Lisa Portes is a director, educator, and leader dedicated to expanding the circle of people reflected in 21st century American theatre. She is a co-founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) and serves as a champion of the LTC Carnaval of New Latinx Work. Lisa Chairs the Department of Theatre and Dance at UCSD, and previously served as head of the MFA Directing Program at The Theatre School at DePaul University (2005 – 2023). She is a member of the Directors Circle of the Drama League and an alum of the board of the Theatre Communications Group. In 2016, Lisa was honored with the SDC 2016 Zelda Fichandler Award for Directors. Lisa’s work has been seen regionally at California Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Denver Center, Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Round House Theatre, Seattle Rep and South Coast Rep; in Chicago at Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Timeline Theatre, Teatro Vista and Victory Gardens; and in New York at Playwrights Horizons and Soho Rep. Recent projects: Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solís (Round House, Denver Center, SCR, Seattle Rep and Portland Center Stage), the world premieres of Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer (Denver Center) and Clean/Espejos by Cristina Quintana (South Coast Rep), The Glass Menagerie (Cal Shakes), I Come From Arizona by Carlos Murillo (Children’s Theatre Company), Rightlynd by Ike Holter (Victory Gardens), and Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse (Cincinnati Playhouse).