Octavio Solis

Octavio Solis
Born	1958 El Paso, Texas
Nationality	American
Education	Trinity University (BFA) Trinity University (at Dallas Theatre Centre) (MFA)
Occupation	Playwright Director
Spouse(s)	Jeanne Sexton

Octavio Solis (1958–present) is a Latino playwright and director who has had his productions shown in A-list 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.

Born in El Paso, Texas to Mexican parents, Solis started his career in theater by joining his high school theater group when he was fourteen. 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. 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. 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".

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. 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.

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. 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.

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.-Nov. 2014
Oct. 2005

University of California, San Diego

2002

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
The Guadalupe Center

2002
2003-04

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, Pitsburgh, PA

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