Episode 50 – Inside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio, Part 1

Conversation with Carlos Carrasco. Musical Guest: Tre. Charles.

Listen to our 2-part conversation with Carlos Carrasco on The Nasiona Podcast‘s episode 50 “Inside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio, Part 1” and episode 52 “‘Inside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio, Part 2.” 

You can also find our podcast episodes on Apple PodcastsSpotify, iHeartRadioStitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Inside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio, Part 1

Today we take you inside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio with Carlos Carrasco: actor, filmmaker, and director of the Panamanian International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Mr. Carrasco will take the lead on stage, then give us the VIP tour backstage, behind the curtains, where we glimpse into what it is like to be an immigrant Afro-Latino in acting in the United States, and how this experience has impacted his identity and drove him to also dedicate his time to social impact causes for Latin actors, theatre, and film.

Carlos Carrasco

Born in Panamá City, Panamá, Carlos Carrasco has appeared as an actor on Broadway and Off Broadway in New York City, as well as appearing at many of the country’s regional theaters. He appeared on Broadway in the Circle-In-The-Square’s production of “The National Health” and has appeared at The Hartford Stage Co., Shakespeare & Co., Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, The Arizona Theatre Co., The Folger Theatre and The American Shakespeare Theatre. Off- Broadway he appeared with The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, INTAR, Theatre for a New Audience and The New York Shakespeare Festival.

Mr. Carrasco has co-starred in such feature films as “Speed,” “Blood In…Blood Out,” “Turnover,” “Parker,” ”One Man’s Hero,” “The Burning Season” and “The Fisher King.” On television he has been a guest on many prime time series, including “Insecure,” “CSI,” “Star Trek: Deep Space 9,” ” ER,” “Seaquest,” “Hunter,” “The Equalizer” and the made for television movies “As Good As Dead” and “Have You Seen My Son?”.

Mr. Carrasco has been active in the non-profit sector, serving for six years as Executive Director of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, serving for three years on the Theatre panel for the New York State Council on the Arts and currently producing a Latin American film festival, The Panamanian International Film Festival, now entering its seventh season.

As filmmaker, Mr. Carrasco has produced and directed five short films, from the documentary “Art Galleries and Back Alleys,” celebrating the East Los Angeles Artists Collaborative Self-Help Graphics to the more recent “One” and “Disarm” tackling the difficult issues of police and school shootings.

I had the honor of speaking with Carlos Carrasco on the 16th of August, 2020. This is the first part of our two-part conversation.

But before we jump into the conversation with Mr. Carrasco, Aïcha Martine Thiam and I would like to introduce you to The Nasiona BIPOC Music Series. We will begin most podcast episodes this year by showcasing a BIPOC musical artist from our series, which you can explore at TheNasiona.comOn April 26th, we had the honor of featuring the world premiere of Tre. Charles’s debut single and music video for “Stressin.” which you can listen to and watch on our website. Today, we’ll showcase “Stressin.” for you, in case you missed it. “Stressin.” embodies personal and social struggles that Tre. Charles has experienced throughout his life as a young black man in America. This timely track and its visuals are sure to capture the isolation that many have felt through this pandemic.

Want to be considered for our BIPOC Music Series? Go here to learn more.

Tre. Charles is a singer-songwriter who dives into the depths of his soul to try to bring you into his world with an expressive blend of warm and soulful undertones. Growing up along the East Coast – from Upstate New York to Birmingham, AL – Tre. Charles has been exposed to a myriad of different cultures. It is from these experiences that he has cultivated a sound which pays homage to his nomadic upbringing. With hints of avant-garde R&B, modern/indie rock, and southern soul, Charles’ relaxing & elegant music has a lot of people listening. From being featured on regional programs such as QC Life (WBTV) and My Carolinas (WCNC) to headlining Brothers Brewing Coffee festival in Northern VA, to gracing the stages of the international conglomerate of CreativeMornings in multiple states, all these accomplishments are coming before his debut single/music video release (Stressin.). This all is just the beginning to this young artist journey.

Julián Esteban Torres López (he/him/his/él) is a bilingual, Colombia-born culture architect with Afro-Euro-Indigenous roots. For two decades, Julián has worked toward humanizing those Othered by oppressive systems and dominant cultures. He is the creator of the social justice storytelling movement The Nasiona, where he also hosts and produces The Nasiona Podcast. He’s a Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions nominee, a Trilogy Award in Short Fiction finalist, and the author of Marx’s Humanism and Its Limits and Reporting On Colombia. His poetry collection, Ninety-Two Surgically Enhanced Mannequins, is available now. His work appears in  PANK MagazineInto the Void MagazineThe Acentos Review, Novus Literary and Arts Journal, Havic 2021: Inside Brilliance, among others. Julián holds a bachelor’s in philosophy and in communication and a master’s in justice studies from the University of New Hampshire and was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, where he focused on political science and Latin American studies.

The Nasiona Podcast amplifies the voices and experiences of the marginalized, undervalued, overlooked, silenced, and forgotten, as well as gives you a glimpse into Othered worlds. We focus on stories that explore the spectrum of human experiencesstories based on facts, truth-seeking, human concerns, real events, and real people, with a personal touch. From liminal lives to the marginalized, and everything in between, we believe that the subjective can offer its own reality and reveal truths some facts can’t discover. Hosted, edited, and produced by Julián Esteban Torres López

Please follow The Nasiona on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for regular updates: @TheNasiona

Thank you to Aïcha Martine Thiam for co-producing the BIPOC Music Series component of the episode, and to Tre. Charles for being our musical guests.

Original music for The Nasiona Podcast was produced by the Grammy Award-winning team of Joe Sparkman and Marcus Allen, aka The Heavyweights.
Joe Sparkman: Twitter + Instagram. Marcus Allen: Twitter + Instagram.

The Nasiona Magazine and Podcast depend on voluntary contributions from readers and listeners like you. We hope the value of our work to our community is worth your patronage. If you like what we do, please show this by liking, rating, and reviewing us; buying or recommending our books; and by financially supporting our work either through The Nasiona’s Patreon page or through Julián Esteban Torres López‘s Ko-fi donation platform. Every little bit helps.

Thank you for listening and reading, and thank you for your support.

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