The Latina actor-writer, greatest identified for her position in Nickelodeon’s “Los Casagrandes,” meets grief with comedy in her one-woman present, which particulars the method of caring for her ageing mom with Alzheimer’s illness.
How does one care for his or her ageing guardian with out dropping sight of their very own identification?
The very first thing Roxana Ortega will say is: “We have to not abandon ourselves.”
The L.A.-born Latina actress outlines the deeply emotional technique of caring for an ageing guardian in her first play, “Am I Roxie?,” which premieres Sept. 11 and kicks off the Geffen Playhouse’s 2025-26 season.
The manufacturing will stay via Oct. 5 on the Gil Cates Theater and is directed by Bernardo Cubría, (“Crabs in a Bucket” and “The Play You Want”).
Ortega’s one-woman present was impressed by her mom, Carmen, whose reminiscence is in decline as a consequence of Alzheimer’s illness. Bounded by her dedication to being the proper Latina daughter, Ortega illustrates how she stepped as much as present caregiving duties, whereas attempting to maintain her appearing profession — even when it was only a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich business.
“This show to me is about how to not abandon ourselves in a time of such great darkness,” says Ortega via a video name.
Onstage, Ortega masterfully transforms her solo act into an ensemble efficiency, via her many quirky accents and mannerisms alone; her characters vary from her three Peruvian tías to an imaginary cholo critic and a perky, silicone-bloated nurse.
Capturing a broad emotional spectrum, from pleasure to grief, it’s clear that Ortega — a former troupe member of the Groundlings Sunday Firm — showcases a lifetime of expertise on the Westwood stage.
“Everything just merged as I was trying to write about what was happening,” says Ortega. “I was also leaving sketch comedy [group] the Groundlings, so I was finding my own voice. All those things merged to birth this, a perfect combination of so many desires and dreams I’ve had.”
With over 80 appearing credit to her identify, the multi-hyphenate artist is greatest identified for voicing the melodramatic Frida Casagrande from Nickelodeon’s Emmy-winning present “The Casagrandes,” an animated sitcom a few household dwelling within the fictional Nice Lakes Metropolis. Different notable credit embody Netflix’s “Grand-Daddy Day Care” and “Santa Clarita Diet,” Warner Bros.‘ “Miss Congeniality 2” as well as the popular Fox series “New Girl.”
Audiences should buckle up — preferably with tissues at the ready — for a roller coaster of emotions, as they witness Ortega relinquish control over an unchangeable fate, while holding compassion for her mother and herself in “Am I Roxie?”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Your one-woman show, “Am I Roxie?,” explores your personal journey as a caretaker for your aging parent, but it also focuses on your artistic aspirations. Can you walk me through your decision to make this the subject of your next project?
I’ve at all times needed to show my private materials into artwork; most artists do really feel that means. I had been doing it for fairly some time in sketch comedy, [by] taking characters like my tías, who I discover to be so hysterical, and attempting to place them into issues. So I knew someplace at the back of my mind — or within the center — that I needed to do a present about my household. I watched Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s “Lackawanna Blues,” so I at all times needed to try this.
This play approaches heavy subjects with humor. How did you strike that steadiness?
I feel that’s simply the best way my mind works. I feel a number of comedians are this fashion; we’re at all times on the lookout for laughs and perhaps that’s how we survive ’trigger we’re very delicate folks — I’m very delicate and really intense, so laughter is that levity.
By the event course of, we did have some discussions about sure moments. Do we wish folks to snicker after I’m within the chaise longue texting, “Is [my mom] still alive?” We had extra “Shark Tank” sounds working via that after which modified it.
Caregiving is clearly an enormous endeavor for Latinos — Latina girls, extra particularly. How do you make sense of the concept of care now?
I [think of] abandonment. There’s one thing so primal when anyone is ageing and you may inform, “This person was in charge of me; they’re so vulnerable; now they need me. Oh my god, I can’t abandon them, right?” You’re feeling like, “I don’t want to be abandoned, so I don’t want to abandon them.” It actually shocked me how sturdy that urge was and I feel we additionally should not abandon ourselves. We completely can’t.
If you happen to go into the caregiving world, they speak about care like: “Here’s your pills, here’s the food and we have some music coming in.” Possibly if you happen to’re fortunate, there’s bingo — however my mother wouldn’t play bingo! Are you f— kidding me? Care needs to be individualized. It ought to deal with the spirit.
Guilt creeps up on this play disguised as your internal Latina critic each time you do one thing that feels egocentric in gentle of your mother’s scenario. What relationship do you’ve got together with your internal critic now?
I undoubtedly really feel like I’ve gone via a journey from concern to like with the duty of caregiving and even in relation to myself; I discovered to like myself extra, which is a part of caring for your self.
On this technique of placing [my story] on the market, of simply being so mild with myself and saying, “No matter what happens, no matter how it’s received, I’m not going to put my identity on the line.” There shall be no beating myself up. There shall be no, “Now you’re terrible because this, this, this …” It’s at all times a apply. Life is simply too quick for us to really feel dangerous.
There’s no profit to struggling, and most of our struggling we do to ourselves via that critic by giving it energy. And in our tradition, typically it’s glorified.
You’re an overachiever, a Berkeley grad and former Groundlings member. However in “Am I Roxie?,” you steadiness the urgency of reaching your targets with the grief of dropping a guardian who continues to be alive. How did it really feel to not quit in your desires?
I felt like a horrible daughter. It’s exhausting. There’s some extent within the present after I go away my mother and he or she says, “Don’t leave me here,” and I go away her and go to an audition. That’s a tough second and I can inform that the viewers is like, “How could you do that?” It feels susceptible to indicate that I did that. However then, how does a mom go away their baby at kindergarten? How will you discover the steadiness the place you’re nurturing your self and nurturing anyone else?
It was exhausting. I might beat myself up loads and cry about feeling so horrible. After which go the following day to absolve myself. The extra [my mom] discovered different relationships with a caregiver, the extra I felt like, “Okay, she’s safe.”
Motherhood can also be on the core of your story — not simply together with your mom, however as you discover your individual fertility journey. How did your idea of motherhood change after caring on your mom?
What I didn’t explicitly say within the play is that I’m a mom. I mothered my mom. Now, not everybody who’s a mom by having a child is essentially a “mothering mother.” One thing that this illness taught me is what these phrases actually imply. What’s it to be a sister? What’s it to be a mom? What I discovered in caring for my mother is that I’m a mom, as a result of I used to be in a position to nurture on such a deep stage. Even when all of the indicators confirmed that she’s not there anymore. A mom is aware of her child. She was my child on the finish.
After our fertility journey, 10 years of attempting, me birthing this piece of artwork was me mothering my creativity into existence.
You don’t point out Alzheimer’s by identify till that very finish. Why?
A part of it was accepting the journey and having the ability to say the analysis. Typically there’s an avoidance round Alzheimer’s. No person desires to say the phrase or speak concerning the illness ’trigger it’s unhappy. So I needed to make it a second after I truly stated it in order that we are able to see the load of it. Hopefully viewers will go away the theater having the ability to discuss it and to realize it in an intimate means. Naming it’s so essential, so we are able to take the sting and discomfort off.
There are tender moments onstage the place you let loose tears. What’s it prefer to relive these real-life moments on stage each night time?
It’s so troublesome, harder than I believed it will be. My mother is onstage with me after I stroll on the market. I take her hand and I put her in that little opera chair subsequent to me and we’re collectively. Saying goodbye to her each night time is difficult.
