Carlos Medina Maldonado

I am a white passing, cis-gendered, Latine theatre maker that focuses on telling stories of underrepresented contemporary voices in theatre. I also work with multimedia, using live cameras and projected images to subvert audience expectations and societal norms. In doing so, I tell stories that test my own moral code; ones that can continue to challenge my beliefs about the world while also raising hypotheses about the status quo.

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My methodologies stem from asking questions of the communities I inhabit. For example, as a Latine person who has been afforded the opportunity to study theatre in higher education, I often find myself asking how I can address the privileges I have and how I can competently connect with the theatre communities I venture to. I believe that these communities that see my work must be given an open invitation to join in as necessary members of the production. In connecting myself and those communities I work in, I hope to showcase a constantly evolving human progression with every production. This process allows audiences to see an insistently developing narrative; one that grows and changes based on my own learning in life.

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Much like the work of María Irene Fornés, I strive to create work that is deeply personal to me while utilizing magical realism. Magical realism to me is a sort of movie that runs through my head where conversations are fantasized, and events are embellished. It is a goal of mine to bring this filmic structure in my head into tangible, practical theatre productions. I found a conduit to creating this type of theatre in multimedia productions from Reza Abdoh, who influenced me in how I can show deep personal investment with an array of mediums.

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With all the above, my goal boils down to creating expressive, thought-provoking theatre that challenges the status quo. This goal allows me to attempt to reach out to those who may feel unseen. I believe that if I pursue this goal, I will continue to create relevant and impactful work.