Luis Alfaro is a Chicano playwright known for his work in theater, performance, poetry, and journalism. Born and raised in the Pico-Union district of downtown Los Angeles, he also works as a director, curator, producer, educator, and community organizer. He is the first playwright-in-residence in the 83-year history of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the largest repertory company in the United States, serving for six seasons (2013-19) through the generous support of the Andrew S. Mellon Foundation. He was mentored by the founding artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Gordon Davidson, where he spent 10 years as associate producer, director of New Play Development, and co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative. Alfaro studied playwriting under the influential Latina playwright, María Irene Fornés, and he is a professor at the University of Southern California. Alfaro is the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” He is a recent Joyce Foundation Fellow and the only artist to have won two awards in the same year from the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays. He is featured in over 25 anthologies, has an award-winning spoken word CD, down town, and an Emmy-nominated PBS short film, Chicanismo. He is a member of New Dramatists in New York and an associate artist with Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and Playwrights Arena in Los Angeles.