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Carlos Morton

Carlos is a playwright and a professor of Theater at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Carlos Morton’s professional playwriting credits include the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Denver Center Theatre, La Compañía Nacional de Mexico, the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, and the Arizona Theatre Company. He is currently Professor of Theater at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Three women on stage holding hands.
Essay

Four Decades, Three Versions, but Only One Real Women Have Curves

28 August 2025

For almost forty years, Real Women Have Curves has pulled audiences in with its story of Latine women in a sewing factory taking charge of their own destinies. Carlos Morton traces the story’s path from play to film to Broadway musical, affirming the power at its core.

Still from Valley of the Heart
Essay

A Different Portrait of America

31 January 2019

Carlos Morton discusses Luis Valdez’s latest play, Valley of the Heart, what the Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos calls la raza cosmica, and being part of a mixed-race family himself.

Essay

Simply María

Audience Development and Community Based Theatre

13 July 2017

Carlos Morton on the revival of Simply María, or The American Dream by Josefina López in Los Angeles.

Essay

Reviving Zoot Suit in the Time of Trump

11 April 2017

Carlos Morton discusses the latest revival of Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit, examining its production history and corresponding socio-political events.

Essay

Hamilton Mestizaje

3 July 2016

Carlos Morton questions whether Hamilton should be considered a piece of Latina/o theatre.

Essay

Ay, Carmela! Divided Politics for the Ages

18 February 2016

Carlos Morton on the recent Los Angeles production of José Sanchis Sinisterra’s Ay Carmela

Essay

Properties of Silence

Sor Juana in Phoenix, Arizona

6 January 2015

About Productions has been staging plays since 1988 about historical characters like Joan of Arc and Antonin Artaud. Properties of Silence turned into an exciting flight into the depths of Sor Juana’s legacy.

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