The Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) is a national movement launched in 2012, which promotes Latino equity in American theater through convening, scholarship, advocacy, and art. The goals, activities, and methods of its actions are determined, championed, and carried out by the LTC's volunteer, self-organized steering committee of predominantly U.S.-based theater-makers and scholars of Latina/o/x theater, working together and with community partners around the country. The LTC was founded by eight well-known Latinx playwrights, directors, and scholars, led by Karen Zacarias, who was hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the most produced playwrights in the United States and who was named as a United States Artists Fellow in 2021. The group included Antonio Sonera,

Kristoffer Diaz Kristoffer Díaz is an American playwright, screenwriter, and educator. As a playwright, he has five full-length titles amongst other works which have been widely produced and developed. In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. ...

Anne García-Romero Anne García-Romero is an American playwright, screenwriter, scholar, and professor. Early life Anne García-Romero was born to a mother of English, Irish and German descent and a father from Spain. Her hometown is Wellesley, Massachuset ...

, Lisa Portes,

Tlaloc Rivas Tlaloc Rivas is a Mexican-American writer, producer, and theatre director. He is one of the co-founders of the Latinx Theatre Commons, which works side by side with HowlRound to revolutionize American theater and to highlight and promote the cont ...

, Jose Luis Valenzuela, and Enrique Urueta. Abigail Vega served as the first LTC producer from 2014-2019. Beginning in May 2019, Armando Huipe succeeded Vega as the LTC Producer. Beginning in June 2021, Jacqueline Flores succeeded Huipe as the LTC Producer.

History

LTC was founded as the Latino/a Theater Commons on May 19, 2012 when eight Latino theater-makers met to discuss the state of Latino theater in the US at the

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

in Washington, DC. From this conversation, four initiatives were proposed with the aim of advancing the field of Latino theater, including a national festival of ten Latino plays to be produced at the

Los Angeles Theatre Center The Los Angeles Theatre Center is an institution in Los Angeles, which is operated by the Latino Theater Company The Latino Theater Company (LTC) is a theatre producing organization based in Los Angeles, California. History Latino Theater ...

; a biannual conference of new Latino works hosted by

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

in Chicago; Café Onda, an online platform for articles, blogs, live-streaming of events related to Latino theater; and a national convening of Latino theater-makers. Later that year, a Steering Committee was formed with an additional fourteen Latino theater-makers from around the country, to plan the national convening.Herrera, Brian Eugenio. The Latina/o Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening: a narrative report. Edited by Jayne Benjulian and Jamie Gahlon, HowlRound, 2015. Pg. 2. In September 2013, the group launched Café Onda, an online journal, which seeks to build connections among Latino theater-makers, and promote dialogue and deeper understanding at large. The platform serves as an online journal for the LTC and addresses cultural misrepresentations, inspires greater participation in the American theater field, and raises awareness for the body of Latino dramatic production. Later in 2013, the LTC hosted the Boston Convening, which was the “first large-scale formal gathering of the Latina/o theater community since 1986.” The Convening brought together artists, scholars, and advocates of Latino theater to

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

, and engaged with Latino theater-makers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, and New York City via simultaneous video-conferencing, and around the country through live-streaming. In November 2014, the LTC hosted its Second National Convening at the

's Encuentro Latino theater festival. The Convening brought together the artists participating in the 10 productions featured at the month-long festival of Latino theater from around the US, with theater-makers, scholars, and advocates interested in Latino theater. Additionally, throughout the Encuentro, the LTC produced a series of nine Tertulias, public conversations with Festival and LA-based artists and scholars to contextualize and interrogate themes raised by the Encuentro. Subsequent convenings of note have included the Carnaval of New Latina/o Work (hosted at DePaul University in 2015 & 2018), LTC Regional Convenings aimed at convening local theater-makers and providing an opportunity for the LTC Steering Committee to assess its work,Marrero, Teresa. "The Latinx Theatre Commons: A Commons-Based Approach Movement." Theatre Topics, vol. 27, no. 1, Mar. 2017, doi:10.1353/tt.2017.0013 and International Convenings held at Encuentro de las Américas International Theatre Festivals. In April 2018, the LTC co-hosted the Fornés Institute Symposium in partnership with

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

's Lewis Center for the Arts in honor of

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 ...

to encourage "diverse, intergenerational community of theater-makers the opportunity to gather and reflect on the many ways her influence continues to shape our work as artists, as writers, as scholars." This event and others hosted that year focused on

were part of the LTC's Celebrando Fornes initiative and as part of the Fornes Institute, which was founded by the LTC. In 2019, the LTC's Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) hosted the Sin Fronteras Festival and Convening featuring five plays written for youth audiences.

Notable works

LTC's El Fuego Initiative: Fueling the American Theater with Latina/o Plays supports productions of Latinx playwrights, including the 12 who were selected for the 2015 Carnaval of New Latina/o Work. In an unprecedented fashion, eighteen theater companies agreed to produce the playwrights’ works before they had been selected, demonstrating a commitment to championing Latino playwrights and “a profound trust in the Carnaval selection process.” At least 9 playwrights have received productions with support from El Fuego, many of which have been documented through the IGNITED series on Café Onda: *''Parachute Men'' by Mando Alvarado at Teatro Vista, Chicago, IL, September 10-October 16, 2016 * ''Woman on Fire'' by

Marisela Treviño Orta Marisela Treviño Orta is a third-generation Mexican-American playwright and poet from Lockhart, Texas. She attended the University of San Francisco where she received an MFA in Writing. While she was trained in poetry, Treviño Orta began writ ...

at Camino Real Productions, Albuquerque, NM, September 29-October 16, 2016 * ''El Payaso'' by Emilio Rodriguez at Milagro (aka Miracle Theatre), Portland, OR, January 12–21, 2017 * ''Sweep'' by

Georgina Escobar Georgina Escobaris a playwright/librettist director and arts educator. Her plays explore themes of fantasy, mythology, feminism and the breakdown of the family including sci-femme narratives, musicals, and frontera-futurity stories. She is a MacD ...

at Aurora Theatre, Lawrenceville, GA, February 10-March 5, 2017 * ''Más'' by Milta Ortiz at Su Teatro, Denver, CO, March 9–26, 2017 * ''The Sweetheart Deal'' by

Diane Rodriguez Diane Rodriguez (June 22, 1951 – April 10, 2020) was an American theatre artist who directed, wrote and performed. An OBIE Award winning actress, she was known for using comedy to confront various forms of oppression, often with special atte ...

at Latino Theatre Company, Los Angeles, CA, May 4-June 4, 2017 *''Dancing in my Cockroach Killers'' by

Magdalena Gómez Magdalena Gómez (1953-) is an American playwright, poet, social activist, motivational speaker, and performer. She lives in Springfield, Massachusetts where she is the artistic director of Teatro V!da, the city's first Latin@ theatre, and served ...

at the

GALA Hispanic Theatre GALA (Grupo de Artistas LatinoAmericanos) Hispanic Theatre is a theater located at 3333 14th St NW in Washington, D.C. It hosts plays in Spanish and English, as well as dance, music, poetry, spoken word, art and films. History The GALA Hispan ...

and

Puerto Rican Traveling Theater The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater is a theater company based at the 47th Street Theater in New York City. It was founded as El Nuevo Círculo Dramatico (The New Drama Circuit) by Míriam Colón and Roberto Rodríguez. It was one of the first P ...

, Washington, DC, June 7-July 1, 2018 *''GENTEFRIKATION'' by Emilio Rodriguez at Teatro Prometeo, Miami, FL, December 14–16, 2018 *''Fur'' by Migdalia Cruz at Teatro Dallas, Dallas, TX, March 15–30, 2019. *''Their Dogs Came With Them'' by

Virginia Grise Virginia Grise (born June 27, 1976, in Ft. Gordon, Georgia) is a playwright, and director. Grise's most recognized work is ''blu'' (Yale University Press), the winner of the 2010 Yale Drama Series Award and a finalist for the Kennedy Center for th ...

by Borderlands Theater, Tucson, AZ, Spring 2019.

Awards

On June 10, 2017, at the

Theatre Communications Group Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is a non-profit service organization headquartered in New York City that promotes professional non-profit theatre in the United States. The organization also publishes ''American Theatre'' magazine and ''ARTSEA ...

National Conference held in Portland, Oregon, the LTC received the prestigious Peter Zeisler Memorial Award. In the acceptance speech, then-LTC Producer Abigail Vega stated: "By their very nature, commons challenge our transactional, market-based ideology and propose an alternative reality rooted in abundance and the greater good."

Organizing structure

The Latinx Theatre Commons operates as a commons, wherein resources are shared with all who care for the resources. According to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

's Digital Library of the Commons, "the commons is a general term for shared resources in which each stakeholder has an equal interest". The work of the LTC is carried out by a volunteer Steering Committee of artists, scholars, and administrators from around the US who represent the complexity of the theater field. Steering Committee members work on a variety of subcommittees to advance the LTC initiatives, such as those listed on the timeline, reflecting the tenets of advocacy, art making, convening, and scholarship. The Steering Committee is refreshed every six months with an influx of new members who join in the work. Steering Committee members rotating off often join the LTC Advisory Committee. Communication technologies facilitate work among multiple participants simultaneously. At the hub of all the subcommittees is the LTC Producer, an independent contractor supported through the infrastructure provided by HowlRound: A Center for a Theatre Commons. In January 2017, the Latinx Theater Commons adopted its current name in response to requests from the Steering Committee and community members at large and as an expression of its commitment to the principles of radical inclusion.

Publications

''The Latina/o Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening: A Narrative Report'' by Brian Herrera. Boston: Emerson College, 2015.Gahlon, Jamie, and Brian Herrera. “Hot off the Presses! The Latina/o Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening Book.” HowlRound, 12 Jan. 2015, https://howlround.com/hot-presses-latinao-theatre-commons-2013-national-convening-book

References

{{Reflist Hispanic and Latino American organizations Organizations established in 2012 Theatrical organizations in the United States 2012 establishments in the United States