[OutVoice] Asheville, NC: "Jade Esteban Estrada Brings Solo Show to Asheville"

Mon Nov 5 01:02:30 CST 2007

Out in Asheville 
November 2007 
Jade Esteban Estrada  Brings His Solo Show to Asheville
By LIN ORNDORF   
Read it  online: 
_http://outinasheville.com/issues/november2007/drama2.html_ 
(http://outinasheville.com/issues/november2007/drama2.html)  

Jade  Esteban Estrada photographed by GUILLERMO VELEZ. 
“I’m whatever you want me to  be.” 
That’s what  gay Latino performer Jade Esteban Estrada told me in a recent 
phone  interviewer.  And he has enough different kinds of credits to his name 
that  that statement is very true. 
Jade was  born and raised in the Tejano (Tex-Mex) music capital of the world, 
San  Antonio, Texas.  He won a  scholarship to the American Musical and 
Dramatic Academy in New  York.  That’s where  he studied dance and sharpened his 
skills and knowledge for his chosen  profession; stage performer. 
While still  in school, he worked briefly as an assistant to Tony 
award-wining actress, Zoe  Caldwell.  She advised him, “…in order to prepare for you 
career as an  actor, you must do everything.” 
Apparently,  that’s just what Jade has done.  He was the Funniest Amateur 
Comic in New  York in 1994; he has  worked as a choreographer (for Charo, even); 
he has performed as a singer,  dancer, actor, and a go-go boy; he is a writer; 
and has even had a pop music  career as part of a hip-hop group. 
Jade also  gained popularity on the pageant circuit, “…with real women.  I 
won a crown  once but I don’t have much experience with the female 
impersonation pageant  scene.” In fact, Jade’s first trip to Asheville in the late 90s 
was  as the headliner at Miss USA, Miss North  Carolina Preliminaries at the 
Asheville Civic Center. 
How does  Jade describe his career now, what kind of performer is he? Is he 
an actor or  singer or dancer or what? 
“When the  lights are on and the mics go on, it’s really just performing.  
People see  it differently because of the categorization we have.”  He added, “
I am a  comedian. I like to make people laugh.” 
Jade is  currently keeping busy with eight different solo shows.  He will be 
adding  a ninth by December and a tenth to his repetoire by February of next  
year. 
“The first  [solo show] I did was in 1997.  And five years later I had two 
more  shows.” 
That first  show was It’s Too Late…It’s Already In  Me.  It was a 
performance about HIV and AIDS and,  ironically, it was commissioned by the National 
Endowment for the  Arts. 
Jade  explained, “That grant…I was under the umbrella of a Latino endowment 
so they  missed it…My career as a gay man, a professional homosexual as I like 
to say,  has really been shaped, sculptured, by the fact that I’m Latino…if 
I was some  gay white guy, I probably wouldn’t have the career that I  do.” 
Those  different labels do affect him in different ways in different places.  
I  asked him what kind of acceptance he has within the Latin  community. 
“The answer  depends on where I am…As a touring performer you learn how 
truly different every  community really is.” 
Jade will  be bringing ICONS: A Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Volume 
1 to Asheville in November. In  ICONS he will be portraying six lesbian and 
gay icons including Oscar Wilde and  Gertrude Stein. It debuted at the Columbus 
National Gay and Lesbian Theatre  Festival in 2002. 
“Columbus is a Mecca of the gay  world…They do have one of the highest 
numbers of lesbian couples…,” Jade told  me.  (Remember, he’s only been to 
Asheville once before and  with a “real” girl beauty pageant.) 
This show  is only the first in a trilogy of ICONS.  
“But you  know, gay history is very 80s.”  Jade went on to explain how some 
folks in  the Department of Gender Studies at University of California at 
Berkeley contacted him. They  were familiar with his work and thought he was the 
perfect candidate to bring  transgender history to the stage. 
In  Transworld! The Transgender History of  the World, which first debuted in 
November 2005, Jade portrays  Joan of Arc, We Wah, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia 
Rivera, Christine Jorgensen, Brandon  Teena and RuPaul. Most recently, it 
received standing ovations at the IFGE TG  2007 Conference in Philadelphia and NERP 
Conference  in Cape  May, NJ, earlier this year.   
Apparently,  his performance of Transworld! at the IFGE TG 2007  Conference 
in my hometown, Philadelphia, is the reason he  is coming to Asheville. 
“There’s a  great line in the movie Age of  Innocence… ‘I go where I’m 
invited otherwise I’d be too lonely,’  and that’s exactly what I do.” 
Some folks  from Asheville who attended the  conference and saw Jade’s 
performance talked to the BeBe Theatre and convinced  them to bring Jade to 
Asheville. 
So, if  you’re looking for a bright, colorful, musical comedy that will put a 
smile on  your face and a song in your heart, go see ICONS: A Lesbian and Gay 
World  History, Volume 1 at the BeBe November 16-18, at 8pm Friday &  Sat., & 
6pm Sunday.  The  cost is $10-17.  Call 254-2621 for more info.  
I am sure  you will enjoy the show. Everyone needs a little song and dance in 
their life  now and then, it’s good for the soul. Jade backs me up on this  
philosophy. 
“Art,  whatever form, has a way of giving us hope. It makes the reality of 
our lives a  little more bearable... I don’t think our hearts were meant to take 
so much war,  etc…” 
_www.getjaded.com_ (http://www.getjaded.com/)  
_www.myspace.com/jadeinamerica_ (http://www.myspace.com/jadeinamerica)  
_http://www.youtube.com/v/o8roBlzj-As_ (http://www.youtube.com/v/o8roBlzj-As) 

Special thanks to Chadd Green of  PrimaDonna Productions. 
Upcoming  shows:

Nov 9-10 - Tulsa OK
Nov 12, 14 - San  Antonio, TX
Nov 16-18 - Asheville, NC 
Dec 2 - San Antonio,  TX
Dec 6 - Omaha, NE

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