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Bronx Native Vanessa Verduga Is Building the Stage the Latine Community Has Been Missing
- Damian Ali
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Meet the Bronx artist building space for Latiné voices.
Vanessa Verduga next to the Broadway Sin Barreras logo: Image Courtesy of Vanessa Verduga/Broadway Sin Barreras
When Vanessa Verduga talks about storytelling, she does not describe it as a luxury or an aspiration. She talks about it as a necessity. Growing up in The Bronx, she learned early that stories were not just entertainment. They were how people made sense of survival, humor, and resilience in communities that were rarely reflected onstage.
That environment did more than shape her taste or ambition. It informed how she understands who gets to be centered, who is allowed complexity, and who is expected to wait quietly for permission.
“Growing up in the Bronx taught me that storytelling isn’t a luxury - it’s survival. I was surrounded by people with rich inner lives, humor, trauma, resilience, and creativity, yet I rarely saw those lives reflected onstage in a way that felt truthful or expansive. The Bronx showed me that culture lives in everyday people, not just in elite spaces, and that everyone deserves to take up space onstage, not just as side characters, but as protagonists. That perspective continues to guide everything I create.”
This view of storytelling as necessity, not indulgence, isn’t just personal. It exists within a measurable gap between who makes up New York City and who is visible on its stages.
According to a 2021 to 2022 report from the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), Broadway appeared more diverse than ever on paper, with actors of color and white actors hired at nearly equal rates. That overall balance, however, masked uneven representation beneath the surface.
While most roles filled by actors of color went to Black performers, Latiné actors accounted for only about 4 percent of all onstage roles. In a city where nearly one in three residents is Latine, the gap makes clear how many voices remain missing from Broadway stages.
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Broadway Sin Barreras founder Vanessa Verduga: Courtesy of Broadway Sin Barreras
In that context, Verduga’s insistence on taking up space is not symbolic. It is a response to what has been missing. Long before Broadway Sin Barreras and Broadway Sin Vergüenza took shape, her life was already moving between structure and imagination.
She began acting, singing, and dancing at age four. Her mother, a trained dancer in Spanish dance, encouraged discipline alongside creativity. Her grandmother, who emigrated from Ecuador, took her every weekend to sing live at a local radio station. Performance in her family was not framed as novelty. It was routine, demanding, and grounded in commitment.
Education and practicality were equally nonnegotiable. Creativity was supported, but it was expected to coexist with preparation. That balance followed her into adulthood. Verduga studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and later earned a law degree from Seton Hall University. During law school, she returned to acting through the theater student group, continuing to develop both paths in parallel rather than choosing one over the other.
She does not describe these experiences as detours.
“They’re absolutely part of one throughline. Each discipline gave me a different tool: law taught me structure, advocacy, and strategy; acting taught me empathy and presence; writing gave me voice; producing taught me how to build systems; music taught me how to communicate emotion instantly. I didn’t know it at the time, but all of it was preparing me to create my own ecosystem - one where art and rigor coexist.”
That instinct to build rather than wait first took public form in Justice Woman, the Latina led superhero web series she created in 2012. Frustrated by the narrow ways Latina characters were written and cast, Verduga chose not to audition her way around the problem. She wrote a solution. The series uses humor, genre, and camp to explore power and injustice, blending pop culture with lived experience and reaching audiences well beyond its initial scope.
Photo of Vanessa Verduga, star of Broadway Sin Barreras: Image Courtesy of Vanessa Verduga/Broadway Sin Barreras
Comedy has remained central to her work, not as decoration, but as strategy. Humor creates entry points. Camp allows critique to land without closing the door on connection.
“Comedy disarms. It invites people in before they realize they’re being challenged. Camp and exaggeration allow us to tell hard truths without shutting people down, they create space for reflection, empathy, and critique. Especially for communities that have been historically marginalized, humor becomes a form of power and resistance. You can say the unsayable—and people will listen.”
Those principles now live most fully within Broadway Sin Barreras and Broadway Sin Vergüenza, which operate together as distinct but connected parts of the same creative ecosystem. One focuses on building skills, access, and long form work. The other embraces parody, cabaret, and heightened storytelling to challenge exclusion while celebrating excess and joy.
For Verduga, the goal is not simply representation onstage. It is infrastructure. She is intentional about creating environments where Latiné artists are not required to justify their presence before being allowed to work.
“It made me intentional about creating spaces where Latiné artists don’t have to prove their worth just to enter the room. I’ve learned that excellence alone isn’t always enough, you need infrastructure, support, and visibility. That reality is what is pushing me to build spaces where artists can train, experiment, fail safely, and grow without being constantly measured against limiting stereotypes.”
A message from Broadway Sin Barreras founder.
She is equally direct about rejecting the false divide between seriousness and creativity. As someone who has worked as both a lawyer and an artist, she does not see discipline and play as opposites. She sees them as necessary partners.
“Because too often, especially for artists of color, we’re pushed into false binaries: you’re either creative or serious, emotional or intellectual. I reject that. I’m both a lawyer and an artist; disciplined and playful. Most artists need day jobs, and there should be no shame in that. What matters is discipline, persistence, and refusing to shrink yourself to fit someone else’s definition of success.”
Community, in her work, is not an abstract concept. It is an active collaborator. Audiences are treated as participants who shape the work as it develops. Workshops are not placeholders. They are part of the process.
“Visibility without responsibility feels hollow. Being seen only matters if it opens doors for others. Workshops and community based development keep the work honest and grounded. They remind me who the work is for not just the industry, but the people.”
Broadway Sin Barreras key art: Image Courtesy of Vanessa Verduga/Broadway Sin Barreras
Even with years of experience behind her, Verduga continues to train, study, and seek out new ways of learning. Curiosity, for her, is not a phase. It is a leadership principle.
“Because growth doesn’t stop. Staying curious keeps me humble and sharp. That mindset shapes how I lead—I want Broadway Sin Barreras to be a place where learning never feels like a weakness, but a strength.”
Vanessa Verduga is not waiting for a seat at the table. She is constructing the stage, training the performers, and inviting the audience inside. Not as a declaration, but as daily practice. The work is deliberate, rooted, and ongoing, guided by the belief that culture belongs to the people who live it.
Next in TalkTeaV’s continued coverage, we take a closer look at Broadway Sin Barreras and the work taking shape behind the scenes.
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