Jorge Arroyo
Jorge Eduardo Arroyo-Pérez (San José, Costa Rica 1959)
Costa Rican writer, playwright, opinion columnist, essayist, poet and theatre director. The only author to receive four times the National Award in Theatre (Premio Nacional Aquileo J. Echeverría) (1996, 2003, 2004 and 2008), the most important recognition given to dramatists in Costa Rica. More than 30 of his plays have been staged in Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and Brazil and he has been translated to Portuguese and English. He has ten published books and he is also part of the Drama contemporáneo costarricense (Contemporary Costa Rican Drama) .
His creative and aesthetic approaches to theatre are varied, embracing a wide range of genres from comedy and drama to didactic texts, lavish postmodern spectacles and multitudinous historic recreations that have been presented in theatres, stadiums and huge open air venues. Theme-wise, he is also bountiful, but humorous wit and keen insight on his characters are common in all his work. He’s the author of the first Central American postmodern play, the first Costa Rican play of gay theatre and has been recognized as the “most historian of Costa Rican playwrights”.
His collaborations in newspaper columns and specialized magazines add up to hundreds of articles in La Nación newspaper and others and he has been praised as an anthropological journalist. He has also worked as an actor, cultural promoter and producer.