On a Saturday morning in November, the kind that makes you love the fall season in Chicago, I found myself at UrbanTheater Company (UTC), ready to meet Gwen La Roka and chat about her show, "Mi Casa Es Tu Casa."

The setting: Paseo Boricua in Humboldt Park. On the bus, passing the iconic Puerto Rican steel flags that signaled I was home. Flooded with memories of my youth—Boys & Girls Club, café con leche from Café Colao, and hanging in the park—I stepped off the bus and made my way to UTC.

Gwen welcomed me inside, where we sat on a stage that mirrored my childhood sala: colorful furniture, family pictures, plants, and figuras. With an hour remaining before her show, we began to chat.

River: Before we get started, do you have a preferred name?

Gwen: Gwen La Roka is a stage name. It came from when I used to breakdance and do graffiti, right, so my graf name was Gwen Rok, Gwen Rok 1, Gwen La Roka, and that was my b-girl name, so it kind of just evolved it was like, Gwen Rok, Gwen Roka, Gwen Rok 1, Gwen La Roka, and I was like, “you know what? I want that for my stage name” so it was meant like b-girl, like “rocka.” 

River: What was your approach in writing this show? Your one-woman show at UrbanTheater Company. What was your process like?

Gwen: The first twenty minutes of what turned into this show began when Mikey O did a show years ago. Are you familiar with Mikey O? He’s like the godfather of Latino comedy events here in the city and beyond. He did a show years ago called “La Sala,” and he was like, “well we want you to be in it.” He had storytellers—he had Angie, she’s an amazing storyteller, she’s involved in the community, then there was Wendy Mateo from Dominizuelan, who’s also now, like, an artistic director at Teatro Vista. They’re big-time those, Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo. So, Wendy was in the show, I think Elizardi Castro, Ana Belaval from WGN “Around Town”, I think she was in it. The point is, he did this show called “La Sala” and I thought, “Cool I’m going to go up there with twenty of my stand-up minutes” and he was like, “No, no, I want everyone to write a fresh new story, I don’t necessarily want it to be stand-up, I want it to be a story centered around la sala, the living room.” And I was like, “Oh shit ok…I gotta write new stuff then.” I always knew I wanted to do a one-woman show, and I knew I wanted it to be about my family, but written in a way that everyone can see their own family in it. So, I did the twenty minutes for “La Sala,” and it was bits of what ended up making it into this show. It was interesting because it freaking killed, and when I got off stage, Mikey O was in the back and he knew that I had been wanting to do a one-woman show.  He put his arm around me and whispered in my ear “Fifty more minutes of THAT, you got your one-woman show.” And I was like, I’m gonna start with that then because the hardest part for me is getting started.

On the set at UrbanTheater Company

River: How does this one-woman show differ from a comedy set? Or how would you prepare, or come up with material, for a comedy set? 

Gwen: The initial process, I guess you could say, is kind of the same. Like I just said, I can’t just be like “Okay, sit down and write material.” I mean, I guess I had to for “La Sala,” I had to sit down and be like “Okay, think of something centered around your living room.” But for stand-up, it’s obvious, that you get to the funny faster—people are looking for the funny. You have a setup, but you rarely have somebody do these super long, dragged-out setups, ‘cause then the punchlines like, “All that for that?” So, it’s like, quick set-up, quick punchline. 

With theatre, you’re allowed more, you know? You’re not expected to be funny 24/7. You could be crying, you could be in the serious part of the show, it could vary. My show’s a ninety-minute show, with no intermission, so I have time to pause. Of course, people already know that they’re not expecting it to be funny from beginning to end, or if they are, they’re going to find out that it’s not. But it does give me the freedom to be more theatrical, which I missed because I used to theatre before I even touched stand-up. 

River: Really? 

Gwen: Yeah, I did theatre years ago, I don’t know if you ever heard of Teatro Luna? 

River: Yes, Coya…

Gwen: Yes, Coya Paz. And the amazing writer/director, Tanya Saracho, was a part of that in the beginning. Miranda Gonzalez, who is now the artistic director here at UrbanTheater, met her in Teatro Luna. 

River: Oooohhh, ok!

Gwen: And so I got involved in Teatro Luna. We did a run called “Machos” years ago, did you see that? 

River: Yeah, Coya has told me about it. 

Gwen: I fucking love Coya, man, so fucking talented and smart. So yeah, I was blessed and privileged to be a part of that process. Because I saw how they, you know, created. They interviewed the guys, they came to our rehearsals with the interviews, and then we were reading the interviews, and it  was like “Okay, let’s write the pieces from these interviews,” and then it turned into “Machos.” So, that was my first real taste of what I felt like was real theater, and we did a six-month run at Chicago Dramatists. And then that’s it, I was like, “Oh my God, I want to do this, this is what I’ve always wanted to do.” but then after “Machos” was over I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t go to college for this, I didn’t study to be a comedian or an actress, or anything like that, I’ve just always wanted to do it, ever since I was a kid. So, when I did that with Teatro Luna, I was bitten by the bug.

So, then I went to Second City thinking “Well, I’m funny, you know, maybe improv!”t did not click. I felt out of place. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of Latino representation, and improv, it didn’t click the way I thought it was gonna click. I finished my program with Second City and, again, I was like “Well now what? I did that, that was fun, but now what do I do?” My friend told me about “The Vagina Monologues” at UIC. Again, I didn’t even go to college. I was like “Well, can I audition if I don't go to UIC?” And they were like “Yeah, it’s open to the public.” That’s when my two worlds collided, ‘cause I was always interested in social justice and doing right by people, and I always wanted to be a comedian or an actress of some sort, ever since I was a kid, so that’s when I got introduced to the “The Vagina Monologues,” have you ever seen that? 

River: I’ve definitely heard of it. 

Gwen: Oh, you gotta watch it. Don’t be scared! or me, it was an eye opener into the women’s movement and violence against women— it opened up the door into the social justice world for me. And combining it with acting, I was like “Man, I get to go on stage and honor these women’s stories by telling them and also educating people on violence against women and how we need to stop that.” So, I did “The Vagina Monologues” for four years in a row at UIC, and after that was over I was like “Well now what?” I just kept getting into things without knowing even how. I just ended up doing them and I was like “I'm in it!” And then as soon as I was in it, I was out, it was over, and tI was like “now what?” yet again. I wasn’t immersed enough into the world of theatre that I knew people, I was just kind of trying to find my way. And then somebody shared a stand-up comedy workshop flier from Mikey O. And my friend was like “Bitch, you’re funny. You know who’s doing this? So-and-so is doing this, and she ain’t even a comedian. You’re funny, why don’t you take this?” and I was like “Damn, you’re right, she’s not a comedian and she’s telling jokes?Well I'm gonna try it.” So I took Mikey’s stand up class, and that was fourteen years ago this December.

River: Whoa.

Gwen: I’m going to be fourteen years in the stand-up game. After that stand-up workshop, the last class, or the graduation, was a showcase, and it was the first time I did stand-up in front of – have you ever been to Joe’s on Weed Street? 

River: Yes, Yeah.

Gwen: You know the part in the back where they have the concerts? 

River: Yea

Gwen: That place is huge, man, it can sit up to 450 people. He did the graduation show there, and I had five minutes with the stuff I worked on during the stand-up class. And that was it. After that, somebody came up to me, and they were like “Hey, that was funny, I run a show at such-and-such bar, do you wanna come do five minutes?” And I was like ,“Yeah!” And I did that show, and then same thing happened again: “Hey man, that was funny. I produce a little comedy show at such-and-such cafe…” They were all little local comedy gigs. And that snowballed and snowballed and, fourteen years later, here I am doing stand-up. 

River: Wow. 

Gwen: So it was like, I knew I wanted to do it. I never knew how the hell I was gonna do it, but just by doing things that I liked, it led me here, without me planning it. I wasn’t like “I must seek a way!” I didn’t know! In my mind, it was never really gonna happen. But I was like “Well, fuck it, I like to do this, I’ll do this for now” and then the next thing popped up and I was like “Well yeah yeah, I wanna do that,” but I never thought “All these things are going to lead me to my destiny.” I didn’t think that I was just doing what I thought was fun and what interested me at the time. And then… frickin, here I am. 

River: Yeah, a one-woman show at UTC, that’s awesome!

Gwen: You know, I’ve been to shows here and know them very well, Ivan, Antonio Bruno. And to do a show, especially as I’m not Puerto Rican, to be able to bring my show to Humboldt Park is important to me. You know, I hope to bring my show to Pilsen at some point and do it there, or La Villita. But this presented itself, this opportunity, to work with UTC. I love Miranda, and the crew, and Ivan Vega, and all of them, so I was like “I get to work with family?” You know, I consider them family, so I was like, Humboldt Park? 

Right, are you Boricua?

River: Yeah. 

Gwen: So, to me, it’s like you guys opened up your living room letting me in your home in Humboldt Park, so I was like “Man, that’s big for me.”  It’s exciting. 

River: Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s incredible. How have you prepared for this show versus a comedy show, like, in terms of acting? Did you do any coaching or, anything else?

Gwen: No, I should. I should’ve taken some actual acting lessons, but I haven’t done anything too technical. It’s just all been very organic. And, of course, I'm a big note-taker, I’m not against that. The community has helped me as well. Being and working with people like Miranda, or watching people like Elizardi Castro do his show “Made in Puerto Rico,” or watching Ana Belavall do her show. That and any feedback people are willing to give, I'm willing to hear. I’m willing to listen to it. I don’t think anybody should ever be above learning, no matter where you are in life. Even if I'm 99, I better still be learning something, ‘cause then how do we evolve as people? If we think we know it all, always, how are we ever gonna grow? So, to me, I think it’s very important to be open, to have people, even audience members be like “Hey, you know what’s funny? My family used to do such and such,” and I’m like “Oh damn, I never thought of that, that’s right!” You know, so, never close yourself out to people’s critiques, just be smart about how you take them. You can’t be offended like “Oh, how dare so-and-so give me tips?” I mean, why? Why not? We should be able to help each other out and be like, “Hey, you know, take what you feel works for you. If you don’t feel that works for you, then don’t take it.”

River: Trim the fat

Gwen: Trim the fat, exactly.

River: What was it like telling your parents that you wanted to pursue a career in comedy?

Gwen: That’s funny, ‘cause it’s not like “coming out of the closet,” you know what I mean? I didn’t have to come out like Ppops, Mom, I want to be a comedian.” That never really happened. I think they knew there was always something in me, ‘cause ever since I was a kid—River, like, I'm telling you, maybe three?—ever since I was like three or four, we used to have these little white microphone or speaker, audio thing. The little toy? 

River: Like for karaoke? 

Gwen: Yeah, it was like for karaoke little plastic Fisher Price thing. And I used to walk around the house with that. I didn’t know what stand-up comedy was at three or four. All I knew was that I wanted to be funny. So, I would take that, and I would bust into my parent’s bedroom and I do stupid stuff. I would be silly, trying to get a laugh. So, unbeknownst to me, I was being a little stand-up comedian but I didn’t know I was embodying stand-up. I just knew, and my parents knew, too. I always told them—because again I didn’t know the concept of stand-up when I was a child, but what I did know was movies and acting—so. I would always say “I wanna be a funny actress,” or “I wanna be in funny movies.” That’s all I knew, and I grew up watching “I Love Lucy,” “Cantinflas,” “El Chavo Del Ocho,” “Martin,” and “In Living Color.” Those were my jams growing up. So, to me, I was like “I wanna do stuff like that” —like sketch comedy. I wanna be goofy, but funny, and so my parents knew I wanted to do that, but I was still doing everything the way, I guess you could say, most of us do. Doing the “normal,” going to school. It’s not like I said, “Mom, put me in a class for acting.” What my mom did when I was young—and I don’t think she knew what she was doing, and I don’t think I knew what she was doing, but it worked in my favor— there was a lady who lived on our block who said she wanted to use me in an educational film. I was young, I think I was,—I don’t even know, I’d say I was like seven-ish. Maybe eight? Something like that. And the lady’s like, “It’s an educational movie to play in public schools, It's gonna be an anti-bullying movie.” And my mom was like, “Do you wanna be in it?” And I was like, “YESSS” in my mind. 

You know, I forgot about this until you asked me. So I went and I did this film. And that was the first official time I was in front of camera crews or film crews, and I was young. And that was it, I did it one time. I think I played the bully, or one of the bullies, I don’t remember. Point is, I was like “Acting!!” and cameras, and I was being told “Cut!Hold!” I was a kid, the lady asked my mom if I could do more and my mom said no. I didn’t find that out ‘til years later. I was like “Mami, why’d you do that??'' In hindsight, I'm glad she did, because they were gonna be taking me, and not with her present, to places. And you know most Latino parents are, like, “Are there gonna be guys there? I’m not gonna know. Something could happen to you and you’re not gonna be supervised.” So I’m kinda glad she did that, because maybe something would have happened. I don’t know. But it took me a while to be not mad about that. I was like “Mami, why!?” She told me when I was a teenager.he was like “They asked if you could be in more.” And I was like, “That could have been my comedy career!! Drew Barrymore started when she was, like, five!!” I was upset. But, now, in hindsight, I’m like, everybody has their own path to get to where they’re going, so… I forgot your question. 

River: What was it like telling your parents that you were going to pursue comedy?

Gwen: Like I said, they just knew I wanted to do it. Eventually, from doing things that I naturally wanted to do, like, you know, I was a breakdancer, I would freestyle, I would emcee, I did poetry slams, I would go to open mics, and from being in that, people started asking “Gwen, we’re gonna do this event, would you mind hosting?” And I’m like, “Yeah, hell yeah.” Aand then that started crossing over also with grassroots organizations. Like “Girl, we’re doing a fundraiser for such-and-such not-for-profit. It’s gonna be hip hop, poetry, comedy, a little bit of everything, you wanna host?” And I’m like “Yeah!” My parents used to always be like, I don’t know about your parents, but, Latino parents be like “What are you getting out of that? Te pagaron!?” That was the famous question, “Are you getting paid??”I used to be like, no,  and, by then, I was like twenty—in my twenties, like early twenties— hosting events, and my parents would be like, “Can I ask you, where is this going? What are you getting out of this?” I’m like, “I don’t know, this is what I do, it’s my passion. I like to work with nonprofits, and we’re helping people, and we’re raising money for people, so that’s what it does. What it’s doing for me, personally, as a career? I don’t know. But as a passion of mine, I like to help people. And I like being on the mic and being goofy and interacting with people and blah blah blah. So, I don’t know, but this is what is making me happy right now.” Then, once it kind of led into Teatro Luna, “The Vagina Monologues,” and into stand-up, I was like “Ooohh!” So I went back and told my parents “THAT’S what it was leading me to!” We didn’t know, I didn’t know. I never knew all those things that I was doing was gonna eventually lead me here. ‘Cause again, I didn’t have a plan.

River: So what would you say is the funniest moment that you’ve had with your mom? I know that as a younger kid you told me  that you would bust into their rooms with  the microphone, but I guess, in general, what is the funniest moments you’ve had with your parents? 

Gwen: That’s hard to answer because in my frickin family if you do one thing once, it becomes a running joke for the rest of our lives. Like, we’ve had one or two things that have happened and we’re like, to this day, we still do it, we still say it,, you know what I mean? So, there’s too many. One of the things that stands out to me, and it’s because I have it on camera, I have to find that tape… I used to play a lot of practical jokes in my house.  I’m a big prankster, I love playing gags on people and I still do. I’m a grown-up, I’m 41, and I still buy stink bombs and go to Walmart with them.

You better believe it baby! I have them in my car all the time. I got stink bombs ready to go! And that was me, ever since I was a kid, and it hasn’t gone away. So, I used to set up the camera— and I talk about it in the show—I used to set it up and record, and I would hide it so that my family wouldn’t see it recording. So one time, I had a fake mouse, and I told my mom we caught a mouse. I had tied a little piece of thread to the tail, and I was like “Look, Mami! Mira, mira!” She got all close to it and I fricking yanked it and she fricking tap danced like that was the original “Riverdance” right there. She freaked out, and we played that thing over and over and over and over again. She was like ,“Ay, no seas mamón.” That was funny.  I’m always playing practical jokes on my mom, and we’ll never let her forget that. She can’t, ‘cause it’s on tape! 

River: That’s awesome. Okay, let’s ask the hard-hitting questions now. So how has your family and your heritage impacted your comedy? 

Gwen: Heritage, my family, and our traditions— how we all joke with each other and how we love each other and even how we get upset with each other, everything— made me who I am today, and that’s who you see on stage. Like, you’ll see me crack jokes and I write material, but, I’m the exact same person off-stage that I am on-stage. There is no act when it comes to that. The stuff I write has to be written in a performative manner, but it’s still very raw, very real, and you’ll get the same goofiness off of me, or seriousness whatever we’re doing in that moment, off-stage that you do on-stage. Without my family, without the upbringing, without all the interactions we’ve had, I wouldn’t be who I am, and that’s who I am on-stage as well. So, it’s everything. It really is everything. 

River: Yeah, that makes complete sense. Who or what gives you the biggest belly laughs? Like what is the funniest thing to you? 

Gwen: My family and my friends, my close circles, being with loved ones, and having those moments, I mean the people I’m around, my friends and my family, you gotta be sharp. You gotta be quick. Because if not, you'll get roasted in two seconds. So, especially growing up with two older brothers, they were always ganging up on me, teasing me, they trained me in a way. If anything, they created a monster ‘cause now, now I'm roasting them and they got nothing. That, to me, is the biggest love, and the biggest laughs are when I’m with friends and family and we’re just being ourselves, we’re busting on each other, and, you know, being sarcastic with one another. 

River: That’s awesome. And you know you touched earlier on “The Vagina Monologues” as social justice, and so I’m wondering, would you say that your gender and maybe other identity markers have shaped your career in comedy, maybe even your trajectory?

Gwen: I’d rather write something that reflects my true opinion or my true experience, and because again that’s who I am, inevitably it’s gonna include my community, you know, my LGBTQIA+ community, my Latino heritage, it’s gonna reflect all the things that I am, because that’s where I’m writing from— a place of truth and authenticity. And so, of course, it’s gonna put me on that trajectory. And that’s what helps me connect with people. You know, I'm not trying to be relatable I'm just being myself and by being myself, I am relatable to a lot of people.

River: So as we all know, or as everyone should know, you were featured on HBO Max’s “Entre Nos!” What was that experience like? 

Gwen: Amazing! That was one dream come true, ‘cause I have many, and a lot of them are coming true. This is another dream come true, putting on my show for a second year in a row, doing it in Humboldt Park, doing it with UTC. There’s a lot of dreams and that one was one of the biggest ones so far. Because, again, much like what I said earlier, ever since I was a kid I used to go “Oh I wanna be a funny actor!” ANd when I did learn about stand-up, I was like, “Oh snap, I’ve kinda been trying to do stand-up without knowing that’s what I was doing.” “Watch,” I used to say, “one day, I’m going to be on HBO.” I used to say that all the time. In the back of my mind, I was like “Bitch, how are you gonna do that? You’re not even involved in any of those circles.” But I never let logic take over, I was never like “But how? But where? Where’s your plan? Show me your five-year plan and how you’re gonna make it.” I never psyched myself out in that way. And everything that I've been doing, unbeknownst to me, has led me to that. And so when I walked in and saw the studio, and when I was ready to record. saw the HBO logos in the background, and the people and the lights and the camera, it hit me. ‘Cause a lot of times you’re in your manifestations and you’re so in the moment, you don’t even realize you’re exactly where you had asked to be. So I encourage people to pause. ‘Cause otherwise you’ll pass it up and be like, “Oh that’s right I did accomplish that!” Sit in it, ‘cause it passes you up fast. And the experience almost passed me up because I was so caught in doing and being and being present and being like “Don’t mess up, get your stuff right, how do you look? Did I say that right? Don’t forget so-and-so’s name.” You get so caught up in the moment that you forget that you prayed to be there, that you dreamed of being there. So it felt very surreal when I stopped myself and allowed myself a moment to look around in between all the mic’ing up and everything. It hit me. I was like “Holy crap! I’m about to record for HBO!” And then I remembered, “Oh snap I used to say that all the time,’ Watch, I’m gonna be on HBO,’ and now I’m here.” 

I used to always say that when I saw Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, in the opening scene of that movie when he’s doing a voice-over, that’s the first time I saw and learned and realized “Duh, there are people who do voice-overs,” and I was like, “ I wanna do that one day!” And I did! With Viva Films. I did “Around the World in 80 Days” and I got a role doing the voice-over. Aida Rodriguez was one of the roles as well. And, again, I was in the studio and the guy left for two seconds, and for those two seconds,  I looked around and I saw the screen, and I saw the animation on the screen. and I saw my headphones and I was like “I said I was gonna do this when I saw Mrs. Doubtfire!” So it’s very surreal when you catch yourself in the same place you envisioned yourself being in. It’s amazing. It's like a dream come true, you’re like, “I knew I was gonna do this, I don’t know how the hell I got here, but I got here!”

River: I bet that was so surreal, that’s incredible. So because you got to go to HBO Max were you able to meet other comics, and also generally do you feel there are any comics that push you to write better material?

Gwen: All of them. Every comic, whether they’re good or bad. Well, yeah think about it, ‘cause if I’m like, “Ugh, that’s terrible,” then ima be like, “I better get on my P’s and Q’s!” If I’m like “Oh man, they’re freaking great!” then I better get on my P’s and Q’s! But at the end of it all, every performer, not just stand-up comedians, but every performer, to me, is inspiring, because regardless of what I think of their content, it takes a lot of ovaries to get on that stage to be vulnerable. So they all get my respect. And they all make me wanna do better. They’re all inspiring to me. Especially my local comics here, you know, the people I work with, the people I talk to on the daily.

My biggest, I feel, purpose for my existence, on this earth, on this planet, is to bring people together. I think, in this world, we are focused way too much on our differences, and being better, or worse, it’s not a competition! There’s space for everybody to do what they gotta do, there’s no need to compete with one another. We need to all consider ourselves a family because we are. We are all one human race, and I think people need to remember that.