Monica Palacios (Playwright)
| Monica Palacios | |
|---|---|
| Born | San Jose, CA |
| Occupation | Playwright, director, lecturer, stand-up comic |
| Language | English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German |
| Nationality | Chicana |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater |
San Francisco State University, BA Chico State University |
| Years active | 1982-Present |
San Francisco State University, BA
Monica Palacios is a Chicana playwright, director, and self-proclaimed "international hip chick." She attended Chico State University and transferred to San Francisco State University, at which she earned a BA in Cinema with a concentration in screen writing. Since then, she has been producing theatre works for over three decades. In her specifically Chicana, queer, feminist, and lesbian performances, Palacios emphasizes activism as well as community organizing. She combines aspects of race, culture and sexuality in her groundbreaking performances, as she was one of the first openly lesbian/queer stand up comics when she came out in 1982 in San Francisco. She is a prolific writer and performer, and has created several one-woman shows, plays, and screenplays. Her poems, plays, and anthologies are taught in universities and examined in scholastic settings, usually within the fields of LGBTQ/Queer Studies, Chicano Studies, and Feminist Studies. Palacios also works with students of a wide range of ages (from elementary school students to college students), and has served as a writer, director, and dramaturg for more than 400 student theatre works.
The majority of Palacios' writing is about her interpretations of her own experiences throughout her life as a queer, Chicana woman. She draws inspiration from her family and others who are close to her. As one of the first comedians in this genre, she often discusses the intersection of queer and Latina identities that develop a liminal identity for people who are marginalized for more than one aspect of their existence.
Her work is known for being unapologetically queer, despite the homophobia that has permeated Latinx communities since long before she began performing. Palacios acknowledges that she often takes uncomfortable topics and makes them more palatable to herself and her audiences with physical comedy, but not without challenges and some pushback. Gender and sexuality were often considered controversial or taboo topics when she first began performing in the 1980's, and they still are today (CITE). However, she continues to produce works like The OH! Show, where discussion of sex is intentionally ubiquitous. This is evident in the forward of the play, in which she declares, "...we are sexual beings until we die, or until your partner removes the vibrator from your hands—whichever comes first."
...
Wikipedia