Making his mark with NMSU Theatre

“He leads from the heart,” New Mexico State University Theatre Department associate professor Nichole Hamilton said about Mario Manuel Montiel, who plays the lead in the Theatre Department’s production of “Footloose” the musical, which opens Nov. 12 at NMSU.

Montiel, 23, will also dance the part of Godfather Drosselmeyer in Borderlands Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker,” which opens in December, also at NMSU. 

In addition to rehearsals and performances for both productions – along with learning lines, songs and choreography – he is a full-time student (including seven dance classes a week) at NMSU and will graduate with a degree in theatre in December. He’s a shift manager at Panda Express on weekends, a member of the Theta Ki Fraternity at NMSU and the owner of a pit bull named Ox.

“I don’t have a day off,” Montiel said, adding, “I like being busy. I love what I do.”

Montiel grew up in a large family in Belen. He played office, school and other make believe with his cousins in a tree house, and discovered an early interest in performing.

Montiel’s mother was a great storyteller, he said, and he remembers her asking him, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” and then telling him, “You can do anything you want to do.”

“That really stuck with me,” Montiel said. “She sparked my creativity: I can be anything.”

Montiel decided to explore theatre at Belen High School (BHS), and “see what all the hype was about,” he said. With supportive teachers guiding him as an actor and singer, he was cast in the lead male role in BHS’ production of “West Side Story.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Montiel said. “I’m doing this.”

He also performed in “The Crucible” and “Coraline” at BHS.

After high school graduation, Montiel wasn’t sure he wanted to go to college, he said, but some of his friends were coming to NMSU, so he came too, and found a home at the Mark and Stephanie Medoff Theatre.

Montiel’s first performance at NMSU was in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” in 2023, playing several roles. That was followed by a lead role in the staged reading of a then untitled play (now titled “Wave after Wave”) in NMSU’s High Desert New Play Festival in 2024. He also played a lead role in “A River, Its Mouths” in the 2026 festival.

Montiel played the Evil Priest and a Disciple in Blank Conversations Theatre Company’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Rio Grande Theatre, and at NMSU he played Gomez Addams in “The Addams Family” musical and Count Dracula in “Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors.”

“Jesus Christ Superstar” was important to Montiel because it honors his Catholic faith and the show is “all singing and dancing because words aren’t strong enough to portray the emotions,” he said. The show’s lead roles of Jesus and Judas are two Montiel hopes to play as a professional.

Montiel enjoyed playing Gomez Addams in “The Addams Family” because it connects to his Hispanic heritage. “People get to see me for my culture,” he said. And he got to hone his Spanish accent for the part.

“I’ve always been obsessed with vampires,” Montiel said, so playing Dracula was a dream come true.

"Working with Mario on ‘Dracula’ was a joy,” said Nichole Hamilton, the play’s director. Montiel “puts everything he has into creating a character that serves the story and the style of a show. His joy for acting and determination to succeed will carry him far. I'm very excited to see where his journey goes."

“She pushes me as an actor,” Montiel said of Hamilton. “People that believe in you and see you, I just appreciate them a lot.”

It was during a performance of “Dracula” that Borderlands Ballet Artistic Director Monique Foster saw Montiel perform and offered him a role in “The Nutcracker” ballet.

"Among the many qualities that make Mario a strong actor and wonderful to work with, the one that stands out most to me is his bravery,” said Theatre Department associate professor Larissa Lury, who has directed Montiel in multiple productions.

“Two of the projects I’ve had the chance to work with him on were new plays in development. Both required deep emotional vulnerability and rawness. They also required him to jump into playworlds that demanded truthful performances in styles outside of realism. Each time, he dug in, personalized the characters, and took creative risks. And he did that with the professional writers-in-residence watching and learning about their plays through his work. I’ve seen him grow as an actor through each of the very different projects he’s taken on during his time at NMSU, and in those two projects, I also had the chance to see the plays grow from what he brought to the workshop process."

Montiel’s mother died in July 2025, but he continues to receive a lot of support from his family, including his father, who called him after seeing a performance of “The Addams Family” to say, “I’m so proud of you,” Montiel said. “It melted my heart.”

“As a senior in our program, Mario has grown tremendously as a performer, and everyone should come see him play the lead role of Ren in ‘Footloose’ and experience his work as a ‘triple threat’ – actor, dancer and singer,” said NMSU Theatre Department Head Wil Kilroy, who directed “Footloose.”  “In addition to his talent, Mario is a terrific human, and so easy to work with – a true joy.”

Montiel has visited New York City twice recently on NMSU Theatre Department trips and seen professional theatre. He plans to move to New York in 2027 and begin auditioning.

“I really want to be on that level,” he said.

Visit mariomontiel.com.