Community-engaged playwright and theater artist with a practice rooted in immersive research and social justice. Taught theater, theater history, and playwriting at undergraduate and graduate levels, and in four other countries. Experienced in devised processes, producing, fundraising, dramaturgy, editing, translation, and curating new play festivals. Strong emphasis on multiracial, cross-cultural, and transnational narratives and collaborations.
EDUCATION
2011 MFA in Theatre Arts / Playwriting University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Thesis title: Landless Thesis supervisor: Professor Art Borreca
2002 BA in Ethnic Studies University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA Thesis title:El Río Thesis supervisors: Professor Tiya Miles and Professor Cherríe Moraga
PUBLICATIONS “Writing in the Woods,” published by HowlRound Theatre Commons, 2017 “The Revisions of Mount Misery,” published by HowlRound Theatre Commons, 2015 “Between Me and the World” (memoir), published in Teaching Artist Journal, 2008 sociogastronomy, limited-edition handmade artist book (with photographer Victoria Heilweil), 2006 Editor, The School is a Giant T-Rex, Performing Arts Workshop, 2006 Editor, What Goes Up: WritersCorps at the SF Public Library, WritersCorps, 2005 Editor, Memories Like Night Falling: WritersCorps at Newcomer High School, WritersCorps, 2005 Editor, Fish Walking on their Fins, Performing Arts Workshop, 2005 Ode to my mother’s hands: poems, Self-published chapbook, 2002 Oda Corporal: love poems, Self-published chapbook, 2002
GRANTS and FELLOWSHIPS Rella Lossy Playwriting Award, 2020 Theater Communications Group In the Lab Travel Grant, 2018 National Performance Network Artist Engagement Fund, 2018 Kenneth Rainin Foundation Grant, 2018 National Performance Network Development Fund, 2018 Theater Bay Area CA$H Grant, 2016 San Francisco Foundation Career Investment Grant, 2016 National Performance Network Americas Exchange Grant, 2016 National Performance Network Creation Fund, 2016 Center for Cultural Innovation NextGen Arts Leadership Grant, 2015 San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Commission, 2015 Andrew W. Mellon Playwright Residency Grant, 2013 Fulbright Scholarship in Creative Writing, 2012 Kenneth J. Cmiel Human Rights Award, 2010 Richard Maibaum Scholarship for Playwriting, University of Iowa, 2010 Association of Performing Arts Presenters Travel Grant, 2008 Iowa Arts Fellowship, University of Iowa, 2008 - 2011 Theatre Bay Area CA$H Grant, 2008 Zellerbach Community Arts Grant, 2008
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Higher Education
State University of New York, Purchase Assistant Professor of Applied Theatre Forthcoming courses: Introduction to Applied Theatre,Introduction to Theatre & Performance, Documentary Theatre, Community-Engaged Playwriting, Playwriting Appointment commences August 2020
Universidad de las Américas, Puebla Guest playwriting lecture May 2020
John Jay College Guest lecture on Latin American Theater November 2018
Carnegie-Mellon University Graduate School of Drama Seminars taught: Playwriting (Language, Thetricality, & Revision); Grantwriting April 2017
University of Goroka, Department of Language and Literature Seminar taught: Playwriting April - October 2012
University of Iowa, Department of Theatre Arts Courses taught: Playwriting, Theater History, Theater & Society January 2010 - May 2011
University of California, Berkeley Courses taught: Poetry for the People (African American Studies), Inclusion Initiative (Disability Studies) January 2001 - May 2002
City College of San Francisco Guest lecture in poetry November 2000
Other
Spanish Teacher, School for Young Performers, New York, NY March 2020 – Present ELA/Math Test Prep Tutor, SmartStart Education, New York, NY January 2018 – July 2020 ELA/Math Tutor, EBL Coaching, New York, NY February 2018 - February 2020 Performance Master Class, Asociación Xajooj Tuun, Rabinal, Guatemala Co-taught with Lakin Valdez June 2018 SSAT/SHSAT Test Prep Tutor, Boys Club of New York, NY February - June 2018 Spanish Tutor, OnLocation Education, New York, NY January - March 2018 Spanish Teacher, School for Young Performers, New York, NY September 2017 - June 2018 Playwriting Teacher, Conjunto Cultural Korimakao, Pálpite, Cuba January & April 2016 Guest Artist, San Francisco School of the Arts, San Francisco, CA August 2016, September 2019 Playwriting Teacher, Cutting Ball Theater, San Francisco, CA July 2013, December 2015 Radio Drama Teacher, Cultural Survival, Guatemala May -August 2010 Teaching Artist Fellow, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA August - December 2009 Playwriting Teacher, Iowa City Senior Center, Iowa City, IA April 2009 Playwriting Teacher, Lincoln Elementary School, Iowa City, IA October - December 2008 Playwriting Teacher, Bridgemont High School, San Francisco, CA March 2008 Playwriting Teacher, Galileo High School, San Francisco, CA October 2006 Playwriting Class, Centro Cultural Kusiwasi, Urubamba, Peru August 2005 Playwriting Master Class, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, Lima, Peru July - August 2005 Teaching Artist, Performing Arts Workshop, San Francisco, CA October 2004 - May 2006 Teaching Artist/Intern Coordinator, WritersCorps, San Francisco, CA October 2004 - July 2006 Teaching Artist, ArtCorps, Ixcán, Guatemala January - October 2003
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Japan = Black Men’s Heaven – African American POWs in World War II; Japanese military propaganda Converging Worlds Project – History of Cuba-US relations; CIA attempts on Fidel Castro’s life; Cuban Revolution; organization of Cuban society, Afro Cuban religion*† Men of Rab’inal – Text and history of the Rabinal Achi; history and culture of Rabinal; Guatemalan Civil War; Spanish Invasion of Guatemala; Spanish Colonia in Guatemala; Mayan music*† The 51st Star – Gulf War; Saddam Hussein; George H. W. Bush YellowCake – Uranium mining in the Diné Nation; depleted uranium weapons use in Iraq; uranium enrichment process whisper fish – Peruvian son del diablo and diablada masked dances; Japanese oni matsuri masked festival† Mount Misery – Enhanced interrogation techniques (CIA-approved and otherwise); War on Terror; slavery; Frederick Douglass; Donald Rumsfeld; history of the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay† Sister Cities – Drug War in Mexico; George and Martha Washington celebration (Laredo, TX) † Loner’s War – Japanese straggler soldiers; WWII in Papua New Guinea*† Boot-Heel – Great Depression; 1939 Sharecropper strike of southeast Missouri; Cherokee Trail of Tears; Southern Tenant Farmworkers Union; Cherokee spirituality and cosmology Dance of Pawns – History of Japanese in Peru; WWII internment of Japanese Peruvians in Texas El Río – Mexico-US border; immigration; Border Patrol; indigenous cultures on the border; Chixoy Dam and massacre (Guatemala)*† * included significant number of interviews † included field research
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
OTHER EMPLOYMENT Grantwriter Represented Foundation, May 2020 – August 2020 Researched and applied for COVID emergency and other grant funding to support community-engaged programs designed to increase leadership by social entrepreneurs of color in the nonprofit sector.
Development Coordinator/Consultant The Climate Museum, October 2019 - March 2020 Research funding sources. Apply for grant applications. Cultivate and sustain relationships with individual donors. Plan agendas and packets for board meetings.
Program Associate Circle for Justice Innovations, February 2018 - September 2019 Planned board meetings. Facilitated grantmaking process. Advised grant applicants. Conducted outreach to activist organizations nationwide. Researched trends and developments in criminal justice activism and reform. Managed online application system.
Converging Worlds Project Director, July 2016 - May 2017 Interviewed 50+ people in Cuba about their daily realities. Taught playwriting workshops at Cuban arts centers. Raised money to fund this long-term exchange.
Editor and Translator Fish Creek Productions, March 2016 - Present
Resident Playwright The Cutting Ball Theater, March 2013 - February 2016 Taught playwriting workshops to generate earned income for organization. Wrote and edited marketing copy, and assisted on grant proposals and reports. Cultivated new board members, and researched potential new funders. Attended meetings with neighborhood stakeholders and community organizations.
Arts & Culture Grantmaking Fellow The San Francisco Foundation, July 2011 - April 2012 Evaluated grant applications from 120 nonprofit arts organizations. Performed due diligence with grant seekers, including site visits and interviews. Administered literary, playwriting, visual arts awards. Scripted the Community Leadership Awards ceremony.
ARTISTIC TRAINING Playwriting Workshops Paula Vogel, TCG Conference, June 2015 Gabriel Calderón, Casa de las Américas, June 2014 Dael Orlandersmith, Playwrights Foundation, July 2013 Jason Grote, Playwrights Foundation, May 2013 Sherry Kramer, University of Iowa, August - December 2010 Abi Basch, University of Iowa, November 2010 Kathleen Tolan, University of Iowa, September 2010 Tanya Barfield, University of Iowa, May 2009 Kia Corthron, University of Iowa, January - April 2009 David Adjmi, University of Iowa, December 2008 Naomi Wallace, University of Iowa, August - September 2008 Erik Ehn, Playwrights Foundation, June 2008 Annie Smart, Playwrights Foundation, March 2008 Marcus Gardley, Playwrights Foundation, September - October 2007 Migdalia Cruz, Playwrights Foundation, July 2006 Julie Jensen, Playwrights Foundation, 2006 Arthur Kopit, Playwrights Foundation, August 2005 Jeannie Barroga, Asian American Theater Company, March - May 2005 Octavio Solís, Playwrights Foundation, October 2004
TV Writing Workshops Andrea Ciannavei, April - May 2020 Jason Grote, May 2013 Sheila Callaghan, March 2011
NOHSpace, Butoh Workshop, Ryuzo Fukuhara, 2006
Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed, University of San Francisco, April 2005
Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani (Lima, Peru) Acting: Teresa Rallí and Ana Correa, July 2005 Maskmaking: Veronica Zela and José Beriche, July 2005 The Actor in the Moment of Performance: Miguel Rubio and Teresa Ralli, November 2004
DAH Theatre (Belgrade, Serbia), Playwriting Workshop, Dijana Milosevic, December 2004
SF Mime Troupe, Collective Theater Workshop, Dan Chumley and Joan Holden, June - Aug 2004
Apprenticeship with master puppet maker José Ascona, Oaxaca, Mexico, January 2003
BOARD SERVICE Movimiento, Oakland, CA,August 2011 - September 2016 Asociación Generando, Guatemala, August 2010 - May 2011
PROFESSIONAL THEATER PRODUCTIONS Japan = Black Men’s Heaven, Miranda Haymon, dir., Montalvo Arts Center, Summer 2022 Men of Rab’inal, Lakin Valdez, dir., El Teatro Campesino, Spring 2022 Br’er Peach, dir. TBA, AlterTheatre, Spring 2021 El Río, Edris Cooper, dir., Brava for Women in the Arts, September 28 - October 20, 2019 to all persons…, Jen Chang, dir., East West Players, February 17 - May 15, 2017 Stegosaurus (or) Three Cheers for Climate Change, Rem Myers, dir., Faultline Theater, April 1 - 16, 2016 Life is a Dream (trans.), Paige Rogers, dir., The Cutting Ball Theater, October 2 - November 1, 2015 Mount Misery, Rob Melrose, dir., The Cutting Ball Theater, May 14 - June 21, 2015 Another Fine Day in the Park, Chase Ramsey, dir., The Cutting Ball Theater, 10 April 2015 Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night, Rob Melrose, dir., The Cutting Ball Theater, May 17 - June 23, 2013 Evolve!, Myers Clark, dir., Handful Players at Yoshi’s San Francisco, May 23, 2009 Nuestra Señora de las Enfermedades, Lakin Valdez, dir., Brava Theatre Center, November 1 - 3, 2008 Agüita: “Ama qellichahuaychu”, Marilu Flores, dir., Teatro Andino Kusiwasi, Sept. 22 – Oct. 30, 2007
UNIVERSITY AND WORKSHOP THEATER PRODUCTIONS Men of Rab’inal, Lakin Valdez, dir., La Peña/El Teatro Campesino, May - June 2019 “Wormholes for Sale at the Corner Bodega,” at Signature Theater, June 25, 2018 five tries, Addie Gorlin, dir., The Cutting Ball Theater, June 4 - 7, 2014 Landless, Kristin Clippard, dir., University of Iowa, May 7, 2011 sunshine, Nathan Halvorson, dir., University of Iowa, February 24 - 27, 2011 Stegosaurus (or) Our Golden Years, John Kaufmann, dir., University of Iowa, February 18 - 21 2010 La Lechera, Sarah Ballema, dir., University of Iowa, May 4, 2009 Smooth Hands, False Cures, Dan Chumley, dir., San Francisco Mime Troupe, August 27, 2004
PLAY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS whisper fish, Sango Tajima, dir., Bay Area Playwrights Festival, July 7 - 24, 2016 whisper fish, Tamilla Woodard, dir., ArtsEmerson, June 13 - 19, 2016 Bootheel, Marissa Wolf, dir., ArtsEmerson, June 6 – 10, 2016 Santa & His Slaves, Graham Smith, dir., Playwrights Foundation, March 30, 2016 Santa & His Slaves, Deena Selenow, dir., December 20, 2015 whisper fish, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, October 2 - 3, 2015 whisper fish, Bonnie Metzgar, dir., Victory Gardens Theater, September 24 - 25, 2015 Beauty Secrets, Rem Myers, dir., Cutting Ball Theater, June 10 - 15, 2015 whisper fish, Molly Aaronson-Gelb, dir., Cutting Ball Theater, June 2 - 8, 2015 La Lechera, Marissa Wolf, dir., Crowded Fire Theater, November 26 - 2 December 2, 2014 Mount Misery, Rob Melrose, dir., Cutting Ball Theater, March 10 - 15, 2014 Sam the Ham, Randy Reyes, dir., Theater Mu New Eyes Festival, January 26, 2014 The Patron Saint of Monsters, Peter Rothstein, dir., Playwrights’ Center, June 9 - 12, 2012 Krispy Kritters..., Rob Melrose, dir., Cutting Ball Theater, May 17 - 22, 2011
DRAMATURGY The Box, by Sarah Shourd, The Pulitzer Center , Winter - Summer 2019 Fidelidad, by Reynaldo Tejadilla, Conjunto Artístico Korimakao (Pálpite, Cuba), January - April 2017 Superheroes, by Sean San José, Cutting Ball Theater, October - November 2014 Chokehold, by Mordecai Ettinger, Cutting Ball Theater, October 2013
PLAYS AUTHORED full-length Tansu Men of Rab’inal (with Lakin Valdez) Br’er Peach Cartograph Santa & His Slaves Mount Misery: A Comedy of Enhanced Interrogations Boot-Heel (formerly titled Landless) Beauty Secrets whisper fish The Patron Saint of Monsters Lightning Birth sunshine La Lechera Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night Stegosaurus (or) Three Cheers for Climate Change The Melisaloggia just like hermanos semilla Sam the Ham Helix2 I Won You at Sotheby’s Greetings from the Klondike...Wish You Were Here! El Río
one act to all persons… Evolve! (children’s musical) five tries She & He Agüita: “Ama qellichahuaychu” (collaborative creation with Teatro Andino Kusi Wasi) white moon, grey sea Isisu Smooth Hands, False Cures (head writer) Nuestra Señora de las Enfermedades (devised piece)
ten-minute Kingmeal needleye Essential Affairs Painless Xmas Eve in Donner Pass Another Fine Day in the Park hearthside (movement piece)
OTHER MEDIA feature films Übermann Lives! Loner’s War Wendy & Peter Dance of Pawns to God, in all His forms… Sam the Ham YellowCake
television pilots Ride Latter-Day Space (with Chase Ramsey) Sister Cities Dimensia The 51st Star
PLAYS TRANSLATED Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Spain): La Vida es Sueño Qorpo-Santo (Brazil): As Relações Naturais Mateus e Mateusa Certa Entidade em Busca de Outra Eu Sou a Vida; Eu Não Sou a Morte
WRITING RESIDENCIES Arquetopia Foundation, Puebla, Mexico, March - April 2020 AlterLab, AlterTheater, San Rafael, CA, August 2016 - May 2017 Djerassi Resident Artists Program, April - May 2016 Writer-in-Residence, Idle Spoke Ranch, Healdsburg, CA, October 2015 - September 2016 Resident Playwright, Playwrights Foundation, SF, CA, September 2011 - December 2015 Writers Pool, PlayGround, Berkeley, CA, September 2013 - May 2015 Writer/Director Lab, Just Theater, Berkeley, CA, September 2013 - June 2014 Core Apprentice, Playwrights Center, Minneapolis, MN, July 2011 - June 2012 Lucas Artists Residency Program, Montalvo Arts Center, August - December 2009 Blue Mountain Center, Adirondacks, NY, July - August 2009 Writer-in-Residence, Centro Cultural Kusiwasi, Urubamba, Peru, July 2005 - January 2009 Writer-in-Residence, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, Lima, Peru, July - August 2005 New Works Incubator, Asian American Theater Company, October 2003 - April 2005
LANGUAGES & SKILLS Spanish (fluent) Tok Pisin (fluent) Portuguese (proficient) Japanese (novice) German (novice) Apple OS X Windows MS Office Raiser’s Edge Survey Monkey WordPress Weebly HTML CSS Little Green Light Submittable SlideRoom Kung Fu San Soo – Fourth-degree Black Belt