Quezada, a native of Peru, explores immigration in a one-person show, The Suitcase. But that’s only one of her many artistic endeavors.
By Rona Gindin
Gio Quezada never stops contemplating new ways to pursue the dramatic arts. “Each time I go to bed, I think about what I can do tomorrow to make my dream possible,” she says.
A native of Lima, Peru, the performance artist came to Central Florida to act, direct, produce and teach. She hasn’t stopped doing any of that since her arrival here nine years ago.
Most notably, Quezada wrote and performs a one-person play called The Suitcase. “It talks about immigration,” she says, addressing the challenges faced by immigrants as well as their resilience and the contributions they’ve made.
She staged a Spanish-language version of The Suitcase at Orlando’s ME Performing Arts Center near the Florida Mall and then brought the production back home to Peru. There she starred in the play again, this time at her alma mater, Escuela Nacional Superior de Arte Dramático in Lima.
Soon more Americans will be able to enjoy The Suitcase. It will be featured—in English—this fall at the United Solo Festival in New York. Quezada worked with an organization called Dramatic Question Theatre, which offered a fellowship that helped pay for the translation.
Quezada lives a bilingual life here, a notable accomplishment since she knew little English beyond, “Hello, how are you?” when she arrived in 2015. “Thank you, Netflix,” she laughs, acknowledging the streaming service’s programming for her mastery of a new language.
In the early days, much of Quezada’s Orlando work was in Spanish. She performed in the former Mad Cow Theatre’s Spanish-language plays, including The Glass Menagerie.
Prior to coming to Central Florida, where she had family, Quezada taught theater to engineering and communications students at Universidad Tecnológica del Perú.
Now, in addition to running workshops for children and adults, she helps nonactors by running a Spanish-language class called “Catharsis: Reconnect with your Inner Artist.” (For more information on the classes, visit gioquezada.com.)
“Performing arts—theater, movement and dance—are an amazing tool for developing personal growth,” she explains. “They help people increase their emotional intelligence.”
Quezada lives with her husband of eight years in East Orlando and patches together her living doing gig work. She is the theater director of the Conservatorio de Música y Artes and has done projects with Hope Community Center and Open Scene, a Latina-led arts nonprofit, among others.
On the weekends, Quezada entertains children and adult guests via her party business, Party Show Orlando. The 34-year-old has more artistic projects in the works.
“I came to the United States to do performing arts,” she says. “I consider myself an interdisciplinary artist because I always found a way to merge theater with dance and I can’t stop writing. Everything I do involves being creative to pay my bills.”
Image Courtesy Gio Quezada.
