Interview with Regina Carregha: best performer for ffff21

Regina Carregha, an actress from Mexico, won TeamTheatre’s Best Performer for FunFastFebFest2021. We interviewed Ms. Carregha to learn more about her process and her experience with the production, “White Boots.”

-What was the inspiration behind writing this play?

Mouna’s and I friendship definitely. We’ve had so many conversations about how bizarre our friendship is. We both have big contrasting personalities, and come from two extremely different countries, cultures, religions, backgrounds, etc. We’re constantly asking ourselves, “Why are we friends?” Haha This play is based on a real fight we had over the White Boots, and after we made our peace, we decided to write a letter to our friendship. Which yes, can be a little chaotic, but it is full of compassion, empathy and loyalty.

-What was the experience performing a character that you wrote?

During the rehearsal process we would analyze why both characters reacted in some way, or why they say what they say, and there was some moments where my thoughts were very resistant. We would be discussing about “Carolina”, and it was like facing myself in the mirror, from another perspective. Hearing my director, my scene partner and I talk about myself as a third person, made me realize some things about myself, that I wouldn’t even think about, if we weren’t in that room building this story. Now I am aware of these traits and I embrace them without judgement.

-Are there any similarities and differences between you and the character? If yes, what are they?

Carolina and I love to make every single moment one to remember! Every time I’m having a good time, I want it to be Epic! Which can lead to, maybe, not the greatest choices.

-What challenges did you face when it came to performing this role?

Like I mentioned earlier, to see myself in a character was very tough. When we discussed some things about Carolina, I had to constantly remind myself that this is a character that I am playing, and the traits or actions she was doing didn’t define who I am.

-What are the things that you learned after having done this production?

I learned how to trust more on myself as an actress and a writer. This was the first time I wrote a play, and getting to play a role that I wrote was such a learning experience. More often than not, as an actress, I apply for characters where I find some similarities but this one was merely based on me. It made me get inspired by the work Vincent, Mouna and I put into it, to create more stories about the different parts of me that I have an interesting relationship to, as well as stories about the people around me.

It was a pleasure to see Ms. Carregha’s wonderful performance and we cannot wait to see what else she has in store for all of us!

If you would like to know more about Regina Carregha’s work, follow her on Instagram: @reginacarregha