Anita Gonzalez

Gonzalez’ creative writings focus on telling women’s stories and histories.  Her work has appeared on PBS national television and at Lincoln Center Out-of Doors, the Working Theatre, New York Live Arts, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, The Cell, and Dixon Place.  Recent work includes Zoom performances of her ten-minute musical "Dance Off" for Chicago Dramatists, a libretto workshop for "Home of my Ancestors" at Frontiers/Fort Worth Opera (originally commissioned by Houston Grand Opera Co.), and an Equity showcase production of "Ybor City" with Brooklyn Tavern Theatre in NYC (Cuban unionists, readings, rhumba, and smoke converge in 1918 Tampa, Florida), and reimagined performances of the devised work "The Living Lakes" for Links Hall in Chicago (dance theatre about African American and Latino migrations in the icy Great Lakes)

Anita Gonzalez has completed three Senior Scholar Fulbright grants and been awarded a residency at Rockefeller’s Bellagio Center in Italy. She was a Humanities Center Fellow at the University of Michigan during the 2017/18 academic year and she is a recent recipient of the Shirley Verrett Award for outstanding teaching of performance. Gonzalez is a member of the National Theatre Conference, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, League of Professional Women in Theatre, the Player’s Club and the Dramatists Guild.

Anita has authored two books "Afro-Mexico: Dancing Between Myth and Reality" (2010) and "Jarocho’s Soul" (2005) and co-edited the volumes "Black Performance Theory" (2013) and "Performance, Dance and Political Economy" (2021). Her essays about multi-cultural and international performance appear in several edited collections including Narratives in Black British Dance (Akinyele), Black Acting Methods (Luckett), Community Performance Reader (Kuppers)

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
https://anitagonzalez.com/

MORE ABOUT ME
My most gratifying experiences in the theatre are experiences where I learn about other cultures and human beings through evocative storytelling. I love the way in which music carries story through song because it better reflects the diverse cultural experiences of communities I work with.

Storytelling as cultural exchange defines my work. I am interested in how differing experiences intersect to create communities. In addition to my writing I have developed a Massive Open Online course called Storytelling for Social Change which has reached over 35,000 learners. I like when stories communicate across genres, so I work in media, song, theatre and dance. I even work as a destination lecturer for cruise ships in the Caribbean. My experiences making performance in Mexico, the Caribbean, England and Africa contribute to my writing and creative work.

Artistic Directors should know I'm an awesome person to work with because I really enjoy the spark which emerges from collaboration. I am at my best when collaborating with other artists. When I'm not writing, I like to swim in warm waters and hear the sounds of birds. In these times, it is particularly important to sometimes take a break from Zoom engagements.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
A new small-cast musical about Black women's empowerment called "Zora on My Mind" about a woman named Key who "don't know who she wants to be."

An opera libretto for Boston Opera Collaborative, titled "Courthouse Bells", about voting rights and justice.

A new play called "Spitfire at the Sunset Dream" with the Vagrancy about a group of African Americans who travel to the Caribbean for fun only to find themselves.

Continuing development of "Ybor City the Musical" which premiered  in NYC in 2020

KEYWORDS
African American, Latin X, Caribbean, Black, writer, teacher, racial justice, People of Color, fable/folktales, musicals, dance, comedy, immersive/site-specific, historical, political, women, Native American, indigenous, cosmos, spiritual, wellness