Justin Lucero is four weeks in as Theater Latté Da’s (TLD) new artistic director. The 42-year-old is leaping into the Minneapolis/St. Paul cultural scene, riding on a long list of accomplishments and bursting with energy.
TLD Managing Director Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, said, “Justin is coming into the community with open arms and an open heart. He has been seeing a mind-boggling number of shows — like eight just last week — and meeting dozens of people. Clearly, he is incredibly eager to understand who and what this community is, and what they want or need artistically.”
Lucero recently left as the artistic director of Texas’ El Paso Opera, where he had worked since 2012. He also left a coveted position as a professor of undergraduate and graduate directing at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama in Pittsburgh.
Lucero said, “I thought I was going to stay where I was. It seemed like my forever gig.”
Yet, he said, the more he advanced into the intense TLD selection process (complete with a live directing audition), the more he discovered affinities.
“Everything they articulate as values — the commitment to DEI (diversity-equity-inclusion) and anti-racism, the connections to the local and national community and the goal to champion the music theater art form and prioritize the people involved — are the things that I am devoted to in my own work.”
Lucero is only the second artistic director of Theater Latté Da. He steps into the shoes of Peter Rothstein, the Ivy Award-winning, founding artistic director. Rothstein guided the company for 25 years, gaining acclaim for productions of new work and interpretations of musical theater classics. Rothstein is now producing artistic director at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Fla.
While Rothstein is a hard act to follow, Lucero seems more than up to the task with his broad and eclectic resume. As a saxophonist, he earned a musician’s scholarship to Texas Christian University, where he also studied e-business, international marketing and German. After university, he taught German to kindergartners through eighth-graders. He went on to earn an MFA in theatre directing with distinction from East 15 Acting School at the University of Essex in London.
Bradley Greenwald, a frequent TLD cast member, was on the selection committee. “I’ve always thought of TLD as a polymath kind of theater, a place for artists with a rainbow array of skills, styles and stories,” he said. “Justin’s background strengthens what is already part of TLD’s mission.”
Lucero arrived as Latté Da’s six-production 26th season was already underway, with the advantage of it already being programmed, and directed by guest artists. So he gets a little breather.
In March, a lot is riding on the success of “The Color Purple,” a coproduction with Rochester, N.Y.’s Geva Theatre. It’s a another step toward becoming more established as a national theater company (TLD has already scored some wins with “All Is Calm” and “12 Angry Men” is scheduled at Asolo Theater in Florida). A successful run at both theaters would help cement Latte Da’s national reputation. The play will be directed by Harlem’s Daniel J. Bryant with music by the Twin Cities’ Sanford Moore.
“TLD is rooted in a commitment to local artists, but our work is world class. We develop the new work into the full arc. Not many companies do that. … We’d like to be the Playwrights’ Center for musical theater,” mused Spencer-Kaplan.
As Lucero sees it, “There’s a lot of changing of the guard. It’s time to rethink commitments to theater and the people of the Twin Cities.”
Among Lucero’s goals are presenting productions he has selected as part of a season, but also filling the need for training theater directors and showing people how theater gets made. He wants to engage audiences to fill in the blanks of what’s happening on stage. Some directors, he explained, feel like theater should be as real as possible.
“I’ve said nobody believes the person on stage is really dead. So why put all your resources into making it as real as possible? Provide a lamp, table and chair, and you imagine the whole dining room. We’re playing. That’s why it’s called a ‘play’. They’re not called ‘reals.’”
Spencer-Kaplan said, “I think of it like an iceberg — what our audiences see is just a tiny portion. The part that’s underneath lifts the rest.”
Recently named “Rising Leader of Color” by Theatre Communications Group, Lucero is a Latino American who is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.
When asked about Minnesota, Lucero commented, “I find that Minnesota is quite diverse and eclectic — really cosmopolitan. There are lots of pockets where people are displaying their culture with pride, like in the mercados on Lake Street. We’re at a time now when we are being asked to bring our heritage to the arts.”
Making it work in Northeast
“The Ritz is a Northeast jewel,” said Lucero. “It is a central part of our identity, and it has a welcoming spirit and intimacy that influences our work.”
Graydon Royce, former theater critic for the Star Tribune, lends insight gained from some 40 years on the beat. “It’s a double-edged sword. When you have nothing, you’re on the rise — building, building. When you’re at a good level of notoriety, you have the chance to do much larger things, but then you have to do them. It sounds so obvious, but you gotta put on a good show. People go to the theater to be transformed. If they say ‘wow,’ then they’ll come back. Serving the audience is key.”
TLD is committed to staying at the Ritz, paying down the mortgage and continuing to connect with the neighborhood. They offer initiatives to make attending more accessible, including steep ZIP code discounts for neighbors and a new Pay-What-You-Can seating program. The company took a big financial hit during COVID. In fiscal 2022, with total revenues of about $4.4 million and expenses near $3.2 million, it doesn’t leave much wiggle room for experiments, failures or expansion.
“Justin recognizes the importance of the theater to the community, economically and otherwise,” said Spencer-Kaplan, who leads TLD with him. “One of the things that drew us to him is hearing how he reached out to the El Paso community during COVID by putting opera singers on the back of a pickup truck. You have to understand how to connect art with people.”