Octavio Solis
{{short description|American playwright and director (born 1958)}}
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{{Infobox person
| name = Octavio Solis
| image = Octavio Solis, September 2019.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Octavio Solis at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, September 2019
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}}
| birth_place = El Paso, Texas, U.S.
| death_date =
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| other_names =
| citizenship =
| education = Trinity University (BFA)
Trinity University (at Dallas Theatre Centre) (MFA)
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Playwright and director
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Jeanne Sexton
| partner =
| children =
| parents =
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| awards =
}}
Octavio Solis (born 1958) is an American playwright and directorHurwitt, Robert. "Octavio Solis' Play 'Lydia' Close to Home." SF Gate. 20 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2015. http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Octavio-Solis-play-Lydia-close-to-home-3247341.php whose plays have been produced at 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.
Life and career
Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents,{{Cite web |last=Breslauer |first=Jan |date=2009-04-12 |title=In reality, Octavio Solis mines a new vein |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-octavio-solis12-2009apr12-story.html |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Solis started his career in theater by joining his high school, Riverside High School's (El Paso, TX) theater group when he was fourteen.{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Emily |date=2013-02-01 |title=The Rumpus Interview with Octavio Solis |url=https://therumpus.net/2013/02/01/the-rumpus-interview-with-octavio-solis/ |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=The Rumpus |language=en-US}} 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. In between acting and writing, he taught high school students at Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts.{{Cite web |last=Seitz |first=Matt Zoller |title=Coco movie review & film summary (2017) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/coco-2017 |access-date=2024-03-27 |website= |language=en}} 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.
Solis was a "cultural consultant" for the Disney film Coco.{{Cite web|last=Trieger|first=Eva|date=2021-09-26|title=Remember 'Grapes of Wrath'? 'Mother Road' at SD Rep is the Sequel|url=https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2021/09/25/remember-grapes-of-wrath-mother-road-at-sd-rep-is-the-sequel/|access-date=2021-10-24|website=San Diego Jewish World|language=en-US}} He voices an Arrival Agent in the film and its spinoff short.{{Cite web|last=Martinez|first=Kiko|date=2021-01-20|title=Get a Glimpse of Pixar's New 'Coco'-Inspired Short Film 'A Day in the Life of the Dead'|url=https://remezcla.com/film/get-glimpse-pixars-new-coco-inspired-short-film-day-life-dead/|access-date=2021-10-24|website=Remezcla|language=en-US}}
Contributions to Latino Theatre
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.{{Cite web |title=Octavio Solis |url=https://www.octaviosolis.net/ |access-date=2024-03-27}} 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.
Awards
| class="wikitable" |
| Award
! Dates |
|---|
| Barri and BC Stavis Playwriting Award, National Theatre Conference
| 1992-93 |
| Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund: Writers for Young Audiences (for La Posada Magica)
| 1992-93 |
| The Will Glickman Award for Best New Play in the Bay Area (for Santos & Santos)
| 1993 |
| The Roger L. Stevens Award: Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays (for Santos & Santos)
| 1994 |
| Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays (for Dreamlandia)
| 1997-98 |
| Playwriting Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
| 1995-97 |
| McKnight Fellowship: The Playwrights' Center
| 1998-99 |
| TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, Dallas Theater Center
| 1998–2000 |
| National Theatre Artists Residency Program, Pew Charitable Trusts
| 2000-02 |
| TCG/NEA Theatre Artists in Residence Grant, Shadowlight Productions
| 2000-01 |
| National Latino Playwriting Award: Arizona Theatre Center
| 2002 |
| Creative Work Fund, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts
| 2002-03 |
| New Works Fund Grant, Theatre Bay Area
| 2006-07 |
| Thornton Wilder Fellow, MacDowell Colony
| 2008 |
| Denver Post Ovation Award, Best Production (for Lydia)
| 2008 |
| Henry Award, Outstanding New Play (for Lydia)
| 2008 |
| Bay Area Critics Circle Mid-Career Achievement Award
| 2010 |
| United States Artists Fellowship
| 2011 |
| Pen Center Award for Drama (For Se Llama Cristana)
| 2014 |
| Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater Award by the William Inge Center for the Arts
| 2019 |
Works
| class="wikitable" |
| Production
! Theaters ! Dates |
|---|
| Impatiens
| Intersection for the Arts, SF, CA | August 1990 |
| Scrappers
| South Coast Repertory, CA | Fall 1992-93 |
| Man of the Flesh
| Teatro Dallas, CA South Coast Repertory, CA Los Medanos College,Pittsburg, CA | Oct. 1998 Oct.-Nov. 2014 |
| Prospect
| El Teatro Campesino University of California, San Diego | April 1993 2002 |
| La Posada Magica
| Odyssey Theatre Los Angeles University of New Mexico, Albuquerque | Dec. 1996 2002 |
| El Paso Blue
| Intersection for the Arts University of Washington, Seattle Cornish College, Seattle, WA | May 1994 1998 Nov. 2011 |
| Santos and Santos
| Thick Description Company University of Washington, Seattle Texas Tech University, Lubbock Cal State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Sacramento University of Texas at El Paso | Dec. 1993 1997 1998 2000 2002 2003 |
| El Otro
| Thick Description, San Francisco, CA | July 1998, Aug.-Sept. 2009 |
| Shiner
| Undermain Theatre, Dallas, TX | 1999 |
| Dreamlandia
| The Dallas Theater Center | May 2000 |
| The Seven Visions of Encarnación
| Shadowlight Productions | Oct. 2002 |
| Bethlehem
| Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA | July 2003 |
| Gibraltar
| The Oregon Shakespeare Festival | July 2005 |
| The Ballad of Pancho and Lucy
| Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA | Oct.-Nov. 2005 |
| Lethe
| Cornerstone Theatre Institute | Aug. 2006 |
| Marfa Lights
|West Texas State A&M University, TX St. Mary's College of California |Oct. 2006 Nov. 2006 |
| June in a Box
| CampoSanto, Intersection for the Arts St. Mary's College of California | March 2008 November 2011 |
| Lydia (play)
| The Denver Center for the Performing Arts Sul Ross University, Alpine TX | Jan. 2008 Oct. 2013 |
| Quixote
| The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon | June 2009 |
| Ghosts of the River
| Teatro Visión | Oct.-Nov. 2009 |
| The Pastures of Heaven
| California Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley, CA | June 2010 |
| Cloudlands
| South Coast Repertory Theatre, CA | April 2012 |
| Se Llama Cristina
| Magic Theatre | Jan. 2013 |
| Alicia's Miracle
| Tides Theatre in collaboration with the Center for the Investigative Reporting | Jan.-Feb. 2015 |
| Mother Road
|[https://www.osfashland.org/ Oregon Shakespeare Festival], Ashland, Oregon |March 3rd - October 26th, 2019 {{cite web | url=https://www.osfashland.org/en/productions/2019-plays/mother-road.aspx | title=Mother Road 2019 }}{{Cite web | title=The Mother Road, the road of flight – Medford News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News {{!}} Mail Tribune | url=https://www.mailtribune.com/top-stories/2019/07/02/the-mother-road-the-road-of-flight/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018214722/https://www.mailtribune.com/top-stories/2019/07/02/the-mother-road-the-road-of-flight/ | access-date=2024-12-26 | archive-date=2022-10-18}}{{Cite web |date=2021-10-01 |title=San Diego Rep's 'Mother Road' a modern sequel to John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/story/2021-10-01/san-diego-reps-mother-road-a-modern-sequel-to-john-steinbecks-grapes-of-wrath |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}} |
| Scene with Cranes
| Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre | Sept.-Oct. 2022 |
Books
- Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border, City Lights, 2018
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
External links
- {{Official|http://www.octaviosolis.net/}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solis, Octavio}}
Category:American people of Mexican descent
Category:Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights