Grace Andrade Bowen Discusses Una Noche en Tejas & Standing Up for Yourself!

Grace Andrade Bowen is an artist that everyone should have in their camp. I originally met her a couple of years back when she was attending AMDA with my wife, Rachael. After that, she starred as Tricia in my play A (Funny) Imagination! - An unauthorized parody based on characters from the cartoon Doug. Now, she is starring as Selena in Una Noche En Tejas - When Beyonce met Selena (10 Minute Play) which is based on the historic moment in the 90s when a young Beyonce Knowles met Tejano pop star Selena. Grace also serves as Executive Producer for this 10-minute play. Una Noche en Tejas will be seen at the 2021 Equity Library Theatre Virtual Play Festival, among other festivals in the future! 

Grace is truly an artist that makes any show better with her presence, talent, and drive. She was truly born to be on the stage and to play Selena. I am so honored to have the chance to feature Grace.

How old were you when you knew you wanted to be a performer?

I just kind of announced to my family that I was going to be auditioning for a local community theatre show when I was 8.  I remember being onstage for the first time in that show and thinking “oh man, this is it. I should do this all the time!”  So, I did (or I tried to), but I realized I was falling out of love with auditioning,  particularly for work that wasn’t really telling any aspect of my story.  Then came March of 2020, and I had the opportunity to pivot in my career, and it was like I was 8 years old onstage again saying  “I should do this all the time!”  I honestly believe all artists are producers in some way; producers of music, theatre, etc., so now that I get to produce work that I really, truly believe in with a 360° approach, I feel like the luckiest person in the world.   

Where did you study? Do you have any mentors that truly help make you the amazing, versatile artist you are today?  

Fun fact; Kyle Selig and I went to the same high school!  He graduated a couple years before I started there, but he used to come and sit in on classes and auditions my freshman and sophomore years.  So if you have any middle school actors in the SoCal area, The Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts has a pretty good track record.  I went to AMDA after that, and then I got a lovely education on how to deal with difficult customers working retail on the upper west side.  PSA: please stop yelling at retail workers,  it’s not cute y’all.  I also worked with a great program called The Biz of Show with Melissa Robinette who really helped me come into my own as an artist and to become a (hopefully) well-balanced person.  Go check her out, she is AMAZING.

As far as mentors, I don’t know if I have just one person, I have been very, very fortunate to have had so many people to look up to.  To be honest, reading the word ‘mentor’ immediately made me think of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey in 30 Rock, and that’s on watching too much TV.  

Una Noche En Tejas is a story that truly needs to be told, and I feel you were born to play the role of Selena. What do this story & play mean to you? 

Aw shucks, well thank you!  In the original Selena movie, Edward James Almos has a line about how being Mexican-American is always like toeing the line between being too Mexican for white people and too white for Mexican people.  The first time I heard that line, I felt so seen in a way I never had before.  My mom is Mexican and my Dad is Irish/Italian, so I’ve always struggled with a mixed identity. So knowing just the Selena movie could strike such a deep chord with me years later, I feel like that only speaks to how many lives her legacy has touched. But now doing this show, and this being my theatrical producing debut, I get to further that legacy.  The idea that maybe somewhere out there, someone can hear a line that makes them feel seen for the first time, and I helped get that out into the world-it’s one of the biggest honors of my life.  So thank you for giving me that as well! 

Are there any roles, shows, or performances you have done in your career that stick out and will always be near and dear to you?

Tricia in A (Funny) Imagination! is one of my favorite roles by a long shot since it was actually the first role I booked in the city!  I also got so lucky to work with you and get to do a role that reminded me how important representation and diversity are in shows.  Plus, I got to reject my now fiancé onstage every night!

What advice would you give any young aspiring artist?

GAH!  I feel like I have so many things, like open a ROTH IRA and life is too short for bad wine, ok let me see. Most importantly; stand up for yourself!  I am so over the excuse “well, that’s just how things are” when it comes to racial injustice, unfair pay, sexual harassment, and any other overall bull*poop*.  

As hard as it can be, and trust me I’ve been there, no one else will stand up as strong as you will for yourself.  Lastly, there is no definitive path or steadfast dream you must follow.  Do what you love when you love it. If you can learn something from it, it’s a worthwhile experience.  You never know what the end of the journey is going to be; who knows, I might end up being a surgeon and this is just the weirdest route anyone’s ever taken to medical school.

To learn more about Grace please visit her website at - 

https://www.graceandradebowen.com; and to learn more about Una Nocheplease visit - https://www.unanoche.info; to watch the virtual performance of Una Noche please visit - http://Pineyforkpress.com