Marbella Avilez on Theater, Storytelling, and Life After Opening Night

0:00Hey, I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you'd like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on be our guest to apply. All right, so today I have a return guest on the line. So Marbella Aviles and let me tell you, she's an actor, producer, writer, she's creator of stories of love, sex and other things. And she's a monthly guest that I'm always happy to welcome back on because we have a whole lot of fun and she's always out there doing something to me. So Marbella, first off, good to see you. Welcome back. Thank you. Thank you, Adam, for having me back. And I'm so happy to say you as well. I'm always having fun with you. This is really nice. We got a lot of talk by here today. So first off, I need some updates. Oscars just took place and whatnot. Like what's going on in your world? What's going on in your world? Well, okay. So first of all, I had the premiere of my theater play. So we're going to talk about that later because it's really, really nice and

1:03interesting and fun. And so that was one thing theater. Then I keep writing my books all the time. And yes, we had the Oscars. So I was invited here in Mexico City to these big viewing party, the biggest studios of Mexico, which is studios. And it's like it's the wonderful place, like a magical place, right? So I want to go further into that. Like what is that like attending that? I mean, I didn't get the invite. It's cool. But what's that like attending that event? Because it's big, right? It's really big. And it's like very important people going. So I feel very fortunate that I was invited. And so they had this, well, the red carpet, like the regular red carpet. But also they had like another red carpet with a screen at the back. And at the beginning, there was just like with the sponsors, right?

2:07But then later, this is like, like 14 K or something, like insane resolution. Resolution is like, oh my gosh. And they put the contact theater, the Dolby theater from LA. Whoa. And they actually had like people walking behind and like actors walking back and forth and doing interviews. So it looked like you were actually there. Oh, wow. It was so well done, so well done. And then where we actually what the whole ceremony, it was like a huge 360 screen. I mean, like, so you're like at a little, you're like at a little spear in Vegas, kind of almost like a little mini one, right? Like that's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was super fun. And also you are inside of one of these huge studios where they've done tons of movies.

3:09And so it was what was one of your favorite parts of the Oscars. Like what was any of favorite moments or standouts or what? Well, I was very happy that Jesse Berkeley. Jesse Berkeley, I'm not saying it right. I hope I do. I hope so. Yeah. So she was absolutely my favorite for best actress. And I'm very happy. She won. She did a great, incredible job in the movie Hamnet. And by the way, a few days before I just watched the bride. The bride is going to be for next year. But she is the actress there and is a whole other different character. And she's just amazing. She's such a great actress. So I was like, yeah, she won. That's awesome. I always ask this and I know it might be silly, but tell me about the food. What do they have? They have some good food. What was the food like? Cause you're in Mexico city. So like over here sometimes in LA for some of these is like,

4:11yeah, sometimes, sometimes now I'm just curious what happens in Mexico city. I never watch the I never watch the Oscars over there. So let me tell you in the past, they used to do it at the Universal Studios offices here in Mexico. I was invited every year. And every time like every year they had more and more sponsors. So everything went better and better. But they stopped there for whatever reason. And they went to a different location for while there was a pandemic. Then they found another location. And this is the first year they do it in this place. So really all the people who were like in charge of this, they had like two weeks to do it. Oh my gosh, to put on this. Oh, for all these important people, that's shout out to the event planners and everybody else. Can you imagine how they last two weeks were? Wow. And that was thanks to well, if I can say names, Mauricio Durán and Monica Rojas. Oh my gosh, Monica, good job.

5:12Like that's I put, we put on events quite a few here in LA. And it shouldn't matters. And it's not easy. And especially when you got two weeks, oh my God. Yeah. So I actually thought there wasn't going to be much, but they, well, we had a lot of drinks. I don't drink, but they were, there was like everything. Yeah. And it's fine. I want a little craft tequila. I want a little sipping something like I'm in. I'm going next year. I invited myself Monica, Mauricio Durán, but I'm going next year. Yeah, I actually had tequila, but I drink it very slowly. Like his like, super, like the way we drink it in Mexico, I know I would have to, I know I understand. I've been to Soil. There you go, a little region over there. And yeah, I enjoy, go ahead. And then we had, we had hot dogs and then we had tamales. But the tamales from Mexico City are like, huge, who are not like in America, we are used to eat the tamales from the

6:14north of Mexico, which are very small, and they're delicious. There's no in Mexico City, we have this huge, like a big old tamale, like a kind of, yeah, I know what you're talking about. Like if you put like 10 to get now 10, maybe six together. Yeah, six. Wow. Yeah. And then we had also, I even had tamales in a while. I think that's going to happen, Marbella. You just now it's like, that's happened in this weekend. Go ahead. And we had, and there were like different flavors. And they also gave us these mini tacos. These are tacos de canasta. These are like really, really small and different flavors too. So you can eat a bunch. It's like, it's like little snacks as well. Super super tasty. And of course popcorn. Yeah. Wow. How much fun that must have been to watch that. And you've been before. So that's cool. But the new venue, it sounds like it was a hit. Like people love it. Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

7:14Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. All right. So speaking of productions, can we get into what you're doing now? You had your opening night, like talk to me. I've been waiting for this, been talking about this. I know you've been in rehearsals for over a month, the last time we talked in. I was like, wait, what's going on? So tell me, talk to me. So we had the opening on the seventh. Of March. Congratulations. By the way, yes. Thank you. It went great. People reacted very, very well. They loved it. They, I mean, we had a standing ovation at the end. Wow. So it's like, it feels amazing. And they laugh a lot. And they are really like into it. And it was, this is the first time I had somebody, well, somebody telling me all the time, somebody from the audience. My two children went to watch it. And they were in the middle of the audience. So my daughter was telling me like, how people were like doing these comments.

8:15And like, oh, my gosh, you know, and right. And, and then, I don't know, like, they were, because I was asking like, some reactions I don't quite know if people really like it or not. Not reactions though. Some of the things we do, I expect certain reactions. And if I don't hear it loud enough, I don't know, I really don't know. And you're kind of like, you're in the zone in the moment too. So you have the energy, but you don't necessarily. You're not, you know what I mean? Like, you're just going, right? So go ahead. Yeah. And then just, but no, my daughter was like, oh, no, they were laughing very hard. And they were talking about, I mean, they were really like, look at that. Oh, my God, that was fun. And so it's like, oh, thank you. I'm so happy that I did. Did your daughters like it? Did they have fun or are you used to you seeing you like enough and they're like tired of it? They're like, okay, Mom, we know or they love it too. Oh, they loved it. Yeah, that's amazing. They saw three shows in a row.

9:16Wow. So they knew the jokes already. They were like, they had out their little notebooks. Like, let's see if they're laughing. Hitting the person next to them. Laugh more. This is a good part. Yeah, exactly. But also always in live theater, especially when it's comedy. When it's something more serious, it doesn't happen that much. But when it's comedy, we come up with things all the time, like new things. So there was like, I mean, little mistakes. There were always our little things. That actually make it really funny. And so my daughter was laughing so much about some of these mistakes. And then some, I had a mistake, like a recurrent mistake in one of the places that my name is Lydia. And I have a maid and her name is Luzka. So many times I call her up. And I'm like, Luzka, let's go. Luzka, whatever. Yeah. And I started going, Lydia, oh, Luzka.

10:18And then in the next scene, I turned like, oh, my gosh. But the point is that because I did it a few times, people thought it was. Oh, they probably thought it was part of it. Yeah. Oh, that's good. Yeah, sorry, it was funny. Talk a little bit more about your role. Like, tell us a little bit about the storyline. I'm interested. Well, okay. So I would like to tell you about the whole play. Yes. See, this is classic theater from the 1300s. And people tend to think it's boring, but this in particular is so funny. The comedy is a comedy. It's farce. So farce is like comedy, like very high-up comedy. The way people used to do it at that time, like really, really exaggerated. And so it was written by Giovanni Bocaccio in Florence, in the 1300s.

11:21And this is the Cameroon, the Cameroon, okay? So what happened there? And this is, let me tell you a little bit of this. Yeah, please, please. Context. So at that time, the plague was going on in Europe. So it was this big pandemic. And I mean, when we had a pandemic with COVID, we were all afraid. And really, it was nothing compared to that time. Where just, for example, in Florence, just think about a small city. And they had more than 100,000 people died. Very short time. So imagine people were losing family members, friends, neighbors, just people that you know from your city every day, every day. So everyone who was not dead, were super sad and very afraid, like extremely scared.

12:22And on top of that, you have to deal with the bodies that also can make you sick. No. And so far, Marbella, this sounds definitely funny. So I'm getting comedy vibes all over. So there's a plague. Everybody's dying. The bodies can make you sick. Like, this is freaking hilarious. Well, can you get to the point? All right, you too. Look, that's like date night. Oh, I got a perfect date. I'm taking you to this hilarious thing. Everybody dies. They get sick. It's going to make you want to get real close. No, I promise is coming. Okay, I'm waiting. I'm waiting for it. Okay, actually, we start the play explaining this. So it starts like really, really dark and low. And like really dramatic. And what happened is that this writer, Giovanni Bocaccio, was like, that's it.

13:24This, I mean, we can't keep going this way. So he wrote a hundred short stories. And actually, it's very similar to my stories, like stories of love, sex and other things that are like also short. And they are also a kind of erotic, but erotic funny, okay? So it's just like, I mean, obviously, nothing happens, nothing, nobody's taking off their clothes, nothing, none of that, right? It's just like, suggest just like, just saying like, oh, I want to sleep with you. A lot of love and things like that. But everything is comedy. So what happened is that this story was done for people to cheer up. And this, I mean, this is the truth, like the from history, right? So this guy wrote this book for people to cheer up because people were just like so, so depressed. Of course, wow. Need actually worked. And this piece of work is what we can call

14:26the first literature piece of Renaissance. This is how Renaissance started in literature. Interesting. We started to lift up the spirits, okay? So the story tells that a group of friends who are like super tired and sad and depressed about all this plague, they decide to go to a villa like outside of Florence just to tell funny stories. And forget about sad things, right? So they go, and that's what we do in the play. And then we start telling stories. In the book is 100 stories. In the theater, we do only four. And that's it, right? So it's like super funny. The first story is about, well, a guy who gets a lot of money from his aunt who dies from the plague. And then their friends, one of their friends is like, oh my god, good, what a good friends.

15:26They want to take their money. So they make him believe he's pregnant. Oh my gosh. So he, they bring a fake doctor to give him a fake medicine. And he charges all of his money. Oh my gosh. But it's like super funny how he thinks he's pregnant and he's like, I feel like he's moving. Oh, the baby. And then they say it's because of the wife because they made love being her on top of him. So now he's the one who's pregnant. Oh my gosh, that's ridiculous. Yeah, I know. It's like super silly, so funny. And then at the end, all the friends and the soccer doctor is super drunk because they've been just partying for three days with his money. And but he is like really grateful.

16:27Like, oh my god, thank god I'm not pregnant anymore, right? Oh my gosh. That's one of them. So at the beginning of the play, I am one of the ladies of this villa who starts selling stories. And then in the second play, I'm just one of the friends of the family. And then in the third play, well, the third story, that's like, I'm the lead there. I'm the lead, yeah. And this is like, she has this very old husband who is also gay. So she's desperate to have sex and he doesn't want to. And but he has this, how you call it, like this guy like this assistant who is young and super handsome. So she wants, like, that's the one. I want that guy, right? So she's really trying to convince him, but he's very loyal to his master. So he has like, you have to do three things in order,

17:28just I need to be sure this is not a test. So he says, I want you to get three hairs of his nose. I want you to kill his bird, bird like a falcon or something. Yeah. And I want you to take out one of his tooth. Oh my gosh. And if you bring all that to me, I will know is real. And I will, I will give you what you want. So she goes and kills the bird. She goes and takes the hairs. And then she goes and takes the tooth out. She makes up like, oh, your mouth is really stinky. I think you have a bad tooth there. And then she makes a mistake. And she takes instead of sending three hairs and one tooth, she sends three tooth and one hair.

18:29Oh my gosh. And then she just for fun. She makes up these. They go for a walk. And this is she plans everything because she wants to show him how silly and how like Dom is her husband. Yeah. So she tells this guy go up to the tree and get me some hairs. And then when he's up on top of the tree, he's like, oh my god, where are you guys doing? I cannot see these. Ah, right. And she's like, what? And the husband who obviously does doesn't want to do anything with her is like, what are you talking about? So he comes down and is like, I swear I was seeing you both doing, you know what? And they're like, that cannot be true. And she's like, I think he's he is right. But I'm so tired. I cannot look. I'm like, I can't climb that tree. So the husband goes up to the tree. Oh my god. To see from the top of the tree.

19:29And of course, he sees them doing you know what? No, the time he's up there. He's like, oh, I cannot believe it. Why you do these? And they are just having fun. And then when he says, I'm coming down, they just run and sit down again. Like, nothing happened. And of course, when he comes down is like, what? This is really magic. Like, stop. So you guys, what happened? So he's like, let's call everyone so they can watch it. And it's like, no, no, no, no. And he's like, okay, you, Lydia, you go up so you can watch me with him. Oh, no. So anyways, she's like, no, no, no, no, no, these cannot be possible blah blah blah. So at the end, of course, they don't go up and they caught the tree. But then I mean, she's always drinking and to think that this story was like the beginning of the Renaissance, that's amazing.

20:31And that was meant to bring people out of, you know, depression and sorrow and sadness. And like, you see it, that's amazing. Like, what comedy can do? That's beautiful. It really is like, like comedy is such a medicine. I remember like one of my favorite books, I think it's called In Search of Manor, In Search of Excellence, but Victor Frankl, and he's talking about like, he's talking about his experience. He was during the Holocaust and like he would, and being an intern, like internment camps, things like that. But he had a whole different, he's like, people still laugh. They still like, he was more observing things. And he's like in this, and even some of the worst situations ever, like the human spirit, like to observe it in those times. And to see people still laugh or to still have memories or still hold on to hope. Like, this beautiful, it's amazing. Yeah, yeah, it is, it is amazing. And it is more or less what we were talking about last time about all the benefits of fictional reading. Because this is exactly what happened. It's like people needed to just stop thinking

21:32about difficulties and stressful things. And it's what happens right now, today, right now. You know, it's like, and we are going through difficult times in like everywhere in the world. It's like, and war, and oh my god, you know. That we do need, we need to cheer up. Because I mean, of course, I support everyone who wants to stand up and support causes for peace and everything. But we, for like in our private life, we need these moments to just let go all those things. And just like, feel better and vibrate higher. Really. And I think, and I think so, and we've been talking about all day as like live theater. I feel like there's nothing like that in-person experience of being in there, laughing with the crowd. Like, well, like obviously you're performing on stage. Like there's a different level. Of course, I love movies. I mean, I love movies. I love going to see movies, of course. But there's something about like the actors being on stage

22:35and like they're performing real-time. Like I love it. Like I'm a big fan of live theater. Yeah, oh yeah. There's nothing like it. And I think is, is never going to die. Is never going to die. I mean, we probably, we could talk about AI next time we see each other, not now because it's too much. But theater is never going to die because it's just different. And people, we work with emotions and the energy of the audience. We actually can feel people. And of course, you can feel the actors. I mean, you can feel it when he's like, when the actors are not like, when they don't have much energy, it feels like, right? And when they come like, wow, you feel it, too. You feel it. Yeah. Yeah, what about your writing? So stories of love, sex and other things. You've been writing or what else you've been doing? I know you've been busy with obviously the performance

23:36and performing, but what else you've been doing? Curious. I think writing is my time to be nosy. That's good. That's very good. So yes, I've been writing. I've been writing this new story about love triangle with like, is like three girlfriends and two of them are dating the same guy. And then one is going to marry him. The other thinks she's going to marry him. And the one who thinks, okay, this is the girlfriend and this is the theater, right? The theater thinks she's going to marry him. But obviously, no. But the point is that she tells the other friend that she's actually dating him. So these all these things are start to build up like the friend, the third friend is in the moment like, who am I supposed? Who am I supposed to be like, I love both of my friends. Both think they are with the love of their life.

24:37But that's a hard spot to be in. Yeah, that's a hard spot to be in. Where do you come up with like the inspiration for these things? Not just that story, but just in general. Does it just come to your head? I'm just so curious. Like, well, are you watching something or you heard something or you heard a story and you're just like, oh my gosh, what if this is this? Yeah, I mean, some of many of them are like, just from one little piece of story of somebody, I developed the whole thing. Like I have a very funny story about a very nice lady who's dating a very low class guy, but he's because he's amazing in bed. But because she's so high up and he's so down, she can't tell anyone, right? And this is because, and this, I mean, this was just because a lady like that one day told me that she married, no, she married. She went out on a date with a guy like that.

25:37And then she was really like mad because she was like, he didn't even have money to pay the bill. I mean, wasn't even a good place. And I'm so mad at myself because I went out with him. And that was it. But I was thinking maybe something more happened. Yeah, you know, because why is she reacting that much? Yeah, I mean, what is the problem? You went on a date, that's it. You had to pay part of the bill because he didn't have the money. So what? But she was so like that and this was like a little bit older lady. So I thought, hmm, maybe something happened. And she just didn't tell you the good part. Like, oh, but, like, what happened though? Like, why do you, why do you go out on another date? Tell me that one though, no. She's like, oh, yeah, no, I'm seeing him next week. Oh, really? Okay. Did you get a new job or what happened? Yeah, kind of. So that's for example, he's like from just a little fragment.

26:39I go the whole thing. And this one, friends with the same guy and the guy also, I mean, at the end, the point is that the guy goes to see his girlfriend. He thinks he's alone, that she's alone. And he gets there and the three friends are there. And he's like, oh, everybody's here. And then the girlfriend tells the story, breaks the news to their friends. Like, we're getting married. So the other one is like, what? So they are trying, she's trying to tell like the theater that is trying to tell her friend. Like, you know what, I have to tell you the truth. Because this is what happened. And then the other friend and the boyfriend are interrupting and saying just like so many silly stupid things. Like, just to, I don't know, you know, the the trackers of these plays feel off. We should go through the rules and think like, it sounds pretty LA though.

27:40I'm just throwing that out there. The track, the energy, the who knows, I don't know. I think way back. And anyways, it's pretty funny. But then at the end, yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to spoil it. But that's the story that I'm currently working on. And so we're recording this, what, mid-March already. What do you have up for the rest of the month? What's going on in your world coming up? You got some more performances? Or what else is going up to the rest of the month? Well, I have a nice interview coming up this Friday for a show, a TV show. And I have another one I think is next week. And I have some additions and I have a meeting with my agent. So I'm like pretty busy doing like additions and things like that. Many projects are like in the horizon. But you know, it's like I have to just do additions and I got you. That's what we do. That's what we do.

28:41We put one foot in front of the other and we just keep walking. We keep going. I love it. Marbiet, first off, it's been so much fun having you back on the show and your updates. I mean, I'm a big fan. So stories of love, sex, and other things. A great segment. One of my favorites every month. And how do people follow? How do they connect with you? How do they follow you on social or otherwise? How do people follow your work? In social media and Instagram, I am Marbela and they are D-E-L-L-A. On the score, A-V-L-E-Z. And if you find me on Instagram, you're going to find everything. Because that is where I post most of my updates and everything. And I always post there. I try not to put all the time things about stories of love, sex, and other things because I don't want people to get like, oh, these things again, right? But every time the book comes out, I'm going to post the link and everything.

29:43The links are, well, anyways, you can find it. All the books are in Amazon. They are in Kindle on Limited. So if you have Kindle on Limited, it's free, like literally free. But anyways, they're so like really, really cheap because they're short stories, like easy to read, a lot of dialogues. So it does really fast and easy. And then if you want to look me up in TikTok and Facebook is Marbela Avelis. So it's the same, Marbela Avelis. So everywhere is Marbela Avelis. Amazing. And for every listening and watching, it's just so you know, we'll put all the links in the show notes so you can just click on the links and head right out and over and check it out and connect with Marbela. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven't done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Yes, you heard me correct. Each and every day we're bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you long the way in your journey as well.

30:44So hit that subscribe or follow button and Marbela. So much fun. Thank you. And again, congrats on opening night. Congrats on everything. Thank you very much. I hope you were here so you could go watch it. I know. Next year I'm going. I want the invite. What was his name? Mauricio? Is somebody else? I want the Mexico City invite to the Oscars next year. So of course. Yes, yes, yes. I'm going to talk about you with them.