Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabel Criado.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

When I was a little girl my mother would call me “ratón de librería” which translates, literally, to “library mouse”. What she meant by it when she shared it with our family and friends, was the ability I seemingly had been born with to be inherently curious about any text that fell in my hands. She didn’t mean to say I was a small, meek girl, but rather, that I was a reader of big books.

That did not change through-out the years. As I grew-up, I became more of a library mouse, analyzing and expanding on the worlds I learned to understand. And, as I went through them as mirrors of our own world, I began to know the world around me. I began to know myself.

I was born in Madrid to a Spanish father and a Peruvian mother. We later moved to Peru when I was 12 years old. Being the new girl is never easy, but it did not help that I was more comfortable with books than with people. It made opening up in this new environment incredibly difficult. Theatre class helped me tremendously. Here was a place where I could be part of something without worrying about being enough. And, here was a place where the stories I loved came to life. It truly felt like my little mouse hands were opening another book and seeing it realize in front of me.

Let’s just say once I knew what theatre truly was, there was no other choice for me. I had to follow that dream to wherever it got me. And that is how I ended up in NYC! I graduated with a BFA in Dramatic Arts from The New School’s College of the Performing Arts and am now working on an Acting for Film Degree at NYFA. I’m creating, reading and telling stories, and it’s truly everything I knew it could be and more.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

I wish I could say it has been a smooth road, but I came to NYC to study and become an artist with no idea of what that would entail and no clue how hard it is to even try to work in America as an international student. It’s quite funny now, looking back, how little I knew, and I bet most people who aren’t international don’t even know half of what immigrants have to do to be able to stay.

I wish I could go on a rampage about all the unnecessary loops we have to go through only to be able to work, but I don’t want to bore you with all the paperwork. I’ll just say, sometimes, no matter how well you organize yourself, there are things outside of your control that could happen. Last year, such a thing happened to me, and I had to go back home to Spain, when all I wanted was to stay here and keep working. But as an international student you are under very specific guidelines you have to follow, and that means that no matter how much you want to stay, no matter how significant the work you’re doing is, sometimes you can’t stay and you can’t work. It’s not an easy realization to have. It’s confusing and frustrating. But what I’ve learned from it is that I’m more tenacious than I think, and that the community of wonderful immigrant artists I’ve been lucky enough to find will always, always, pick me up.

If you’re an international student, and even better, an international artist, just know you are not alone. When I was lost, when I knew nothing about anything, it was speaking to another international artist that helped me decide my next step. It was asking for help from those who had already asked the same question and found an answer that pushed me towards the work I do now. And I couldn’t be more grateful. So reach out. I’m always happy to help.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I am a Spanish/Peruvian artist focusing on voicing the experiences of multicultural immigrants. While I’ve partly become a jack of all trades in theatre, as most theatre artists tend to do, I specialize in acting, directing and stage managing.

Acting-wise, I’ve been working on a lot of Shakespeare lately. I played Hermia for Under St. Marks’ “Midsummer Night’s Dream: last July, and it was one of the most rewarding shows I’ve done. We were a big ensemble of actors so it was a hoot on and off stage, and it gave me the opportunity to play with intimacy and fight choreography, which I loved. Thanks to it, my dear friend, Mira Bahgat, and I applied and got in to The Circle Festival at The Flea Theatre with a cut of “The Winter’s Tale”. And now I’m getting ready to play Cleopatra for a bilingual (English/Spanish) production of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra”. I’m so excited to get to act in my mother tongue, I simply can’t wait.

As I mentioned before, I’m newly part of NYFA’s Acting for Film Conservatory as I want to delve more into the world of film. It’s been a busy yet successful detour, as I’m working on various shorts already, and find myself being delightfully challenged with each one.

My journey directing wise started two years ago when my play “You, Mimi & Me” was accepted into New York Theatre Festival’s 2023 WinterFest. I was already interested in trying to direct a play so I thought what better play to start with than my own. It was only a few months later when I got the chance to be the AD to Federica Borlenghi for her wonderful play, “Until Dark”, produced by Et Alia Theatre at Out of the Box Theatrics. I learned so much from Borlenghi, both as an actor and director. I used much of what I learned when directing “The Winter’s Tale”, and I can’t wait for what will come next for me.

Similarly, working as a stage manager has made me become a thousand times more organized than I was before, and much more open with my voice and thoughts. SM standouts include SparkPlug’s “Clown Bar 2” at Parkside Lounge which, if you got to see it, I’m so happy you did. I knew the script by heart and I still would die of laughter. I was also happy to SM Josh Fox’s NYC premier of “The Edge of Nature” at LaMama Experimental Theatre, an incredibly experimental and musical piece that hopefully touched each and every one of our audience members. And finally, Carolina Dô’s “Extra01dinary Aliens!” at JACK, a very significant play for any international artist making their way in America.

I’m so proud of all of it. I tend to believe I don’t work enough, and then I have these moments where I look back and I am amazed I even got to be in the same room as some of the people I worked with. And I truly think I was able to be there in the first place because I love and loved it, every second of it.

What do you like and dislike about the city?

This is a hard question! Growing up, watching the idea of what New York City is through my TV screen, it made me believe in the magic of this city. In the beauty, the camaraderie, the spontaneity of it all.

So many told me the city would not live up to the image that I had. Surprisingly, it did.

Coming from a third world country I sometimes need to remind myself of how fortuitous it is that I live here. But it’s not hard to remember. Art is alive here. It is everywhere. My first year here I saw a band of Mariachis in my subway car. Can you even picture how happy that made me? It made my day, truly.

Where else are you going to get such a melting pot of people who love the same things as you as much as you do?

In terms of what I like the least… I think there is such a sense of “living to work” in this city that it sometimes trumps over empathy and community. No one is stronger alone. We need to remember that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.isabelcriado.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabelcriadob/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@isabelcriadob

Image Credits

Picture 1 – Vega Armstrong
Picture 2 & 4 – Lux Praguensis
Picture 3 – Dan Wright Photography
Picture 5 –Nathaniel Johnston