Teatro Vivo is excited to continue our engagement with local, Central Texas-based writers in a series of Playwriting Workshops taught by experienced playwrights in Latinx theatre! Open to any writer whose writing aligns with Teatro Vivo’s mission, these workshops will take place over the course of three Sundays in February and March of 2025. Writers can attend one, two, or all three workshops at a rate of $10 per workshop or $25 for all three. Scholarships are available! Space is limited so registration is encouraged as soon as possible!

Sign up here!

Dates/Times of Playwright Workshops:

Sunday, February 23, 2025
2PM – 4PM
with Roxanne Schroeder-Arce & Mateo Hernandez

Sunday, March 2, 2025
2PM – 4PM
with Erica Saenz

Sunday, March 9, 2025
2PM – 4PM
with Marisela Treviño Orta

Location of Workshops:
5702 Sutherlin Rd., Austin, TX 78723

Price of Registration:
$10 per workshop
$25 for all three workshops!
Scholarships available!

About the Workshop Facilitators:

Roxanne Schroeder-Arce is Associate Dean of UTeach Fine Arts and Associate Professor of Theatre Education at The University of Texas at Austin. As well as an administrator and teacher, Roxanne is an artist, scholar and arts advocate. Her plays, published by Dramatic Publishing, including Mariachi Girl and Señora Tortuga, have been produced throughout the country. Her newest published dramatic literature, Yana Wana’s Legend of the Bluebonnet (co-authored by María F. Rocha), recently won a distinguished play award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Her new play, Lyric & the Keys, recently premiered at Magik Theatre in San Antonio. Roxanne has also published articles in journals such as Youth Theatre Journal, Research in Drama Education, and Theatre Topics and chapters in books including Latinos and American Popular Culture. Roxanne is a non-Indigenous member of the Board of Elders of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, a cadre member of the Center for Educator Development, and a Board member of Teatro Vivo. www.roxannearce.com

Mateo Hernandez is a queer, Latinx theatre maker, applied theatre practitioner, pedagogue, and scholar. They are an MFA candidate in Drama & Theatre for Youth & Communities at The University of Texas at Austin where their research interests include queering pedagogies and performance. As a playwright, his play spayce boys has been chosen for the 2020 Ingenio New Play Festival (Milagro Theatre, Teatro Vivo, Cara Mia Theatre) and the 2021 New Plays for Young Audiences: BIPOC Initiative (NYU Steinhardt). Their creative writing revolves around topics of gender and sexuality within Latinx/Chicanx culture. They have worked with companies such as UrbanTheatre Co., Filament Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Teatro Vivo, Cara Mia Theatre, and Creative Action. Mateo is the 2023 recipient of the Don and Elizabeth Doyle Fellowship from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education. Mateo is a company member with For Youth Inquiry (FYI), a performance company in Chicago, IL making participatory theatre around issues of reproductive justice. They are also a member of the Board of Directors for Teatro Vivo in Austin, TX, a theatre company focused on showcasing Latinx experiences. mateohernandez.org 

Erica Saenz is a skilled artist and executive officer with extensive experience in fine arts programming, community engagement and management. She has held executive roles with Waterloo Greenway Conservancy and The University of Texas at Austin. Erica was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley. She holds a BA in Theatre from UT and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from UCLA. As an actor, she has performed on many stages including at UCLA, Los Angeles Theatre Center, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, SAY Sí and the Paramount and State Theatres. She has been recognized with various Austin Critics’ Table and B. Iden Payne Theater awards and nominations. Erica began her creative writing career in the late 90s during her time performing as an original cast member of the Latino Comedy Project in Austin. As a playwright, her work has been produced at UCLA, the Mexican American Cultural Center, and Salvage Vanguard Theater. While at UCLA, Erica was the recipient of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Award in Comedy, a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Cheech Marin Endowed Scholar, a National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Fellow, and a Dude Fellow in Theater, Film & TV for the Depiction of Ethnic Diversity. Erica also worked as an instructor with East LA Classic Theatre’s Literacy Through Performing Arts Program. Erica is an alum of Leadership Austin and Leadership Texas, and her board service commitments include Austin Soundwaves, Community Advancement Network, I Live Here I Give Here, Texas Exes Alumni Association, and The Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Marisela Treviño Orta’s plays include Heart Shaped Nebula, Somewhere, Wolf at the Door and The River Bride, which premiered in 2016 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has had subsequent productions at Arizona Theatre Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, and an upcoming 2021 production at American Players Theatre. Her work has been presented by ACT Young Conservatory, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Brava Theater, Camino Real Productions, Halcyon Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theater, Marin Theatre Company, Milagro, Nashville Children’s Theatre Company, New Jersey Repertory Company, Shotgun Players, Su Teatro and Those Women Productions. Recently her Audible-commissioned audio play Nightfall launched on their platform. Marisela is an alum of the Playwrights Foundation Resident Playwright Initiative (2008-2011), Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit (2018-2019), and Playwrights’ Center Core Writer program (2018-2021). Currently she is a member of the Latino Theatre Company’s Circle of Imaginistas who are under commission to create new work. She is the recipient of the 2006 Chicano/Latino Literary Award in Drama, 2009 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Drama, 2013 National Latino Playwriting Award, and 2019 Alliance Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award Finalist. Marisela has an MFA in Poetry from the University of San Francisco and an MFA in Playwriting from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.