Dolores Díaz is a Chicana playwright who writes about borders. Her plays investigate the gray areas that defy definition, the contradictions within the individual and group, and the hybrid places where the notion of “natural” is investigated, challenged, and revealed. She is currently developing plays as part of the Playwrights Collective at TimeLine Theatre and writing for the musical group Sones de México. Up next, Dolores will be teaching through the National High School Institute and attend Tectonic Theater Project’s Moment Work Institute in New York.

Most recently, Dolores served as playwright-in-residence for Shattered Globe Theater’s Protégé Program and a guest artist with Wild Wind Lab at Texas Tech. Her play, The Curse of Giles Corey, was a finalist for the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and a semi-finalist for the 2020 Blue Ink Playwriting Award and the 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Her short musical, At Home in Pilsen, was also showcased in a collaboration between Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Music Theatre Festival, and Underscore Theatre. 

Her full length play, Los Tequileros, received a reading from 16th Street Theater in October 2019. Rehearsal premiered August 2019 as part of Bechdel Fest 7 with Broken Nose Theatre and the Steppenwolf LookOut Series and was performed again in October by NoMads Art Collective. Numerous other companies have also supported her work. Dolores is a graduate of Northwestern’s MFA Program in Writing for the Screen and Stage and produced the Austin Latinx New Play Festival for a number of years.

Regional Rep: Chicago

Our partnership models the reflexive, supportive atmosphere we wish to cultivate within the community with a focus on information sharing. 

As DG Ambassadors, we helped pivot to virtual engagement during the COVID-19 crisis. Together, we reflected on our experiences and deepened our awareness of social justice issues. Chicago’s theater community is moving through a period of accountability, transition, and transformation. Having opportunities to reflect and share experiences has helped playwrights navigate these transitions. Transparency has been key to moving our community forward, and we believe it makes for a healthier, more equitable environment for an art form we all love. 

Now, as Regional Reps, we pledge to bring the resources of the Guild to serve the information-sharing and community building needs of DG Chicago-based playwrights. Our vision asserts that playwrights remain central to the craft of theater even as it is being transformed. But how do we do this? And who can show us the way? We must show each other. 

As we forge a path together, our revitalized collective spirit must remain strong as theaters move towards re-opening. Furthermore, we must continue to invite opportunities to engage collaborators, theater producers, and other decision-makers in our work. 

As a hub for Chicago's diverse playwright community, we will work alongside our peers to position Chicago as a leader in both crisis and post-crisis theater.