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Degrees

  • B.A. Missouri Southern State University, 2005
  • M.A. Cornell University, 2009
  • Ph.D. Cornell University, 2011

 

Areas of Interest

Jimmy’s research and teaching specialties are Latin American, Latina/o, and indigenous theatre and performance, as well as acting, directing, performance studies, and theatre for social change. His field research is situated in the Bolivian, Peruvian, and Ecuadorian Andes; the Mayan regions of Mexico and Guatemala; and the Southwestern United States.

Courses Taught
  • Fundamentals for the Performer
  • Latina/o Drama and Performance
  • Latin American Theatre and Performance
  • Theatre as Social Change
  • Acting for the Stage/Acting Methods
  • Directing
Publications
  • Fifty Key Figures in Queer US Theatre. Edited with Jordan Schildcrout (Routledge, 2022). 
  • (Re)Positioning the Latina/o Americas: Theatrical Histories and Cartographies of Power. Edited with Analola Santana. (Southern Illinois University Press, 2018).
  • “Don’t Teach These Plays!: Latina/o Theatre and the Termination of the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies Program.” Theatre Topics,vol. 27, no. 1, 2017, 33-44.
  • “Teatro Travieso and creación colectiva: Devising Intercultural Performance in Lima, Peru.” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, 2016, 207-219.
  • “Latina/o Youth and Journeys of Transformation: Theatre of Migration, Exile, and Home.” Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latin@ Theatre for Young Audiences. Ed. Jose Casas. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing, 2018.
  • “Expanding the American and Latina/o Theatre History Canons: The Case of Josefina Niggli.” Latin American Theatre Review, vol. 44, no. 2, 2016, 11-27.
  • “Death on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Performance, Immigration Politics, and José Casas’s 14.” Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association. Edited by Janelle Reinelt. Vol. 5, no. 2, fall 2016. Read the article.
  • Performance review of La vida es sueño by Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes. Theatre Journal, vol. 67, no. 3, October 2015, 540-541.
  • “Staging Latina/o Classrooms and Culture: Dangerous Dramaturgy and DNA at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” Review: The Journal of Dramaturgy, vol. 23, no. 2 (Spring 2014): 8-9.
  • Review of Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy by Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes, Theatre Topics, vol. 22, no. 2, September 2012, 197-198.
  • Review of Engaging Performance: Theatre as Call and Response by Jan Cohen-Cruz. In Modern Drama, vol. 55, no. 2, Summer 2012, 269-271.
  • “IV Festival UCSUR de Teatro Internacional: Cultural diversity and contemporary theatre.” Latin American Theatre Review, vol. 43, no. 2 (Spring 2009), 149-156.
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society for Theatre Research (President 2021-2024; Vice President for Conferences 2018-2021; Executive Committee 2014-2017; Conference Program Co-Chair for 2017 Atlanta Conference)
  • Association for Theatre in Higher Education (elected Focus Group Representative for the Latinx, Indigenous, and the Americas Focus Group 2015-2017)
  • Latin American Studies Association (Performance Studies Track Chair 2015 & 2017)
Awards
  • 2013 Elliot Hayes Award for Outstanding Dramaturgy in North America (awarded by the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas)
  • 2015 Collaborative Research Award (awarded by the American Society for Theatre Research)
  • 2015 The Michael Lynch Service Award Honorable Mention for Activism and Mentorship (awarded by the GL/Q Caucus of the Modern Languages Association)
  • 2015 Award from the Kennedy Center and American College Theatre Festival for “Making Theatre a Catalyst for Sociopolitical Change in Women of Ciudad Juárez
  • 2017 College of Wooster Experiential Learning Award
Production Credits

Dr. Noriega has directed over 30 productions in English and Spanish, including invited performances at theatres and festivals in Belgium, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Israel, Romania, Canada, and New York City. Directing credits at Wooster include: Las MeninasLife is a DreamWater by the Spoonful, Latins in La-La Land, Almost, Maine, Eurydiceand The Normal Heart. 

He is also the founder and director of Teatro Travieso (Troublemaker Theatre), an independent theatre company that uses performance to create positive change in the world. The company’s first production, Encuentro: Peru!! was crafted during a five-week research trip to Peru and was presented at four different locations in Lima. It was also invited as an official US delegation to the UNESCO/ITI World Festival of Theatre, which was held in Romania.The group’s second production,Women of Ciudad Juárez (by Cristina Michaus) has been on tour since January 2014. It has been performed 34 times to over 9,500 people in 17 locations in Canada, Colombia, Belgium, and the United States (including Dartmouth, Yale, Arizona State, the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, and Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis). The company’s third production, Joto!: Confessions of a Mexican Outcast (by Carlos Manuel), had its debut in April 2016 and has been presented in Ohio, California, and Ireland. The show explores what it means to be a queer, undocumented Latino living in the United States. It is the first play to explore the intersections of mixed-status (undocumented/citizen) gay relationships in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. See a review of the play: http://howlround.com/j-is-for-joto. The group’s most recent show is Trouble Down South (by Janna Haywood) and critiques the relationship between Southern culture and expectations of femininity on the protagonist as she narrates stories of her childhood, adolescence, and coming out.