Tori and Mabelle talk with the legendary José Cruz González who shares how he came to playwriting out of necessity; the importance of inviting yourself to come back to the playwriting table; and why children make the best dramaturgs.
Writing prompts (courtesy of José Cruz González)
- Write about 3-10 memorable moments/things in your life. Writing is about discovery and peeling back layers. The plays are inside of you, you just need to take time to discover them!
- Tell a one-minute story…and then transcribe it! Speak your story out loud, recording it on your phone. Then, transcribe the story onto your computer.
José’s full bio:
José Cruz González is the writer of numerous plays including Under a Baseball Sky (The Old Globe, commission), American Mariachi (South Coast Repertory, Dallas Theater Center, The Goodman Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, The Old Globe), Sunsets & Margaritas (Denver Center Theatre Company, TheatreWorks), September Shoes (Geva Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company), The San Patricios (PCPA), Among the Darkest Shadows(Wharton Center for Performing Arts), The Long Road Today (South Coast Repertory), The Sun Serpent (Childsplay). He has written for “Paz,” the Emmy Award-nominated television series produced by Discovery Kids for The Learning Channel. The Astronaut Farmworker (La Jolla Playhouse) was a 2016 PEN Center USA Literary Award finalist. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts). A collection of his plays, Nine Plays by José Cruz González: Magical Realism & Mature Themes in Theatre for Young Audiences, was published in 2009 (University of Texas Press). He is a professor emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles, a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and Theatre for Young Audiences/USA.
OTHER NOTES
Check out TuYo Theatre’s Ofrendas en Pandemia: A Día de Muertos Anthology.
Check out the San Diego Symphony’s holiday show, Noel Noel.