On Being a Brown Mexican Immigrant Performer with an Accent
By Florencia Cuenca
Disclaimer: in this essay expect grammatical errors, at the end of the day English is my second language.
Okay so, let’s start by introducing myself. I’m Florencia, I’m from La Ciudad de México (Mexico City) sorry to type it in Spanish first, it is just that it sounds delicious to say it in my native language. I moved to NYC almost five years ago. I came with my husband for our honeymoon and from one moment to the other we decided to stay here and pursue our dreams.
I grew up listening to Ray Charles, Tin Tan, Selena, Bienvenido Granda, Stevie Wonder, Benny Moré, Perez Prado, Nat King Cole, BB King, Los Churumbeles de España, Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Anka among others and watching musicals like The Sound of Music, Singing in the Rain, My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins. It seems like my heart was always divided in two. I was in love with all my latin roots, food, music but also I was always dreaming about leaving Mexico and coming to NYC. I wanted to live in the ¨center of the universe¨. In my first year in NYC I tried my best to fit in, I was so sad and disappointed of myself because I had a thick accent (I still have it JAJAJA *laughs in Spanish), sometimes I felt so embarrassed because I needed to switch from one language to the other because my brain wasn’t working fast enough. And on top of that I became a mom. My identity was all over the place. It was rough; in less than a year I became a wife, a Mexican immigrant, and a mother. Many times we considered going back to Mexico City, there was too much going on and I thought I wouldn’t be able to find my place in this new land.
Then, miraculously I crossed paths with amazing people who helped me to find my new self, to embrace all the colors in me, to turn my weaknesses into strengths.
One of them was my now, Live & In Color family. I realized that out there were more people like myself, trying to tell their stories, too. For me it was a game changer to be in a room where diversity was celebrated, where my accent was not an issue, where the people around me had all kinds of backgrounds and accents. We were, as the name of the organization, LIVE AND IN COLOR.
Suddenly I found myself in the middle of the woods in Salem, CT with my husband, my two years old son, and this amazing group of people. Yes, you read well, with my son. As a mother is very difficult to take these kind of opportunities because most of the time you have to choose between “the artist” and “the mom”. For my surprise, Dev, my castmates and all the Live & In Color team welcomed both.
I think the maturity that I have gained during these years is perfectly reflected in my project #BroadwayEnSpanglish where I am experimenting with how my mixed musical upbringing could reimagine my favorite musical theatre songs, playing with not only the “mezcla” of musical traditions but how an immigrant woman learning a second language sounds when she speaks. You never know what is going to come out of her mouth!
Today I can say I am proud to be brown, I am proud to be Mexican, I listen to my accent and I love it, it tells my story. As I once heard, “Accents are just mouth fonts.”
In these years I have learned that it was not about finding my place, it was about creating my own place.
Florencia Cuenca is a Mexican actress and singer based in New York City. She entered the artistic world at the age of three acting alongside her father in stadiums and theaters throughout Mexico and the USA. Back in Mexico she is known for telenovelas such as “De que te quiero te quiero,” “Muchachitas como tú,” “De Pocas, Pocas Pulgas,” “Te Sigo Amando,” “La Rosa de Guadalupe,” “Como Dice el Dicho” and for being part of the successful Mexican musical Si Nos Dejan, the Mexican premiere of Shrek the Musical and Selena the Musical. Her first album “Aquí - The New Standards”, -produced by husband Jaime Lozano- made her tour all around Mexico, Latin America and New York City; performing in some of the most prestigious jazz venues and Festivals, being awarded with the Hot House Jazz Award 2016 for Best New Jazz Artist. She has performed Off-Broadway in shows such as Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 Best of Fest) and A Never-Ending Line (album available at Broadway Records). She is also a writer and director. She is interested in developing projects that celebrate diversity and especially the Latinx community.