10 Facts About Luis Alfaro

Luis Alfaro grew up in the Pico Union district near downtown Los Angeles and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in East Los Angeles.

Luis Alfaro's plays and fiction are set in Los Angeles' Chicano barrios including the Pico Union district; they sometimes feature gay, lesbian, and working-class themes.

Luis Alfaro is an associate professor in the School of Dramatic Arts at the University of Southern California; from 2013 to 2019, he was the playwright-in-residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Luis Alfaro's writing, both sole-authored and collaborative, is collected in numerous anthologies.

Luis Alfaro contributed to the 1995 film Pochonovela, a collaboration between the Cuban American performer Coco Fusco and the LA-based Chicano performance ensemble, Chicano Secret Service.

Luis Alfaro's solo show St Jude is the playwright's tribute to his father.

The play moves back and forth between Luis Alfaro growing up and the events that follow his father's stroke.

Luis Alfaro's Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles is a contemporary retelling of Medea.

Rosa Andujar edited The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro bringing together for the first time Alfaro's three 'Greek' plays.

Luis Alfaro has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the MacArthur "Genius" Foundation Fellowship in 1997, and the 1998 National Hispanic Playwriting Competition Prize.