José Cruz González’s plays include If by Chance (South Coast Repertory), The Extraordinary Ms. ZLuna Captures the World (Denver Center Theatre Company), Under a Baseball Sky (The Old Globe), American Mariachi (Latino Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, PCPA, Alabama Shakespeare, Cleveland Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, The Goodman Theatre, The Old Globe), September Shoes (Geva Theatre), The San Patricios (PCPA), The Sun Serpent (Childsplay).

Mr. González was selected as one of the inaugural 2022 Kennedy Center’s Next 50, a new initiative celebrating cultural leadership with 50 trailblazing leaders and organizations. Mr. González was also a grantee of the 2021 ReImagine: New Plays in TYA, a joint effort of the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, The Kennedy Center, TYA/USA and Write Now to support in part the development of The Wondrous Adventures of Pia Sandía.

He is a Professor Emeritus at California State University Los Angeles, a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Dramatists Guild of America, TYA/USA, and a board member of the New Harmony Project, dedicated to a desire to support stories of hope, optimism, and the resiliency of the human spirit.

James Vásquez is a Resident Artist of The Old Globe Theatre, where he recently directed Hair on the Lowell Davies Festival Stage, and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He received the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical in 2018 for In the Heights at Moonlight Stage Productions and in 2010 for Sweeney Todd at Cygnet Theatre Company. His other recent directing credits include Goodspeed Musicals, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center Theatre Company, and The Children›s Theatre Company. Mr. Vásquez is an amateur gardener, lover of dogs, and graduate of The Juilliard School.