Artistic Director Guillermo Avilés-Rodríguez was born in Compton, California, and raised in Watts; he has built a solid career around using theatre as a way of exploring issues of social inequality as well as self- empowerment. His study of theatre has taken him all over the Americas and to the Caribbean. Through a Cornerstone Theater Company residency in Watts Guillermo was able to attend the University of Utah (U of U) in Salt Lake City, Utah. There he excelled both academically and artistically. On the academic front, the highlight was becoming a National Hispanic Scholar, and earning a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the U of U’s conservatory Actors Training Program. On the artistic front he earned the distinction of being the first Chicana/o ever to star in a main-stage production at the University of Utah. Upon graduating from the University of Utah Guillermo was one of eight actors accepted into the prestigious Masters of Fine Arts program at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). At UCSD Guillermo became an active part of the political theatre movement, performing guerrilla theatre shows and political satire on campus and at the famed Ché Café. While at UCSD he devised a plan to study political theatre in La Habana, Cuba in the summer of 2001. His expertise working with at-risk youth lead him to a residency with the nationally recognized Unusual Suspects we he directed and produced plays with paroled and institutionalized youths. He would also go on to freelance work as a theater education specialist, consultant. As a playwright/director Guillermo has worked with the Nationwide ArtsBridge outreach program as well as multiple residencies and collaborations with many after school, teen and social service programs. Guillermo is also a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. He believes in using drama to help youth channel energies into productive endeavors, as well as a socially conscious, process oriented approach to theater creation. He is a member and consultant with Grupo Apolo one of Los Angeles’ only all Spanish- language theater troupe. He has written and directed many original plays for students from elementary to university level. Some of Guillermo’s directorial and literary highlights include two commissions from Center Theatre Group to write student Discovery Guides for En Un Sol Amarillo and Palestine, New Mexico, as well as directing A Bicycle Country by Nilo Cruz at California State University at Long Beach. Guillermo is the proud Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater Company and was an adjunct professor at College of the Desert where he directed Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, before joining the Los Angeles Mission College as an Assistant Professor of Cinema and Theater.
Managing Director David Mack, a graduate of California Institute of the Arts (MFA, Theatre) and Cornell University (BA, Theatre), has been active in theatre for over 10 years in Los Angeles, New York, Europe and the Caribbean as a performer, director, and producer. Previously a producer of "Chocolate City," an intercultural showcase connecting Southern California artists of color to the Industry, David was also Founder of Artist Magnet, an online social network connecting theatre artists to shows and venues everywhere. David is also a member of the LA-Weekly Award Winning City Garage Theatre.
