User:Monicapalacios/Sandbox

=Monica Palacios=

Monica Palacios (born in San Jose, CA., June 14, 1959) is a critically acclaimed queer Chicana lesbian writer/performer who is widely recognized as working at the forefront of Chicana/Latina, queer, lesbian, feminist performance. For 3 decades, her work has strongly embraced activism, community organizing and cultural work. Her solo shows, plays and screenplays feature complex queer Chicana/o characters. Since her stand up comedy debut in San Francisco 1982, Palacios is known as one of the first Chicana lesbians to help, cultivate and nurture the queer Chicano/Latino performance movement that continues to grow today.

Palacios started writing funny short stories in the 6th grade and continued throughout high school. She pursued her comedy writing in college at Chico State and at San Francisco State. Not being able to contain her comedy to the page, Monica dared herself to go to the Other Cafe, a comedy club in San Francisco before her 23rd birthday. Soon after she discovered a gay cabaret in the Mission District called the Valencia Rose Cafe that featured "gay open mic night" where she kicked off her Chicana lesbian comedy career.

Ms. Palacios lives in Los Angeles and is a lecturer at UC Santa Barbara, UCLA and has taught at UC Riverside, the Claremont Colleges, Loyola Marymount University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Palacios has been a director, writer & dramaturg for over 400 student theater projects. Her performances and publications continue to be studied in universities nationally and internationally. She was instrumental in the launch of and has a blog on the website Epochalips.com, a cyber community for lesbians and allies. She has received numerous awards including: The National Gay & Lesbian Performance Artist Award; Out Magazine's "Out 100"; Postdoctoral Rockefeller Fellowship; Indie Award Excellence in Playwriting; Two Play Commissions from the Los Angeles Mark Taper Forum; Los Angeles Latin Pride Foundation Award; LACE Award Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. As the director (1992-2000) of VIVA, Lesbian & Gay Latino Artists, a groundbreaking artist collective founded by Roland Palencia, activism and art co-existed as she and other board members produced cultural events throughout Los Angeles. Monica's 30-year career stands as a fierce testimonial of queer Chicana strength, courage, and humor in the face of sexism, racism, and homophobia.

One-Woman Shows

 * Queer Chicana Soul
 * Viva La Independencia!
 * Tofu Treats and Other Stories
 * Amor y Revolución
 * The OH! Show: Old & Horny
 * Antojitos & Anecdotes
 * Get Your Feet Wet
 * Queer Soul
 * Obvious
 * Greetings From A Queer Señorita
 * Besame Mucho
 * My Body & Other Parts
 * Chat with Monica The Groovy New Talk Show
 * Confessions…A Sexplosion of Tantalizing Tales and Latin Lezbo Comic

Plays
Sweet Peace, Clock, Miercoles Loves Luna and Prom. She conceived and directed Rocks In My Salsa, written by Cristina Nava Perez. Screenplays: Sweet Peace and Memory Is In Your Heart.

Anthologies

 * “Don’t Hide Your Bride Pride” testimonial, in Here Come the Brides! Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage, ed. by Audrey Bilger & Michele Kort, Seal Press 2012.
 * “The Dress Was Way Too Itchy” short story in Fifteen Candles: 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray, Drunk Uncles and other Quinceañera Stories, ed. Adriana Lopez, HarperCollins Publishers 2007.
 * “The Not So Friendly Skies” short story in Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Latino Arts Anthology, ed. Luiz Sampaio, Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs Department 2000.
 * “Latin Lezbo Comic” one woman show in Latinas On Stage, ed. Alicia Arrizon & Lillian Manzor, Third Woman Press 2000.
 * "Greetings From A Queer Senorita" one woman show in Out of The Fringe: Latino/a Theatre & Performance, ed. Caridad Svich & Maria Teresa Marrero, Theater Communications Group, Inc., 2000.
 * "Describe Your Work" performance piece in Puro Teatro, A Latina Anthology, ed. Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez & Nancy Saporta Sternbach, University of Arizona Press 2000.
 * "Tomboy" performance piece in Living Chicana Theory, ed. Carla Trujillo, Third Woman Press 1997
 * "Latin Lezbo Comic" excerpts of one woman show in A Funny Time To Be Gay, ed. Ed Karvoski Jr., Simon & Schuster 1997.
 * “Taqueria Tease” performance poem in Endless Skies of Blue, ed. Diana Zeiger, National Library of Poetry 1997.
 * "Personality Fabulosa" short story in Latina: Women's Voices From The Borderlands, ed. Lillian Castillo-Speed, Simon & Schuster 1995.
 * "La Llorona: The Other Side" short story in Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About, ed. Carla Trujillo, Third Woman Press 1991. Winner of the Lamda Literary Award 1991
 * "La Llorona" short story in Lesbian Bedtime Stories 2 ed. Terry Woodrow, Tough Dove Books 1991.

Journals, Newspapers & Magazines

 * “The Oh! Show”, performance piece in, Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, Feminist Chicana/Latina academic work. ed. Dr. Karen Mary Davalos & Dr. Tiffany Ana Lopez 2009.
 * “Honoring the Dead, Empowering the Living” Essay in, IN Los Angeles Magazine Oct. 19-Nov 1, 2004.
 * Monthly column in The Lesbian News, December 2002-1995.
 * “Plain Jane” essay in Tongues Magazine One 2001
 * “Peace Please” essay in VIDA: A Latina Literary Review at Mount Holyoke College, Fall 2001.
 * "Culture For Comfort" essay in Latina Magazine, September 2000.
 * "I, Carmelita Tropicana" a book review of I, Carmelita Tropicana by Alina Troyano (Beacon Press, 2000) in Advocate Magazine, April 25, 2000.
 * "Right Here, Right Now" essay in Frontiers Magazine, June 25, 1999.
 * "Venice on Two Hours a Day" article The Best of Los Angeles in LA Weekly, September 30-October 6, 1994.
 * "Siren Song" article The Best of Los Angeles in LA Weekly, September 24-30, 1993.
 * "Taqueria Tease" performance piece in Food & Fetish, VIVA Art Journal, Spring 1993.
 * "Chunks of Pride" essay in Frontiers Magazine, June 19, 1992.
 * "Lesbians Just Do It!" article in Ten Percent UCLA's Queer Magazine, January 29, 1992.
 * "Personality Fabulosa," short story in Outlook Magazine Fall 1991.