Jose Luis Valenzuela

Professor Emeritus
Department: UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
jlvalenzuela@ucla.edu
Website
Keywords: Mexico

For over 25 years José Luis Valenzuela has directed critically acclaimed productions at major regional theaters including the Los Angeles Theatre Center where he created the Latino Theatre Lab in 1985 and the Mark Taper Forum where he established the Latino Theater Initiative. He most recently directed Solitude by Evelina Fernandez (LATC), La Victima by El Teatro de La Esperanza (LATC), and La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin (Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral), all produced by the Latino Theater Company.

His international directing credits include Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt at the Norland Theatre in Norway and Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman at the National Theatre of Norway. In 2002 he directed the World premiere of Dementia, written by Evelina Fernandez, for the Latino Theater Initiative which won the 2003 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Theater Production in Los Angeles. Mr. Valenzuela has been featured in the New York Times in December 2007 and the Los Angeles Times in December 2008 for his annual pageant play La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin.