First Name
Ely Sonny
Middle Name
Last Name
Orquiza
City
Country
State or Province
Job Title
Director of Education and Community | Conservatory Faculty
Biography
Ely Sonny Orquiza (he | him) is a multidisciplinary Queer Filipino artistic director, stage director, and arts educator and advocate based in the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone People colonially known as San Francisco Bay Area. Through theater and the performing arts Orquiza explores the role of the Asian diaspora, Asian American experience, ancestral ghosts, and the politics of Queer/ness for the American stage. He champions new works by Black, Indigenous and Artists of Color, examines previously untold folklore, and advocates for undiscovered works highlighting the narratives of People from the Global Majority. He believes in the remarkable power of equity and representation in storytelling to bridge the divide and differences amongst us.
Orquiza is one of the three co-Founders and co-Artistic Directors of The Chikahan Company, a new Filipinx American theater company in San Francisco. As the Director of Education and Community at Magic Theatre, he has reinvigorated and redesigned the entire program with an eye towards centering historically marginalized communities in the Bay Area. He is a faculty member at the American Conservatory Theater’s Young Conservatory and Education & Community Programs and a teaching artist with StageBridge: A Senior Theatre Company among others. He is an Artist-in-Residence at the Ruth Asawa School of The Arts through the San Francisco Unified School District teaching voice and character, movement, and acting. He brings a combination of socially engaging arts education practice, commitment to diversity and representation, and limitless as well as bold imagination for the theatre on and off stage.
Orquiza has been in various work at the Academy of Art University School of Acting, African-American Shakespeare Company, American Conservatory Theater, ARC Repertory Theatre, Bindlestiff Studio, Cal Performances, California Shakespeare Theater, Campo Santo, Crowded Fire Theatre, Custom Made Theatre Co., East West Players (Los Angeles), FOGG Theatre, Gritty City Repertory Company, The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Leviathan Lab (New York, NY), Magic Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, PianoFight, PlayGround, Playwright’s Foundation, Playwright’s Center of San Francisco, San Francisco Opera, Studio 52nd (Amsterdam, NL) and Theatre Rhinoceros.
Orquiza is one of the three co-Founders and co-Artistic Directors of The Chikahan Company, a new Filipinx American theater company in San Francisco. As the Director of Education and Community at Magic Theatre, he has reinvigorated and redesigned the entire program with an eye towards centering historically marginalized communities in the Bay Area. He is a faculty member at the American Conservatory Theater’s Young Conservatory and Education & Community Programs and a teaching artist with StageBridge: A Senior Theatre Company among others. He is an Artist-in-Residence at the Ruth Asawa School of The Arts through the San Francisco Unified School District teaching voice and character, movement, and acting. He brings a combination of socially engaging arts education practice, commitment to diversity and representation, and limitless as well as bold imagination for the theatre on and off stage.
Orquiza has been in various work at the Academy of Art University School of Acting, African-American Shakespeare Company, American Conservatory Theater, ARC Repertory Theatre, Bindlestiff Studio, Cal Performances, California Shakespeare Theater, Campo Santo, Crowded Fire Theatre, Custom Made Theatre Co., East West Players (Los Angeles), FOGG Theatre, Gritty City Repertory Company, The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Leviathan Lab (New York, NY), Magic Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, PianoFight, PlayGround, Playwright’s Foundation, Playwright’s Center of San Francisco, San Francisco Opera, Studio 52nd (Amsterdam, NL) and Theatre Rhinoceros.
Language(s) spoken
English, Tagalog
Interested in freelance opportunities
Yes