Award-winning playwright has joined the Boston College Theatre Department as the Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J. Professor in Theatre Arts for the 2019-2020 academic year.聽
With a body of work that spans more than two decades, Lopez was called 鈥渙ne of Boston鈥檚 most important writers,鈥� by WBUR-FM. She was the 2019 recipient of both the Massachusetts Cultural Council鈥檚 Award in Dramatic Writing, and the Boston Theater Critics Association鈥檚 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence for 鈥渃onsistently enriching the Boston theater community as a playwright, actress and educator.鈥澛�
At Boston College, Lopez is teaching Contemporary American Theatre this fall and in the spring will lead Playwriting 1. In January, the 蜜桃传媒 Theatre Department will stage her play 鈥淏ack the Night,鈥� which explores sexual violence on college campuses; the production will be directed by Boston-based director and educator Pascale Florestal.
J. Donald Monan, S.J., Professor in Theatre Arts Melinda Lopez. Photo by Adam Detour.
Lopez鈥檚 plays have been performed around the country at such notable theaters as Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theater, Laguna Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Shakespeare and Company, The Huntington Theatre Company, and ArtsEmerson.聽
As a Cuban-American, Lopez said in a 2015 MCC interview, she intentionally places 鈥渂rave, complicated, and uncompromising Latina women鈥� at the center of her work, and frequently focuses on the stories of Cuban or Cuban-American characters.聽
Her most recent work, 鈥淵erma,鈥� is an adaptation and new translation of Federico Garc铆a Lorca鈥檚 play of the same name. Yerma, described as a woman 鈥渃onsumed by her dream of motherhood,鈥� defies her husband and 鈥渃onfronts her community,鈥� which ultimately 鈥減ropels her into a collision with the universe that is urgent and terrible in scope.鈥� Arts Fuse praised Lopez for 鈥減utting her own stamp on the work without disrupting or diverting the play鈥檚 dramatic contours.鈥澛� 聽
Her one-woman show 鈥淢ala,鈥� which Lopez wrote and performed, was presented at ArtsEmerson in 2016. 鈥淎n utterly unsentimental journey towards the end of life,鈥� according to her , 鈥渢he play is an irreverent exploration of how we live, cope, and survive in the moment.鈥� WBUR鈥檚 The ARTery praised 鈥淢ala鈥� as 鈥渁n exquisitely fashioned theater piece, brimming with humor, frustration, and honesty,鈥� and Boston Magazine called it her 鈥渕ost profound work yet.鈥� 鈥淢ala鈥� won the BTCA Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Play, and Lopez earned the Arts Impulse Award for Best Solo Performance.
In honor of the world premiere of 鈥淢ala鈥濃�攁nd in recognition of her many accomplishments鈥擝oston Mayor Martin J. Walsh proclaimed October 29, 2016, as 鈥淢elinda Lopez Day鈥� in the city, and urged 鈥渇ellow Bostonians to celebrate her enormous contribution to the theatre field both locally and throughout the world.鈥�
Lopez was Huntington Theatre Company鈥檚 playwright-in-residence from 2013 to 2019, through the Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program. Her other honors and achievements include being named a 鈥淲oman of Courage Honoree鈥� by La Alianza Hispana; the Kennedy Center鈥檚 inaugural Charlotte Woolard Award, given to 鈥渁 promising new voice in American theatre鈥�; and awards from the Independent Reviewers of New England and BTCA for her play 鈥淪onia Flew.鈥�
Also an accomplished actress, Lopez has performed at regional theaters across the country. An assistant professor of playwriting at Boston University and a visiting lecturer of theatre and performance at Wellesley College, Lopez has a master鈥檚 degree in playwriting from BU and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in drama from Dartmouth College.
Offering her advice for new playwrights in a 2017 interview, she said, 鈥淲rite what you want to write. Tell the truth. Be good to everyone you work with and work for. Listen to actors. Have faith, have faith, have faith.鈥澛�
The Monan Professorship in Theatre Arts was established in 2007 by a gift to Boston College in honor of the late University Chancellor and former 蜜桃传媒 President J. Donald Monan, S.J. The position, which also commemorates the late trustee E. Paul Robsham, enables the Theatre Department to bring nationally and internationally known professionals to Boston College to teach and work with undergraduate students. Previous Monan professors include actor Maurice Parent, Nederlander Executive Vice President Nick Scandalios 鈥�87, playwright Sheri Wilner, director/actor Michelle Miller 鈥�98, and director/actor Tina Packer, among others.
聽鈥擴niversity Communications | September 2019