We were lucky to catch up with Gaston Leguizamon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gaston, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
My next project is an original play called “The Neighborhood Laundromat”, and I can say it is my most meaningful piece of work so far not only given that it’s my first full length play in the English language, but also because the themes it explores are somewhat the culmination of experiences that truly defined my twenties. Generational cycles, family burdens, types of relationships and why we do the things we do, are all topics that have intensely driven my character as a twenty-something year old Latino immigrant in Los Angeles. Delving into these existential issues through the lens of four grotesque characters stuck inside a mysterious laundromat during an earthquake is very special to me as I have a keen connection with the power that absurdist comedy has to make you both laugh and make important questions. The play has developed while my own acting career was developing, having started the first drafts and readings in a virtual acting class in Los Angeles in 2021, and finding its way to New York where a cast comprised of fellow graduates from the William Esper Studio is attached to its first production, as well as Director and Multityphenate Theatre Artist Edward Gibbons-Brown. It premiers in the New York Theater Festival this Summer, at the Hudson Guild Theater July 14th, 18th and 20th.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Gaston Leguizamon (yes, like Beauty and the Beast) and I’m an Argentinian Actor, Writer and Producer. From a young age, I’ve written, produced and performed in my own plays in the off-theater circuits of Buenos Aires, before moving to the United States in my twenties. I spent a few years working as an Actor in commercial sets of Los Angeles, and wrote, produced and starred on my film “Warped Pieces” before coming to New York City to be trained on the Meisner Acting Technique at the William Esper Studio’s 2 Year Program. With my focus now on acting, writing and/or producing Theater, since graduating I’ve starred as Picasso in The Secret Theater’s production of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”, co-produced and performed the variety show “Backstage 72” at The Triad Theater, and I’m currently developing my original play “The Neighborhood Laundromat”, accepted into the New York Theater Festival and set to open in July 2025. While I’m always striving to absorb and grow, I consider myself a go-getter and I’m confident that my determination has undoubtedly set the pillars of my path. I have a keen interest on stories that make uncomfortable questions and that defy the status-quo, with a particular preference for grotesque absurdist comedy and magical realism, but also a delight for family dramas. My priority is bringing my experience, voice, technique and heart into every aspect of the creative process whether it’s acting, writing or producing.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Choosing to be an artist is definitely an every day exercise. There’s the business aspect that drives us to take any audition, get signed with an agency, keep it, have our websites and reels up to date, get the best self-tape setup, network with casting directors and build that working actor persona. And there’s the creative aspect: always a new class to attend, writing a short film, doing a reading, rewriting that pilot, putting up a solo show. I always thought the ultimate actor’s challenge was to balance both, but sometimes one aspect takes over the other one, let alone life itself. Throughout my adult years, I’ve had more than one instance of reconsidering the whole thing, sometimes even questioning if other more stable careers weren’t more worthy of my time and energy. We are only humans in the end, and other aspects of our life start to bleed into our creative engagements: family, relationships, other plans, and the passing of time, and that’s when we need to keep strong and consistent. A few weeks before my dad unexpectedly passed, I had one of those moments and started applying for a completely different career that would take up my entire availability. My dad, who had always been my most fervent supporter of my acting journey, just listened to my new plans and although he respected my adult-formed logic for the move, he simply reminded me of “the pursuit of the yes”, this fable-like story he had told me as a kid, that said that each “no” we collect is a step closer to the “yes”, and that our dreams and desires are ruled by this pursuit. Sure enough, I dropped my new aspirations, and only a few months later I booked my first national commercial campaign, followed by a few years of big commercial bookings, which enabled me to finally do the move across country and establish myself in New York to train for two years and focus on my theater. I can say my dad’s story lived up to its hype.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I was always drawn to think outside the box, to question the box, to not just accept it, to assess it, understand it, and challenge it. My creative journey gravitates towards accepting that the lead for change lies within ourselves within a collective, which means only we can uphold our own individual visions and ideas, but we will always need from our social networks, therefore needing to absorb and change from their visions and ideas. My storytelling strives to carry impactful messages that voice undermined aspects, groups and dynamics in our society, dissecting every point of view and understanding how and why we got there, but projecting into the new possibilities by grasping on how and why we can get someplace else that is better for everyone, One time after a reading of one of my plays, an acting teacher asked me “Gaston, with this story, do you want to change minds?”, and I’ve never felt as seen as when she asked me that. Everything I create is geared towards the fulfillment of that purpose, in the name of justice, openness, and change, with some undeniable fun along the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gastonleguizamon.com
- Instagram: gastonleguizamon23
- Facebook: gaston.leguizamon
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Credit Emiliano Paez
Additional Photos: #5 Credit Donna Goldberg