Isabel Guzmán
Interview Highlights
Music composition is dominated by men, which makes it difficult for women to stand out. We must create spaces to nurture and motivate women creators.
Women are passionate and fierce and willing to do what it takes to change the world.
It’s important for women working in male-dominated fields to have role models so they can see a space for themselves.
We are at a time of great awakening in our society. Previous generations have made things easier for women today, and the work we do will make things easier for future generations.
Find Isabel Online:
Instagram: @isaguzmanpayes
Facebook: Isabel Guzmán Payés
Isabel’s Current Work:
Check out Isabel’s show Broadway Cabaret Night Original, featuring her original music and lyrics!
Bio
Isabel Guzmán (she/her) is a Salvadorean singer, dancer, actress, lyricist, and composer established in Costa Rica. She graduated from Programa Danza Abierta at the University of Costa Rica and completed the 4-Week Musical Theatre Program at New York Film Academy (NYC). As a composer, Isabel’s repertoire goes from performing arts music (dance/theatre) to vocal music and musical theatre songs. Her work includes pieces for the National Dance Company of Costa Rica, Vitral Danza (Costa Rica) and several independent dance projects. Some of her acknowledgements are the Ricardo Fernández Guardia National Award “Best performance in a play” (Costarrican Cultural and Youth Department) and the “Global Women in Music for Human Rights,” awarded to one of her songs by the Fondazione Donne in Musica, (Rome, Italy). She developed her "Broadway Jazz con Isa'' brand in Costa Rica, a series of training and master classes related to Musical Theatre for the actor and dancer community around the country. At the moment, Isabel’s goal is to pursue a versatile career as a performer, musician and educator. She also has her own concert-cabaret series called “Broadway Cabaret Night Original,” where she performs and features her own music and lyrics.
“The arts are meant to give you some kind of awakening inside, to move you, to make you think about something.”
Meet Isabel
Amy: We are here with the talented and wonderful Isabel Guzmán! Isa, can you please introduce yourself, share your pronouns, and tell us a little bit about what you do in the theatre industry.
Isabel: Hi, my name is Isabel Guzmán, and I use she/her pronouns. I’m from El Salvador, but I’ve been living in Costa Rica for about 16 years, so I have a lot of both cultures.
Most of my life, I’ve been dedicated to theatre, as a performer mostly. In the past six years, I’ve committed myself as a creator, in music composition and as a lyricist. Trying to find a way to mix it all together as a performer and a creative person, trying to find myself in that area. Everything I create, the music I compose, is related to the shows I do and concerts I give.
As a performer, it’s been easier, but as a creator, things are harder. Especially here in Latin America, music composition is a very difficult platform for women to have the possibility of standing out. It’s very difficult to be considered as good as a male colleague.
So that’s a struggle, but I cannot complain. I’ve had so many good opportunities, and I’m trying to take advantage of that in order to be a better performer, creator, and musician.
Hayley: Isa, how did you find musical theatre?
Isabel: I’ve been dancing my whole life. When I was 19, I was doing everything separately. I was dancing here, singing there, and writing some songs here, and they were all very separate Isas. I was familiar with some of the songs in musical theatre, but I didn’t understand what the discipline exactly was for me. All my life, I’d been struggling with the multiple faces I had in art, because I didn’t understand which was mine. Dance? Singing? Music? What was it?
When I was 25, I won a scholarship for a 2-month summer intensive with the 92nd Street Y and Brooklyn Ballet, and I went for the first time to New York City. One of the courses I took was Musical Theatre. It blew my mind. I was surrounded by people like me, people who did even more things at once than I did. I didn’t feel like a freak, and I didn’t feel weird. I could combine it all into one Isabel - not just for musical theatre, but also for other types of projects that involve multiple disciplines. I finally understood who I was. Being there and taking those classes, it was like WOW. A few years later, I found myself in the first production of West Side Story in Costa Rica.
So that’s pretty much my encounter with musical theatre. I was 25, in New York doing auditions and trying to find the possibilities as an immigrant and everything. There were people in the line waiting for auditions who were younger than me and did so many more things than me. I felt so good and very realized. I felt very grateful to be there and finally understand what Isabel was as an artist.
Amy: I love that. I really relate to the idea of having all these different versions of yourself and being like, “But I’m only one person! How do they all come together into one thing?” It’s great when you find that.
Isabel: I’ve always felt that I speak several languages in art, but I’m the same person. I’m very grateful, and I try to nurture them as much as I can.
Isabel’s Creative Work
Amy: Can you tell us a little bit about what you’re working on creatively right now?
Isabel: Things have been a bit difficult because of the pandemic. Theatres are starting to open up again, not at complete capacity, but they’re starting to go on track. But there are few productions right now.
I just applied for a co-production with the National Theatre here in Costa Rica to present one of my shows as part of the Tuesdays at Noon season. During the pandemic, in 2020, I worked on a project that was my original songs with a collaborator who did the text, recognized Costa Rican playwright Claudia Barrionuevo. It’s pretty much a cabaret show, because it was meant to be performed streaming, not live. So if I win this thing, I will finally get to present it live. This cabaret show, it’s focused on women’s experiences in life and in art. Some of the songs are related to art, but some of the songs are related to what we experience in life, like sexual harassment, being judged about our bodies and how we look, and what people expect from us. But all with a touch of comedy.
I’ve been doing a series of cabaret concerts for about five years now. In each of those concerts, I did a lot of musical theatre repertoire, but I always included one of my songs that had the same mood. Comic theatrical songs. After five years, I had a lot of original music, so I thought why not do a complete show? So I did a 40-minute show with my original songs, and it was very exciting for me to write and perform my own songs.
The show link reached the Chief Director of the University of Costa Rica Symphony Orchestra. He saw the streaming, and he called me because he was interested in performing the show with the orchestra. So he said, “Can we do this?” And I said, “Of course we can do this! But I only have the piano version.” And he said, “Okay, the only condition is that you have to do it for the orchestra, and we will do it.” So I spent the first three months of last year doing the orchestrations.
Amy: Had you ever orchestrated before?
Isabel: I’ve done orchestrations before but they were for more of a chamber ensemble, not so many people. It was really hard for me. But I enjoyed it, and I learned a lot in the process. Doing a show for women and realizing that as a woman, I can do that and I can embrace that and work hard and do it. For me, it was like a gift.
Hayley: Isa, you’re such a badass! You literally wrote your own music, orchestrated it, performed it - that’s unheard of!
Amy: There is nothing you can’t do, and I love that about you.
Isabel: Thank you so much. The version we are going to do at the National Theatre here in March is going to be the short version, just the piano and Isa. But the streaming of the concert with the full orchestra will probably come out later this year. This feels like the peak of my career for now.
I really hope to keep doing music that reflects on how women are struggling in this area. As a performer, I’ve had so many opportunities. But as a musician, it’s been very difficult. It’s harder to have credibility, and it’s harder to have the space to be a creator, to have people say, “Okay, let’s try with Isabel.” If you have ten composers, probably only three of them are going to stand out. So if you have only one woman in those ten composers, the possibility that this woman stands out is really low.
Our responsibility and our goal has to be to incentivize women, to motivate them to be creators, to try, to knock on doors, and to create spaces for women to develop themselves inside these creative areas. If we don’t have that, we won’t have more women among those ten composers. For me, that’s a commitment, to be able to be a reference for other women in composition here in Costa Rica.
Amy: Have you been able to connect with other women composers and musicians and build a community there?
Isabel: Yes, we are trying. And I can say that 2021–2022 is going to be a good year for women in music here in Costa Rica. We are trying to unite. And there are more of us now. We are not walking back, we are walking forward. So women can watch that and say “Okay, let’s do this!”
Hayley: If you can see it, you can be it.
Isabel: Right now, I’m studying music composition in university. I started last year with two other female colleagues, and by the end of the year, I was the only woman in the class. So we have to keep working on that.
The university orchestra, the one that did my show, they have actually committed to include women’s repertoire every year in the orchestra season. A female teacher and musician fought for that at the University’s Musical Arts School Assembly. And people might say, “We don’t have repertoire for that. Where can we find it?” Well…Then you’ll have to search for it. It exists. So they are trying to do that. On other platforms, like the National Symphony Orchestra, I’m not sure we’re there yet. But I hope it changes a bit this year.
Mentorship Experiences
Hayley: I love what you’re saying about modeling and being a mentor for other women composers. Who are the mentors who have helped you along as a composer and influenced the art that you make?
Isabel: All the teachers I’ve had have been very supportive. They have allowed me to be myself, and as a musician, to start finding that “Isabel” mood in all the music I do. They’ve been very supportive of that.
One of my mentors from the first time I came here to Costa Rica, he actually believed in my music from the moment he met me. His name is Carlos Castro, one of the most recognized composers here in Costa Rica, and he’s been a mentor. And he’s going to be my teacher again in university, so I’ll be very glad to learn from him again.
On the creative side, I’m very fond of this performer Nacha Guevara, she’s an Argentinean cabaret performer. All my shows are a reflection of what I heard when I was a kid, and they are very similar to her songs. I think she has some Broadway experience, but mostly she did musical theatre and cabaret shows in Argentina. She did a lot of political and controversial songs, she had all the energy to talk about anything in her shows. She was very inspirational for me in my work.
And then I love Jeanine Tesori’s work, because it represents a space for me in musical theatre, that we can do this in musical theatre…I think she’s awesome. I’ve seen her perform and present, online of course. She’s very inspirational to me.
My husband is very supportive, he’s a composer as well. He does theatre music and dance music, but he’s more of a conservatory kind of a guy (don’t tell him I said this! Ha,ha…). I tried music composition when I first came to Costa Rica, but things didn’t work out as well, and so I turned to the performing arts for a long time. But I continued my interest in music composition. When I returned to my studies at the university, I said to him, “You don’t mind that I’m kind of getting into your zone now?” He said, “No, I’m actually happy that you finally returned to this.” So he’s been very supportive.
Isabel’s Creative Mission
Amy: What is your creative mission as an artist? What are you trying to do with your work?
Isabel: I think as artists, we all try to be inspirational for people. We try to give inspiration to others through what we do. I like people to think when they hear my music, to reflect on something that moves them forward, especially related to women. I enjoy being a source of inspiration for people that motivates them to say, “I can do this.” And also to make people think and reflect on thoughts that are difficult for us sometimes. You can say that I do it lightly because I do it through comedy, but that’s the best way to get to people.
Hayley: To break down barriers so they can actually hear what you’re saying.
Isabel: Exactly. I think the arts are meant to be like that, to give you some kind of awakening inside. They always try to move you, through emotions, through catharsis, through whatever you like, but it has to touch something, to make you think about something. I want to do that, I want people to think and to enjoy it. When I perform and when I create something, I try to do that.
Thoughts on the Benefits and Limitations of Womanhood
Hayley: What does being a woman mean to you?
Isabel: To be a woman is to be passionate and fierce when we talk about changing the world.
Hayley: I could cry.
Isabel: I mean, that’s what we do. We practically give birth to the entire earth.
Amy: We literally do that.
Isabel: For me, to be a woman is to be passionate, to be fierce, and to jump without a net - whatever it takes to change the world for us. Because we want to change it, I think we do. The only thing that is left for us is to unite, to follow platforms that empower women and empower women’s work and art. To stop being afraid of showing what you have to offer in art. Many doors will close, but one window will open. With that window, you can do whatever you like.
I think this is only the beginning. And I’m so happy to be able to watch that in my generation. To be able to recognize the awakening that we are having - not only in art, but in every area. The context we are living in is hard, and we have to face some difficult stuff now, but it will be easier for the next generations that are coming. And the previous generations have made it easier for us, so we are on the right track. Whether you like it or not!
Amy: You talked about how being a woman has impacted you differently as a performer and as a musician. How has being a woman informed your work? How does it make your work and the spaces that you’re in better? And how has it limited you?
Isabel: As a performer, you have the possibility of representing so many roles. As a dancer, as an actress, there are so many roles for women. As a teacher, you can practically be a perfect role model, and I have so many opportunities in that area.
In music, and especially music composition, it’s an area that is dominated by men. Directors and composers are expected to be men, so it’s very hard for us. When you see musicians in an orchestra - for example, a tuba player or a trombone player - pretty much they’re male. They’re “male instruments.” And then you have a violin or a flute, and then you can have a woman playing them. It’s weird.
Music composition is very gendered. But I think that’s changing. But you have to have credibility for people, like, “She’s a dancer and a singer, but also she orchestrates? Does her husband help her? I don’t think she sits there and actually does the work in Finale.” But I do that! It has taken me a lot of time to get there. I didn’t do it from the beginning, and I’m still learning to do that. But as a musician, it’s hard and the gender imbalance is more marked in music.
But I have hope. Women are awakening, we’re waking up. And for us, it’s a new world. We’re here to stay.
Amy: What does that new world look like to you?
Isabel: That in a project, you will find more women involved in it. For example, when Amy and I did The American Dream, they were searching for an all-women team. To me, this was very interesting - the opportunity to work with only women.
Amy: Right, and to be valued on a team BECAUSE you’re a woman, not in spite of being a woman.
Isabel: And then they say, “Oh, but you’re canceling men.”
Amy: Nobody’s canceling men.
Isabel: You’re creating a space that gives the possibility to nurture women in this area so they can go to the world and compete in a mixed-gender area.
I participated in a song contest in Rome, and I went to Rome to receive one of the awards. And I felt some guilt, because I was like, “I’m sending my work to a platform that is just for women, but should we compete with men as well to be the same?” But then I said no, we need this space in order to not need it anymore in the future. In an area that has been dominated by men, you need to create spaces to nurture and motivate women. Then, after a while, you don’t have to think about that. You just have all kinds of people trying to get the same thing.
Final Thoughts
Hayley: Isa, what are you most proud of in your life?
Isabel: I’m proud of finally exploring an area that I was afraid of. It took me a long time to get here. Not only for Isabel to find herself as a multidisciplinary artist, but also to believe that she can do that, to believe that she can also be a creator with her own message to deliver. So I’m proud of that, and I really hope to keep doing that. I’m proud that people see that Isabel is doing what she wants and what she actually is. She’s doing what she is, you know?
Amy: That’s a big thing to be proud of. I’m proud of you for that too.
Isabel: If you have to define success or fortune - I don’t know if it’s money or fame, but definitely it can be to have the privilege of doing what you love and doing it your own way.
Hayley: That’s a beautiful way to put it.
Amy: Thank you so much for being here.
Isabel: Thank you for creating this space that is so necessary and so original. Thank you for giving us space to be ourselves and to share what we have to share.
