The 2025 National Latine Playwrights Award & Festival
ATC will celebrate 2025 NLPA Winner Edwin Sánchez for his winning play, Lottery Boy, with its second year hosting the National Latine Playwrights Award & Festival at Tempe Center for the Arts on Saturday, October 4, 2025. The festival, led by its director and ATC Playwright-in-Residence Elaine Romero, invites the community to enjoy a staged reading of Lottery Boy, an awards ceremony honoring Sánchez, and a post-show roundtable discussion. This is a FREE event with a suggested donation of $10 or more per ticket reservation.
5 PM – TCA Lobby & Lounge
Happy hour with cash bar and light bites provided
Live performance by Mariachi Rubor
6 PM – Mainstage Theatre
NLPA Award Presentation – Award crafted by notable Phoenix artist Zarco Guerrero
Congressional Award Presentation by Congressman Greg Stanton
ATC debut. Credits: Pablo in Sister Act, Dance Ensemble in Be More Chill (Mesa Community College). Upcoming: Darly Ames in Bright Star (Mesa Community College). Sophomore in the Musical Theatre Program at Mesa Community College.
ATC debut. Credits: Core Ensemble member in Roosters and The Outsiders (Teatro Bravo); Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Tomas and the Library Lady, Selena Maria Sings, and Dreamers, among others (Childsplay). Other Regional Credits: The House of Desires and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Southwest Shakespeare Company), The Prom and […]
ATC debut. Director, intimacy coordinator, producer for numerous productions in Metro Phoenix. Actor and educator with Childsplay; Vice President of B3 theatre company; Actor with The American Immersive Theatre Company (murder mystery parties for private events). Film: Community short films. BA in Theatre Acting, Arizona State University.
ATC debut. Previous stage credits: Tuck Everlasting (Great Plains Theatre); Little Women, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Jesus Christ Superstar (Arizona Repertory Theatre); Seussical (Saguaro City Music Theatre), and Forever Plaid (SAPAC). Recent graduate of the University of Arizona. jameskelleycarroll.com
ATC debut. Tucson-based actor, singer, director, and educator from Yuma. Twenty years of experience in the performing arts including nearly two decades as a core ensemble member of Tucson’s Borderlands Theater; performances with Live Theatre Workshop, Stories That Soar, and the Gaslight Theatre. Educational and Development Director at Borderlands Theater, Musical Director at Salpointe Catholic […]
ATC debut. Actor, singer, dancer from Houston. Past Productions: The Stephen Schwartz Project (Original Cast), A Wonderful Life (Chorus), Simply Simone (Nina 1), Da Kink in My Hair (Claudette), and The Old Settler (Lou Bessie). University of Houston Downtown, honored with Best Actress award for her portrayal of Antigone and Best Supporting Actress for Ain’t […]
ATC: 2011 NLPA winner for La Bella Familia. Plays include Lottery Boy, La Bella Familia, Trafficking in Broken Hearts, I’ll Take Romance, Diosa, Unmerciful Good Fortune, Icarus, and Barefoot Boy with Shoes On. Work has been produced regionally throughout the United States as well as Brazil, Russia, and Switzerland. Among his awards are the Kennedy […]
ATC debut. Recent directing credits: World premieres of Cebollas by Leonard Madrid (Denver Center for the Performing Arts) and She Was Here by Raul Garza (Austin Playhouse). Prior directing credits: Off-Broadway productions at Primary Stages, Second Stage Theatre, Rattlestick Theater, Mint Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, SummerStage, and Repertorio Español, as well as regional productions at Denver Center for the Performing […]
Elaine Romero’s Secret Things was produced at 1st Stage (DC). El Tiradito was produced at the historical site. RomeroFest featured her work at theatres nationally /internationally with over seventeen projects. ATC partnered with Artists Repertory Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, Seven Devils, Teatro Travieso/Troublemaker Theater, Justice Theatre Project, and Foro Shakespeare. Title IX was featured at the National Playwrights Conference […]
ATC debut. Fourth-year Theatre Design and Production major studying stage management at Arizona State University. Stage management apprentice at Santa Cruz Shakespeare (last 2 summers), Into the Woods and Hamlet. Other notable stage management credits include the English World Premiere of Eva Luna; Clue; and Kill, Move, Paradise (Arizona State University). Elizabeth would like to […]
Arizona Theatre Company began presenting the National Latine Playwrights Award 30 years ago to create a greater awareness of historically excluded Latine writers’ stories. Under the leadership of ATC Playwright-in-Residence and NLP Award & Festival Director Elaine Romero, the award has honored many outstanding works by Latine playwrights who have achieved remarkable success throughout the country.
ATC is partnering with a number of community organizations for the NLP Award & Festival. Monica Villalobos, president of the ArizonaHispanic Chamber of Commerce, is emceeing the event, and Jerry Ruiz, Associate Professor at ASU’s School of Music, Dance, and Theatre is directing the reading. A one-of-a-kind award crafted by notable Phoenix artist Zarco Guerrero will be presented to Sánchez during the festival. Other partners include Xico and Arizona Mexico Commission.
Lottery Boy features a life transformed by money. At just 15 years old, Paco suddenly finds himself the winner of one of the largest lottery jackpots ever. But more money means more problems, more betrayals, and Paco finds that he is no longer sure which world he belongs in. He goes through the highest highs and the lowest lows as he realizes the only person he trusts isn’t really there. The play cleverly pierces the veil between this world and the next as Paco discovers the true power of his late father’s love.
Supported by
Jericca & Xavier Gutierrez
Tempe Center for the Arts
Thank you to our Partners …
Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Arizona-Mexico Commission Xico
Take a Look Back at the 2024 National Latine Playwrights Award & Festival
Click here for more information about the NLPA program and this year’s award recipient, Edwin Sánchez.
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