José Luis Valenzuela is the Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company (LTC), and The Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and is also a Distinguished Professor and served as Head of the MFA Directing program at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television. Valenzuela is an award-winning theater director, and has been a visionary and an advocate for Chicanx/Latinx Theater for over 30 years. He has directed critically acclaimed productions at major theaters both internationally and nationally including the LATC where he created the Latino Theatre Lab in 1985 and the Mark Taper Forum where he established the Latino Theater Initiative in 1991. Most recently he directed Macbeth at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Karen Zacarias’ Destiny of Desire at Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, The Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Guthrie, and Milwaukee Rep. He produced the national Encuentro Festival in 2014 and national and international Encuentro de las Americas in 2017.

As the Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company, operators of the LATC, he has been responsible for developing its artistic vision and organizational mission of producing programming that represents the diversity of Los Angeles. In 2010, under Valenzuela’s leadership, the LATC was nominated for an LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for “Best Theatre Season.” His recent directing credits at the LATC include: The Mother of Henry (LADCC Ted Schmitt Award), Members Only, Dementia, for Encuentro de las Americas, A Mexican Trilogy: Faith Hope and Charity, La Olla – Plautus’s The Pot of Gold, La Olla – Plautus’s The Pot of Gold for the Getty Villa Theater Lab Series, Premeditation, Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt at the Ibsen Theater of Norway in 2013Melancholia by The Latino Theater Lab, Faith, Hope and Charity (Parts I, II, III of A Mexican Trilogy) by Evelina Fernandez (LADCC Ted Schmitt Award), Habitat by Judith Thompson, and La Victima by El Teatro de La Esperanza. In 2007, Valenzuela was featured in the New York Times for the LTC’s annual holiday pageant, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzín, at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral. In 2002 he directed the world premiere of Dementia, written by Evelina Fernandez, which won the 2003 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Theater Production in Los Angeles. Other international directing credits include Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman at the National Theatre of Norway, and he has assisted his mentor, Norwegian director Stein Winge, with Hamlet, The Glass Menagerie, Barrabas, Pantagleize, Die Walkurie, The Inspector General and The Wild Duck.

Valenzuela’s film directing credits include Dementia currently in post-production; the award-winning film Luminarias for Sleeping Giant Productions and Distributed by New Latin Pictures; How Else Am I Supposed To Know I’m Still Alive? for Universal’s Hispanic Film Project, Una Vez Al Año Para Toda Una Vida, La Redada and A Bowl of Beings, for PBS’ Great Performances.

Valenzuela’s artistic vision and community commitment has garnered numerous recognitions, nominations and awards including the Ann C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community Partnership Prize and the Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero of the Year Award sponsored by Union Bank and KCET – both awards recognize distinguished individuals for their contributions to improving the quality of life throughout their respective communities. Valenzuela also serves on the national Steering Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons.