Artist Bio

(Bio as of March 2016)

José Luis Valenzuela is the artistic director of the Latino Theater Company (LTC), and The Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and is also a distinguished professor and head of the MFA directing program at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. Mr. Valenzuela is an award winning theater director, and has been a visionary and an advocate for Chicano/Latino theater for over 30 years. He has directed critically acclaimed productions at major theaters both internationally and nationally including the LATC, where he created the Latino Theatre Lab in 1985, and the Mark Taper Forum, where he established the Latino Theater Initiative in 1991. Most recently he directed Destiny of Desire at Arena Stage in Washington D.C. and La Olla – Plautus’s The Pot of Gold for the Latino Theater Company at the LATC. As the artistic director of the Latino Theater Company, operators of the LATC, he has been responsible for developing its artistic vision and organizational mission of producing programming that represents the diversity of Los Angeles. In 2010, under Mr. Valenzuela’s leadership, the LATC was nominated for an LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Best Theatre Season. His recent directing credits at the LATC include La Olla – Plautus’s The Pot of Gold; Premeditation; Peer Gynt; Melancholia; Faith, Hope and Charity; Habitat and La Victima. In 2007, Mr. Valenzuela was featured in The New York Times for the LTC’s annual holiday pageant, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin, at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral. In 2002 he directed the world premiere of Dementia, which won the 2003 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Theater Production in Los Angeles. Other international directing credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman at the National Theatre of Norway, and he assisted his mentor, Norwegian director Stein Winge, with Hamlet, The Glass Menagerie, Barrabas, Pantagleize, Die Walkurie, The Inspector General and The Wild Duck. Mr. Valenzuela’s film directing credits include Dementia, Luminarias, How Else Am I Supposed To Know I’m Still Alive?, Una Vez Al Año Para Toda Una Vida,  La Redada and A Bowl of Beings, for PBS’ Great Performances. Mr. Valenzuela’s artistic vision and community commitment has garnered numerous recognitions, nominations and awards including the Ann C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community Partnership Prize and the Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero of the Year Award. He also serves on the national steering committee of the Latina/o Theatre Commons and produced the national Latina/o Theatre Festival Encuentro in 2014.