Magdalena Gómez, Co-founder and Artistic Director
Magdalena Gómez, a Bronx native and Springfield, Massachusetts, resident, is an award-winning poet, playwright, performer, and arts educator. Gómez is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of the first Latino theater in Springfield, MA, Teatro V!da. Gómez was named an Unsung Heroine of 2007 by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Gómez has received awards from the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts and from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture in support of her writing for the theater. Other awards include the Master Artist Award from National Endowment for the Arts presenters,Pregones Theater in New York City; the Massachusetts Cultural Council Playwriting Award and the 2008 Black Women Playwrights Group Whisper Laugh Shout Award, among others. Gómez is a columnist for An African American Point of View newspaper, and a regular commentator for New England Public Radio. A collection of her monologues and poems, Dancing in My Cockroach
Killers, is currently in repertory with Pregones Theater in NYC. It will receive eight fully staged performances with original music by Desmar Guevara beginning November 1, 2012. She will be a panelist and performer this year for the Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference to be held at SUNY, Albany.
Her work has been widely published, including in the Berkshire Review, Tea Party Magazine, Latino Boom, Massachusetts Review and the Ollantay Theater Journal, among many others. Gómez has been regular collaborator with Fred Ho on music and poetry performances throughout the United States, and is a member of Sleeping Weazel, the vision of playwright and scholar, Charlotte Mehan. Gómez is the co-editor, along with poet, Maria Luisa Arroyo, of the first ever intergenerational, multicultural and multi-genre book on bullying: Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals Confessions and Catharsis. Gómez is currently on the roster of www.bestkeynotes.com.
"I feel Magdalena is one of the top artist educators in the country...her classrooms are places of healing and rejuvenation. I look forward to collaborating with her much more in the future."
Kurt Wootton, Founder and Co-director, www.habla.org in Merida, Mexico; former director of Brown University Arts Literacy Project
Killers, is currently in repertory with Pregones Theater in NYC. It will receive eight fully staged performances with original music by Desmar Guevara beginning November 1, 2012. She will be a panelist and performer this year for the Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference to be held at SUNY, Albany.
Her work has been widely published, including in the Berkshire Review, Tea Party Magazine, Latino Boom, Massachusetts Review and the Ollantay Theater Journal, among many others. Gómez has been regular collaborator with Fred Ho on music and poetry performances throughout the United States, and is a member of Sleeping Weazel, the vision of playwright and scholar, Charlotte Mehan. Gómez is the co-editor, along with poet, Maria Luisa Arroyo, of the first ever intergenerational, multicultural and multi-genre book on bullying: Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals Confessions and Catharsis. Gómez is currently on the roster of www.bestkeynotes.com.
"I feel Magdalena is one of the top artist educators in the country...her classrooms are places of healing and rejuvenation. I look forward to collaborating with her much more in the future."
Kurt Wootton, Founder and Co-director, www.habla.org in Merida, Mexico; former director of Brown University Arts Literacy Project
Our Vision:
Teatro V!da was founded to build youth leadership through the arts with a special focus on the creation of youth generated multi-media performance works in collaboration with professional adult artists. Our intergenerational ensemble work provides venue for youth to identify and address issues that concern them in creative, positive and life-giving ways. Our teaching is incremental and intensive, providing the structure and tools necessary to build confidence, support critical thinking, embrace a love of learning, practice presence, and engage in respectful, reciprocal and healthy social interactions. Our members acquire skills for literacy, positive leadership, organizing youth produced arts events, public speaking, team work and strategies for building a successful life that benefits the individual, our community and society at large. We encourage youth to strive for excellence in all facets of their lives with a spirit of generosity, non-violence and compassion. We are "the other TV" creating our own reality.
Teatro V!da was co-founded in 2007 by Artistic Director, Magdalena Gomez,
with the support and advocacy of The Latino Breakfast Club.
Original community partners:
The Springfield Museums and the Greater Springfield YMCA.
Current community partners:
Samuel D. Plotkin Associates (Evan Plotkin); Amherst Media;
and Artist Square Group Gallery (Rosemary Tracy Woods).
Youth Ensemble Members Past and Present: Glorimar Rosette Vargas, Jasmine Jimenez, Yolanda Scavron, Carlos David Palacio, Kifaya Timage Turé, Francesca Rodriguez, Gabriela Rodriguez, Rosalin Iris Martinez, Rafael Roque, Narelle Thomas, Mirtha Quiroz, Reina Diaz, Xavier Robles, Shayla Burge, Carlos G. Rosario, Eilish Thompson, Carina Gonzalez, Cassandra Gonzalez, Kevin Korsah, Claudia Lora, Rina Irizarry, Nicole LeRoux, Krystal Harvey, Felicia Harvey, Gianna Guido, Ischialy Volmar, Jenaya Issac, Yashira M. Guzman, Andrea Besancon, Alisha Raye Estrada, Felicia Harvey, Ashli Vaughn, Andres Lopez, Amandaly Olivares, Armando Olivares, Francesca Rodriguez, Gabriela Rodriguez, Dana H. Murray, Veronica Machuca-Santana, Paris Ortiz, Yusef Sadiq, Jeremy Turgeon, Emmy Cepeda, Carolyn Duran, Ivette Terrero, James A. Villalobos; Belky Rodriguez; Eiliane M. Alvelo, Hellen Faour, Daniel Robert, April Zoe Martinez Rivera, Keila Matos, Gabriel Cifuentes, Alex Casanova, Jessica Reyes, Jose Reyes, Brian Reyes, Lara Gonzalez, Stephanie Peluyera, Delmarina López, Benjamin Rodriguez, Francheska Morales, Diego Angarita-Horowitz, Nicole Marie Ouimette and Sara Berliner.
Adult Guests Artists and Scholars Include: Founding Poet in Residence, Maria Luisa Arroyo; founding Media Specialist, Jim Lescault; founding Music Director, Heshima Moja; Fred Ho, Iris Morales, Ben Barson, Janis Astor del Valle, arjuna greist, John Brandoli, Sara Littlecrow-Russell, Quincy Saul, Sandra María Esteves, Abraham Gomez-Delgado, Owen Brown, Taylor Ho Bynum, Waleska Lugo DeJesus, Kevin Sharpe, Damian Curtis, Malika Ndlovu, Warren Amerman, Freddy Chapellequin,Tom Schneeloch, Julie Lichtenberg, Kathryn Neel, Lydia Perez, Jesus Pagan, Victor Rosario, Ray Natal, Victor "Papo" Sterling Duprey, Abdou Sarr, Wali Ghiam, Brendaliz Cepeda, Ahmed Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez, Lorena Garay, Eugenio Huanco, Natalia Eugenia Munoz, Eric Remschneider, Mary Patierno, Brendaliz Cepeda, Kayla Creamer, Craig Sinclair, James O'Connor, among others.
Adult Guests Artists and Scholars Include: Founding Poet in Residence, Maria Luisa Arroyo; founding Media Specialist, Jim Lescault; founding Music Director, Heshima Moja; Fred Ho, Iris Morales, Ben Barson, Janis Astor del Valle, arjuna greist, John Brandoli, Sara Littlecrow-Russell, Quincy Saul, Sandra María Esteves, Abraham Gomez-Delgado, Owen Brown, Taylor Ho Bynum, Waleska Lugo DeJesus, Kevin Sharpe, Damian Curtis, Malika Ndlovu, Warren Amerman, Freddy Chapellequin,Tom Schneeloch, Julie Lichtenberg, Kathryn Neel, Lydia Perez, Jesus Pagan, Victor Rosario, Ray Natal, Victor "Papo" Sterling Duprey, Abdou Sarr, Wali Ghiam, Brendaliz Cepeda, Ahmed Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez, Lorena Garay, Eugenio Huanco, Natalia Eugenia Munoz, Eric Remschneider, Mary Patierno, Brendaliz Cepeda, Kayla Creamer, Craig Sinclair, James O'Connor, among others.
Newsletters for Fall and Winter, 2012 below:
| tv_newsletter_winter_.pdf |
