We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anamaria Guerzon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Anamaria, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
There are times, when I have an accomplishment, when I think that I’ve finally defeated Imposter Syndrome. But, especially as a woman of color in these artistic spaces, Imposter Syndrome will be a part of my art for the rest of my life. The only true way to combat it over time is to develop a sense of trust and your abilities. The landscape of theatre and art is swiftly changing and volatile– I cannot always guarantee that I will be able to keep up, but I can foster a trust in my voice and myself in order to fight those feelings over time.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a Theatre Artist, which means I do lots of things (most of which are very silly) on and for the stage. I have a few projects coming up, including the first Seattle reading of my play SKIN.
SKIN, under the direction of Zenaida Smith, will be included in the Seattle Public Theatre Distillery New Works Festival. Last year, it was also featured in the Playwright’s Realm Scratchpad program. It is my first full length play, and the play that made me a professional playwright. I am beyond proud of the journey it’s undertaken over the last four years, and I hope that this Seattle premiere will continue it’s path.
Here is the synopsis for SKIN: “Zora is a young, non-binary Filipino artist, aspiring to make their way in the Seattle Tattoo industry. When they find a mentor in Judy, Zora enters the world of tattoo, finding the art form’s deep ties to Filipino culture. Judy teaches Zora how to navigate the tense environment of the white-dominated tattoo industry, while pressures intensify thanks to Carl, the authoritarian shop owner.
As the painful history of Filipino colonization begins to crash into the present, Zora finds themself caught at the convergence point of tattoo now and then– discovering what it means to live in a marginalized body.”
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?
As a theatre artist, I would say that the three skills I’ve used most in my time have been intuition, creativity and my ability to connect to others. As an actor, my intuition and instincts guides my emotional choices for my character, my creativity shapes my whole career as a playwright, and my ability to connect to others insures that I am a part of the wider theatre community, form friendships and partnerships, and continue to network myself.
To anyone beginning their creative journey, I would encourage them to invest in the ideas and projects that excite you! All my best work has been projects that made me want to put emotional time and energy into them– otherwise, burnout is close at hand.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
In 2021, I was a part of the Northwest Creator’s Program through Village Theatre– a program that fostered young BIPOC Musical Theatre writers through a draft of a proposed project. Though I scrapped the original project I was working on, my interest in musical theatre is very much alive and well. To any musicians and composers out there, I would love to collaborate as a writer and musician!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anamariaguerzon.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anamarialives/
- Other: https://newplayexchange.org/users/57593/anamaria-guerzon https://www.bretadamsltd.net/content/client/plays/anamaria-guerzon/
Image Credits
Photo by John Froschauer Photo by Aiden Lancaster Headshot by Giao Nguyen Photo by Colin Madison
