Octavio Solis

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Octavio Solis
Octavio Solis, September 2019.jpg
Octavio Solis at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, September 2019
Born1958 (age 65–66)
El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Nationality American
Education Trinity University (BFA)
Trinity University (at Dallas Theatre Centre) (MFA)
Occupation(s)Playwright and director
SpouseJeanne Sexton

Octavio Solis (born 1958) is an American playwright and director [1] 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.

Contents

Life and career

Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, [2] Solis started his career in theater by joining his high school, Riverside High School's (El Paso, TX) theater group when he was fourteen. [3] 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. [2] 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. [4] 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". [4]

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. [2] 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. [5] He voices an Arrival Agent in the film and its spinoff short. [6]

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. [7] 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. [7]

Awards [7]

AwardDates
Barri and BC Stavis Playwriting Award, National Theatre Conference1992-93
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 Arts1995-97
McKnight Fellowship: The Playwrights' Center1998-99
TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, Dallas Theater Center1998–2000
National Theatre Artists Residency Program, Pew Charitable Trusts2000-02
TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, Shadowlight Productions2000-01
National Latino Playwriting Award: Arizona Theatre Center2002
Creative Work Fund, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts2002-03
New Works Fund Grant, Theatre Bay Area2006-07
Thornton Wilder Fellow, MacDowell Colony2008
Denver Post Ovation Award, Best Production (for Lydia)2008
Henry Award, Outstanding New Play (for Lydia)2008
Bay Area Critics Circle Mid-Career Achievement Award2010
United States Artists Fellowship2011
Pen Center Award for Drama (For Se Llama Cristana)2014
Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater Award by the William Inge Center for the Arts2019

Works

[7]

ProductionTheatersDates
ImpatiensIntersection for the Arts, SF, CAAugust 1990
ScrappersSouth Coast Repertory, CA
Teatro Milwaukee, WI		Fall 1992-93
May 1995
Man of the FleshTeatro Dallas, CA

South Coast Repertory, CA
The Magic Theatre, CA
The San Diego Repertory, CA
Latino Chicago Theatre Company
Long Beach Playhouse, CA

Los Medanos College,Pittsburg, CA
24th Street Theater, San Antonio, TX

Oct. 1998
May 1990
Oct. 1990
Feb. 1991
Nov. 1991
May 1997

Oct.-Nov. 2014
Oct. 2005

ProspectEl Teatro Campesino
Latino Chicago Theatre Company
The Magic Theatre
North Coast REpertory, CA

University of California, San Diego

April 1993
Sept. 1993
Jan. 1996
May 2002

2002

La Posada MagicaOdyssey Theatre Los Angeles
La Companía, Albuquerque, NM
South Coast Repertory
San Jose Repertory, CA
Teatro Visión, San Jose

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
The Guadalupe Center

Dec. 1996
1996
Dec. 1994-2008
Dec. 1995
2000, 2002, 2004

2002
2003-04

El Paso BlueIntersection for the Arts
The San Diego Repertory
Teatró Vista/NEXT Theatre, Chicago

University of Washington, Seattle
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Venture Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
Miracle Theatre Group, Portland, OR
Summer Play Festival, New York, NY
Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA

Cornish College, Seattle, WA

May 1994
March 1995
Sept. 1997

1998
Feb.-June 1999
Nov. 1999
March 2000
Aug. 2004
Dec. 2006

Nov. 2011

Santos and Santos Thick Description Company
The Dallas Theater Center
Mixed Blood THeatre Company
Teatro Vista, Chicago
Campo Santo/Thick Description

University of Washington, Seattle

Texas Tech University, Lubbock

Cal State University, Monterey Bay

California State University, Sacramento

University of Texas at El Paso
Imua Theatre Company, New York, NY
Nushank Theatre Collective, Austin, TX
El Centro Su Teatro, Denver, CO
San Pedro Playhouse, Can Antonio, TX
Teatro Visión, San Jose

Dec. 1993
May 1995
Jan. 1996
May 1996
July 1996

1997

1998

2000

2002

2003
July 2000
Dec. 2000
Feb. 2004
March 2005
May 2005

El OtroThick Description, San Francisco, CAJuly 1998, Aug.-Sept. 2009
ShinerUndermain Theatre, Dallas, TX1999
DreamlandiaThe Dallas Theater Center
Thick Description
Teatro Vista		May 2000
Aug. 2002
March 2008
The Seven Visions of EncarnaciónShadowlight ProductionsOct. 2002
BethlehemCampo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Proxy Theatre, San Antonio		July 2003
Aug. 2013
GibraltarThe Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Thick Description, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Stage Company, San Jose, CA		July 2005
Nov.-Dec. 2006
Feb.-March 2007
The Ballad of Pancho and LucyCampo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CAOct.-Nov. 2005
LetheCornerstone Theatre InstituteAug. 2006
Marfa LightsWest Texas State A&M University, TX

St. Mary's College of California

Oct. 2006

Nov. 2006

June in a BoxCampoSanto, Intersection for the Arts

St. Mary's College of California

March 2008

November 2011

Lydia (play) The Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Attic Rep, San Antonio, TX
The Yale Repertory Theatre
Marin Theatre Company
Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum
National Pastime Theatre, Chicago

Sul Ross University, Alpine TX
Napa Valley Conservatory Theatre
Cara Mia Theatre Company, Dallas, TX

Jan. 2008
2009
Feb. 2009
March 2009
April 2009
Oct. 2013

Oct. 2013
Jan.-Feb. 2015
April 2015

QuixoteThe Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OregonJune 2009
Ghosts of the RiverTeatro Visión
Shadowlight Productions, San Jose/San Francisco, CA		Oct.-Nov. 2009
October 2009
The Pastures of HeavenCalifornia Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley, CA
The Western Stage, Salinas, CA		June 2010
June 2012
CloudlandsSouth Coast Repertory Theatre, CAApril 2012
Se Llama Cristina Magic Theatre
Kitchen Dog Theatre
Theatre at Boston Court
INTAR Theatre, NY		Jan. 2013
May 2013
Jan.-Feb. 2014
April–May 2015
Alicia's MiracleTides Theatre in collaboration with the Center for the Investigative ReportingJan.-Feb. 2015
Mother Road Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OregonMarch 3rd - October 26th, 2019 [8] [9] [10]
Scene with CranesRoy and Edna Disney CalArts TheatreSept.-Oct. 2022

Books

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References

  1. ↑ Hurwitt, 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
  2. 1 2 3 Breslauer, Jan (2009-04-12). "In reality, Octavio Solis mines a new vein". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  3. ↑ Wilson, Emily (2013-02-01). "The Rumpus Interview with Octavio Solis". The Rumpus. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  4. 1 2 Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Coco movie review & film summary (2017) | Roger Ebert" . Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  5. ↑ Trieger, Eva (2021-09-26). "Remember 'Grapes of Wrath'? 'Mother Road' at SD Rep is the Sequel". San Diego Jewish World. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  6. ↑ Martinez, Kiko (2021-01-20). "Get a Glimpse of Pixar's New 'Coco'-Inspired Short Film 'A Day in the Life of the Dead'". Remezcla. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Octavio Solis" . Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  8. ↑ https://www.osfashland.org/en/productions/2019-plays/mother-road.aspx
  9. ↑ https://www.mailtribune.com/top-stories/2019/07/02/the-mother-road-the-road-of-flight/
  10. ↑ "San Diego Rep's 'Mother Road' a modern sequel to John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath'". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2021-10-01. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
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