Jose Cruz Gonzalez, project director of the South Coast Repertory’s Hispanic Playwrights Project, will speak at California State University, Fresno on April 21 at 7 p.m. as part of the College of Arts and Humanities’ Intellectual & Artistic Exploration Lecture Series. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The lecture, titled “Bilingual Theatre for Young Audiences: The Value, Challenges, and Considerations for the Playwright, Director, Producer and Teacher,” will be held in the Arena Theatre on campus.

Gonzalez will address the question “Who is the true audience and how are we serving them?” He will share his perspective on the future direction of theater for young audiences and will speak about his experiences with production companies from his personal point of view.

Gonzalez’s plays include: “Lily Plants a Garden,” “The Red Forest,” “September Shoes,” “Always Running,” “Mariachi Quixote,” “Cousin Bell Bottoms,” “Two Donuts,” “Salt & Pepper,” “The Highest Heaven,” “Manzi (The Adventures of Young Cesar Chavez),” “The Magic Rainforest (An Amazon Adventure),” “Marisol’s Christmas,” “La Posada,” “Harvest Moon,” “Calabasas Street,” “Spirit Dancing” and “Odysseus Cruz.” He has written for PAZ, a new series produced by Discovery Kids for the “Ready Set Learn!” block on The Learning Channel.

Gonzalez was a recipient of a 1997 NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights, and in 1985 was a National Endowment for the Arts Director Fellow.

He is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, where he received his MFA in directing. He teaches theatre at California State University at Los Angeles.

Gonzalez is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc., a national board member of ASSITEJ/USA and an associate artist with Cornerstone Theater Company.

For more information, call 278-3056.

(Copy by University Communications student-intern Jodie Mocciaro.)