User:LatinaThoughts/sandbox

Guillermo Reyes is a Chilean-born, US citizen, better known for his work as a LGBTQ writer, playwright, essayist, and professor. He currently resides in Arizona, as part of the faculty at Arizona State University, Tempe, as a professor in the School of Theater, Dance, and Film where he heads the Dramatic Writing Program. He can also be acknowledged as one of the founding members of “Teatro Bravo”, a local bilingual theater company that encouraged Latino creatives.

Early Life
Guillermo Reyes was born and raised in Santiago, Chile on March 6, 1964. He relocated to the United States with his mother at age ten where he began high school in Los Angeles. Although he began writing stories in grade school, Reyes wrote his first play for the drama club he was part of during his time in high school.

Education
Reyes attended the University of Los Angeles, California where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Italian. Soon after, he received an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California, San Diego.

Career
Throughout the 2000s, Reyes released productions through his co-founded theater, Teatro Bravo where he premiered and directed many LGBTQ/Latinx plays. He then went on to be recognized and nominated for one of the productions by the Pheonix ariZoni Awards in 2012.

Reyes also contributed to plays for the Actors Theater of Louisville while under Dramatic Publishing.

In 2010, Reyes published a memoir with the University of Wisconsin Press inspired by his life’s journey alongside his single mother called Madre and I: A Memoir of our Immigrant Lives; a memoir focused on the struggles faced when immigrating from a South American country.

Writing and LGBTQ Influence
When putting together a storyline, Reyes has mentioned he begins his writing process by idealizing certain central conflicts within the LGBTQ/Latinx immigrant community while simultaneously writing theoretical resolutions.

As a member of the LGBTQ community, he approaches his sexual and ethnic identity within his literary work by using his own personal trauma as inspiration for his narratives. Guillermo Reyes has used his life experiences as a Latino gay man as a form of activism towards the LGBTQ community. His more dramatic and comedic work has been recognized throughout the nation and has served to highlight certain trials and tribulations individuals like him, or equally a part of the LGBTQ community, have faced and how they can be overcome from an individual or societal perspective.

Theater

 * MEN ON THE VERGE OF A HIS-PANIC BREAKDOWN


 * Valentino and the Chilean Heiress
 * BAD HOMBRES (DATE ME OR DEPORT ME)
 * We Lost It at the Movies (With a Special Appearance by Rock Hudson)
 * The Hispanick Zone


 * THAT DAY IN TUCSON
 * ANDES
 * GRAVITAS


 * Rowing to America: The Immigrant Project


 * Departing the Divas
 * Mother Lolita
 * Chilean Holiday
 * Saints at the Rave
 * A Southern Christmas

Other Publications

 * Label Me Latina/o


 * The Americas Review


 * The New Mexico Humanities Review


 * Puerto del Sol

Awards

 * L.A. Ovation Award for Best World Premiere Play and Best Production, 1994


 * Emerging Playwright Award, 1996


 * New Play Award, 2008


 * New York Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best Solo Performance
 * Drama Logue Award for Original Play
 * Finalist in the Pen Center West Awards for Drama


 * Arizona’s Theater Company Award for Best Latino Play


 * Premiere Stages New Play Development Award