Eric (El Chelito) Swartz
M.F.A Student, Theater Directing
Eric Swartz/El Chelito (he/él) is a queer, Salvadoran-American theatermaker/teatrista from Washington, DC. He is a former Artistic Associate with GALA Hispanic Theater and Associate Artistic Director at Theater Alliance. Additional DMV area collaborators include The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1st Stage, Extreme Lengths, Imagination Stage, Young Playwrights’, and Pointless Theatre Co., where he is a Company Member. From 2021-2023 he received an Artist Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Adaptation in 2019. Beyond the DMV, he has worked with the Latino Theater Company at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and serves on the Steering Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons.
Research Interests
Latinx/e Theatre; Bilingual and Multilingual Storytelling; Audience Immersion, Interaction, and Participation; Adaptation; New Work Development; Performance Studies
Education
MFA, Theater Directing, UCLA (in progress)
BA, Theater and Dance, Amherst College
