Fans know and love Vico Ortiz from a variety of projects like Our Flag Means Death, Sex Lives of College Girls, ans GLAAD’s DÍMELO series. Now, the multi-hyphenate writer, actor, drag king, producer, and activist is heading to LA for their upcoming live show Rise of a King!
To talk about the show and so much more, Ortiz spoke with GLAAD’s Jose Useche!
Ortiz shared that they’re doing “incredible” this Pride Month, waking up every morning saying, “Yes, I’m gay! Move!”
Ortiz spoke about how excited they are to be premiering Rise of a King at the Hollywood Fringe Festival on the heels of a sold-out run at Fuerza Fest in New York City! Ortiz described the show as “a burlesque piece of the heart, where I also rip off my pants. I use drag and burlesque to tell a story both physically and metaphorically and tie in astrology as a way to connect stories of my childhood.”
“It really has been a beautiful process and a nerve racking one all together,” they said about being so vulnerable in the show. As a perfectionist, it’s sometimes hard to leave things alone. That’s when they realized, “Wait, hold up. I talk about this in the show. Let me release this notion that this needs to be done this one way and allow myself to play and figure out what happens in the process.”
“Ultimately, I’ve surrendered to the piece, and surrender to the audience, and just really trust them to carry me and I carry them as well through the story.”
Ortiz spoke about some of the differences between these live performances and acting for TV. “In this, I both have so much control and also no control at all.” They shared that, “wearing all these hats” has helped them gain a deeper appreciation for all the different components that go into a television production.
Ortiz talked about how much they have been enjoying getting to know people from all different backgrounds who come to the show. They said that at the most recent performance, they decided, “I don’t want to be backstage waiting for the first cue to happen, I’m just going to be in the lobby hanging out with people, interacting, getting to know everybody.” They continued, “I wrote it for my community, I wrote it for us.”
They’re hopeful that parents of LGBTQ, specifically nonbinary youth will come see the show and leave with a better understanding of their child’s journey. They add that they are, “Holding space for that joy and that grief that can be happening at the same time.”
Going forward, Ortiz hopes to “hit as many audiences as possible.” They added that they also want to perform the show in Spanish! With it being their first language, they think it would “hit on another level.”
Ortiz, who won a GLAAD Media Award for their appearance of Primer Impacto, is an advocate for gender neutral pronouns in the Spanish Language. They said that, “I just wanted to have a conversation from human to human using very colloquially gender neutral language as I do in my day-to-day life. It was really impactful to know that there were a lot of grandmas, aunties, grandparents, family watching and just seeing someone like me.”
They describe language as “a playground” for them to play around with and discover. They remind the audience that it’s ok to make mistakes, but it’s important to try.
Ortiz also has a podcast out now with Yellowjackets Jasmine Savoy Brown and Nay Bever called Today in Gay! They described the show as “a gay, daily news podcast” that they kicked off in January but it’s been several years in the works. With the current administration, they say, “The show is important, even more so now.”
They said that they enjoy “being able to report the news with nuance, with compassion, with care.” They emphasized the importance of processing such triggering news with the audience.
Check out the podcast here and get your tickets now for Rise of a King at Hollywood Fringe Fest!
