Meet the “Quixote Nuevo” Cast

Led by Herbert Siguenza, who returns to South Coast Repertory for his fourth production, the cast for Quixote Nuevo features eight actors who appeared in previous productions of Octavio Solis’ play. The talented cast is also a blend of SCR newcomers and favorites.

Siguenza (Jose Quijano/Quixote) returns to SCR after appearing with the Chicano/Latino performance group Culture Clash in The Birds (1998), Culture Clash in AmeriCCa (2008) and Culture Clash (Still) in America (2019). Siguenza played Jose Quijano/Quixote in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Round House Theatre productions. His other plays with Culture Clash include A Bowl of Beings, Chavez Ravine, Bordertown, Radio Mambo, and American Night. A prolific writer, Siguenza wrote and performed Cantinflas!, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, Steal Heaven, El Henry (a Best New Play choice by the San Diego Critics Circle in 2014), Manifest Destinitis, Beachtown and Bad Hombres/Good Wives. Siguenza’s film credits include the Tom Hanks-directed Larry Crowne and voice work on Pixar’s 2017 Oscar-winning animation feature, Coco.

Raúl Cardona returns to the roles of Papa Calaca and Cardenio he played at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Round House Theatre productions. He previously appeared at SCR in the workshop performance of The Night Fairy. Cardona’s theatre credits include Zoot Suit (Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum) and as El Pachuco in El Teatro Campesino’s national tour of Zoot Suit. He also appeared in the national tours of Veteranos, A Legacy of Valor and Selena Forever, and in A Silvery Night (Frida Kahlo Theatre) and Corridos Remix, Mummified Deer and Bandido the American Melodrama of Tiburicio Vasquez (San Diego Repertory). Cardona’s television and film credits include “The Mayans MC,” “Enlightened,” “Outlaw,” Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and Shadow Kingdomwith Bob Dylan. He was recently awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship by the California Arts Council.

Sol Castillo (Padre Perez) is well-versed in Solis’ works, having appeared in the 2018 world premiere of Quixote Nuevo at Cal Shakes and at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production. He also performed in nine SCR productions of Solis’ La Posada Mágica. Castillo’s other SCR credits include A Christmas Carol, American Mariachi, The Night Fairy and The Hollow Lands. Other theatre credits include Sunsets and Margaritas (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), American Mariachi (Arizona Theatre Company), Of Mice and Men (Pasadena Playhouse) and Zoot Suit (San Diego Repertory). Castillo also appeared in the national tour of Veteranos, A Legacy of Valor.

Alicia Coca (Understudy) returns to SCR after appearing at SCR as Belle in A Christmas Carol (2022), She Loves Me (2020) and American Mariachi (2019 and 2021). Coca was a featured soloist in the 2018 Graham-a-Rama Cabaret at Sacramento Capital Stage and she performed as a lead vocalist in the 17^th annual downtown Los Angeles performance of La Virgen de Guadalupe: Dios Inanitzin in 2019.

Laura Crotte makes her SCR debut as Magdalena/Perla after performing in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of Quixote Nuevo. Some of her regional credits include Under a Baseball Sky (The Old Globe), Mushroom(People’s Light) and On the Wings of Mariposa (First Stage). Crotte’s extensive Chicago credits include Pedro Páramo, Yasmina’s Necklace, The Sins of Sor Juana, Mariela in the Desert Electricidad and Esperanza Rising (Goodman Theatre), La Ruta (Steppenwolf Theatre) and Blind Mouth Singing and Another Part of the House (Teatro Vista). She has toured internationally with Cuarteto (La Havana), Pedro Páramo (Montreal) and La Casa de Bernarda Alba (Cuzco and Buenos Aires).

Another SCR newcomer, Viviana Garza takes the SCR stage for the first time as Antonio/Inez. Her credits include Cost of Living (Sound Theatre Company), The Tempest (Seattle Repertory Theatre), and Julius Caesar and Romeo & Juliet(Seattle Shakespeare Company).

Ernie González Jr. makes his SCR debut in the role of Manny/Sancho Panza after playing the role at Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Round House Theatre. He’s performed at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The Second City Chicago, Victory Gardens Theater, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and off-Broadway at LaMaMa and Creative Place Theatre. A company member of Ohio Shakespeare Festival since 2007, González carved out a niche as a talented Shakespearian clown in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost and All’s Well That Ends Well. Among his many television credits are “Euphoria,” “Carol’s Second Act,” “indebted,” “One Day At A Time,” “Training Day,” “Grace and Frankie,” “American Crime,” and “No Tomorrow.”

An Orange County resident, Amilcar Jauregui (Understudy) comes to SCR from UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. He served as a featured reader on various new works, such as San Pedro Play by Juliette Carrillo at the Cabrillo Aquarium, Under a Baseball Sky by José Cruz González at Logan Public Library in San Diego and Have to Believe We Are Magic by Sara Guerrero at the Grand Central Arts Center in Santa Ana. An excerpt of Jauregui’s play, Tejuino, was featured in SCR’s Community Engagement Initiative, MASA, in 2020.

As she makes her SCR debut, Maya Malan-Gonzalez returns to the role of Dr. Campos/Dulcinea, which she played at Denver Center for the Performing Arts. An ensemble member with Studio Luna in Los Angeles and lifelong member of Milagro in Portland, Malan-Gonzalez’s stage credits include Persuasion (San Jose Stage Company), Wolf at the Door and Lydia (Milagro), The Times, Generation Sex and LunaUnlaced (Studio Luna), Deferred Action and De Troya (Cara Mia Theatre), Zoot Suit (San Diego Rep) and Bless Me Ultima (Teatro Vision). Her story “Down the Side of the Mountain” is featured in Talking While Female and Other Dangerous Acts on Audible.

Tony Sancho (Understudy) returns to SCR after starring as Jackie in the West Coast premiere of The Motherf*cker with the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis. He first met Solis with the Midwestern premiere of Dreamlandia at Teatro Vista in his native Chicago. That led to roles in such Solis works as Mother Road at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Scenes with Cranes with CalArts at the RedCat and Lydia(Mark Taper Forum). Sancho’s other stage credits include Twelve Angry Men(Laguna Playhouse), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Berkeley Rep) and Prometheus Bound (Getty Villa with CalArts). Sancho has appeared on Chicago’s major stages, including Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre and Victory Gardens. His television and film credits include “Chicago PD,” “NCIS,” “Snowfar,” “East Los High,” “Bones,” “The Forgotten,” The Baby Makers and his award-winning film On the Downlow.

Alexis B. Santiago makes her SCR debut after playing the roles of Rosario/Juana at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of Quixote Nuevo. The Texas native’s credits include Fefu and her Friends (Odyssey Ensemble Theatre), The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood (Third Culture Theatre), Anna in the Tropics, Hecuba, Mad Forest, Dead Man’s Cell Phone and Legally Blonde, the Musical(Baylor Theatre).

Lakin Valdez makes his SCR debut as Bruno/Young Quijano. He was in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of Quixote Nuevo. Other stage credits include Persuasion (San Jose Stage Company), Valley of the Heart (Mark Taper Forum), Mojada (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Mother Road (Goodman Theatre), Between Riverside and Crazy (American Conservatory Theatre) and Oedipus El Rey (San Diego Repertory). His television and film credits include Kimi, Licorice Pizza, Slice, “Bosch: Legacy” and “The Brave.”