Short Bio

Coya Paz is a writer, director, and lip gloss connoisseur who was raised in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and the United States. She is the Strategic Director of Free Street Theater, which has been using performance to challenge Chicago racial and economic segregation since 1969, and served as the founding co-Artistic Director of Teatro Luna for nine years. Coya is an Associate Professor in The Theatre School at DePaul University and holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, where she researched public violence as performance. She is the co-author (with Chloe Johnston) of Ensemble-Made Chicago: A Guide to Devised Theater. Above all, she believes in the power of poetry and performance to build community towards social change. Visit her on the web at coyapaz.com

Long Bio

Coya Paz is is a writer, director, and educator who was raised in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and the United States. She is the Strategic Director of Free Street Theater, which has been using performance to challenge Chicago’s racial and economic segregation since 1969, and served as the founding co-Artistic Director of Teatro Luna for nine years. As a theater-maker, Coya specializes in co-created and devised performance, and is primarily interested in finding measurable ways to use performance to support community-led social justice efforts. Recent projects include There Is a Future/Tenemos un futuro, a bilingual performance that offered audiences an Environmental Justice 101, and a “ghost trail” on the Bloomingdale Trail that featured recordings of ghost stories experienced by people along the trail. In addition to her work as an artist, Coya collaborates with diverse partners to develop custom-made facilitation, training, and qualitative data collection. Examples include a journalism collaboration with ProPublica Illinois, and a Cultural Asset Mapping project in collaboration with Free Street, DCASE, and the League of Chicago Theaters. Learn more at Free Street Talks.

Coya is an Associate Professor in The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she serves as the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Instruction and the Head of the Theatre Arts program. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. Coya is the co-author, with Chloe Johnston, of Ensemble-Made Chicago: A Guide to Devised Theater, and her creative writing is featured in anthologies including: Wherever I’m At, Blacktino Queer Performance, Windy City Queer, Rebeldes: A Proyecto Latina Anthology, and Sexualities in Education: A Reader. Coya has been a featured reader at dozens of literary events including: Proyecto Latina, Paper Machete, Palabra Pura, and 2nd Story. Above all, she believes in the power of performance and poetry to build community towards social change.