Kita Updike discusses her latest project, The Horror of Dolores Roach.

The Horror of Dolores Roach is a contemporary urban legend about love, treachery, cannabis, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest. It is based on the popular Spotify audio series of the same name. After serving an unfair 16 years in jail, Dolores Roach (Justina Machado) gets freed and returns to a Washington Heights that has undergone gentrification. Dolores meets up with an old buddy who used to smoke pot, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), who lets her reside and work as a masseuse in the basement beneath his empanada restaurant. “Magic Hands” Dolores is forced to go to surprising lengths to survive as the promise of her recent stability is suddenly jeopardized.

Aaron Mark produced the original podcast, wrote the pilot script, directed the show, and originally performed Empanada Loca as a one-woman piece. The new show is created by Aaron Mark, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer with Dara Resnik. Other executive producers on the project include Roxann Dawson, who also directed the pilot episode, Dawn Ostroff, Mimi ODonnell, Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold, and Gloria Calderón Kellett for GloNation Studios.

On July 7, the brand-new eight-episode Amazon Original series will make its debut only on Prime Video.

Actress Kita Updike, who plays Nellie Moore, spoke with The Official Black Magazine about the series and her character.

Cox: Kita Updike, I’m excited to speak with you about your role as Nellie in The Horror of Dolores Roach. What were your first thoughts when the script came across your desk? 
Updike: I was really excited. I have been working on this project for five of the ten years since the initial start of the show (podcast). I’m the only one left from the podcast. Public Theater, with whom I’ve been fortunate enough to work previously, had suggested me for the project. 

They knew I could play this character. I lived only about two or three blocks from where the story took place. For me, it was like I knew these people who were being written about. 

Coming on board, though, I had a few questions and suggestions, so I wanted to make sure I could speak with the playwright about some things. He was so willing and open. It just started off a whole relationship that made me instantly say yes to the show. 

I couldn’t say no to him or a project that’s taking place near where I actually live. 

Cox: Your character, Nellie, is my favorite. She is hilarious and so real. You think you understand her at first, but then there are more layers to her, as we discover.  
Updike: Nellies ties into my personal life, as I think that happens with a lot of the characters we portray. Her attitude is definitely like mine. I hold people at a distance at first, but once I really get to know them, I latch on, and anybody who knows me can agree with that. That’s what I really appreciate about the role and what I think made this show successful overall. Aaron was very collaborative with the actors and spoke with us about what we really saw in the character and tried to incorporate that as much as possible. So, there are pieces of us coming through. 

Cox: What’s something you love about Nellie? 
Updike: She loves her community. When I lived in The Heights, I would spend a lot of time at the bookstores and coffee shops. These things are starting to no longer be there in the community, and we see that at the start of the show. I didn’t take any of that experience for granted, and I wanted it to be part of her story. If you pay attention to some of the things she’s wearing throughout the series, you will see her wearing some local artists’ shirts and pants, and some of their stuff will be in her room. These things are actually from local artists in The Heights. I took this initiative to celebrate the people with whom I spent some of my formative years. 

Cox: Mentioning her love for community, you later see Nellie excited and showing emotion when she is outside interacting with the community, compared to when we were first introduced to her. Is this another place where we see some of Kita in Nellie? 
Updike: You know when you hear people talk about how a person can be an extrovert or an introvert at different times? At first, when I meet people, I’m very anxious because I know that once you get to know me, I can be the loudest person in the room. And that is exactly what it is like for Nellie. 

From the beginning, Dolores comes into the shop. To Nellie, this is her shop. She wants to protect it, and she sees this person coming in off the street. She asks, Maam, who are you, and why are you here? But later, she realizes Dolores is a cool person and thinks that maybe she needs to pull back a little bit and get to know her. It becomes like an auntie and niece relationship, and you will see later throughout the show that she would do anything for Dolores. 

Cox: When we look at Dolores coming into the coffee shop and meeting Nellie during that scene, we see how she sees the neighborhood changing. There is a parallel between the show and what’s happening in the neighborhood in real life with gentrification. What are your thoughts? 
Updike: I think it’s very interesting. As I said, when I first got the script and read through it, I could understand it because I was still living there at the time, and we were recording the show. I saw all those things occurring, which is truly heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking to see things go like the people playing dominoes on the corner or seeing that lady go to the empanada shop that used to be there. You know, it starts with that first coffee shop chain, and then all these college students come in that don’t look like you. It’s a little shocking at first. 

I like that the show demonstrates this because we need to show that these communities, historically made up of people of color, are being pushed out further and further. These communities were the first places where people of color stayed because they were pushed out and could afford it. But now you see them being pushed out once again. We need to show this so that all people can see what is happening and get a good idea of what it looks like. 

Cox: Just for fun, before you go, would you get the empanadas in the show with the special meat sauce? 
Updike: (Laughs) Well, I don’t know because there’s a clip in the trailer of me eating it, and Nellie has no idea what’s really in it. So, Nellie doesn’t know anything about Kita. I can’t say yes or no. But what I can say is that Nellie is happily eating it because she loves the store, and she will defend it till the end. 

Cox: Let’s continue (laughs), but once you find out, will you stop eating the empanadas? 
Updike: (Laughs) I’m still going to eat a good empanada. I’ve lived in The Heights; what else do I have to eat besides a good empanada.