Jesús I. Valles

Jesús I. Valles (they/them) is a queer Mexican immigrant, writer-performer from Cd. Juarez/El Paso. Here, Valles wishes to echo Rasha Abdulhadi's call to you, dear reader, to refuse and resist the genocide of Palestinian people. Wherever you are, whatever sand you can throw on the gears of genocide, do it now. The elimination of the Palestinian people is not inevitable. We can refuse with our every breath and action. We must." In memory of every writer and artist martyred in Gaza, in memory of our theater colleagues, Inas al-Saqa and Nour al-Din Hajjaj, in solidarity with the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, in longing for a free Palestine, Valles joins organizations such as Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, The Audre Lorde Project, ACT UP New York, and The Poetry Project in calling for a permanent, lasting ceasefire in Gaza. Valles is the winner of the 2023 Yale Drama Series (Bathhouse.pptx), the 2022 Kernodle Playwriting Prize (a river, its mouths), and named the 2022 Emerging Theatre Professional by the National Theatre Conference. Valles’ playwriting has received support from The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, The Flea, The Lortel, Manhattan Theatre Club, OUTsider Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Playwrights Realm, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Teatro Vivo, and The VORTEX. Valles received their MFA in writing for performance from Brown University.