Humans of the Arvada Center: Gabriel Morales

MEET GABRIEL MORALES

Gabriel Morales, far right, with his family. Olga Lopez Photography

Gabriel Morales, far right, with his family. Olga Lopez Photography.

How 'Mean Girls' uplifted a Mexican immigrant on his way to a life in the arts – and at the Arvada Center

NOTE: As we look to reopen our doors and reignite the arts, one thing becomes clear: The key to our creativity is our people. Songs are not sung, sets are not built, choreography is not taught, and canvases are not painted on their own. In our ongoing “Humans of the Arvada Center” series, we are highlighting the heartbeat of the Center: The people who make up the Arvada Center family.

By John Moore, Senior Arts Journalist

All you really need to know to really know Gabriel Morales is to know this: He compares his difficult introduction to middle school in America to the character of Cady Heron at the beginning of the film "Mean Girls." You know, Lindsay Lohan as the new kid in school who eats lunch alone in the bathroom stall because she doesn’t have any friends? 

Gabe was that kid, too. Only he wasn’t the daughter of a rich African zoologist. He was an immigrant moving with his nomadic family from Mexico to America – for the second time. But when Gabe first saw that iconic Tiny Fey movie in 2004, he found a kindred spirit in the leader of The Plastics. 

“I often tell people I can totally relate to Cady because we both have very similar stories,” Morales says now. “Adjusting to a new school, a new city, a new country and a new language was challenging, to say the least. We both experienced a huge culture shock adjusting to very different school systems – not to mention how all the pop-culture references of the time were totally lost on us.”

Not anymore, apparently. But just for the record, Gabe did not go on to form a cool clique in high school, or set out to ruin anyone’s life. When it comes to life-ruining, he is so un-Cady. 

“No, he’s a total sweetheart,” says Linda Suttle, who has the distinction of having been the first director to cast Morales in a Denver stage musical back in 2005. She cast him in the youth dancing ensemble in the 1957 heartland musical “The Music Man” at Littleton’s Town Hall Arts Center. 

“I remember that when Gabe walked in, he had a smile that lit up the room,” said Suttle. “What was funny is that he was a little worried about the dancing part of the audition, and he’s clearly gone on to become a pretty great dancer.” 

Morales has now performed in nearly 50 Colorado theatre productions, most meaningfully in the ensemble of the Arvada Center’s 2009 production of “Miss Saigon,” and his breakout performance starring as Molina in Vintage Theatre’s 2012 staging of “Kiss of the Spider-Woman.” “Morales revels in Molina's flamboyant excesses and shameless fantasies,” Bob Bows wrote for ColoradoDrama.Com. 

'I do not want directors to cast me because they feel they have to. I want them to cast me because I am the best person for the role.'

“ ‘Miss Saigon’ was my first Equity (union) contract,” Morales said. “The show was incredible, but what I loved most was that the cast came from all over the country, and I enjoyed getting to know each of them as individual human beings.” 

Gabe Morales in 'Kiss of the Spider-Woman'Shortly after, Morales was rallied to operate a spotlight for the Arvada Center’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” an underrated skill that he picked up quickly and continued doing for the next two Arvada Center seasons. In addition to his primary day job as an Administrative Assistant for the radio stations Jammin’ 101.5 and Hot 107.1, Morales was hired a year ago into the Arvada Center's box office as a Patron Services Representative. “It was strange at first entering the building through the front door instead of the stage door, but I have really enjoyed learning a different side of the business,” he said.

And he's particularly grateful to be getting box-office hours now, when the Arvada Center is presenting only very limited programming through the COVID shutdown. “It is both touching and humbling at the same time,” he said of working at the Arvada Center. “You keep hearing about companies that have completely shut down, but my boss Amber (Gale) really fought to keep us working, and that means so much to all of us.”     

(Pictured at right: Gabe Morales in 'Kiss of the Spider-Woman' at Vintage Theatre.)

Humble beginnings

Morales was born in Valle de Santiago, a city in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, about 200 miles west of Mexico City. The family migrated to the San Gabriel Valley in California when Gabe and his sister were infants. Four years later the family moved to Lamar, Colorado, where another sister was born – and where Gabe’s performing career officially began. “I was cast as The Big Bad Wolf in a production of 'The Three Little Pigs' for my kindergarten class,” said Morales, who, if he’s being honest, more remembers the milk and cookies that came after the performance than the show itself. 

But he’ll never forget a few months later when that same elementary school burned to the ground. The Morales family lived just a block away. Gabe was only 6 years old, “but I can still visualize the way the flames lit up the night, the smell of smoke in the air and my parents coming into our room in the middle of the night to take us to safety,” he said. 

Not long after, “we wandered back to Mexico,” said Morales, where his younger brother completed the family. “Our parents wanted us to really get to know our culture and our family better – especially my only living grandmother. Her love of music and performing inspired us all.”

That grandmother gave Gabe his first gig – singing alongside her at local funerals. “Isn’t that the craziest thing?” he said. “Funerals in Mexico are nine days of celebrating a person and guiding them to the next life." The tradition culminates in a "rosario,” which is a special ceremony that involves flowers, candles, prayers and music. And Gabe loved it. “Somehow that cultivated that love for performing that I still have to this day," he said.

Shop local and support Arvada Center artists during the COVID19 shutdown

Although he loved living in Mexico, Gabe always knew the family would one day return to the United States. His father was constantly traveling between countries, working for a production company that raised alfalfa. The move came when Gabe was 12, and it was not without danger. “My mom had to take many trips to Mexico City to get our visa paperwork approved, and she was just outside the U.S. embassy right when an earthquake hit Mexico City,” he said. That devastating 1985 quake killed 10,000 and damaged the embassy, but Gabe’s mother was safe. 

The Hill Middle School years were rough for Gabe. He had forgotten what little English he knew. He didn’t have the clothes or the hairstyle or the pop-culture lingo the other kids had. (That would all come with adulthood.) Gabe’s parents worried that he was too shy of a kid, so he was thrown into a variety of sports.

“I was so bad at soccer that sometimes I was not even told when the matches were going to happen,” he said with a laugh. “My parents finally decided the best way to help me to come out of my shell was to enroll me in two extremely different disciplines: Karate, so I could learn self-defense; and Mexican folkloric dance, so I would be involved in something artistic. I was terrible at karate, but I really loved dance. For the first time in my life, I was with kids who also enjoyed performing. We all had so much joy and pride in what we were doing that it hardly felt like work.” 

(Story continues below the photo)

Shakespeare to the rescue

Gabe’s life took another turn in middle school when an English as a Second Language teacher signed Gabe up for the gifted and talented class, which led to his first performance in the Denver Public Schools’ Shakespeare Festival, the largest student Shakespeare Festival in the world. Being surrounded by other creative children, Gabe said, made him feel more at home and less afraid. “Thanks to that class, I started easing out of bilingual classes," he said.

Morales went on to attend Kennedy High School in Denver, where a counselor asked him, "If you could take any class, what would it be?"

"I immediately said, ‘Acting class," Gabe said. "And once again, the arts came to my rescue.” 

Morales became a U.S. citizen right after graduation – and he was more than ready for the test. “My mom made preparing for the citizenship exam into a game that we all played,” he said. “At the time I didn’t give it that much importance, until I started applying for colleges and scholarships. That's when I realized how important it was.”

Morales graduated from Colorado Christian University in 1998 with a degree in theatre and later from the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. Since returning to Colorado, he has mostly performed at the Town Hall Arts Center, Vintage Theatre, Aurora Fox, Evergreen Players and Miners Alley Playhouse. Other favorite roles have included:

  • Paul in Union Colony Dinner Theatre's "A Chorus Line"
  • Hysterium in the Northglenn Players' "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"
  • Mitch Mahoney in the Turner Foundation's “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” 
  • Dick Wilkins in the DCPA Theatre Company’s “A Christmas Carol”
The issue of color in America, and on stage

Morales has a conflicted and complicated relationship with both his country and his theatre community at the moment, given all that has transpired in 2020 – and for decades leading up to it. “When the talk started about building the border wall, I could see in my parents' eyes how saddened they were,” he said. The recent Supreme Court decision protecting DACA residents was a huge relief to Morales, he said, “but there is still great fear and terror in not knowing what is going to happen next.” 

The national theatre industry is undergoing a reckoning that will no doubt lead to more authentic ethnic casting in future stage productions. As a person of color, that stands to benefit Morales – although he is deeply grateful for having been on the flip side of that spectrum for much of his career to date. He's had dozens of opportunities to play characters on Colorado stages that he himself has not been ethnically appropriate for, from the ex-con comfort counselor in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” to a Vietnamese soldier in “Miss Saigon.” 

“I am very thankful to all of the directors who have cast me,” said Morales. “At the same time, I do not want them to cast me in my next role just because they feel they have to. I want them to cast me because I am the best person for the role. Not because I’m brown.

“At the same time, I am grateful for the dialogue that is now underway. I appreciate that they have put it all on the table, and that we are talking about it.”  

Most of all, he’s grateful for the life in the arts he is enjoying that the scared, 12-year-old version of himself never would have thought possible. 

“I truly believe the arts helped me not only survive school, but they gave me the tools to overcome my shyness, helped tame my super-strong Spanish accent and forced me to confront my fears in a way that seemed manageable – thus making it feel like a great victory in the end,” he said.  

John Moore was named one of the 12 most influential theater critics in the U.S. by American Theatre Magazine during his time at The Denver Post. He also is the founder of The Denver Actors Fund, and is now contributing reports for the local theatre community for ArvadaCenter.Org. Reach him at culturewestjohn@gmail.com.

Photo credits: 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' by Olga Lopez; Headshots by Poshtography by Simone; 'Kiss of the Spider-Woman' by Ellen Nelson.

To follow the Arvada Center's #HumansOfArvadaCenter campaign, go to instagram.com

MEET MORE HUMANS OF THE ARVADA CENTER:

DIRECTOR OF GALLERIES COLLIN PARSON

DIRECTOR OF DANCE CHRISTINA NOEL ADCOCK

STAGE MANAGER CHRISTINE MOORE

HOUSE MANAGER STEVEN COGSWELL

DANCE EDUCATOR ASHI K. SMYTHE

WARDROBE SUPERVISOR JESSIE PAGE

CHILDREN'S THEATRE HOUSE MANAGER CAL MEAKINS

PRODUCTION MANAGER ADAM STOLTE

EDUCATION DIRECTOR LISA LEAFGREEN

LIGHTING DIRECTOR JON OLSON

PATRON SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE ABYGAIL ROSALES

Video bonus: Gabriel Morales in 'The Blackest Kids in Town'

Randy Chalmers, Faith Goins-Simmons, Anna Maria High, Joseph Lamar, Sonsharae Tull and Gabe Morales performed 'The Blackest Kids in Town,' a parody of a popular song from 'Hairspray,' at 'Miscast 2019,' which raised a record $8,600 for the Denver Actors Fund in September 2019 at the Aurora Fox.

Home,Reignite the Arts,Art at Home,Support Arvada Center Artists,Virtual Auction,Donate Now,Donate Now,Corporate Giving,Art Circle,2023-2024 Theatre Season,Renew,Visit Us,View All Events,Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express,Roland Bernier: In Other Words,Word Play,Animal Farm,Cleo Parker Robinson Dance presents Summer Suite,Big Band Royalty,Lola Montejo: After Another After,Floyd D. Tunson: Ascent,Anthony Garcia Sr: Pigment,A Tribute to the Boston Pops,The CJRO presents A Night of Sizzling Soul with Larry Braggs,Pink Martini featuring China Forbes,Carlou D,Pamela Webb: Hand + Hammer,Lauri Lynnxe Murphy: Seeing the Trees For the Forest,Pink Progression: Collaborations,Imprint: Print Educators of Colorado,528.0 Regional Juried Printmaking Exhibition,Wood.Works,Carley Warren: Three Pieces,Viral Influence: Art in the Time of Coronavirus,Brady Smith: (Don’t be embarrassed by) Your Trouble with Living,Melody Epperson: 100 Years + 1,Blurring The Line,Dawes,Melissa Etheridge,Narkita Gold: Black In Denver,Australian Pink Floyd,José González,Art of the State 2022,Into The Woods,Rockley Instrument Sale,Elle King,Madeleine Peyroux In Concert,One Sheet,The River Bride,Fine Art Market,Holiday Pottery Sale,The History of African American Music Part 3,Hazel Miller and the Collective: Christmas with Soul,Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,Colorado Abstract +10: A Survey,Gary Staab: Second Nature,Flora: Scientific Botanical Illustrations of Colorado Plants,Charlotte's Web,Art + Science,Jeffco Schools Foundation High School Art Exhibition,Arts For All Gala,Wendy Kowynia: Following the Thread,Spring Pottery Sale,Teacher Appreciation Concert,A Year With Frog and Toad,Damn Yankees,Bueno: Mark Bueno,Ramón Bonilla: The boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places for me.,Mary Poppins,A Tribute to Chick Corea with Eric Gunnison,Big Band Royalty: Nothin’ But the Blues,Latin Sounds From Legendary Artists,Swing, Swing, Swing: Benny and Beyond ,Denver Gay Men's Chorus: Divas, Icons and Justice Warriors,Big Draw Colorado,Drawn: From The Source,Keb' Mo',Collective Soul,Ben Folds,Lucero,Face Vocal Band,Mozart Under Moonlight,George Thorogood and the Destroyers,Toad the Wet Sprocket and Cracker,A Night at the Movies with the Colorado Symphony,The Denver Brass: In Pursuit of Leisure,Our Town,The Book Club Play,Indigo Girls,Boz Scaggs,The Ladies of Soul,Dining Partners,Amplify,Amplify Performers,Theatre,Upcoming Shows,2023-2024 Theatre Season,Performances for Students,Auditions,Million Dollar Quartet Auditions,The Laramie Project Open Auditions,Holiday Plays,Galleries,Current Exhibitions,Wood.Works Know Before You Go,Gallery Events,Upcoming Exhibitions,Art Sales,Art Submissions,Viral Influence Call for Entry,Big Draw Colorado,Sculpture Field,History Museum,Archive,Education,View All Classes,Summer Camps,Full Day,FAQ,Spring Break Camps,Classes for Kids,Classes for Adults,Ceramics,Front Range Youth Symphony,Dance Academy,Arts Day,Arts Day Outreach,Ageless Adults,Scholarships,Yesterado,Teen Intensive 2021,Yesterado,Field Trips and Outreach,ECE Field Trips,K-5 Field Trips,Middle and High School Field Trips,Outreach Programs,Preschool Partnership Program,Music and Dance,Jeffrey Siegel,Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra,Summer Concerts,AEDA Summer Concerts,Humanities,On Their Shoulders We Stand,Private Event Rentals,Caterers,Vendors,Straight Talk Series ,Straight Talk with Philip Sneed,COVID’s toll on Colorado theatre: 224 productions and counting ,Straight Talk with Lynne Collins,Straight Talk with Rod Lansberry,Straight Talk with Phamaly, Buntport, Colorado Shakes and Rocky Mountain Rep,Straight Talk with Creede Rep, Town Hall, Candlelight and Theatre Company of Lafayette,Straight Talk with Aurora Fox, BDT Stage, Cherry Creek Theatre and Misfits,Straight Talk with Su Teatro, Vintage, Backstage and Counterweight,Straight Talk with Local Theater Company, Theater 29, The Source and Equinox,Straight Talk with the Denver Center, Jesters Dinner Theatre, Glenwood Vaudeville Revue and Germinal Stage-Denver,Actors' union issues safety guidelines for re-opening,Straight Talk with square product, Forge Light, Springs Ensemble Theatre and Coal Creek Theatre of Louisville,Straight Talk with the Fine Arts Center, Miners Alley Playhouse, Dangerous Theatre and Lone Tree Arts Center ,Straight Talk with Lake Dillon Theatre Company, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company and Northglenn Arts,Straight Talk with The Catamounts, Bas Bleu and Thingamajig,Straight Talk with Curious Theatre Company,Straight Talk with OpenStage, Firehouse and Adams Mystery Playhouse,Straight Talk with Platte Valley Players and Theatreworks,Straight Talk with Parker Arts, Stories on Stage and Thunder River ,Staight Talk 2 with Philip Sneed: This much is uncertain,Pivoting With,Pivoting with The Black Actors Guild,Pivoting with ... Emily Van Fleet and Nathan Jones,Pivoting With ... Tammy Franklin and the Curtain Playhouse,Pivoting With Nick Sugar and the Town Hall Arts Center,Pivoting With Helen Murray and the Aurora Fox,Pivoting with Edith Weiss and Christy Montour Larson,Pivoting With Scott RC Levy and the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company,Pivoting with Todd Debrecini for Halloween,Pivoting with Ashley Campbell,Pivoting with Meghan Anderson Doyle,Pivoting with Jenna Moll Reyes,Pivoting with Erik Fellenstein,Pivoting with Ray Bailey ,Pivoting with Tara Falk,Community News,Inside the Arvada Center,Director's Notes: A Midsummer Night's Dream,All About Printmaking Techniques,Humans of the Arvada Center: Meet Collin Parson ,Arvada Center Makes Masks,Christina Noel-Adcock,"Bright Star" cast unveils video as message of hope,Humans of the Arvada Center: Meet Christine Moore,Humans of the Arvada Center: Steven Cogswell,Humans of the Arvada Center: Ashi K. Smythe,City of Arvada to install new sculpture in Hoskinson Park,Humans of the Arvada Center Jessie Page,Here are the 2019-20 Henry Award nominations,Arvada Center to Offer Students World’s First Zoom Musical,Humans of the Arvada Center Cal Meakins,Humans of the Arvada Center: Adam Stolte,Supreme Court workplace ruling hits home for Lisa Leafgreen,'Time for talk is over': Arvada Center launch 'Amplify' series to raise black male voices,Humans of the Arvada Center Jon Olson ,New Arvada Center, Aurora Fox seasons reflect current complexities,It's virtually impossible not to have fun in our summer camps,News roundup: Who The Denver Actor's Fund DEAR Fund has helped,Humans of the Arvada Center: Abygail Rosales,Pink Progression Collaborations: Jina Brenneman and Margaret Kasahara,Pink Progression: Julia Rymer and Drew Austin,Revealing The Dialogue,Amplify Epiode 3 launches, series expanding to include black women,Photo Blog: Sweeney Todd Rehearsals,Humans of the Arvada Center: Gabriel Morales,Pink Progression: Sangeeta Reddy and Jodie Roth Cooper,Front Porch Series Kickoff,Cleo Parker Robinson dances back in the box with Arvada Center,Amplify turns the mic over to local Black women ,Beth Malone bringing 'joy bomb' to Arvada Center oon September 4,Theatre news: Live streaming panel Monday on a big new 'Idea',Humans of the Arvada Center: Meet Emily King,Amplify Women Episode 2,Special Book Honors Special Dance Teacher,Arvada Center pivots to radio-play series for fall ,amplify-series-comes-to-powerful-conclusion,How COVID is impacting individual artists,Take a stroll through 'Sculpture in the Field',Arts In Education Week,Colorado Theatre News: Miscast pivots to CAST ,Essay: Was the Aurora Fox a safe house on Opening Night? ,Lessons from a summer of outdoor theatre in the time of COVID ,Humans of the Arvada Center: John Hamilton,Theatre news of the week: DCPA launches Recovery Fund,Zachary Andrews take a one-man bite out of 'Dracula',Spotlight Manos Soap,Doreen Montalvo in Denver: Compassion and grit,What to do: Theatre happenings for October 23,Betty Hart's presidential promise: Build a bigger tent,Theatre happenings October 30,Virtual theatre sprouts a new branch with Arvada Center's 'The Family Tree',Humans of the Arvada Center: Brenna Clendaniel and Sophia Koop,Theatre happenings November 12,the barnstormers are back,On being Black in Denver and all the colors that it brings,Getting to Know: Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales,Theatre happenings November 19: Companies entering cancellation mode,2021 in live theatre: A look into the Crystal Ball,2020 True West Awards: Buntpivot ,2020 True West Awards: Lily Bradford,2020 True West Awards: The Scenesters,2020 True West Awards: Podcastic,2020 True West Awards: Phamaly takes 'Honk' to Japan,2020 True West Awards: Christine Moore,2020 True West Awards: Alive Inside,2020 True West Awards: Michael Ensminger,True West Awards: They Wrote the Book,True West Awards: Rent-A-Pals,True West Awards: Of Spacious Skies,True West Awards: Christopher Page-Sanders,2020 True West Awards: Suffer the little children,2020 True West Awards: Spirit of Giving,2020 True West Awards: Secret Gardeners,2020 True West Awards: Denis Berkfeldt,2020 True West Awards: Amplify,2020 True West Awards: Reclaiming One Star,2020 True West Awards: William Hahn and Jessica Robblee,2020 True West Awards: Lisa Wagner Erickson,'The Family Tree affords actors rare chance to work during pandemic,SCFD: New picture of COVID carnage on metro nonprofits,New Arvada Center video offers diverse slate of holiday stories,20 for 20,Meet the Frasers,Bev Newcomb-Madden: Colorado's feisty, ferocious fairy godmother passes away ,Lucy Roucis' final act is a gutpunch,Reunite the Arts Collin Parson,Jodie Steeves and Nancy Terry,Reunite the Arts Lisa Leafgreen,Remembering John Gratkins,Reunite the Arts: From our CEO,Adapting the Great Gatsby,Small Mouth Sounds returns,Danielle Johnson Q&A,Reunite the Arts Lynne Collins,The Show Must Go On,Diana and Mike Kinsey,Get to Know Kazu Oba,Meet Suzanna Champion,The Gear of Million Dollar Quartet,FRYS and the Symphony,Get to Know Carlou D,Stories From the Studio,Hispanic Heritage Month: Meet Lares Feliciano,21 for 21,An interview with Geoffrey Kent: The Liar,Art of the State 2022 Awards,An interview with Jada Suzanne Dixon: Stick Fly,An interview with Jessica Robblee: Animal Farm,Fast Facts About Kinky Boots,Costume Department Boots Up,Rod A Lansberry Announces Retirement from Arvada Center,Lynne Collins Named Artistic Director of Arvada Center Theatre,Getting to Know José González,2022 Henry Award Nominations,Getting to Know Joan Osborne and Madeleine Peyroux,Sit Under the Stars at the Front Porch Series ,The Many Sounds of Carlou D,The Tunes of the Daniella Katzir Band,Setting the mood: Into the Woods Set Designer Brian Mallgrave,Into the Woods Directors Note,The River Bride Director's Note,What is Magical Realism?,Hispanic Heritage Month: Meet Ana María Hernando,The CJRO Sessions featuring Robert Johnson,Meet Ceramics Artist Luanne Burke,From student to teacher: Hadley’s story,Tackling the Beast,Be Like Belle on Colorado Gives Day,Things to Know About Our Town,Creating the Look of Our Town: A Q and A with Set Designer Brian Mallgrave,Whatever Lola Wants - A Deep Dive into the Damn Yankees Signature Song,Selling Your Soul - A Pop Culture Favorite,The Book Club Play Reads,Metatheatre Elements in Our Town - When a Play Knows It's a Play,90s Throwback Vibe with Arvada Center 2023 Summer Concert Series,Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra at the Arvada Center,Arts Advocacy,Volunteer,About Us,Ticketing Policies,Group Tickets,Ticket Discounts,Contact Us,Accessibility,Health and Safety,Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access,Careers,Know Before You Go,Tours,Adopt an Actor 2023,Adopt An Artwork,Temp,Virtual Theatre FAQ,New Website ,Pink Progression Events,On Demand Troubleshooting,Blog,Lorem ipsum,Lorem ipsum 2,Newk’s,Steuben’s Arvada,The Family Tree FAQ,Home for the Holidays,Land Acknowledgement,What To Expect at the Theatre,One Sheet Music,Gift Certificates,Gala,Gala Sponsors,Errors,404,The Family Tree Dining Offers,Privacy Policy,Our Town Synopsis,Concessions