Andrew Aaron Valdez (he/him) is a Drama League Award Nominee, certified trauma-informed care professional, educator, multi-disciplinary artist, administrator, and DEI consultant from Donna, Texas. Andrew is the Artistic Coordinator at Yale Repertory Theatre, Yale Artistic Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, educator for the Indigenous Cultures and TĀNKO Institute, Steering Committee Member of the Latinx Theatre Commons, a member of the Latinx Playwrights Circle (LPC) and Dramatists Guild. He was an Americans for the Arts Arts & Culture Leaders of Color fellow, Cleveland Public Theatre Premiere fellow, Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center (JDBCAC) artist in residence, Cleveland Civic Leadership Institute fellow, Baldwin House Urban Writing resident at Twelve Literary Arts, LORT Mentorship Program member, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute fellow, Dramatists Guild & LPC Playwright fellow, artEquity BIPOC Leadership fellow, Connecticut Artitst Respond Grantee, TSAI City Accelerator Program Venture Capital participant, a Walter McClintock Memorial Beinecki Library Research Fellow and named one of the 100+ Cleveland Latinos You Must Know. Andrew is a founding member of the NALAC grant award winning Latinx playwrights collective, DIEZ.

His work as a visual artist has been displayed at the JDBCAC, Cleveland Print Room and Akron Soul Train.

As a poet and playwright his work has been at or developed with Teatro Vivo, Twelve Literary Arts, Heights Arts, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Kennedy Center, Cleveland Public Theatre, Yale Summer Cabaret, The Playwrights Center, Latinx Playwrights Circle, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Semi-Finalist for the Fault Line Theatre’s 2024 Irons in the Fire, and finalist for Reimagine New Plays in TYA, Pipeline Theatre's PlayLab and New Haven's Inaugural Poet Laureate.

Valdez's theatrical spaces have included: ZACH Theatre, the Australian based Paper Boats Project, Teatro Vivo, Cohen New Works Festival, Cleveland Public Theatre, Karamu House, Cleveland Play House, Dobama, ASU Gammage, Texas Performing Arts, Round House Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, Working Theatre, Hartford Consortium, Marin Theatre and others.

Andrew was a consultant at OF/BY/FOR ALL, a Creative Community Builder at Cleveland Play House and a contributor to its trauma informed CARE program, and Yale Repertory Theatre's Assistant Director of Marketing.

Andrew was last seen in the 2021 Drama League Award Nominated Off-Broadway production of American Dreams produced by Working Theatre, written by Leila Buck and directed by Tamilla Woodard.

Andrew is a Terry Foundation Alumni. He received his bachelor's degree in Fine Arts - Theatre Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, certificates in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion specializing in Organizational Leadership and HR from the University of South Florida, Rice University and UC Irvine. He is an Intimacy Director (Level 4, accredited by IDC) and a MFA candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

@andrewaaronvaldez
www.andrewaaronvaldez.com