Award-winning Chicano storyteller Luis Alfaro

Award-winning Chicano storyteller Luis Alfaro will explore the power of making art from everyday life in the next installment of California State University, Northridge’s Commerce of Creativity Distinguished Speaker Series on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

Alfaro, a renowned playwright, writer, performer and director whose work has been seen throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, will open the new season of the annual series hosted by the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication at 7 p.m. in the Kurland Lecture Hall of the university’s Valley Performing Arts Center. His lecture is titled “Citizen Artist: Making Art From My Everyday.”

“The college appreciates the importance of Luis’ work as evidenced by the fact that our theater department students produced one of his great plays, ‘Electricidad,’” said Jay Kvapil, dean of the Curb College. “We couldn’t be more thrilled about having him kick off this year’s distinguished speaker series.”

Born and raised in the Pico-Union District of Los Angeles, Alfaro writes about the city’s barrios and issues of race, gender and sexual orientation. He received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, known as a MacArthur “genius grant,” in 1997. He also is the only playwright to receive the Kennedy Center Fund for New America Play Award twice in one year.

Alfaro was a resident artist with the Mark Taper Forum for 10 years. He served as director of new play development and produced and directed more than 150 new plays at the Taper Too, New Work Festival and Next Step seasons, and managed the laboratory work of the company.

Among Alfaro’s most notable plays are “Bitter Homes and Gardens,” “Pico Union,” “Downtown,” “Cuerpo Politizado,” “Straight as a Line,” “Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner,” “No Holds Barrio,” “Black Butterfly,” “Electricidad” and “Oedipus El Rey.”

Alfaro has been the recipient of numerous awards. In addition to the MacArthur “genius grant,” his short film, “Chicanismo,” was nominated for a regional Emmy in 1999. He also has been named a “Treasure of Los Angeles” by the Los Angeles Central City Business Association and was a recipient of L.A. Weekly’s “Queen of the Angels” theater award, as well as the 2006 James A. Doolittle Lifetime Achievement Ovation Award.

As a solo performer, Alfaro has traveled throughout the United States, England and Mexico. His stops included the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, The Getty Center, Boston Center for the Arts, Hirshorn Museum at the Smithsonian, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and X-Teresa Performance Space in Mexico City.

In 2013, Alfaro became the first writer-in-residence in the 80-year history of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

“Mojada,” Alfaro’s most recent play, is the winner of a 2013 Jeff Award for Best New Play and will go into production at Portland Center Stage and The Getty Villa in 2015.

The Commerce of Creativity Distinguished Speaker Series is free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended. To make a reservation, email Jennifer Badasci at jennifer.badasci@csun.edu.

The Valley Performing Arts Center is located at the south end of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

The Commerce of Creativity series is organized by the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication to connect members of the campus, alumni and the community with compelling and creative storytellers who have made significant contributions to the art of creative communication and the art of business.

CSUN’s Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication is inspired by a shared belief that art is community, community is art, and art and communication are essential pillars for building and maintaining community. Its programs, including those in art, music, theater, cinema and television arts, communication studies and journalism, have an international reputation for graduating skilled professionals who succeed in their respective fields.

Commerce of Creativity, Mike Curb College of Arts Media and Communication