Playright Pedro Flores counters Cho Chang with Juan Jose

I originally came up with the idea for JUAN JOSE AND THE DEATHLY VATOS after I had just bombed an audition for a comedy show. I was venting about the experience to one of my best friends and realized I had a different monologue that would have worked better, and could not believe I forgot to use it. It was a very funny monologue from Rick Najera’s Latinologues called “East L.A. Baywatch,” in which a chola plays a lifeguard at the community pool.

It was a combination of ideas that motivated me to say, “You know what? Fuck it! I’ll write my own monologue and it’ll be the funniest shit anyone has ever heard.”

I began toying with an old idea/critique of J.K. Rowling’s world of wizards. You see, I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, and one of the first things that I found hilariously ridiculous about this fantasy world was a particular Asian witch by the name of Cho Chang.

When I first saw the movies (I never read the books) as an adult, I believe I had to pause and ask, “Is her name really Cho Chang?” to which my girlfriend at the time answered, “Yes.” To which I replied, “So the only Asian witch’s name is Cho Chang??? I bet if J.K. Rowling wrote a Mexican wizard, his name would have been Juan Jose!”

So I began to write myself a monologue based on these ideas. I only intended it to be a page long. Two pages max. But one turned into two and two into four, and suddenly I found myself writing an entire play about a “what-if” world of Harry Potter from the perspective of a Latino.

Juan Jose is an amalgamation of myself as a kid, my critiques of Harry Potter as an adult, and boosting my culture and background, combining them to create a ridiculous (yet hilarious) narrative.

Pedro Flores has created roles in several Plan-B Theatre productions, most recently FULL COLOR. Plan-B presents the world premiere of his first work as playwright, JUAN JOSE AND THE DEATHLY VATOS (which he also performs) July 24 through August 3, as part of the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival. Tickets and details at planbtheatre.org/juanjose