Angel Gil Orrios

Angel Gil Orrios (Director/Writer/Producer) is the Artistic/Executive Director of the Thalia Spanish Theatre in New York since 2000, and has been honored with the New York 2009 Mayor's Award for Arts and Culture, and the Hispanic Leadership Award by the New York City Council. He received the 2017 Raul Julia HOLA Founders Award for Excellence, and the 2010 ACE Special Award for Artistic Achievement from the Association of Latin Critics of Entertainment of New York. He has written, produced & directed three short films, including A Poet in New York (Trip to the Moon) with the late Raúl Juliá, winning the 1993 Award of the XVIII San Francisco Poetry Film Festival. His screenplays include: Pishtakos [with Ana Maria Estrada], Donde los Perros se vuelven Lobos (Where Dogs Become Wolves) [with Luis Argueta], Kacike Enriquillo and The Race [with Kathy Barrett], Serra: The Man Who Never Turned Back, ¡Yo No Fui! [with Luisito Martí], A Hunger Artist, Génesis Flamenco, and the TV mini-series God, Gold & Glory (U.S. Spanish Roots) [with Judith Escalona]. He founded Fuego Films Inc. in New York in 1990 with Raul Julia, Judith Escalona, Lou Hernandez and Enrique Escobar. His theatre translations include: Garcia Lorca's Once Five Years Pass & other dramatic works, and Valle-Inclán's Wild Works (the trilogy: Angel Face, Sign of the Eagle, and Ballad of Wolves) [with William Bryant Logan]; Carlos Fuentes' (In the Land of the Blind...) The One-Eyed Man is King, Calderon de la Barca's The Great Theatre of the World, and Pablo Picasso's El Deseo cogido por el rabo (Desire Caught by the Tail) [from the original in French]. From 1988 to 1992 he was Cultural Correspondent in New York for El Pais, the main newspaper of Spain. From 1993 to 1997 he was Advisor on Film, Television and Theatre in the United States for the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SGAE) and for the Ministry of Culture of Spain until 2000, organizing, in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, Spanish Film Series with the Lincoln Center in New York and with the American Cinematheque in Hollywood. In 40 years he has produced, designed and directed more than 130 productions in Spain, the U.S., and France, which have met with international acclaim and have won him numerous awards, among them: the Silver Medal of the French Academie des Arts-Sciences-Lettres in Paris in 1987; the ACE (Association of Critics of Entertainment) Award for Best Director and Producer in 1989, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 in New York; the HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors) Award for Best Director & Producer in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019 in New York; and the Prince Ferdinand Award in Zaragoza in 1975. Mr. Gil Orrios was Artistic Director of the Teatro Real Español (Royal Theater of Spain) from 1980 to 1985, and Artistic Director of IATI (International Art Theatre Institute) in New York from 1995 to 1999. In 2007, he directed & designed his innovative Flamenco-inspired production of Bizet's Carmen for Knoxville Opera at The Historic Tennessee Theatre, and in 2010 designed the set & lighting for Solorzano's Los Fantoches at the Keochang International Theatre Festival in South Korea and at the National Theatre of Guatemala. He has an M.F.A. in Directing with "Premio Extraordinario" from the School of Dramatic Arts in his native Zaragoza, Spain. In 1977-1979 he Directed and Designed La Chana's Flamenco Dance Company in Madrid, touring Spain and South America; and wrote La Chana's TV Special "Creacion: Genesis Flamenco". In 1979 a grant from the U.S.-Spain Joint Committee for Cultural Affairs enabled him to research Broadway musicals in New York, where he remained ever since. At Thalia Spanish Theatre in New York he produced & directed 13 World Premiere musicals with Maestro Raul Jaurena: I Love Tango/Te amo tango, which was recorded live at Thalia and released on CD by Soundbrush Records, winning the 2007 Latin Grammy for Best Tango Album; Tangomenaje: La Cumparsita 100 years (ACE & HOLA Awards for Best Musical Production), afroTango (HOLA Award for Best Musical Production), Tango 5 senses, the Best of Tango, YouTango?, Puro Tango, Borges & Piazzolla Tango (ACE Award for Best Direction of a Musical), he Tango & she Milonga (ACE Award for Best Musical Production), The 4 Tango Seasons, 2018 Tango & Flamenco Fusion [with Diego Amador] (ACE & HOLA Awards for Best Musical Production) and 2006 Tango & Flamenco Fusion [with Daniel Casares] (HOLA Award as Best Musical Production), Tangomania, Life's Tango, All that Tango (ACE Award for Best Musical Production). Three bilingual World Premiere flamenco musicals written by Pablo Picasso: Desire Caught by the Tail (ACE Award for Best Director), The 4 Little Girls and Picasso FlamenCount of Orgaz (HOLA Award for Best Musical Production). A bilingual world premiere and two bilingual American premieres written by the late Jaime Salom: La Callas & Medea, The Ladies of Avignon (2 HOLA Awards & 6 ACE Awards including Best Director and Best Production), and Almost a Goddess (4 ACE Awards & 4 HOLA Awards including Best Director and Best Production). The bilingual world premiere of Carlos Fuentes' The One-Eyed Man is King (3 HOLA Awards & 2 ACE Awards including Best Director and Best Production). The world premiere of Jaime Espinal's No Problemo Amigo, invited to open the Manizales International Theatre Festival and touring Colombia in 2012; the bilingual world premiere of Ramirez de Haro's Secret Weapons of Fat Destruction/Tu arma secreta contra la Celulitis rebelde (3 HOLA Awards); the flamenco musical Amor Latino (HOLA Award for Best Musical Productions), Don Juan through the Centuries (three 2009 ACE Awards including Best Classical Director). The U.S. premiere of Ramos Perea's We Women Do It Better than Men; the bilingual American premiere of Jardiel Poncela's Brake 4 Hearts (And Put In Reverse) (ACE Award for Best Director and two HOLA Awards); the world premiere of Lopez Mozo's Picasso's Guernica, and Calderon's The Great Theatre of the World (4 HOLA Awards & 2 ACE Awards, including Best Production and Best Director). A member of the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, The Dramatists Guild, and the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers & Publishers (SGAE), Mr. Gil Orrios has imparted Master Classes, lectured and taught at several universities, cultural centers and theatres in the United States, Spain and Latin America including Harvard University, New York University, Columbia University, City University of New York, Instituto Cervantes in NY, the Menendez Pelayo International University, University of Zaragoza, National University of Manizales, EAFIT and Colombo-American Center in Medellin, UNITEC in Bogota, and The National Theatre of Guatemala.