I first encountered Chaz Mena on Twitter, where he was rendering a kicking live-tweet about the siege of Pensacola. I’ve been interested in the Spanish side of the American Revolution for a few years now, so when I saw Chaz’ tweets and found out what he does, I gave a little cheer. From our interactions online, I think he’s a stand up guy who loves what he does, is always eager to help you out with a problem, learn and share, so it is a pleasure to host some great links that showcase what he does best, interpreting history. Everyone explores what I call Historyland in their own way. These in effect are Chaz Mena’s Adventures in Historyland.
From his website: “Chaz is a Freedoms’ Foundation Award winner (2014) for his PBS teleplay, Yo Solo… and is currently a “Revolutionary in Residence” at Colonial Williamsburg, VA (2017). Chaz plays “Vicente Cruz,” a recurring character in Netflix’s hit series Bloodline. He is a published poet in some leading poetry journals around the country and has written four, 1-person shows that he performs at any given time. Chaz is also a company member of Zoetic Stage, a regional theatre company housed at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center. Partnering with Vanguardia Films (San Juan, PR), Chaz has co-produced independent feature films in Puerto Rico. He is next preparing to shoot a horror film in Cuba.”
Chaz is passionate about history and the rich culture of his country. As you can probably guess. http://chazmena.com/989-2/
He loves exploring the boundary between art and education, when he takes on a role he wants to help the audience experience something special. In so doing, lesser known history is presented in an accessible and dynamic way. http://chazmena.com/jose-marti-at-ncu-actor-presents-dialogue-with-jose-marti/
Put it this way. Some could call this a simple theatrical review, except because of the subject matter, it becomes a review of an interview with a Spanish Conquistador, rather than an actor or interpreter. http://chazmena.com/timucuan-artifacts-pedro-menendez-outline-citys-story/
I mentioned before that, Chaz would like more people to be aware of the role played by the Spanish in the American Revolution. Me too. Especially the role played by the Royal governor of Louisiana, Bernardo Gálvez, who is not only a Spanish hero but an American hero as well. Believe me Gálvez is the tip of the iceberg but he’s a great place to start. http://chazmena.com/chaz-menas-yo-solo-takes-galvez-to-a-wider-audience/
Reflections of a revolutionary in residence, is a good place to leave this post. It’s a sort of “Making Of” for allot of what you just read. Once more the focus is about bringing the Spanish element of the American Revolution into the wider picture. http://makinghistorynow.com/2017/06/reflections-of-a-revolutionary-in-residence/
Thanks to Chaz Mena for providing these great links. I hope you enjoyed them if you’d like to get in touch with him, visit his website. See you again for another Adventure in Historyland.
Josh.