Fans know the story, Constance Marie plays Regina Vasquez, a single mom who raised a child who is not her own. Her biological daughter was instead raised by another family. In this series, as luck would have it, the two girls who were switched at birth find one another. That is what makes the show so interesting.
Now it’s time for the summer season premiere to get rolling and Marie has some fun insights to share about what fans can expect.
In the show’s premiere fans will get to witness the beginning of Regina and Bay starting to develop their relationship even more. “Regina comes out of rehab and realizes that how things were before are not going to work for somebody who is in rehab,” says Marie.
Even though it’s great that Regina returns from the rehab center, there is a concern that she may have departed too soon.
“I think what happens is Regina realizes how much her rehab stay has sort of added to the disconnect between Daphne and her. She realizes that she’s missed so much time with the girls as it is that her coming out early to honor a tradition that she and Daphne had ends up being a mistake … and she has to remove herself again.
“That’s why she ends up at the Sorrento house, Angelo’s house, for a while because she made a mistake and it was too soon. But she is clearly on the path of trying to stay sober, so will do anything, including moving in with Angelo, if that’s what it takes to stay sober to get space from the Kennishes,” reveals Marie.
You may not be seeing the boyfriend return in the upcoming episodes. “We focus more on Regina’s rehab. One of the things that is great this season is before it was all about Daphne and everybody getting to know Daphne and the struggles that Bay and Daphne had together, but this is really a chance for Bay and Regina to connect and to explore that relationship, which was really not touched on in the first season at all.”
Don’t fret. There are lots of relational dynamics being explored this season. “The dynamic of that, and we include Angelo into that, and all of us living together is really and truly an amazing, amazing dynamic that gets to be explored. Also, the thing is, Ty is back. Blair Redford is also back on the show by popular demand. They get to explore those relationships, that relationship and him and his PTSD and coming back from war. It’s really, really amazing how dynamic the show still is,” Constance remarks.
Switched at Birth is a show Marie really enjoys being a part of. “I love that this show is very empowering for women and women’s struggles, and it focuses on how much women have to hold it all together. Particularly the Regina character being a single mom; a working mom with a deaf child. Really that’s one of the things that attracted me to the role. It is an homage to the single moms of America, who oftentimes are more seen as victims instead of these empowered, well-rounded, but still flawed characters that we can champion and role model. I really love that.”
Portraying a single mom who has a deaf child can really open your eyes to the reality some people live every day. Constance talks a little about that aspect of the show, learning to sign and her character.
“Honestly I feel truly, truly blessed. Working on the show has expanded my mind and now I can say that I speak a fourth language; and I’ve just fallen in love with the deaf community.
“A lot of hearing students, I’ve heard back from them that they’ve actually petitioned their high schools to start having American Sign Language as a second language in their high school. A lot of people have been motivated to become interpreters because they really didn’t even know that it was a career path and it was a language that they would fall in love with.”
Wrapping up, Marie tells us what makes the show such a success in her eyes. “One of the best things about Switched is that I hear that moms and their children watch it together, and especially the daughters and the moms. I think it’s a wonderful bonding experience that I’ve heard is a phenomenon and sometimes they even get the dads in there too, which is wonderful.”
Switched at Birth premieres on the ABC Family channel on Monday, June 10 @ 8/7c.
