Jesus A. Reyes is the Community Partnership Director at Center Theatre Group (CTG) and oversees the administration, design and implementation of community programs which provide opportunities for people of all ages to experience theatre as a part of their daily lives and explore and share their talents, creativity, stories, and skills through a range of free theatre-based workshops and the Library Play Reading series throughout the community of Boyle Heights. In his role he works directly with community members, various CTG departments, teaching artists, local and national theatre artists, nonprofits, local government departments and funders.
The bilingual workshops are designed to introduce theatre to multi-gen and intergenerational participants and are led by local artists, teaching artists and CTG staff. The workshops are offered at three libraries and CTG’s costume shop. The Library Play Reading series is an ongoing monthly event where each library is host to a play presented in partnership with a local theatre company or independent artists. Plays are presented in English, Spanish, Tagalog and ASL interpretation. Jesus has commissioned playwrights Luis Alfaro, Manuel J. Marron, Juan Parada and Marisol L. Torres to write new plays for the series.
Past program components have included bilingual Costume Displays of past CTG productions, working with parent centers for the series, Designing Costumes for the Theatre, and the creation of a Loteria de Teatro as a learning tool based on the popular Mexican bingo game of chance. He was a co-project manager of the Community as Creators program which brought together professional artists from El Teatro Campesino and residents of Montebello, Leimert Park, and Boyle Heights to create works of community-based theatre. Jesus worked with playwright Naomi Iizuka and Joy Meads on Chisme y Queso, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Building Demand for the Arts grant. He also spearheaded a convening of staff from CTG, Pasadena Playhouse and South Coast Rep in which the organizations had a conversation around community projects and facilitated by Diane Ragsdale.
Jesus studied theatre arts at East LA College and San Jose State and was an LA County Arts Commissioner from 2009-2014. In the Bay Area he worked as an actor, director, assistant director and literary manager with Teatro Vision, San Jose Rep, Playground, San Jose Stage and Center Rep. He is the co-founder of East LA Rep which focused on Latinx playwrights, site specific work and connecting the Latinx theatre community through the monthly meetings, Cafe, Pan y Platica, which culminated in Encuentro 2009: A Convergence of Latina/o Theatre Artists of L.A. at Plaza de La Raza. His most recent directing credits include Señorita Monthly Juice by Zury Ruiz for the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival, a reading of Policarpa by Diana Burbano for The Blank Theatre and will be directing The Refugee Hotel by Carmen Aguirre for East LA College Theatre Arts Department. He is the recipient of the British Council’s Cultural Leadership International Fellowship, the Latino Arts Network’s Maestro Award, and a TCG Future Leaders mentorship grant.