On a beautiful Saturday night this past summer, a Vietnam veteran named Louis drove more than 1,600 miles from deep in the American South to LA’s Eastside only to find himself crying in a crowded room in Boyle Heights. He was watching a play inspired by his life.
The production at Casa 0101 Theater was “Soul Sacrifice,” written by Consuelo G. Flores and directed by filmmaker Kenneth Castillo. Set in East Los Angeles during the Vietnam War, it follows a Chicano family grappling with grief, identity and sacrifice.
After the performance, Louis approached Castillo and thanked him for telling his family’s story with care. Louis had traveled from Arkansas with his family to attend opening night. His grandchildren asked him questions about which parts of the play were true, eager to better understand their grandfather’s experiences.
Louis wasn’t the only one. Throughout the production’s sold-out 12-performance run, Vietnam veterans approached Castillo after performances to thank him for portraying experiences that closely reflected their own. For someone like Castillo, who grew up with a deep respect for military service through his father and uncles, those conversations became some of the production’s most meaningful moments.
By its final weekend, every seat in the theater’s 99-seat house had been filled.
Castillo told The LA Local that he worked hard to elicit strong reactions from the audience. Although much of his career has been spent making films, Castillo said he brought a filmmaker’s approach to the stage.
“The camera is the audience,” he said.
For “Soul Sacrifice,” rather than casting individual characters, he focused on building a believable family. During rehearsals, he had actors perform scenes without dialogue, believing emotion should be communicated through movement before words.
How the production came together
Castillo wasn’t always attached to the production.
As a member of the East Side Arts Initiative, Castillo attended a staged reading of “Soul Sacrifice” after Flores invited the board to hear the script. Set during the Vietnam War and the Chicano Movement, the play echoed stories his parents had shared with him growing up. His mother had passed away just months earlier, making the experience especially personal.
By the end of the reading, Castillo knew he wanted to direct it.
Castillo told Flores he’d welcome the opportunity to direct the play if it ever became available. Another director had been attached to the staged reading, and Castillo was careful not to step on anyone’s toes. When that arrangement fell through, Flores handed him the production.
That decision reflects the way Castillo has approached his career. Rather than waiting for opportunities in a business that he noted doesn’t always embrace Latino stories, he creates them.
After feeling like Hollywood was an untenable dream, Castillo found his direction at the Theatre Academy at Los Angeles City College. The academy gave him confidence, a creative outlet and direction.
“I never fit in anywhere,” he said. “Because I didn’t fit in anywhere, I could fit in anywhere.”
That mindset followed him into filmmaking. Even when opportunities slowed, Castillo kept creating. At one point, he shot a short film on a cracked iPhone because, for him, telling stories was never something to wait for.
“I don’t write Chicano, per se, or Latino,” Castillo said. “I write human beings.”
For Castillo, culture provides the setting, but people drive the story.
“If you do something human, then everybody can relate to it.”
Castillo said every creative decision, from casting to lighting, serves the same purpose: telling the story as honestly as possible.
“Directing is the art of communication,” Castillo said. “Anybody can have an idea. The difference between creatives that work and creatives that don’t is the ones that can execute their vision.”
‘No place like home’
That passion for storytelling extends beyond his own productions. Castillo teaches directing at ArtCenter College of Design and will also teach at Bow Street Academy LA, sharing the same philosophy with aspiring filmmakers.
Even as he teaches others, Castillo said he still approaches storytelling like a student.
His latest challenge is “No Place Like Home,” his first graphic novel. Originally conceived as a feature film, Castillo realized the story’s budget would be beyond reach. Rather than abandoning it, he adapted the story.
After finding an artist whose work he admired, Castillo reached out with a simple logline. The collaboration introduced him to an entirely new creative process, replacing actors with pages and dialogue with visual storytelling.
Inspired by “The Wizard of Oz,” his daughter’s experiences and his own journey growing up in Wilmington, the story explores what it means to find home through a distinctly Chicano lens.
Alongside the graphic novel, Castillo is also completing his filmmaking memoir, “Stereotypical: My Filmmaking Journey from the Harbor to Hollywood.”
“Whenever I write something down,” Castillo said, “it’s with the intention of getting it made.”
