This is Carlos Morton’s first collection of plays, the fruit of a ten-year journey that took him from the turmoil of agit-prop theatre to a fellowship with the National Repertory Theatre and advanced academic degrees in drama.
The works included here have been produced before audiences, which have varied from San Diego Park pedestrians to Harvard University faculty and students. In his lighter works, Morton has proven himself to be the master of the incongruous, the prince of satire and the poet laureate of the unexpected and comic in daily speech. His serious plays, like The Many Deaths of Danny Rosales, confront audiences with gripping appeals for justice. Whether as a humorist or a tragedian, one note characterizes Morton’s works: unfettered, expansive imagination.
“A work of a great innovation and even daring.” -Latin American Theatre Review
“Wild with imagination, its strong messages softened by Morton’s sometimes outlandish humor.” -San Francisco Chronicle
Carlos Morton is the author of The Many Deaths of Danny Rosales and Other Plays (1983) and Johnny Tenorio and Other Plays (1992) both published by Arte Público Press. Rancho Hollywood y otras obras del teatro chicano (Arte Publico Press & Ediciones El Milagro, 1999) is a Spanish-language collection of his plays. A former Mina Shaughnessy Scholar and Fulbright Lecturer to Mexico, Morton holds an M.F.A. in Drama from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Texas at Austin. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Morton has lived on the border between Mexico and the United States since 1970. He has taught playwriting and courses in dramatic art in various universities in Texas, California and Mexico. Morton is Director of the Center for Chicano Studies and Professor of Dramatic Arts at University of California, Santa Barbara, where he teaches classes in playwriting, U.S. Latino Theatre, and Latin American Theatre.
