Tony Meneses
Video
Biography
Tony Meneses was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and raised in Albuquerque and Dallas. His plays include Guadalupe in the Guest Room and The Women of Padilla, which both had world premieres at Two River Theatre. He’s an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Ars Nova Play Group, the Sundance Institute Playwrights Retreat at Ucross, Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship, Youngblood, and has been previously developed at the LARK Playwrights’ Week and the Berkeley Rep Ground Floor. He’s a two-time recipient of the Kennedy Center Latinx Playwriting Award, is published by Dramatists Play Service, and is currently under commission from the Denver Center and Two River Theatre. MFA: Iowa Playwrights Workshop. BA: The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently in the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School.
Plays Written At Juilliard
A THOUSAND MAIDS
In every artistic context, the imagery of a woman of color in a maid's uniform will immediately spark controversy. A THOUSAND MAIDS looks at this legacy, from actors who are still asked to wear the uniform now, to cinematic foremothers like Lupe Ontiveros and Butterfly McQueen.
LA COCINA
An adaptation of The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker, commissioned by the Juilliard School and performed by their 18 first year actors (Group 51), LA COCINA looks at the back of house of a modern day NYC restaurant kitchen as cooks and waitstaff juggle orders, dishes, and their own dreams of a better life.
EL BORRACHO
Raul is sick. Raul has not been taking care of himself. Raul drinks because he always drinks. In his final months, he’s forced to move in with his ex-wife Alma who now has to care for the man she thought she’d never have to see again.
TWENTY50
In the year 2050, Latinx people have been assimilated into the (white) majority of the United States, but race issues are far from resolved. In this tricky political environment, Andres Salazar is running for office and must decide whether losing some of his own identity is worth the potential social benefits. When a mysterious stranger appears at his house, Andres’s family must rally around him to save his imperiled campaign. (TWENTY50 will premiere next season at the Denver Center.)
THE HOMBRES
A look at the intimacy of male relationships through the point of view of Machismo culture, THE HOMBRES follows Julián, a gay Latino yoga teacher, as he clashes with the Latino construction workers outside his studio—particularly the older head of the crew, Héctor, who seeks from Julián something he never expected. (THE HOMBRES will premiere next season at Two River Theater.)
RITA TAMBIÉN RITA
Rita Hayworth was a glamorous Hollywood icon, celebrated for her beauty and elegance—the face of an all-American star. But she was also a Latina woman forced to shed that identity and lose herself entirely within the expectations of what and who she was supposed to be. As she starts to confront the part of herself she thought she lost, we see the various refractions of all the Ritas she became—as her past comes back to confront her.