Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas is an American playwright and director. He first studied playwriting with

Octavio Solis Octavio Solis (born 1958) is an American playwright and director whose plays have been produced at theaters and small companies across the United States. He has written over 25 plays, including his most famous works: ''Lydia'', ''Santos & Santos ...

Cherríe Moraga Cherríe Moraga (born September 25, 1952) is an influential Chicana feminist writer, activist, poet, essayist, and playwright. A prominent figure in Chicana literature and feminist theory, Moraga's work explores the intersections of gender, sex ...

and

María Irene Fornés María Irene Fornés (May 14, 1930 – October 30, 2018) was a Cuban-American playwright, theater director, and teacher who worked in off-Broadway and experimental theater venues in the last four decades of the twentieth century. Her plays range w ...

. His numerous awards include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the Guggenheim Foundation. He received an MFA from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Plays

Possibly his highest profile play to date is ''Blind Mouth Singing'', which was produced by the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

based Teatro Vista in 2005 and by the National Asian American Theater Company (NAATCO) in New York in 2007. The NAATCO production was designated a Critic's Pick by ''The New York Times''. Writing for that newspaper Neil Genzlinger called the play "strange and beautiful". In 2010 ''Blind Mouth Singing'' was translated and produced in Havana. In 2012 the author directed a production of his play ''Bird in the Hand'' at

Theater for the New City Theater for the New City, founded in 1971 and known familiarly as "TNC", is one of New York City's leading off-off-Broadway theaters, known for radical political plays and community commitment. Productions at TNC have won 43 Obie Awards and the P ...

. That play was produced by Fulcrum Theater and was also designated as a Critic's Pick by ''The New York Times''. His 2017 play, ''Recent Alien Abductions'' received its premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theater of Louisville directed by Les Waters. Louisville's weekly cultural newspaper, The LEO Weekly, called it "an extraordinary play". His short play ''Look! A Latino'' was produced by

Ma-Yi Theater Company Ma-Yi Theater Company is a professional, not-for-profit, Obie Award and Drama Desk Award-winning theater company based in New York City that was founded in 1989. Ma-Yi Theater is headed by executive director Jorge Ortoll and artistic director Ral ...

in New York in October 2004. The play was presented during an evening of shorts that also included plays by Kia Corthron, Han Ong, and Sung Rno. The title of the play was inspired by

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961) was a French West Indian psychiatrist, political philosopher, and Marxist from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have become influential in the ...

's well known essay, "The Fact of Blackness" in which Fanon recounts being hailed by a French girl with the phrase, "Look! A Negro!" (see). ''Look! A Latino'' was subsequently published in the anthology ''Savage Stage: Plays by Ma-Yi Theater Company'' (see) and by Playscripts, Inc. (see).

Politics

Before he began writing plays, Cortiñas worked as a community organizer for a variety of leftist or progressive causes. Most notably, he was a high-profile participant in AIDS activist groups, including the SF based group

Proyecto ContraSIDA por Vida Proyecto ContraSIDA Por Vida (also known as PCPV and Proyecto) was a non-profit HIV-prevention agency located in the Mission District of San Francisco that provided community-based healthcare for the Latino/a and LGBT communities. It was one of se ...

, and other organizations seeking to advance the rights of immigrants and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

Latino organizations.

References

External links

On DoolleeNew DramatistsEssay by Cortiñas in ''American Theatre''"Look, a Latino!" published by Playscripts, Inc.
American dramatists and playwrights Living people LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people American gay writers American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Year of birth missing (living people) Brown University alumni {{US-playwright-stub