# Elisa Marina Alvarado

Elisa Marina Alvarado is an American director, actress, educator, social worker, practitioner of traditional Mexican medicine, and dancer. Born in San Jose, California, Elisa Alvarado is a director and community organizer of Purépecha and Cuban descent. She is perhaps best known as the founder and long-time Artistic Director of the San Jose-based Chicano Teatro Visión theater company. Teatro Visión is a leading Chicano theater company in the Latino theater scene, known especially for adapting classic Mexican novels and films for the stage to increase cultural awareness. She is currently invested in two theater programs Codices and the Instituto de Teatro, which produce new works by Latino playwrights and offer comprehensive training in culture-based theater.

## Personal life and career

Elisa Alvarado was born in San Jose, California, to Blanca Alvarado and Jose J. Alvarado. Her parents gave her access to books and the arts, and instilled values of social justice, spurring her natural talent and passion for the arts. Her passion for theater, as well social change through theater, was sparked in high school in the 1970s after a performance by the legendary theater company El Teatro Campesino. Shortly after, she joined the San Jose-based theater company Teatro de la Gente and toured through San Jose, Mexico, and the American Southwest. After a few years with Teatro de la Gente, Alvarado and other women in Women in Teatro formed an all-female company called Teatro Huipil, named after the Huipil, a traditional garment worn by Indigenous women in Mexico and Central America.
After disagreement over vision for the company, many of the co-founders left, and Alvarado renamed the company Teatro Visión. Alvarado went on to act, as Artistic Director for Teatro Visión for 33 years, until 2017, when she gave the position to her protégé Rodrigo García.
On July 31, 2012, Alvarado suffered a stroke while at a family reunion in New Mexico. She recovered fully and the period of inactivity prompted a restructuring of Teatro Visión to a more sustainable business model.
Recently, Alvarado spent more time with the other programs that she belongs to or founded. In addition to her new works program Codices and her theatrical education program Instituto de Teatro, she is a member of the Native Family Outreach and Education project and the City of San José Independent Police Auditor Community Advisory Committee. She works as a Clinical Social Worker Specialist in San Jose and founded the Ethnomedicine Project that offers training in traditional Mexican medicine. She taught at San Jose State University, San Francisco State University, and Palo Alto High School.

## Awards

In 2010 Alvarado received the James McEntee Lifetime Achievement award, and in 2016 Theatre Bay Area selected her as one of 40 individuals pivotal in building the prestige of the Bay Area theater community. In 2010 she was selected for the Silicon Valley Business Journal's Women of Achievement, and received the City of San Jose's Cornerstone of the Arts award in 2017.

## Productions by Teatro Visión

List of Productions :
| Production Name | Author |
| The House on Mango Street | Adapted by Amy Ludwig, Written by Sandra Cisneros |
| La Muerte Baila | Rebecca Martinez and the Milagro Theatre Ensemble |
| Macario | B. Traven |
| Solitude | Evelina Fernández with Teatro Visión |
| Bless Me, Ultima | Rudolfo Anaya |
| Perla | Leonard Madrid |
| Taking Flight | Adriana Sevan |
| Ghosts of the River | Octavio Solis |
| The Woman Who Fell from the Sky | Victor Hugo Rascón Banda |
| La Casa en Mango Street | Sandra Cisneros |
| Hero | Luis Alfaro |
| School of the Americas | Jose Rivera |
| Visitor's Guide to Arivaca (Map Not to Scale) | Evangeline Ordaz |
| Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding) | Federico García Lorca |
| Dog Lady/Evening Star | Milcha Sanchez-Scott |
| La Victima | Teatro de la Esperanza |
| The Cook | Eduardo Machado |
| Electricidad | Luis Alfaro |
| ¡CANTINFLAS! | Herbert Sigüenza |
| Santos & Santos | Octavio Solis |
| 4 Guys Named José Y Un Mujer Named María | David Coffman and Dolores Prida |
| Real Women Have Curves | Josefína Lopez |
| Drive My Coche | Roy Conboy |
| Boxcar | Sylvia Gonzalez and Teatro Visión |
| Chilean Holiday | Guillermo Reyes |
| Lady From Havana | Luis Santeiro |
| Conjunto | Oliver Mayer |
| La Posada Mágica | Octavio Solis |
| Fefu and Her Friends | Maria Irene Fornés |
| Vieques | Jorge González |
| Heroes and Saints | Cherrie Moraga |
| The Kiss of the Spider Woman | Manuel Puig |
| La Posada Mágica | Octavio Solis |
| La Nona | Roberto M. Cossa |
| When El Cucui Walks | Roy Conboy |
| The True History of Coca Cola in Mexico | Aldo Velasco and Patrick Scott |
| Harvest Moon | José Cruz González |
| Rosita's Jalapeño Kitchen | Rodrigo Duarte Clarke |
| La Casa en Mango Street | Sandra Cisneros |
| La Carpa Aztlan Presents: I Don't Speak English Only | Antonio García |
| Spirit Dancing | José Cruz González |
| Real Women Have Curves | Josefina López |
| ¡NO SE PAGA! ¡NO SE PAGA! | Dario Fo |
| Santos & Santos | Octavio Solís |
| La Víctima | Teatro de la Esperanza |
| Our Lady of the Tortilla | Luis Santiero |
| Good Grief Lolita! | Wilma Bonet |
| Rosario's Barrio | Rodrigo Duarte Clarke |
| The Last Angry Brown Hat | Alfredo Ramos |
| Las Nuevas Tamaleras | Alicia Mena |
| Novenas Narativas y Ofrendas Nuevomexicanos | Denise Chaves |
| Food for the Dead | Josefina López |
| Roosters | Milcha Sanchez-Scott |
| El Oro de los Quinteros Años | Arturo Gomez, Jaime Avarado, & Denis Marks with Teatro Visión |
| How Else Am I Supposed to Know I'm Still Alive? | Evelina Fernández |
| Brujerías | Rodrigo Duarte Clarke |
| Soldado Razo | Luis Valdez |
| Buy! Buy! Navidad! | Adapted by Lalo Cervantes, Written by Manuel Pickett |
| Conversations With My Grandmother Martha (MGM) | Edit Villareal |
| Brujerías | Rodrigo Duarte Clarke |
| Images of Deceit | Adapted by Teatro Huipil, Written by Anita Quintanilla |