MANCHESTER – The question for Ricardo Garcia, a lifelong actor, producer and director is simply this, “where is my guacamole?”
Garcia, a resident of the senior community Leisure Village West (LVW) hasn’t actually misplaced the avocado treat but he has been enjoying cooking up a fun filled YouTube show that involves his many friends and fellow LVW residents in “Where Is My Guacamole?”
Despite its name, the pre-taped show isn’t a cooking program. It is a spoof in Spanglish, meaning half Spanish half English. Garcia founded the Friends of Latin American Group and this is a production of that new community group that extends beyond LVW.
Those involved in the fun filled farce enjoyed a kickoff party earlier this spring at Leisure Village West’s Encore Hall for the production’s premiere. The potluck celebration featured a screening of the first episode, an abundance of food, music, dancing, awards, prizes and plenty of hugs.
Garcia, who plays the role of Pancho (Guacamole) got the community of LVW involved as cast members and production assistants for this outrageous spoof of a Spanish soap opera.
The actor, who looks younger than his 57 years, knows a lot about that medium as he has appeared in several telenovelas. “I worked for Telemundo television and have been working in the entertainment business for years.”
“First, I was an actor and I worked in soap operas in Venezuela and I came here to the United States. I was working in TV and I wanted to produce and so I went to a school here,” Garcia said. “I went to the New York Academy. When I moved here (LVW) I found out they had a TV station KLVW but after a while I decided to open my own group Latin American Group.”
His partner Robert Tergola explained, “it is a brand-new group and this community has all kinds of groups and activities, an African American group, a Jewish culture group but surprisingly they didn’t have a Latin American group so we thought of it and the idea of promoting the culture and the acceptance of people of Latin American culture.”
“We proposed it to the team that approves all the groups in the association and they said ‘sure’ and as part of the kickoff Ricardo worked on the telenovela, a Spanish soap opera and all the stars are the people that live in the community,” Tergola said.
“Everybody is acting in Spanish and English,” Garcia said.
Tergola added, “a few years ago we used to live in Toms River and Ricardo got hooked up with the Caregivers of Ocean County and he started a Latin outreach and so he has been involved with this community in the past and looks forward to working not only within this village but expanding as well.”
Barbara Genovese is playing a role in the soap spoof and she is enjoying every moment of her involvement with the project.
“I am playing Paella. This is a Cinderella like series but it is a comedy. It is actually at a guacamole factory that Lupita, played by Yolanda Giovannetti, inherited. Me and Robin (London as Empanada) are trying to sabotage the Guacamole factory. We are mean,” Genovese said with a grin.
Rae Tutela plays Rafaella the story teller who narrates the yarn and usually has a glass of sangria or some alcoholic beverage in her hand. Her narration becomes slurred as her alcohol intake increases throughout the first episode.
“There are other characters but that is the main gist of the show. It is also shot right around here. Ricardo is unbelievable. We also go to Café Aroma do what is called the Roundtable and do a talk show every other Wednesday,” Genovese added.
Genovese said, “we don’t get paid. We are doing it for fun and my God, it is so much fun. There are the main characters but everybody in the village is part of it.”
A second episode has been released and they can both be viewed by visiting youtube.com/watch?v=HW9dbx77MsQ and youtube.com/watch?v=B3rvpQO2aP4
