Meet Tanya Perez

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanya Perez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tanya , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
As a kid, my family moved us from Queens, NY to rural Deltona, Florida to create a better life for us. I’m a first generation Nuyorican, so I had to adapt to Southern living pretty quickly in my youth. No more subways or concrete playgrounds to scrap my knee on, it was the swamps where alligators like to sun on your lawn. It was also a place where people of color were met with gender and racial bias at every turn. We were one of the first Latino families to move into the area, to live the American Dream of good jobs and land ownership. I think about the challenges and triumphs my parents went through to give us opportunities to dream. I believe seeing how resilient they were to start from scratch, I have naturally emulated that in my journey as an artist.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
You read that right, I’m a clown. I started clowning in college just to make beer money, yet this little side hustle turned into main character energy as a professional performer. I ain’t one of those prestigious clowns with Dell’Arte training or a cool circus clown running amuck in a tent. I started in the backyards of families who needed a good hour of entertainment for their kids’ birthdays. I found that it has been the best acting training beyond the degrees.

That’s why my latest works incorporate this autoethnographic exploration of clowning. I believe this exploration comes from a need to reclaim my identity in a culture that mislabels without permission. Being a clown can represent so many ideas to those that encounter one, they can be Joy or Fear, they can bring comfort or catharsis, they can be political pawns or be change makers. I invite this clown muse into my work, which has evolved from solely performing to a vast catalog of films, plays, and visual art involving balloons at the BxArts Factory.

This season, I’m celebrating another staging of my solo play, Welcome to Clowntown, at the IATI Theater’s Mujerstory Fiesta playing during the Teatro Fest in NYC. This show is very near and dear to my heart, which had a year of development through incubators such as The Orchard Project’s Greenhouse Lab, Dramatic Question Theater’s American Women Writers Lab, and Conch Shell Productions New Works writing workshop. Next stop for this little show: LA and Edinburgh.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Empathy, curiosity and adaptability. I keep going back to these few qualities over and over in how I approach not only my work but my life. I have crafted a pretty good career by staying buoyant, so I think these three attributes support that bounce.

You know, I never actually listened to the advice my elders lauded upon me back in the day because I wasn’t ready to hear it. I wanted to do my own thing when I first started my career. Most of my adversaries told me to be patient. I wasn’t, I had no comprehension why they were even telling me to be patient because I was driven. I learned from both not listening to them and wishing I had. I think that’s part of enduring in this industry is trying and failing, then getting back up and trying again or differently. Eventually, you’ll find your rhythm or shift focus. I believe so much of being an artist is discovering who you are, what you want to say and how to say it. It may take a lifetime but who’s got the time to sit back and wait?

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
While I may be an independent artist, my work is all about collaboration and engagement with communities who are into a ruckus good time. My work dances between delight and chaos, so if you’re attracted to this kind of experience, come join my party train.

Best ways to reach me is over at IG: @tanyaperezrulez or email at tanya@bluepavementfilms.com

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Headshot: David Pexton Clowntown Stage shots: Phoebe Parker Temporal Release and visual art balloon shots: Phoebe Parker Acting BTS on stage laughing: SOLFest 2023

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