Ramón A. Esquivel

Assistant Professor of Theatre, Playwriting
Mainstage Director 

Contact Information

• Office: Bldg. 45, Rm. 102
• Phone: 805-756-6071
• Email: resqui05@calpoly.edu

Areas of Expertise

• Playwriting
• Dramaturgy / Script Analysis
• Latinx Theatre
• Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA)
• New Play Development
• Drama-In-Education
• Arts Integration

Education

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

About Ramón Esquivel

Professor Esquivel is a playwright, director, dramaturg, arts consultant, and theatre educator. His plays have been produced in theatres, universities, and schools in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Austin, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Denver, Vancouver BC, Seattle, and elsewhere in North America. A current project, ¡O Cascadia!, has been developed at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and The Cascadia Project. Recent world premieres include The Hero Twins: Blood Race at the University of Texas at Austin and Appalachian State University, and Above Between Below, which has been touring 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 was presented at the 2018 Austin Latino New Play Festival, and was also featured at the 2019 Latinx Theatre Commons Sin Fronteras Festival. His play The Shahrazad Society won the Aurand Harris Memorial Playwriting Award from the New England Theatre Conference. Available through Dramatic Publishing are four plays: The Hero Twins: Blood Race, Luna, Nasty, and Nocturnal, and his works are featured in three anthologies, New Visions/New Voices: 25 Years/25 Plays; Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o Theatre for Young Audiences; and I Have a Story: Plays from an Extraordinary Year. 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. An advocate for original work for the theatre, Professor Esquivel has produced student play festivals at UBC and CWU, and he hopes to encourage new student work here at Cal Poly. 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