Gloria Calderon Kellett Talks About Her Latest Play and How It Explores More Than Just Identity

While Gloria Calderon Kellett found early critical success as a playwright, the multi-hat-wearing dynamo has spent the past 20 years working on some of TV’s most popular shows — including How I Met Your Mother, Devious Maids, and the Netflix reboot of One Day at a Time — as a writer, director, producer, and co-show runner.

Now, Kellett has returned to her first love with the Pasadena Playhouse’s production of One of the Good Ones, a comedy about what happens when a young Latiné woman, Yolo, introduces the new man in her life, Marcos, to her very successful Latiné parents.

Kellett recently spoke to TheaterMania about her return to playwriting, the importance of identity, why she loves to write for women, and the ultimate message of her play.

You haven’t written a play in over 20 years despite your early success, and have focused on TV ever since. So why write this play now?

I don’t think my desire to write plays ever went away, but I didn’t get the opportunity. I am so grateful that Danny Feldman [the producing artistic director of Pasadena Playhouse] gave me this shot – which is my first commission – since this is what I desperately wanted to do. And it’s a bonus to be able to tell a Latiné story in a city with 50 percent Latinés. It was also perfect timing; because of the Writer’s Guild strike, I couldn’t write for TV and film. It was such a luxury to be able to sit with these characters and have time to decide what I want to say in 90 minutes, which is very different from working in TV. But other than that, I found it was not that different from writing scripts for One Day at a Time, because a good multi-cam sitcom is really just a short play.

How much of this play is autobiographical?

There are some elements. My husband is white, and yes, my parents — who are both Cuban — were a little bit sad that I didn’t end up with a guy like my dad. But I used the story of the daughter introducing this “white” man to her family to really talk about the politics of identity, which we don’t get to explore often in American theater. I think for me the crux of the play is what we mean when we say someone is “All American.” In California, it definitely means someone with blond hair and blue eyes. People are not thinking of a tan girl, even though there are so many of us. I think we have adopted an idea of unique whiteness. We have a former — and maybe future — president who is othering us, saying the US belongs to some people and not others. I’m saying this country belongs to all of us, no matter where we came from. And if we are saying who this country really belongs to, then it really belongs to Native Americans, not white people.

I found all four characters to be well-written, but I especially liked the two female characters. Do you prefer writing about women?

I love all the characters in the play, but I especially love writing women. The character of Ilana was taken, in part, from so many of women friends in LA. Many of them are Latiné, but don’t speak Spanish. In Los Angeles, many kids were hit by the older generations if they spoke Spanish because they wanted to keep their children safe. So, the kids lost the chance to learn Spanish due to this perceived need to fully assimilate.

Did you always have Lana Parilla and Isabella Gomez in mind for the women’s roles?

I always have actors in mind because they help me to write. Still, I wasn’t sure who Ilana would be. I had many wonderful people in my mind at different times. Then Lana and I ran into each other in London, and she said she was dying to do a play. And I told her I was writing that play, so let’s see if this is kismet. She’s so wonderful in the role. Because we worked together on One Day at a Time, Isabella was always in my head as Yolo. I love working with her; she’s like family. But you can never be sure who will say yes when the time comes, and I am so glad she did!

What do you want audiences to take away from the play?

For all audiences, Latiné or not, I want them to see themselves all in the characters. Every woman is Ilana, who works so hard to be perfect. Every man is Enrique, who thinks no man will be good enough for his daughter. And as much as I want everyone to think about the importance of identity, I also want them to think about whether, at the end of the day, the most important thing in life is being happy. I want to spark conversation, and I hope that happens. And I hope I get to write another play.