REPRESENTA!

About me:

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BIOGRAPHY Paul S. Flores is a published poet, performance artist, playwright and well known spoken word artist. His work explores the intersection of urban culture, Hip-Hop and transnational identity. He was raised in Chula Vista, CA and spent much of his youth between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego developing a border consciousness. Flores’ PEN Award winning novel Along the Border Lies reflects this experience. Flores moved to San Francisco in 1995 to enroll in (and graduate from) the MFA Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University. In 1996 he co-founded the Latino poetry performance group Los Delicados: Poetas del Sol and recorded a CD titled Word Descarga (Calaca Press, 2000). Flores’ most recent play REPRESENTA! was directed by Danny Hoch, produced by San Francisco Interntional Arts Festival and premiered at the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in 2007 at La Pena Cultural Center. REPRESENTA! then toured to 17 cities, including HERE! Art Space in New York. Flores’ past performance projects have taken him from HBO's Def Poetry to Cuba, Mexico and El Salvador. His first solo show YOU'RE GONNA CRY will premiere in February 2011. His newest play PLACAS is about Central-American immigrants suriving barrio wars and will be his sixth full length stage production. Flores also produces independent events and performs at Mission District venues such as Galeria de la Raza, Mission Cultural Center, Red Poppy, BRAVA, Intersection for the Arts and Dance Mission, as well as throughout the Bay Area, California and the Unites States. Flores has twice received the National Performance Network’s Creation Fund, and was recently awarded the CCI Investing in Artists Grant and a NALAC Fund for the Arts to help develop the first draft of PLACAS. Flores is also a highly respected youth arts development specialist. As a co-founder of Youth Speaks, he introduced spoken word to hundreds of thousands of youth all over the country, from native reservations, to public schools, to juvenile halls, to counseling centers. He helped develop the national platform for young people to build peer relationships and strategize toward a better future through the Brave New Voices: National Teen Poetry Slam, now seen on HBO. Flores currently manages the Latino Men & Boys Program, funded by the California Endowment, at the Unity Council in East Oakland. He also teaches Hip-Hop Theater and Spoken Word at the University of San Francisco. Paul Flores is married with two children and lives in San Francisco.