People Who Want Change: ROBERT GONYO

It's my pleasure to introduce one of my favorite people in the world (and partner in crime), Robert Gonyo. He is the co-founder/artistic director of Co-Op Theatre East (www.cooptheatreeast.org), a brilliant musician, writer, director and actor. Most importantly, Robby is probably one of the kindest and genuine person you'll ever meet. He holds his Master's from NYU-Tisch in Performance Studies and undergraduate degrees in theatre and political science. It was a well known fact in graduate school (and still stands today) that Robert makes the BEST blueberry muffins you'll ever have (from scratch). If you're lucky enough to get hold of one of these muffins or any of his Caribbean cooking, you'll be very satisfied. You can check out some of his acting work in COTE's next show, "Decadent Acts". Additionally, you can find out more about Robby by visiting www.robertgonyo.com.

Who are you?
A theatre artist & musician currently living in Brooklyn, NY.

What do you believe in?
Democracy and art.

What kind of change do you want to see?
Engagement with the political process by every citizen of every nation everywhere. A more rigorous, challenging, interesting, and fair public education system. Less screens/more scenes. Less arts bureaucracy, more art.

If you could be doing anything with your life right now, what would it be?
I'd almost like to be able to skip a few steps of the journey on my way to being a respected director, actor, and songwriter, but I think I've finally learned that there's no way to be where I want to be without the slog I'm in now. This slog, however, is so much better than other slogs I've been through...

I can't live without...
Good theatre, good music, my best friends, black licorice, delicious congrís, my cat Compay, and a little Havana Club now and again.

What are you craving right now?
A new play to direct. Something in the lineage of great American playwrights like Miller, Albee and Mamet, but which is completely original. I don't claim to be of that ilk, but I might just try to write one of my own.

Talk about a piece of art, performing arts, music or writing that changed your life.
Seeing the Classical Theatre of Harlem's 2006 production of Waiting for Godot. It was then that I realized that theatre could actually make things happen outside of the theater's walls, because that production actually made me go to St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana for 10 days to volunteer with post-Katrina clean-up efforts.

What motivates you to do what you do?
A feeling that I should be doing more.

If you were best friends with any historical figure,
who would it be and why?
St. Francis of Assisi. I bet he was a blast to hang with, even (or especially) after his partying days. No matter what you think of his association with the church, he was the ultimate environmentalist, peace-monger, and wise-man (after Jesus, I suppose), and on top of it all, the cat was just down.

If you were a character in your favorite fictional storyline, who would it be? how would your character be intertwined within the story line that already exists?
I've always heavily identified with Vladimir from Waiting for Godot. I even wrote a song about it.

Talk about a defining moment of your life. What happened? What did you take away from it?
I don't know that I could pick any particular moment; that's just not how my memory works. For me, something will happen in the present, and I'll remember something really important from my past because of it. I often worry that I don't remember anything; but then a moment like this will come along, and a particular memory will rise. I think I'm the accumulation of a lot of experiences, but I'm not sure I could identify the major ones.

Talk about the best day ever.
Greasy diner breakfast somewhere in Clinton County before kicking out some jams with friends in Brooklyn, 'una de cebolla' from Pizza Celina in Havana for lunch, a wander through Balboa Park in San Diego with friends, a late afternoon rehearsal of T.O. techniques with both old hands and folks who've never tried it before, dinner with friends of pork, rice & beans that I've cooked, catch a new play before it's back to Cuba for a mojito or three in Havana Vieja with friends, then a stroll by the Seine with Nicole.

Who is your hero?
Batman.

Create a require reading list for the world:
Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
The Good Woman of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht
Everything in print by J. D. Salinger
Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons