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Abel López

Abel López is Associate Producing Director of GALA Hispanic Theatre and Chair of Theatre Washington. He is a former Chair of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and past chair of the board of directors of Theatre Washington, Americans for the Arts (AFTA), National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), National Performance Network, Theater Communications Group, the Performing Arts Alliance (PAA), Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, League of Washington Theatres, Salud, Leadership Washington; and the Creative Communities Initiative of the Community Foundation of the National Capital. He continues to serve on the boards of directors of AFTA, NALAC, PAA, and Black Women Playwrights Group; and the Latino Advisory Council of the Kennedy Center. He has served on the board of directors of Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Smithsonian Latino Center, Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), In Series, Latino Civil Rights Taskforce, the Council of Latino Agencies, Board of Trade of Greater Washington, Cultural Alliance, and the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project. As past chair of GALA Hispanic Theatre, he and Rebecca Medrano, GALA Executive Director, spearheaded a $4.4 million capital campaign to build the GALA Theatre that opened in 2005. As a theater director, his productions have been presented in theaters in Washington, DC, Arizona, Texas, California, Colorado, New York, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cuba, and Venezuela. Among the honors he has received are the 2016 Herb White Award from DCAC for his contributions to the Washington, DC arts community, the Fan Taylor Award from APAP for his contributions to the presenting field, the 2015 Arthur L. Johnson Award from the Sphinx Organization for his contributions to diversity and equity in the nation’s arts sector, 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas A&M-Kingsville, the Selima Ottum Roberts Award from Americans for the Arts for his contributions to the arts, a 1991 Washingtonian of the Year Award, a 1991 Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Community Leadership Association, and The Washington Post Award for Distinguished Community Service at the 1990 Helen Hayes Awards. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Lopez has been a lecturer at Yale Drama School and Columbia University, taught in the graduate arts management program at George Mason University, and has Bio - Briea member of the core faculty of the NALAC Leadership Institute for 21 years and the NALAC Advocacy Institute.

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Claim Your Culture, Find Your Power
Essay

Claim Your Culture, Find Your Power

5 May 2023

Jacqueline Flores and Abel López, co-curators of the Latinx Leaders at the Forefront series, discuss their careers, their sense of cultural identity as Latinx theatremakers, and importance of intergenerational dialogue.

Latinx Theatre Leaders at the Forefront
A man in a suit and mask standing with his hands in the air with a banner behind his head.
Series

Latinx Theatre Leaders at the Forefront

If history is made by those who write it, then the Latinx Theatre Leaders at the Forefront series serves as a historical intervention by adding to the limited existing documentation of Latinx theatre leaders.This series convenes Latinx theatre leaders to amplify their experiences in a field that