Mando Alvarado

Mando Alvarado is a Mexican-American playwright, screenwriter and actor originally from Pharr, Texas. At age nine, his father died. He grew up with two younger brothers and describes himself as a bully towards them in their younger years. He first got involved with theater in middle school, when his Drama teacher told him he would need to take a role in a production to pass the class. Alvarado's first play-writing experience was a monologue inspired by Luis Valdez's Zoot Suit, particularly Edward James Olmos' character El Pachuco. His first full-length play was written after he first moved to New York City, while he worked a temp-job in Midtown. After a reading with Raúl Castillo in a Lower East Side bar, Alvarado decided focus his career on writing. 2Education and career 3Theater Alvarado is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, as well as a member of Rising Phoenix Rep, alum of INTAR’s Hispanic-Playwright-in-Residence Laboratory 2006 – 2008 and a member of Company of Angels writer's group. During his residency, Alvarado wrote two plays, both of which premiered off-Broadway: Post No Bills, which premiered at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2009 and Basilica which premiered at the Cherry Lane Theater in 2013. In between these two works, Alvarado's play Sangre premiered in 2011 at NYC Summerstage