Octavio Solis (born 1958) is an American playwright and directorHurwitt, Robert. "Octavio Solis' Play 'Lydia' Close to Home." SF Gate. 20 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2015. http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Octavio-Solis-play-Lydia-close-to-home-3247341.php 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 and Man of the Flesh. His works have earned numerous awards and grants.

Life and career Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, Solis started his career in theater by joining his high school, Riverside High School's (El Paso, TX) theater group when he was fourteen. He received a BFA at Trinity University and went on to earn his MFA at Trinity University's off-campus program at the Dallas Theatre Center. After college, while acting in Eric Overmyer's Native Speech in Dallas, Solis was inspired to write his own plays rather than act in them. In between acting and writing, he taught high school students at Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He moved to San Francisco in 1989 to further his career, as he felt he was "hitting a glass ceiling" in Dallas, and felt that California would be a good place to participate in the "Mexican American experience".

Solis uses his experiences in life to help create and shape his plays, often drawing directly from his time in El Paso, where he states that he was able to see both the first-world and the third-world from his backyard. In his play Lydia, which focuses on a working-class Mexican-American family and an undocumented maid who arrives in the broken home, he draws upon his own experiences as a Latino living only a mile from the Rio Grande.

Solis was a "cultural consultant" for the Disney film Coco. He voices an Arrival Agent in the film and its spinoff short.

Contributions to Latino Theatre

Octavio Solis has made a large number of contributions to the Latino Theatre community, namely in the number of works he has created that are designed to be for and played by Latino/as. One of his most critically acclaimed works, Lydia, focuses on a Latino family and their maid who recently came from Mexico to work in the states. His importance in the Latino/a community have been widely recognized, as evident by his numerous awards such as his National Latino Playwriting Award and his being awarded the Henry Award for Outstanding New Play. He has also received a number of grants and funds, including the New Works Fund Grant from the Theatre Bay Area and the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays.

Awards

Award Dates Barri and BC Stavis Playwriting Award, National Theatre Conference 1992-93 Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund: Writers for Young Audiences (for La Posada Magica) 1992-93 The Will Glickman Award for Best New Play in the Bay Area (for Santos & Santos) 1993 The Roger L. Stevens Award: Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays (for Santos & Santos) 1994 Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays (for Dreamlandia) 1997-98 Playwriting Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts 1995-97 McKnight Fellowship: The Playwrights' Center 1998-99 TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, Dallas Theater Center 1998–2000 National Theatre Artists Residency Program, Pew Charitable Trusts 2000-02 TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, Shadowlight Productions 2000-01 National Latino Playwriting Award: Arizona Theatre Center 2002 Creative Work Fund, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts 2002-03 New Works Fund Grant, Theatre Bay Area 2006-07 Thornton Wilder Fellow, MacDowell Colony 2008 Denver Post Ovation Award, Best Production (for Lydia) 2008 Henry Award, Outstanding New Play (for Lydia) 2008 Bay Area Critics Circle Mid-Career Achievement Award 2010 United States Artists Fellowship 2011 Pen Center Award for Drama (For Se Llama Cristana) 2014 Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater Award by the William Inge Center for the Arts 2019

Works Production Theaters Dates Impatiens Intersection for the Arts, SF, CA Aug 1990 Scrappers South Coast Repertory, CATeatro Milwaukee, WI Fall 1992-93May 1995 Man of the Flesh Teatro Dallas, CASouth Coast Repertory, CAThe Magic Theatre, CAThe San Diego Repertory, CALatino Chicago Theatre CompanyLong Beach Playhouse, CALos Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA24th Street Theater, San Antonio, TX Oct 1998May 1990Oct 1990Feb 1991Nov 1991May 1997Oct-Nov 2014Oct 2005 Prospect El Teatro CampesinoLatino Chicago Theatre CompanyThe Magic TheatreNorth Coast Repertory, CAUniversity of California, San Diego Apr 1993Sep 1993Jan 1996May 20022002 La Posada Magica Odyssey Theatre Los AngelesLa Companía, Albuquerque, NMSouth Coast RepertorySan Jose Repertory, CATeatro Visión, San JoseUniversity of New Mexico, AlbuquerqueThe Guadalupe Center Dec 19961996Dec 1994-2008Dec 19952000, 2002, 200420022003-04 El Paso Blue Intersection for the ArtsThe San Diego RepertoryTeatró Vista/NEXT Theatre, ChicagoUniversity of Washington, SeattleOregon Shakespeare FestivalThe Venture Theatre, Philadelphia, PAMiracle Theatre Group, Portland, ORSummer Play Festival, New York, NYQuantum Theatre, Pittsburgh, PACornish College, Seattle, WA May 1994Mar 1995Sep 19971998Feb-June 1999Nov 1999Mar 2000Aug 2004Dec 2006Nov 2011Santos and Santos Thick Description CompanyThe Dallas Theater CenterMixed Blood THeatre CompanyTeatro Vista, ChicagoCampo Santo/Thick DescriptionUniversity of Washington, SeattleTexas Tech University, LubbockCal State University, Monterey BayCalifornia State University, SacramentoUniversity of Texas at El PasoImua Theatre Company, New York, NYNushank Theatre Collective, Austin, TXEl Centro Su Teatro, Denver, COSan Pedro Playhouse, Can Antonio, TXTeatro Visión, San Jose Dec 1993May 1995Jan 1996May 1996July 199619971998200020022003July 2000Dec 2000Feb 2004Mar 2005May 2005 El Otro Thick Description, San Francisco, CA July 1998, Aug-Sep 2009 Shiner Undermain Theatre, Dallas, TX 1999 Dreamlandia The Dallas Theater CenterThick DescriptionTeatro Vista May 2000Aug 2002Mar 2008 The Seven Visions of Encarnación Shadowlight Productions Oct 2002 Bethlehem Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CAProxy Theatre, San Antonio July 2003Aug 2013 Gibraltar The Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThick Description, San Francisco, CASan Jose Stage Company, San Jose, CA July 2005Nov-Dec 2006Feb-Mar 2007 The Ballad of Pancho and Lucy Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA Oct-Nov 2005 Lethe Cornerstone Theatre Institute Aug 2006Marfa LightsWest Texas State A&M University, TXSt. Mary's College of CaliforniaOct 2006Nov 2006 June in a Box CampoSanto, Intersection for the ArtsSt. Mary's College of California Mar 2008Nov 2011 Lydia The Denver Center for the Performing ArtsAttic Rep, San Antonio, TXThe Yale Repertory TheatreMarin Theatre CompanyCenter Theatre Group/Mark Taper ForumNational Pastime Theatre, ChicagoSul Ross University, Alpine TXNapa Valley Conservatory TheatreCara Mia Theatre Company, Dallas, TX Jan 20082009Feb 2009Mar 2009Apr 2009Oct 2013Oct 2013Jan-Feb 2015Apr 2015 Quixote (adaptation) Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon June 2009 Ghosts of the River Teatro VisiónShadowlight Productions, San Jose/San Francisco, CA Oct-Nov 2009Oct 2009 The Pastures of Heaven California Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley, CAThe Western Stage, Salinas, CA June 2010June 2012 Cloudlands South Coast Repertory Theatre, CA Apr 2012 Se Llama Cristina Magic TheatreKitchen Dog TheatreTheatre at Boston CourtINTAR Theatre, NY Jan 2013May 2013Jan-Feb 2014Apr–May 2015 Alicia's Miracle Tides Theatre in collaboration with the Center for the Investigative Reporting Jan-Feb 2015Mother RoadOregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon Mar-Oct 2019 Quixote Nuevo Round House TheatreDenver CenterSouth Coast RepSeattle RepPortland Center StageOregon Shakespeare Festival Sep-Oct 2021May–June 2022Sep-Oct 2023Jan-Feb 2024Mar 2024July-Oct 2025 Scene with Cranes Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre Sep-Oct 2022

Books Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border, City Lights, 2018

References

External links