to die the next shovel you push through the earth could kill you this is good for me if I carry a sack of feed this has got to be good for me I can't just stand there and let everything I've worked for go to waste sit and let the animals lie let them starve and die I can't do that I can't just let my meadows go to waste I can't sit there and watch the weeds take over and do nothing that's not the way I am I'd rather die I don't want to be different from the way I am I don't want to be a different person just to stay alive if the person I am dies then I die it's a Russian roulette says the voice every time we climb a ladder or pick up a bag of feed or a bucket of manure it can be collapsed they wanted to fuck me and they did they fucked me until I was blue in the face one first and then another and another and they came back they couldn't get enough and I wanted all they had they didn't use condoms nothing didn't they Jack? on the raw I told them I was HIV positive why do you think you are? didn't even care why did you say that Jack? I did I handed them condoms Jack and they didn't take them they said they had more pleasure without them did they know what a condom is?  I'm contentious Jack you don't have AIDS I don't want to give you AIDS why does he say that? stop it Jack stop it I have AIDS you don't have AIDS and if you did you would never do it I am contentious Jack you would never do that I have AIDS Jack you have to protect yourself I have AIDS you don't have AIDS you don't have AIDS you are not HIV positive why do you think you have AIDS? have AIDS you don't I have seen your test you are not you are not this is a book that explores Irene's legacy within the work of contemporary and Latina playwrights and Garcia Romero has identified what she turns into thank you for your wonderful book this foreigners frame a way of understanding these new Latina works through a framework that examines cultural multiplicity supernatural invention aesthetic experimentation and the complexity of Latina identity all elements gifted to us by the work of Irene now as we take these last few moments to consider the regional movement as it is today let's take that frame and touch on the work of Rose Conner many of you know Rose of course as the artistic director of Seattle's Essay Teatro but Rose herself is also a playwright and I would suggest that her play Don Quixote Homeless in Seattle would meet the criteria for the Fornes frame and you can correct me on all of this the play is Rose's examination of her experiences as a cultural interpreter with homeless individuals who navigate the complex system of health care in the city of Seattle not in any way an essentialized look at Latino culture but one that through a reinterpretation of Cervantes' multi-generic structure seeks to illuminate the realities of homelessness as it really is in our city today and this was tinged with the supernatural as the main character of hallucinations originating in what appeared to be chronic and evaliation which eventually deteriorated into a nightmare of state where reality and delirium blend and after this the exploration of cultural multiplicity through characters who also embody real-life figures from the indigenous Didadot and Duwamish communities and the most powerful moment in this process according to company member Meg Savlo occurred in the play's initial workshops conducted with audiences at Seattle's tent city for the homeless the talk back after the performance one community member stood up and said to the cast gracias por hacernos sentir que somos desiguales thank you for making us feel that we are visible the equally as significant in our city now is the Latino Theater Project founded in 2011 by Fernando Luna and Robert Harkins this group is focused on the creation of what they term teatro útil or useful theater engaging in a wide variety of community-centered projects at both the artistic and educational level and this vision is critical to the contemporary moment and there may be an echo of the form as flowing here in the philosophy of Fernando Luna who writes although progress has remained improving the visibility of Latinos in the arts this community is still woefully underrepresented and this is especially true in theater what we are missing are positive portrayals of Latinos as they actually live their lives and the richness of contemporary Latino culture to that end the primary purpose of Latino Theater Project is to produce plays from Latin America and the Caribbean presenting diverse cultural worlds that allow theater audiences to more fully understand the Latino and Latino experience in the 21st century and we also believe in doing plays where women are empowered protagonist figures in the stories we are telling from Cuba was commissioned in 1999-2000 at the signature theater in New York City this is from a stage reading that was done at UC Berkeley last year in my research I actually couldn't find any evidence of a full length production done here in the Pacific Northwest I'm looking around for confirmation and if your theater did do when I apologized I'll buy you a drink afterwards this special playing rocks from Irene's personal experiences as a Cuban American immigrant the play follows its protagonist Fran a young Cuban dancer living in New York who regularly exchanges letters with her brother Luis who remains in Havana through their circumstances Irene examines the impact of both Fran and Luis' separate lives on their family and on each other when letters from Cuba premiered the New York Times described it as quietly beautiful Sally Porterfield explains the appeal of Fornes' work in observing that the universe of Fornes' artistic imagination seems to be formed by a distillation of universal experience when we meet these archetypal characters and situations within the strange and exotic world of her drama it becomes an eerily unexpected and moving encounter now as a result Fornes herself has been described as one of the best kept secrets of American theater aha although for us it's no secret to us how special her story telling is I think Fornes actually best summarized her own work and its impact when she explained one is inspired by seeing other people inspired by seeing other people working seeing people looking at a painting and you say I'm just going to walk by what is it that these people are interested in and I'm not and that's when you start to look and you begin to notice the details the painter has made and you begin to pay attention as we gather theater artists from near and far we wanted to honor Maria Irene Fornes and the time she spent here in Seattle and like the painting that she talked about to notice and celebrate the details of the work performed by Latina and Latino artists here in the Pacific Northwest and to recognize their contributions is part of a much larger canvas now performer Irwin Galan will present a scene from letters from Cuba directed by Fernando Luna How does one write a poem? I've been writing poetry I've been saying words in my head to see if words, spirits would come and join with other words that were there if they would do that then maybe they would come in and form a poem I think that's how poems get written I don't think we write them I mean poems are difficult we can do easy things but difficult ones they come to us by themselves it's just that to learn to listen to them is difficult we have to learn to listen and let them come in easy as if the words would come out by themselves because they want to make a poem because they desire to make a poem as if the words had desires and they wanted to join with other words to express something of beauty of longing of love Hey, do you remember when you visited us and you brought us all kinds of food dry food that was very good when you added water and food in the can and you apologized because you said look, food in the can is not as good as fresh food but it's that I can't eat fresh food and we didn't but we don't like to have anything and you thought we were being well educated because that was what you brought but no, really we liked you know, it had a flavor like an American flavor like a can and when we ate we felt that we were in the United States and we spoke English and we said hey, how are you? oh, thank you eh, what is your name? you speak Spanish? but it was also good because the cans we used them to drink water or drinks to warm up the water and also to save food and we put it in the refrigerator and we also took other cans and we made holes and we used it as pots to grow plants we grew beans to coffee not much, because you know but we were very, very good and other cans without holes we used them in the ceiling to collect water when it rained because you know, mommy likes to wash her hair with rainwater and then I kept another one in my room and I played it like this when we played music together and we also had a garden can and we gave her a candle and when the light came out you know we thank you for the light and when you left it was worth it because it was the electricity every night and we apologize and you told us no, there is no problem but you see the light of truth and we looked and we realized that you were right it would be very nice and we would look very elegant you told us that if you illuminate the luxury restaurants in Nueva York in Paris too and that encouraged us and then we said yes, yes we asked you for a drink in Paris and in Nueva York yes well, anyway I thank you very much but when we are alone in the house we end up because we are eating in the darkness and thinking that in the rich places where electricity comes turn off the lights turn off the lights welcome the first version of her play the Danny of Padua Hills in 1982 and like many of her works was built upon a found object this time a 78 RPM record that she found in a thrift store which turned out to be a Hungarian language lesson for English speakers and of course what she called the recording's tender little scenes made their way into the play and that's all I'm going to say about because after all Maria Irene Forna is always extremely skeptical of academic criticism about said this to say that a work of art is meaningful is to imply that the work is endowed with intelligence that it is illuminated but if we must inquire what the meaning of a work of art is it becomes evident that the work has failed us a true work of art is a magic thing to comprehend magic we must be in a state of innocence of perjury if there is wisdom in the work it will come to us and here again in Soseka we are interpreting the waiter from the den thank you Chris one of Forna's kind of usual techniques for developing character is the monologue and sometimes people just monologue to teach to lecture and for a lot of other reasons sometimes not even explicable as in this case this scene here is a Budapest in around the 1980s during the waning years of communism there are a lot of shortages in the community not too much food and the scene is in a neighborhood restaurant which is barely making it they don't have anything on the menu and nothing in the kitchen but these two people a couple from America come in looking for an inexpensive meal they have whatever is offered and then they pay up and just as they're about to leave the waiter inexplicably stands up and delivers a monologue and the two other characters just kind of freeze and watch him and this is the way he goes he gets paid off and says ah, thank you we're concerned with quality that which is lasting craftsmanship a thing of quality always ends up being heavy we have preferred quality to anything else we wish for things that last but we tire of them we are buried under the stones of buildings iron grates, heavy shoes woolen garments, heavy sheets foods that smell potent like the caves in the black forest hands that cut knead, saw, and measure and chisel and sweat into everything we see pots that are too heavy to use shoes that delay our walk sheets that make our sleep are slumber Americans sleep light and wake up briskly you create life each day here the little trousers the boy wears to school are waiting for him at the store before he's born and we are dark Americans are bright you crave mobility the car you move from city to city so as not to grow stale you don't stay too long in a place a person who lives too long in the same place is suspect someone who's held back fiction is a stone polished mobility you're alert you get in and out of cars limberly oh that's your grace our grace is weighty not yours you worship the long leg and loose hip joint how else to jump in and out of cars you dress light you travel light your light on your feet your light hearted and a light heart is a pump that brings you to motion you aim to a light to throw the load overboard a light the flight you are responsible that's not a burden you're responsible to things that move forward you're responsible to the young not so much to the old the old do not move forward yeah you'll find a way for the old to move forward have them join you in the thrust solving a problem is not a burden for you a problem solved is the lifting of a burden Egyptians lifted heavy stones to build monuments you lift them to get rid of heavy stones get rid of them obstacles you're efficient you simplify life paperwork you form a shorter so is your period of obligation work your hours are shorter and you have more time to sit on the lawn in your cotton trousers thank you I have a few remarks I give you and Garcia Ramero a remarkable evening thank you actors thank you for Ness who was my teacher who talked so many of us about the power of the theater the power of language the power of character the power of what is possible in the theater I should have said a few words tonight as you called I know it's been a long day I had a wonderful evening this evening for me the words that jumped out at me tonight what happened teaching us how to reach staying alive seeing how much we've learned from you and we wish for things that last I want to just read a couple of short parts of my my new book that was mentioned just in that I reflect upon I mean its legacy and tonight we were told by the wonderful Todd London somewhere there he is that this historic theater is one of the first in this nation and this school is now 75 years old as of next month in Latina Latino theater commons is 5 years old 5 years old we are at the beginning of a 75 and hopefully longer legacy Irene Fornes turns 86 this spring so I offer these reflections for all of us and to her after graduation from graduate school I briefly worked for Fornes as a typhoon it's true one afternoon we were sitting in Greenwich Village and we ran into playwright Nilo Cruz her former student how Fornes's presence elicited joyful reverence from this acclaimed writer who would become several years later the first Latina swindler Pulitzer Prize in drama while I watched her graciously reconnect with Cruz I was reminded of Fornes's stature and influence afterwards we discussed my discouragement over a workshop production of one of my plays Fornes asked me yes I replied my main character needs to express a deeper level of honesty for the end of her journey in act 2 she affirmed good then you did your job as we left the cafe she could see my skirt had lifted she then pronounced we should have a parade celebrating celebrating playwrights playwrights unite and we marched down 7th Avenue arm in arm now I'll just close with this one reflection if the Fornes frame is the frame of a door we have one door here, one here, one here one here and many metaphorical doors all around us we continue to walk through the artistic, the actical and professional portals of Fornes and all these Latina and Latino theater artists in this room and her students and all playwrights have opened for us their remarkable plays as they raise awareness of the vibrant and diverse field of Latina and Latino theater may we continue to have a remarkable weekend together adelante si se puede


Thank you Vikas for finally making it because Vikas was stuck in traffic for quite some time and we were been waiting for him for last almost 30-35 minutes. I apologize for the same, I'll make it up from here. And I'm sure, so you know Vikas, when I was told that I have to do this session with you, I went through a lot of videos where you've been talking and it's really been a very, very inspiring journey, I was personally very inspired how you believed in the idea that you had and what you have built for yourself and for the country. So you know, we want to start with your journey, you know, how did the idea of Happelo come to you and when you started, did you think that you'll build a 500 crore company? Thank you so much, Nazia for having me here and apologies for the delay to start. I think, yeah, Happelo was born in 2016 in September, October, so we are in the 7th year of the journey now. When we started, yeah, we always did, you know, took small steps, never thought what we wanted to become in terms of revenue or in terms of brand and valuation and all. We always wanted to do the small things right. I think we always knew that we'll make it big, but time is the only, you know, matter. So we are confident in that space. In terms of why the dry fruit and snacking space, basically I was a retailer before that. So I founded a retail chain which I expanded to around 15 stores. So during that time, the availability was a problem in terms of, you know, branded dry fruits and snacks and healthier alternatives to people. A lot of dependency was there on international brands from across Southeast Asia or US and availability was a problem. So I thought, you know, why can't Indians create global brands of recognition? That was the inspiration. You know, I wanted to take India to the globe and that's what Happelo was born.  What was he into? Like what kind of farming was he doing? Yeah, see, I come from a, you know, remote place called Sakhleshpur. It is around 200 kilometers south of Bangalore. It's largely a very scenic place. People go there for home stays and all. It's quite scenic out there. And my father was actually, you know, doing a lot of farming practices there. He used to grow a lot of coffee and pepper largely. So my childhood was always going on the weekends to the farms and the estate is all they call and look at how the cultivation is done, how the harvesting is done. So father was largely into farming practices of spices, largely cardamom, pepper and coffee. Nothing to do with the dry fruits? No, I think dry fruit was not relevant but then but the idea of trading, the idea of farming, harvesting and all those things actually played a key role in me understanding the nuances quite early in terms of agricultural practices. And also father also used to, you know, opposed farming used to also aggregate, you know, a lot of stuff from nearby farms and also then sell it to the processing center. So I saw business happening very closely in my younger childhood. I think that shaped up a lot of my instinct to do business and learn a lot from my father. You have started a digital first company and it has become a huge success.  See initially, if you see large brands always have stronger distribution in terms of offline. For example, Hindustan Unilever must be available in more than a crore outlets, right? That is the GT potential what we have, the offline, there are one crore outlets in India. And even Hindustan Unilever might be present in 70, 80% of that. For any young brand to build distribution, even to for say 1 lakh stores is very, very difficult because it's very expensive, we have to hire a lot of people. But for younger brands, it's easier to learn something online because they have to just convince the category manager to launch the product and you are visible to millions of Indians online. So for any brand, I think e-commerce first approach is always better because they don't have to focus on distribution and this acts like a pilot for your offline strategy as well. I think that's how we started and initially when we launched, first time we launched it on big basket, then moved on to Amazon and other platforms. And that's where we got decent success in terms of the customer traction. We did a lot of experiment in terms of how do we launch a product. If something was not working, we were quick to change the product and things like that. So that's how it started and e-commerce give you a platform where you can actually do trial and error. And once you have a little bit of traction, what the product market fit is done, you can actually go expanding in the omnichannel strategy where you can go offline, you can go to modern trades, you can open your own stores, which we actually done all of them. In fact, not only e-commerce, we are largely now present across 15,000 stores in India. So that's where we're able to expand. But initial traction happened on e-commerce and I think we were a large beneficiary during the COVID as well because everybody was at home and nobody was able to go out. Everybody was depending on e-commerce and we were actually at that time trying to be one of the largest brands out there and eventually it happened that we became that number one brand in the category and we created the category with e-commerce players. You've given a wholesome thing, but you know, if I'm very interested in understanding what were a few initial months like, you know, how many customers did you have initially? How did you grow it? If you can share more details. So I actually, you know, started with very meager amount, you know, initially it was very tough. I rate 10,000 something. Yeah, yeah, actually, you know, it's very hard to believe for people that I only started the company with only 10,000 rupees. How did you spend that 10,000 rupees?  So what I did, you know, initially just put the plan in paper. In fact, and I requested my wife actually to support me for the initial funding. What does your wife do? She was working for Indian Oil back then. She was an HR manager in Indian Oil. In fact, we did our MBA together and she was in HR and I was in marketing. That's how we met. We were in Pune, CMHRD for the first time. And then we fell in love and got married as well. We have two lovely daughters now. So I think a lot of success also is instrumental to her in supporting me in my early days when it was very tough for me to manage the finances. I think she was handling the entire household course, you know, she was paying all the rentals and paying for the grocery bills where I was trying to focus on my dream and trying to build something large. So I think it doesn't happen without, if you don't have a support system in place. And I started at 10,000, but I was fortunate enough that wife actually gave her entire life savings of 20 lakhs to me, you know, to proceed with the venture and that's how it started. Then I was also a beneficiary of a government program called the CGT-MSC where small scale enterprises, you know, can apply through the Startup India website and get up to one crore of capital without any collateral back then. Now the limit has been extended under the new government for two crores. So I was a beneficiary of that, it got 75 lakhs of, you know, collateral free loan. That was a stepping stone and it helped us not to, you know, dilute equity at a very early stage. In how much time after you took the leap of, you know, starting the thing, when you realize that what you have done is right, you're in the, you know, you're going in the right direction and you've arrived? No, I personally feel we are still work in progress. I think, you know, it's always a learning curve for us. We learn every day. But I remember you said that you had 20 rejections. Yeah, see, largely that was related to fundraising, right? We started the company in late 2016. For the same idea, for happy lonely. Yeah, for happy lonely, I have met many investors. I should take an early morning flight, meet two, three investors here in Mumbai and go back again to Bangalore not to spend more money on staying back here and things like that. So I always had this approach of, you know, trying to meet investors, trying to pitch the idea to them. But initially there were not many takers because they felt that what has not happened so far, how will you do it?  So there were a lot of challenges initially because when you try to build a category from scratch, creating category is very tough. It's expensive and it's also tough to get accreditation from a lot of people. So I think that that was the phase where from 2017 to 2020, I had met almost 20 investors and everyone turned me down and said this will not work. And that is the beauty of it. Are you in touch with any of those investors now? Yeah, yeah, they're all in touch with me and actually we are great friends now. In fact, we have happened to meet a lot in events and all. So they always say that thanks for proving me wrong. So that is what they have. So how is building a digital brand different from building a non-digital brand? See, I think in today's world, the line is very thin. For any brand to be of scale, they have to have both the strategies of being online and offline. Any brand cannot only say that I'll only be digital first, I'll not go offline. But it depends on where you start. You can always start as a digital first brand and go to offline later and vice versa. But as I told earlier, it's very expensive to start from the offline piece of it because India is such a large country with such a massive population and the tastes and preferences changing every 10 kilometers. It's very difficult for you to actually, you know, able to crack the distribution strategy in the early period. But it's always easy to, you can go to a big basket, purchase manager or a category manager, vice versa, an Amazon or Flipkart. You're actually able to convince them of the table if the product has that good, you know, clarity in terms of brand positioning, product taste and price points. If you're able to convince them, you're immediately live and millions of customers can actually see you. But when you want to start the offline channel first, there's a lot of manpower required, right? One single manpower can cover, say, 20 to 30 stores per day and even maximum 40 stores per day. But 40 stores is not good enough in terms of volume and revenue. So you have to maybe employ 100 of people and maybe pay 4, 5 lakhs salary per month to start off. In the initial phase, that is not going to be easy. So today we have more than 700 people in the company. But when it started, we are only 2, 3. So that's how the journey has been. So it's always good. I personally believe that brands should try it out on their website as a D2C brand. Then expand to market places. You know, work towards the product market fit. Once they find traction and they believe that the product is good enough and there's a fitment in the market. And the target audience is large enough. That's when they can accelerate and try to look for fundraising, try to build a like-minded team, invest in technology and look forward for distribution. Also invest in marketing. When was the time that you started investing in marketing? See, whatever money we made in the initial time, we actually always reinvested in the brand itself. In the first four years, I personally myself never drew any salary also. Because I felt that in the early stage, I would rather invest whatever earnings we have. We actually reinvest in the brand, try to grow the brand in terms of visibility, brand positioning and create that brand, number one brand in the category. So that was always the aspiration. But the major shift in marketing came when we actually raised our first fund in February of 2021. So during the COVID times, we didn't even meet the investors. Everything happened online and we were able to raise our first fund raise of 100 crores. So for a FMCG brand who has not raised funding ever to raise 100 crores was actually a milestone in itself. People actually start off with raising 2 crores, 10 crores and like that. So initially our first fund raise was 100 crores. So when we got 100 crores first three, four months, I did not know how to spend 100 crores. So that was how it was. Again, we started doing strategies and looking at things and what do Indians consume? Did you hire an agency? Yeah, we hired couple of agencies as well. But largely I am very prone in terms of marketing and creating content. That's how I've been in my background as well. So actually we happen to see in India only two things sell. Either cricket or Bollywood. So we invested in both of them. We became the title partners for Rajasthan Royals. Then we actually extended a partnership with RCBS. Why did you choose Rajasthan Royals? Was it your preferred market or it was a cheaper option? No, it was not cheaper, neither a preferred market. It was basically the only jersey available with the title partner option available. Okay, that was the only option available. Because all the other teams were taken, right? So that was only available. And we are getting massive size logo visibility on the jersey. And that actually changed the way Hapil was looked at. That was actually my next question. How did you benefit from it? I think the perception of the brand completely increased. And we became the face of the category today, right? Today very difficult for people to remember any other brand in the category other than Hapil. So we were able to create that impact. And then we also onboarded a couple of celebrities. Like we had Siddharth and Kiara onboarded before they got married. When they were actually dating each other, we actually got them, both of them separately. And things turned out we actually manifested well I think. So they got married as well. Good. You made a happy couple. So after you invested in IPL, do you feel that it met your expectations or did it exceed the expectations? No, I think definitely expectation was exceeded, right? It was a big ATL impact in terms of brand visibility, brand awareness, top of the mind recall and all those things. But you can never count your ATL spends like IPL, and you cannot relate it to the revenue growth and something. Overall things, you'll overall get a good hike, but you will not see an immediate impact in terms of revenue. But the brand awareness and the people searching for your brand, actually you think this is a lot. So you're always there in terms of top of the mind recall. And whenever they actually need a product, then you'll always choose Hapil over the first instance. Our visibility across retail chains, modern trade, general trade, e-commerce had a great impact in terms of search and clicks. So now with IPL, Hapil had kind of arrived and everyone recognized the brand. After that happened Shark Tank, and then people started recognizing you as well, right?  Tell us about, you know, what was the reasoning behind doing Shark Tank? How did the journey start? I think to be honest, Shark Tank was never thought of. It was just, you know, it just came in as a surprise. You were approached? Yeah. So, you know, they just wanted a guest shark for a single episode as well. Because, you know, they were aware of the brand and they wanted to see if that can work. So the producing team actually came down, flew down, and just wanted to have a quick conversation. We had a good half an hour chat and that's where they decided that you have to be our next guest shark. And they just wanted to check if, you know, the things could work.  I think we kind of had a synergy where they said they offered that, you know, guest shark for a single episode. So I was not keen initially. I just almost took 10 days to sign up for it because I was not sure if... Why were you not keen on an opportunity like that? Maybe... It's kind of being a little nervous and trying to be on TV.   And, you know, we had mixed responses. What was the reaction of your family, your wife, your father? It was a lot of mixed reactions. I think basically family was like not into it completely because... But why was hesitant of initial days? But then she says, yes, we should do it. And the father was always saying, yes. Why could they be hesitant? I mean, I see it as a very big opportunity where you can go and, you know, make your brand even more popular. Yeah, yeah, I think in hindsight... It's like free marketing. Yeah, it's completely agreed. But what happens is initially, you know, beyond national television, it's a different challenge all itself. You know, you have to be communicatable in terms of how do you build the brand story out there, right? So initially, and also family requires more privacy in terms of being there. You know, the privacy gets hampered. So that's the only thing. Otherwise, you know, I was always confident enough to be there and deliver. But I think in the initial phases, we had a lot of discussions around it. I took around seven, ten days to convince myself to be on the stage. And finally, when you said yes, and when you did that episode, how did life change? Did things change? Did people start recognizing you coming to you and saying that, you know, the shark we saw on television? Yeah, I think life changed a lot after that. I think the recognition and the love what I got from the Shark Tank audience or from family and friends and from the vendors, suppliers who all knew me, I think it was overwhelming for me. And it was a great opportunity to represent, you know, as a shark at Shark Tank. And I always ended up investing in two brands as well out there. And I was alone. Shark was coming from an FMCG food background as well. So that also added a lot of new dimension to the show itself. How much did it help your brand to be on the Shark Tank? See, personally, being on Shark Tank, there's not much impact in terms of, again, revenue per se. But the brand awareness grows. And largely, the person behind the brand gets more prominence than actually the brand. You know, people are willing to look at who is the person who built Happy Low? What is he? Where is he from? So, you know, Google has all flooded with, you know, who is Vikas Jinhaar, who is the founder of Happy Low? How he founded? I think people wanted to be more curious. Don't you think it brings more credibility to the brand, you know, when you know the owner, when you have an idea about his life? See, the trust factor goes up. You know, people are willing to, you know, look at who the founder is and how he has come up, what he has done so far. I think that, you know, trust factor goes up and people actually start accepting and appreciating what has been created.  This decade actually is one of the massive decades for India. We have already crossed 4 trillion in terms of economy as well. And I think India will definitely become that superpower. Everybody in India has that fire that, you know, India, who will make the biggest brand in the world? How will people take India to the globe? And that aspiration is there. And people want to support, you know, in today's world, you know, earlier, 10-20 years ago, if somebody wanted to do a startup, the family would say, you should not do it. It's a lot of risk.  But today's world is very different, right? And we will actually motivate their own family members, kids, to actually take up entrepreneurship. That's the massive change that's come in India. And today people want to see who is doing what and want to support each other. And the community has come together, actually. And that has also helped us to build the brand to that next level. And you have also become an angel investor. You know, you are also helping people who have ideas and aspirations. So, you know, when you have people coming to you with their ideas, youngsters, how do you judge it? I mean, is it based on the person, on the idea? Like, how do you evaluate? See, I look at two to three things, largely, you know. First, the passion what the founder has, has it got in him to actually last long? Because running a startup is not easy. There will be lots of ups and downs, you know. And it's not going easy. It's not like, you know, it's a sprint that you run quickly and reach the target and it's done. It's like you have to do the same thing again and again. You have to do the right things even when nobody's watching you. So, it's a long marathon. You know, you have to keep on it. If the founder is passionate enough, I think that sticks the first box for me. And the second box would be how big the market is. You might have the greatest of product, but if the market doesn't exist, then the product will not actually succeed. I think two most important factors for me is I wonder how persistent and passionate it is. And second thing is, is the product fit enough for the market? Is the market large enough? Because I also was listening to one of your interviews where you said a very key part of growth is, you know, building a good team. And you started with three or four people and now today you have 600, 700 people working for you. So, would you define for us what is a good team? You know, how do you build a good team? What are the qualities that you look for in all the people that you hire? I think initially, as any startup, we also had a tough time actually to identify good talent and groom them and grow together. Initially, the zero to one was all done single-handedly by me. So, I, in fact, it was easy for me to do everything because I handled multiple departments and things like that. But one to ten journey also was able to do myself with a team size built up maybe to 50, 60 people or 80 people like that. And still, I was able to identify all the people in the company by name and where they come from, what things to do. But as soon as we exceeded that one to ten journey, then after that it was very difficult for me to actually look at all things myself. A ten to hundred journey could only happen because we built a good team around it. So, the first ten people that you hired, what were the qualities that you looked for? See, that time it was very simple, right? I was looking for people who would ask less salaries. Because I didn't have much money to pay.  So initially, they actually lived the vision with me, you know. They also felt that something large can happen. They trusted me at that time because to be honest, we were not the best players back then. Are they still with you? Yeah, absolutely. 70% of the people of the first ten people are still with me. And they are already committed five years. That's great. I also want to talk about Hapelo as a product. You know, dry fruits have always been there. Snacks have always been there in Indian market. How did you position it differently? And if you had to pitch the product to me today, what are some of the unique qualities of what you are offering? See, it's all about giving quality deliverables consistency. And I feel for any food brand, any food product, any FMCG front, for that matter, brand is the biggest differentiator, right? So for example, if you have a noodle's pack, right, you remove the logo of Nestle, Maggie out there and put some XYZ, the product will not sell. So it's, you know, the first most important thing is the brand, which will give you the first sale. So how can you create the brand producing the customer's mind? And how can the packaging, that's your first marketing material. How can that be attractive? So I did a lot of homework on how the packaging should look like, right? How the brand should be communicated. What should be the brand name? I think, you know, if you know that Hapelo is a made-up name, it's not a dictionary name, right? So that's how you could. I would also want to ask you, how did this name come? So basically I wanted some Gen Z name. You know, I cannot today name my brand, Haldiram or, you know, or Nathu's like that. You know, today's people will not accept it. It is being there from generations, so it's okay, right? Mangara wafers can sell because it's there from 40, 50 years. Today if I name the brand Mangara, people will say, what are you naming it?  I do want to do something Gen Z, which can be expandable to newer SKUs also. So Hapelo simply means happiness plus love. Okay. So that's how the word Hapelo was born. So it's basically happiness plus love. It was your idea. It was discussed internally in the family. Yeah, it was actually, you know, my idea had branched on more than 100 names, right? What was some of the other names? I think there was happy life and there was some others, which I actually don't remember right now. But then after all these things, I zeroed in on Hapelo because I thought this is more memorable. If somebody hears the word Hapelo, the brand Hapelo, I think it sticks onto you. It's very easy for you to, you know, then rebuild on that in terms of marketing and trying to create more awareness and create that stickiness to the brand name. So I think I personally believe for any brand, somebody who wants listening here, wants to build a brand. I think the brand name is the most important part. Second thing would be the packaging because that will, what will give you the first sale. And then if the product is good, if there's consistency, then that will give you a repeat sale. So all these things, you know, work in that order itself. What are your plans for Hapelo's international expansion? Which all, have you already gone abroad or you're in process of going which all countries, which all markets are you planning to target? Yeah, we want to be actually India's global brand. We have trademarked Hapelo across more than 100 countries now. So we have global aspirations. We just started looking at international market. We have launched Hapelo in Qatar and Dubai right now. So we are looking forward to those responses, how we see. We have launched in more than 50 supermarkets there. So this will be our second month of operation. So we want to see how it goes from there. Then if we have understanding of the market, then we'll go deeper out there and maybe set up our marketing office there and try to see how we can actually grow it out there. Initially we have started with two countries and within the next two, three months we'll be also available in three more countries out there. So we'll do a pilot with five countries and take it from there. What to share, which other three countries are you planning? Basically after Qatar, then we have UAE and after UAE we have Thailand, Singapore and Maldives. Basically countries with heavy NRI population? Yeah, countries with more tourist influx. You know, where the population is more Cosmo and there is a lot of travelers coming around. So for them we want to provide that convenience snack option based on dry fruits, health being that primary call out. What are your thoughts on the overall Indian market, Indian snacks market? How has it shaped in the last 10 years and how big is the scope going forward? I think today the entire world is actually looking at India, right? So yesterday I was in an investor summit for my existing investor. So we see so many interest from across the globe who wants to invest in India, right? There were 40 odd people coming from different parts of the country, even from the world. So they actually wanted to invest in India because today we are 140 crore plus in terms of size. The aspirations are growing. The household incomes are growing. The disposable incomes are growing. So people actually are looking forward to India because there is not a single market which is as big as India, right? So even for that matter the big growth, whatever the brands are getting from across the group actually are looking at India. For example, if I'll tell you a fact that India is the second largest importer of dry fruits. That itself is a big validation. Across the globe, India is the second largest importer of dry fruits. So that's how the big market is. That's how people focus so much on India. So brands like Nestle, Hindustan Levers and everyone. Everybody is actually looking at India because they don't see any consumption across the world. We see entire wars happening in a couple of countries. There are a lot of disturbance in terms of economic stability and all those things. But India as a country is growing year on year at a good rate and GDP is growing, income is growing and a lot of stability is there in terms of political stability in terms of the climate sooting, agriculture is doing good. Overall it's the best place to be. I really believe that this decade, this century actually will belong to India. Maybe in the next 10-15 years you will see that India is among the top one or two countries in the world who is going to dictate terms to the world. Vikas, this idea has worked wonders for you and you're already on the right track. We hope that you will soon make it a thousand crore and then I don't know how many zeros will you keep adding to it. Do you have more ideas that you would want to eventually in future get into? Any other market that you see has potential where you would like to invest? We always try to create newer products. For us, we believe that R&D has to be very important for any FMCG brand. We have created a massive R&D facility in Bangalore other than the production plant what we have created around 100,000 square feet. So we have just launched a dry fruit bar which is made completely of dry fruit without any sugar. The sweetness comes from dates. Similarly we have launched dry fruit based confectionaries how can you ensure that kids eat more dry fruits but in a way of confectionary? How can they go away from a regular sugary stuff what they eat? So we always believe that we will try to create newer ideas how we can ensure that the convenience is there, people can have a single serve. We have launched dry fruits at affordable price 120 and 30 rupees as well which is now widely available in the market also. So we want people to avoid eating any fried chips for that matter or going to some sugary stuff. We want to replace that habit where people actually consume nuts on the go which is very relevant in the West.  So and we are even one-tenth of the consumption in terms of US. Every person in US eats 1 kg per month. We don't even eat 100 grams. So that's the disparity. Is it because of the cost or awareness? It's both. But cost today is not a problem. I think today the disposable incomes have increased and people are well aware and with a lot of exposure to international market, well-traveled people, the awareness is slowly building. Maybe 10 years before, dry fruit was not part of your grocery list. It was only consumed when somebody would gift it to you. But today it's part of every monthly buying list. So that's the change that has happened. People actually want to consume healthy now. And after COVID, I think there's a lot of reinforcement in terms of eating healthy, protein-based food, high-fiber and this and that. You'll surely be very popular amongst mothers. That's really a very big challenge and I speak from experience. I think happiness exists because of the wonderful mothers out there. Vikas, your story has really been very, very inspiring and there's a lot that we would want to talk about but we are running out of time and people must be very hungry because we have lunch immediately after this. Thanks for coming all the way and talking to us and inspiring us. It is a great pleasure.


Dude come on we started this ghost hunting business as a team. It's only bearable if we all going together. That was the agreement You guys will be fine. I'm still new to this and honestly, it's a little hard to move still How about I just watch you guys do it this time and the next time I'll be fine You've worked with us for a week and you haven't set foot outside the van in that time We've had three deaths two new hires and the miraculous resurrection of Tammy.  What do you even do? I? Watch for orbs. I tell you when doors close spookily and remember when JP died I watched it happen, and I figured out it was a shade You always say it's a shade you just want the lights on I feel a lot better about leaving the van If you guys would give me some gear, but you take it all right away So I have to stay in the van There you're equipped At least give me the cross if you're so brave. Why do you need I brought it from home? It's my mom's I can't just hand it out See you're just as afraid as me Honestly, this whole operation is just hemorrhaging money anyway, so let's stop wasting time and just do our jobs Fine Hey, uh activity levels are actually spiking You guys should really set up a camera Hey guys Guys Guys Hey, Ian. Yeah, do you know what's really sad in my life? Nothing Ricky. You're doing great. You're right But it would be really sad if I had to once a month eat pizza alone by myself without all the good friends and community members of the door monster community in their Discord through their monthly pizza time chat hangout Luckily because we do a monthly pizza time chat hangout in our patreon discord You don't have to do that. You can eat pizza with everyone. That's the best way to eat pizza It is do you want to be everyone and eat pizza with Ricky? I'll be there too and Kyle Give us money and you can eat pizza with us and I'll make a bunch of spider-man jokes and sometimes I argue about one division It's cool