Bay Area Theater

Interview: Octavio Solis, playwright, “Quixote Nuevo” at Cal Shakes

Octavio Solis, whose latest play is “Quixote Nuevo” at California Shakespeare Theatre, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Author of over 20 plays, Octavio Solis is considered by many to be one of the most prominent Latino playwrights in America. With works that both draw on and transcend the Mexican-American experience, he is a writer and director whose style defies formula, examining the darkness, magic and humor of humanity with brutal honesty and characteristic intensity. His imaginative and ever-evolving work continues to cross cultural and aesthetic boundaries, solidifying him as one of the great playwrights of our time.

His latest play, at Cal Shakes June 13 through July 1, 2018, updates the Cervantes story of an elderly man who believes himself to be a medieval knight, taking it to the border of Mexico and Texas, in the El Paso area, and giving the would-be Quixote the backstory of a professor going through the stages of Alzheimer’s.

Cal Shakes website

Octavio Solis website

Scenes from “Quixote Nuevo”:

Leave a Reply