Raul Monkada Bio page

     Born and raised in Cuba, Raul came to the United States, completed high school at the Hamilton-Wenham Regional in Hamilton, Massachusetts, then went to university at the University of Illinois, Chicago, majoring in Speech and Theatre, with a split minor in French and Spanish Literature. Raul then received two full-time scholarships: one to the Chicago Drama Workshop, and one to the Keith Allison School of the Dance. He was a soloist and ensemble member for the dance troupe The Synthetic Theatre, and has acted in multiple productions in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and worked on the stage crews at Chicago's Ivanhoe Theatre and at Milwaukee Melody Top. He stage managed at New York's Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, and at Chicago's Second City Improvisational Theatre for three years, working with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, the Belushi brothers, Shelley Long, John Candy, George Wendt, Gilda Radner and many more. He also directed the Second City National Touring Company, and created a second National Touring Company, which is still in existence. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, Raul was a member of the Twelfth Night Repertory Theatre for six years, working for them as actor, writer and director, and touring schools throughout California and Arizona. His work with Twelfth Night's public television series, TNRC PRESENTS, led to an Emmy acting nomination as "Best Ensemble" for "The Voyage of the Same-ites", another nomination for Best Special ("The Great American Experience") and a shared Emmy for writing the episode "The Way We Are." Other acting credits on television include ALL IN THE FAMILY and HILL STREET BLUES.

  Raul served as stage manager and speech writer for the Golden Eagle Awards given in Los Angeles to Hispanic members of the entertainment industry. As such, he became Ricardo Montalban’s personal speech writer for these events. Raul began to work for The Old Globe in 1983 as stage manager of the bilingual production of THE FANLIGHTS in the Carter Theatre. Since then, he has stage managed over fifty productions at the Globe, on all three stages, and has also been Multicultural Program Associate, Creator-Director of the Teatro Meta Program (now in its sixteenth year,) Literary Associate, and currently, Education Associate. Raul has translated to English over 20 plays from Latin America and Spain. Three of these plays have been produced onstage at The Old Globe (THE GRANNY, LA FIACA, and BALLAD OF THE BLACKSMITH,) and his translation of THE GRANNY has also been produced in 20 different U.S. cities and Vancouver, Canada. In 1991, Raul wrote The Old Globe's first PASTORELA, which was presented that year and revised and presented again in 1992, and is currently in rehearsals for production this past Christmas at Southwestern College in Chula Vista and in San Ysidro. His work as writer-translator has taken him to almost every country in Latin America in search of new scripts and to establish artistic bonds for The Old Globe with the Latin American theatre community. He has taught improvisational theatre workshops in Argentina, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras. Currently, a pilot wing of the Globe's Teatro Meta program titled TEATRO META SUR has been established in Costa Rica. Raul has also been a member of Partners of the Americas, helping to strengthen artistic connections between Argentina and Southern California; he has established a play-reading program in Buenos Aires, produced the Latino Play Discovery Series in San Diego, as well as the Spanish Classic Theatrefest, participated in a panel for the Lila Wallace Readers' Digest Fund, been a judge for the finalist scripts submitted to the Young Playwrights' Project for over 10 years, and also continues his work as site-reporter for the National Endowment for the Arts throughout the United States, which he has been doing since 1991.

      He also currently serves on the Balboa Park Education Committee. Raul is fluent in Spanish and English, gets by okay in French, Italian and Portuguese, and is currently studying German, Greek and Russian. He also devotes his time to international photography and original art. National Endowment for the Arts Biographical Notes – RAUL MONCADA Raul Moncada, currently the Education Associate at San Diego's Old Globe,has also served as Literary Associate(1994-2003), Stage Manager(1983-2003) and former Multicultural Associate (1986-2001.)He directed the bicultural outreach program, Teatro Meta, from 1986 until 1995. During this time, he organized and directed a yearly educational project aimed at helping students considered "at risk" of dropping out, to increase their self-esteem and creativity through improvisational theatre. He has also directed and translated a large number of Latin American plays, and written two original Christmas comedies, "Pastorela '91" and "Pastorela '92", both produced by The Old Globe.

     Mr. Moncada translated and was dramaturg for the English-language premieres of "The Granny" ("La Nona"), by Roberto M. Cossa, "La Fiaca", by Ricardo Talesnik, and "Death and the Blacksmith" ("El herrero y la muerte") by Jorge Curi and Mercedes Rein, all produced by the Old Globe Theatre as part of their regular season. This translation of "The Granny" has also been produced in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Tucson, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Vancouver, Canada. Other translations by Mr. Moncada include "Picture Perfect," produced by Teatro Duo in New York City, "Made in Buenos Aires," produced by Gala Theatre in Washington, D.C. and presented at the Miami Hispanic International Festival and "The Crossing," produced in Chicago. Moncada has also translated "The Man with the Cut Throat", "City Shepherds", "Voices in the Threshold", "Blue Prince", "Cutthroat", "Metered Phone", "Evita and Victoria", and others. His translations of Venezuelan playwright Gustavo Ott's "Pavlov" and "Divorcees, Evangelists and Vegetarians" have been published in Caracas in a bilingual edition. Also published was his translation of "Made in Buenos Aires", in Argentina. Also for The Old Globe, he produced the Latino Play Discovery Festival, which workshopped five Hispanic plays, four of which he translated. The fifth one introduced "Latins Anonymous" to San Diego audiences. Moncada has been a member of the Partners of the Americas Cultural Committee, directed for Chicago's Second City Theatre and Los Angeles' Twelfth Night Repertory Company, stage managed at many professional theatres across the U.S., co-directed a bilingual production of "Death and the Maiden" for Arizona Theatre Company, and acted on stage and in television in numerous productions. He has traveled extensively in Central and South America as well as Europe, interviewing playwrights and studying theater productions of various nations. He has performed in a selection advisory panel for the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and assisted in play selection for the Young Playwrights' Project for many years. Currently, he is a member of the Balboa Park Education Committee, and board member of Being Alive AIDS/HIV Services, San Diego. Moncada is a native of Cuba and a naturalized U.S. citizen.