B I O
Maria Litvan is a theatre-maker and scholar born in Uruguay and based in New York. She grew up in Barcelona, where she trained as an actress before moving to New York in 1997. She is the recipient of several awards, including the John Golden Award for Excellence in Playwriting, the John Gassner Award, and in Catalonia, the Premi Josep Robrenyo. Besides developing her own work, Maria has collaborated with international companies such as La Fura dels Baus, Brith Gof, Malqueridas, LorRojo, and The New Stage Theatre.
Maria has an M.A. in Individualized Studies from Gallatin, NYU, with a concentration in perception, mysticism, and performing arts, and is currently a doctoral candidate in theatre and performance at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her research focuses on questions of embodiment, memory, and transmission. She is particularly interested in the link between ritual, the sacred, and the political in the indigenous cultures of the Americas. Her dissertation, "Absences that Matter: Performative Transmissions in the Americas," explores the interrelation between absence and presence in transmissions that take place within the context of performances in the Americas. Maria has taught courses in theatre at Hunter College and has worked as WAC Fellow at Borough of Manhattan Community College. She is currently a CUNY BA Fellow. Her scholarly work has been published in TDR: The Drama Review, Performance Research, and BOMB (magazine).
Photo credit: Ashley Marinaccio