Behind The Curtain: Mario Alberto Garcia Jr., CC '21, On Columbia's Diverse And Growing Theater Community

By Irene Madrigal, Columbia Daily Spectator

April 27, 2021, 10:18 PM

“His unexpected and misplaced smiles turned to snarls without notice, brilliantly twisting the laughter of the audience into grimaces and gasps.”

This excerpt is from Spectator’s review of “Imperson All” for NOMADS’s spring production, one of the many shows that Mario Garcia, CC ’21, stole.

As an actor, Garcia brilliantly brings his characters to life on the stage. However, Garcia’s theater endeavors are opportunities he would have never imagined himself pursuing.

Growing up, Garcia attended theater camp with his sister in the summer. He initially hated it, as he saw the discipline as being more his sister’s than his own. However, Garcia eventually fell in love with theater, and ever since, he has been involved in various roles within the theater world, having worked primarily as an actor before college.

Upon arriving at Columbia, Garcia wanted to expand his horizons and dive into new theater roles. He continued to act, serving as an ensemble member in Columbia University Players’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle” and as Noah in “Imperson All.”

In fall 2019, a friend asked Garcia to serve as a producer—a position he had never held before—for the play “Bacchae 2.1” with Columbia’s King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe. As an adaptation of Euripides’s tragedy set in the modern era, “Bacchae 2.1” was an intriguing project for Garcia that forced him to contend with the disparate layers that formed the play’s unique atmosphere. In particular, Garcia reminisced on the experience of painting the bodies of cast members and the set itself and transforming it into a completely new world.

“I just remember every aspect of that production being completely wowed and astounded by how much went on in a show and because it was my first time producing, I was also learning a lot and asking a lot of questions,” Garcia said. “It was fun to just know that the product was amazing and I’m very proud of that show, and it came out so beautifully.”

Since “Bacchae 2.1,” Garcia has helped produce a number of Columbia theater productions, most recently NOMADS’s “Anointed with Gasoline” and the 127th Annual Varsity Show this spring. As a producer, Garcia found his niche within the theater community, falling in love with bringing a show to life.

Through his theater work these past four years, Garcia has noticed that the Columbia theater community has a distinct lack of producers. Given the largely behind-the-scenes nature of the role, Garcia observed that many students do not automatically gravitate to it. Moreover, Garcia also noted the time-consuming process of becoming a producer, with students needing to have previous experience often as an assistant producer or treasurer for a theater club before being able to produce a show.

“People don’t see producing as a sexy job,” he said. “They see it as a lot of work, they don’t get a lot of screen time. I feel like because there’s not as much forward-facing roles producing, people don’t necessarily say, ‘That’s what I want to do.’”

Through his theater work as a producer, Garcia has strived to promote diversity and inclusivity—giving a voice to marginalized individuals within the Columbia community and encouraging their contributions in the field. As Garcia has noticed, it can be easy for primarily white voices to dominate the campus’ theater scene, especially because productions often expect participants to have previous experience or external training.

“One of the things that [I would do] if I had more time at Columbia would be to increase access to learning more about how to become a director, how to become a producer, [and] giving more opportunities to students who maybe never tried theater before but are worried about their first time, [and that] there’s gonna be a lot of pressure on them,” Garcia said.

Garcia also reflected on the strong community he built over his time at Columbia. He now sees himself maintaining contact with his theater friends well after graduation, but coming to Columbia, Garcia feared that he would be stuck participating in the same theater groups with the same people for all four years. As he immersed himself in the theater scene, Garcia realized that the community was much more fluid than he originally assumed, with theater groups collaborating with one another and hosting events to bring the larger community together.

Garcia remembered an event hosted last spring by Sarah Robertson, CC ’20, during which producers from a number of Columbia’s theater groups discussed their experiences on Zoom with students interested in becoming producers.

“My favorite part about Columbia theater is this community—of how passionate everyone is in what they bring to the shows that they do,” he said.

Over the past year, even as classes and productions moved online, Garcia remained connected with Columbia’s theater community. When it was harder than ever to maintain meaningful contact with professors and friends, Garcia dove deeper into theater, working on four different productions. Despite the unforeseen hurdles, Garcia was amazed by the community’s adaptability and persistence.

“It was definitely very worth it [to do theater work this year] because it made me feel like I did have a community on campus, even though I wasn’t on campus and didn’t see anyone in person,” Garcia said.

While theater remains one of Garcia’s most important passions, he is also interested in the sciences and will graduate this year with a degree in chemistry. After taking AP Chemistry in high school, Garcia knew he would specialize in the subject during college. Though he feels that chemistry has become a side project in comparison to his theater work over the years, Garcia does not regret majoring in it.

Though he hails from Texas, Garcia sees himself continuing to live in New York City in the future. He hopes to pursue a career in which he can simultaneously combine his love and passion for chemistry and the arts, with his current dream being to work as an art conservator.

“There’s no other place that has the ability to intersect so many different things because of how much opportunity there is here,” he said. “I feel like I could not do both theater and chemistry in the same place anywhere else.”

This summer, as the stages of long-shuttered theaters begin reopening and crowds gather again for the first time in over a year, Garcia will be behind the curtain, helping to usher in the returning audience members.

In July, alongside music director and co-writer Sal Volpe, CC ’19, GSAS ’21, Garcia will co-produce “Staten Island the Musical,” which celebrates the forgotten and routinely insulted borough. Later, he will also serve as a producer for “Bard Overboard” alongside director Alex Haddad, BC ’21, and writer Harris Solomon, CC ’22, which is tentatively scheduled to premiere in August at the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

“I’ve learned how to take charge, in terms of making sure that what I know needs to get done gets done,” Garcia said. “Because when I first started, it felt like I was listening to other people and learning from other people. Now it feels like I definitely have the opportunity to lead and teach other people about how things work, how things need to be done.”

Editor’s Note: Sarah Robertson was a previous Arts & Entertainment deputy editor. She was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.

Staff Writer Irene Madrigal can be contacted at irene.madrigal@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec.

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