- Peter Ruiz -

QUEER - QUIRKY - MULTI-RACIAL - MULTI-ETHNIC - MESS

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Who Are They?

 

Hey Y’all.

In my first professional theatre contract I was doing a theatre for young audiences play. A young boy who could’ve been my mini me came up to me after the show in tears and said “I’ve never seen someone who looks like me doing what you do.” He ran away unable to say more. This is why I am a theatre artist.

I’m a dramaturg, writer, and teacher raised in Orlando and based in Chicago. I’m a huge text nerd so I have a passion for decolonizing the Theatrical Canon and New Play Development. I believe that when we celebrate the complexity of the fullness of our identities on stage that the creation of radical empathy and connection happens. As my career has ebbed and flowed in theatre I have settled into a love for Literary and Dramaturgy work. My passion stems from a strong urge to be an advocate for playwrights and centering their work in every room I’m in. While I have been working in particular capacities since my arrival to Chicago I don’t believe in identifying my work in positions but in purpose. My purpose is to be a bridge for BIPOC, Queer, and Gender Diverse playwrights. These playwrights are not just our current living playwrights but also playwrights whose work has historically been ignored. I hope to collaborate with folks who are not only interested in these diverse living playwrights but also those forebears who created paths for us today. I want to create spaces that say not only that we are here, but we've been here.

When our stories are told on stage we create possibility models for communities who haven’t seen themselves reflected in storytelling. By placing us, our histories, our stories and our culture on the stage it says that we matter, we belong, and not only that we belong but we are a necessary part of the culture.