Mateo Hernandez (he/they) is a queer, Latinx theatre maker, applied theatre practitioner, pedagogue, and scholar currently residing on the ancestral lands of the Tonkawa, Lipan-Apache, Karankawa, Comanche, and Coahuiltecan peoples, also known as central Texas. Their research interests include queering pedagogies and performance through transgender epistemologies, queer feminist critique, and abolitionist art-making practices. As a playwright, his plays have been chosen for the Ingenio New Play Festival (Milagro Theatre, Teatro Vivo, Cara Mia Theatre), the New Plays for Young Audiences: BIPOC Initiative (NYU Steinhardt), the Austin Latinx New Play Festival (Teatro Vivo), the UTNT Festival, and the Cohen New Works Festival (UT Austin). They have also worked with companies such as UrbanTheatre Co., Filament Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, and Creative Action.

 

Mateo is the 2023 recipient of the Don and Elizabeth Doyle Fellowship from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education as well as a 2023 Point Foundation BIPOC Scholar. They have served in service organizations like the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists of Chicago (ALTA) and the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC). Mateo is a company member with For Youth Inquiry (FYI), a performance company in Chicago, IL. They are also a member of the Board of Directors for Teatro Vivo in Austin, TX, and the American Alliance for Theatre & Education. He holds a M.F.A. in Drama & Theatre for Youth & Communities as well as a B.F.A. in Theatre Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.