Irma Mayorga

A fourth generation Tejana from San Antonio, Texas, certified army brat, and fanatic dog-lover, Irma Mayorga holds an M.F.A. in Costume Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Joint Ph.D. in Drama and the Humanities from Stanford University. From Stanford, she also holds the distinction of attaining the first Ph.D. by a Latina/o/x person in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies' history. 

Irma is also a theater director, dramaturg, and award-winning playwright. Her play Cascarones received invitation for development at the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Playwrights Conference. Her playwriting has also been recognized by the Jane Chambers playwriting competition, PlayPenn, and the Carnaval of New Latinx Work. In 2014 the University of Texas Press published a second edition of her play The Panza Monologues. As Latina/o/x Studies scholar Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez notes, The Panza Monologues, Second Edition “is the most original and historically documented theatre project to date in Latinx theatre...It is a lesson in making theatre matter, and it spotlights how theatre is informed by lived experiences and historical processes….” She has also published scholarship in academic theater journals.

She is also proud to mark that she has served as a cultural worker in numerous people of color arts and community organizations including New World Theater, the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.

Dr. Mayorga’s scholarship examines contemporary theater and performance by U.S. people of color, theater by women, Chicana/o/x Expressive Culture, and, more broadly, U.S. Latina/o/x culture and identity. Her past students have appeared on Broadway, in national touring companies of Broadway productions, and serve as vibrant theatermakers and thought leaders in regional and local theaters and arts organizations across the U.S.

Currently, she is honored to serve as a faculty member in the NHCC Department of Theatre & Film.