|
Diane Rodriguez is a prominent American theatre artist who directs, writes and performs. Schooled in activist art, she received her BA in Theatre Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara. An OBIE Award winning actor, she is known for using comedy to confront various forms of oppression, often with special attention to issues of gender and sexuality. She is a producer and director at Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles and an Artistic Associate of Cornerstone Theater Company. An enduring influence in Chicano theatre, she was born in the 1950s to American parents from farm working families. She co-founded two theatre companies, El Teatro de la Esperanza and Latins Anonymous, and was a leading actress for the seminal Chicano theatre group, El Teatro Campesino.
She joined El Teatro Campesino during the mid-1970s. In political sketches for César Chávez and full length works, she honed her comedic skills performing on a variety of stages from flat bed trucks to ancient European Greco Roman amphi-theatres. In 1988 she co-founded the comedy troupe Latins Anonymous as a response to the Hollywood stereotyping of Latino actors.
|
