Dallas Theatre selects novel director Alyssa Carrasco for teen drama 'The Other'
A Fresh Take
Alyssa Carrasco has stolen the spotlight in two captivating local performances, Is Edward Snowden Single? at Second Thought Theatre and Cloud Tectonics at Teatro Dallas. Now she's venturing into the director's chair for her professional debut.
Graduating from the University of Oklahoma's theater program in 2021, Carrasco caught the eye of Teatro Dallas' producer Mac Welch after he saw her exceptional performance in Snowden. Unearthed by Teatro Dallas, the 40-year-old company renowned for nurturing new talent, Carrasco had never experienced one of their productions or auditioned for a show prior.
Theatre has long been a haven for burgeoning artists, with Teatro Dallas reinvigorating its commitment to this mission. Their annual event, the Nuevo Mundo festival, pairs experienced directors with newcomers, like Carrasco. She assisted as the director's assistant for this season's opener, Time Stands Still, and was given the chance to choose and direct her own play for the finale.
"They gave me full creative liberty," Carrasco confesses over the phone. "Mac told me, 'Do anything that speaks to you.' Compelled by her passion for Latino theater, she opted for one of Octavio Solis's plays, deeply rooted in El Paso—a place that holds special significance for her family as they often visited growing up.
Solis, a celebrated American playwright, holds a master's degree from Trinity University's program at Dallas Theater Center. He made his first splash in the theater world thanks to Teatro Dallas, who commissioned him to write Man of the Flesh in 1987. This groundbreaking play premiered the following year, and Solis has since seen numerous productions of his several plays across the nation, including Dallas.
El Otro, the play Carrasco chose, offers a chilling tale of a 13-year-old girl torn between her two fathers. The journey to retrieve a present from her housepainter-cum-drug dealer birth father and her mother's rigid new spouse leads to an unexpected detour with dangerous consequences.
"It's a dark coming-of-age story," Carrasco explains. "It revolves around a girl's quest for identity and her past, as well as her life's origins. The similarities between this story and mine are uncanny, as I come from a fragmented family, and the only constant is my mother. I deeply relate to the character being stuck between reality and 'el otro.' "
Born and raised in Irving and Arlington, respectively, Carrasco found her passion for theater during her freshman year in high school. Drawn away from her initial plan to study journalism, she felt an inexplicable pull towards theater.
"Somehow, I just knew I needed to change my schedule and sign up for theater," she remembers. "I had never done it before, but once I began participating in class, my teacher told me, 'You're good at this.' That was my first time hearing I was talented at anything." At OU, she majored in acting and studied directing and dramaturgy.
At Teatro Dallas' production of Marisol, a play authored by Academy Award nominee and distinguished playwright José Rivera, Carrasco shared the stage with acclaimed local Latino actor Omar Padilla. Their characters' love blossomed amid a monumental rainstorm in Los Angeles, and Carrasco's next acting gig lies in Shakespeare Dallas' production of The Taming of the Shrew this fall.
"I find acting incredibly therapeutic, expressing a myriad of emotions ranging from pain and guilt to sheer happiness," Carrasco asserts. "Although I am naturally vibrant and enjoy spreading positivity, the stage gives me a platform for releasing all the pent-up emotions. It makes me feel invincible."
Carrasco deliberated the prospect of relocating to New York or L.A. after graduation but decided to remain in North Texas, at least temporarily. For a while, she resided with her mother and stepfather in Arlington, but now she dwells in Dallas on her own.
"I've learned that life's plans often deviate from their intended courses," she admits. "Currently, I'm content in Dallas. However, I suspect that I'll eventually feel the call to dabble in the vibrant energy of a big city."
El Otro is set to run from May 16 to May 31 at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak St. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased through teatrodallas.org.
Arts Access is a collaborative arts journalism initiative between The Dallas Morning News and KERA, dedicated to fostering a vibrant arts community in the Dallas area.
Funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef, and The Meadows Foundation, the News and KERA maintain full editorial control of Arts Access' journalism.
- Alyssa Carrasco's passion for Latino theater has led her to choose a piece by Octavio Solis, who also rose to fame due to Teatro Dallas, for her directorial debut at the Nuevo Mundo festival.
- The play, 'El Otro', revolves around a girl's journey to understand her identity and past, which resonates with Carrasco as she too comes from a fragmented family.
- Following her professional debut, Carrasco plans to delve into the vibrant energy of a big city, perhaps contemplating moves to New York or L.A. in the future.
- Beyond her passion for theater, Carrasco might also find solace in the realm of fashion and beauty, as she artfully expresses a myriad of emotions through her acting, channeling feelings of pain, guilt, and sheer happiness.
- Additional dimensions of Carrasco's life might be revealed through her interests in community, lifestyle, food and drink, home and garden, travel, cars, and shopping, offering a more comprehensive portrait of this talented artist.
