I’ve always been attracted to stories about starting over; hitting the reset button on your life, especially when it’s at a time that’s anything but convenient. I think there’s something very reassuring about this, because such stories remind us that it really is never too late to scrap whatever plan we thought we had a grip on and try something entirely different. So it’s no wonder that I was attracted to the story of Yosmel López.

I first met Yosmel (Yos for short) in the prep kitchen of a taqueria in NE Portland that I was filming a documentary back in 2024. At the time, he was still getting his bearings and learning how to navigate life in Portland, and in the US in general. Having just come from Guantanamo, Cuba, (the city, not the US Detention Center) only a year prior, there was a lot to process and grapple with. He found a society that doesn’t stop moving to let you catch your own breath, let alone learn the language, find a supportive community and pick up where he’d left off in a career that he had spent 15 years of his life building.

In Cuba, Yos was well established and internationally recognized as a puppet maker, theater director, and actor for children’s theater. He even got to travel to other countries to perform his plays, which is a rare privilege afforded to Cuban citizens as nearly everything must be approved by the state. The last show he worked on as a director dealt heavily with the topic of migration. After months of rehearsals, his own actors and friends began to emigrate from the island themselves. Sometimes the universe has a not-so-subtle way of delivering a message…

What I experienced while making this Art Beat story was an inside look at a niche style of theater for an important audience that arguably needs creative stimulation the most. It’s also a personal tale of resilience and determination that reunited Yos with his purpose and community at none other than the Milagro Theater, which in English translates to “miracle.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/04/yosmel-lopez-cuba-portland-oregon-puppets-puppeteer-art-culture/