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Ramón A. Esquivel

Ramon Esquivel
Assistant Professor of Theatre, Playwriting
Mainstage Director 

Contact Information

Education

  • MFA Creative Writing, University of British Columbia
  • MA Educational Theatre, New York University
  • BA History, Yale University

Course Summary

  • TH 290 Script Analysis
  • TH 305 Topics in Diversity on the American Stage: Latinx Theatre
  • TH 305 Topics in Diversity on the American Stage: Race & Gender in Performance
  • TH 345 Mainstage Rehearsal and Performance
  • TH 350 Seminar in Playwriting
  • TH 461 Senior Project Seminar
  • TH 470 Advanced Playwriting: Dramatic Writing Across Forms

About Ramón Esquivel

Professor Esquivel is a playwright, director, dramaturg, and educator. His plays have been produced in theatres, universities, and schools across North America and internationally. Recent commissions include Show Me the Gates of Heaven from Thrown Stone Theatre (Norwalk), Fallenstar: The Watchoverers at New Native Theatre (Minneapolis), and Watching for Sasquatch: An Environmental Play of Plays through a grant from Cal Poly. Notable recent productions include Dulce at Scottish Rite Theatre (Austin) and PCPA (Santa Maria), and The Hero Twins: Blood Race at Phoenix College, Magik Theatre (San Antonio), University of Texas at Austin, and Appalachian State University. His play Above Between Below toured Washington and Oregon schools through a collaboration between Seattle Children’s Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, and the Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre Program. Professor Esquivel’s play Dulce won the AATE Distinguished Play Award, and has been featured at the Latinx Theatre Commons Sin Fronteras Festival and the Austin Latinx New Play Festival. ZEQ, a play with music for and about queer youth, was created through a ReImagine Grant from Theatre for Young Audiences/USA and Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and has been presented at the Austin Latinx New Play Festival and New Plays for Young Audiences at the Provincetown Playhouse, New York University. His play The Shahrazad Society won the Aurand Harris Memorial Playwriting Award from the New England Theatre Conference. Before joining the faculty at Cal Poly, Professor Esquivel taught playwriting and theatre education at Central Washington University, and creative writing at the University of British Columbia. He has also been a guest artist at the University of Texas at Austin, Whitman College, Northwestern University, Appalachian State University, Phoenix College, and Central Washington University. Prior to moving into higher education, he taught English, history, drama, and creative writing in secondary schools in Washington DC, New York City, Vancouver, and Seattle. Professor Esquivel is an active member of the Dramatists Guild, Theatre for Young Audiences / USA, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Latinx Theatre Commons, and the New Play Exchange.

Awards and Honors

  • Invited Playwright, New Harmony Project
  • ReImagine Grant, Write Now, Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, and Children's Theatre Foundation of America
  • Invited Playwright, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference
  • Aurand Harris Grant, Children’s Theatre Foundation of America
  • Grant for Artist Projects, Artist Trust of Washington State 
  • Aurand Harris Memorial Playwriting Award, New England Theatre Conference
  • Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities (RSCA) grant, 2023-2024
  • Distinguished Play Award, American Alliance for Theatre & Education 

Publications

      Plays

  • Dulce, Dramatic Publishing, 2024
  • The Girl Who Talks to Spiders, YouthPlays, 2024
  • The Hero Twins: Blood Race, Dramatic Publishing, 2022
  • Nocturnal, Dramatic Publishing, 2017
  • Nasty, Dramatic Publishing, 2011
  • Luna, Dramatic Publishing, 2011

      Anthologies

  • "The Hero Twins: Blood Race." Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o New Plays for Young Audiences, Volume 2. Jose Casas and Christina Marín, eds. Dramatic Publishing, forthcoming 2026.
  • "The Girl Who Talks to Spiders." Pieces of Mind: Ten Plays about Mental Health for Teens. YouthPlays, 2025.

  • "The Right Kind of Noise." I Have a Story: Plays from an Extraordinary Year. Dramatic Publishing, 2021.

  •  "Luna." Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o Theatre for Young Audiences, Volume 1. Jose Casas and Christina Marín, eds. Dramatic Publishing, 2017. 

  • "Nocturnal." New Visions/New Voices: 25 Years/25 Plays, Volume 2. Deirdre Kelly Lavrakas, Kim Peter Kovac, eds. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Dramatic Publishing, 2016.

        Scholarship

  • Esquivel, Ramon. "Staging and Critiquing Masculinities: Between Pancho Villa and a Naked Woman and Straight White Men," (chapter), Milestones in Staging Genders and Sexualities, Emily Rollie, ed. Routledge, 2024

 

 

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