Biography

Los Angeles based Chicana writer/performer Monica Palacios is the creator of several one woman shows:  Get Your Feet Wet;Queer Soul, a 20 year retrospective; Besame Mucho; My Body And Other Parts; Confessions...A Sexplosion Of Tantalizing Tales; Latin Lezbo Comic, and Greetings From AQueer Senorita, which have been seen across the country and Off Broadway.  Palacios is featured in the following independent films:  In The Bag, 1996, Lauren Malkasian & Amy Lemisch Producers and Serious Jokers 1992 PBS by award winning documentary filmmaker Arthur Dong. 

Her play Sweet Peace was chosen as a finalist for the Many Voices Project Summer 2006 produced by Chicago Dramatists.  Palacios was awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Rockefeller Fellowship from the Center for Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara, 2003-2004.  During this fellowship Palacios wrote, directed and produced Sweet Peace.  Palacios received an Indie Award for Excellence in Play Writing from the Santa Barbara Independent Newspaper.  She is currently working on a new theater piece:  Rocks In My Salsa, a one person show she conceived and directed, written & performed by Cristina Nava. 

Monica was honored with an El Premio Mujer Award 2003, for strengthening Latina lesbian visibility and empowerment, from National LLEGO.  Monica was named one of  OUT Magazine’s “OUT 100” 2002, for making a difference in gay & lesbian  society.  Palacios was also honored by Tentaciones Magazine who named her one of the 16 most influential LGBT Latinas/os in the country in 2002.  Monica also received a Latin Pride Foundation Award 2002 for her contributions to the positive images of Latina lesbians and the Latino community.  Monica has received a LACE Award 1996 for outstanding community representation in arts and entertainment from The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. Ms. Palacios was also honored by the City of Los Angeles for her personal and artistic contribution in making LA a better place to live. She’s been commissioned twice, 2004 & 1996 from Center Theatre Group’s Latino Theatre Initiative to create a play for the LTI Playwright Commission Project.  Monica has studied play writing with Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel and the honorable Irene Fornes.

Monica is published in LA Gay & Lesbian Latino Arts Anthology 1988-2000; Latinas On Stage; Out Of The Fringe: Latina/o Theatre & Performance; Puro Teatro: A Latina Anthology; Living Chicana Theory; A Funny Time To Be Gay(Simon and Schuster);  Latina: Women’s Voices From The Borderlands (Simon & Schuster); Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About--winner of the 1992 Lamda Literary Award.  She also contributes to magazines and newspapers such as:  Latina, The Advocate, LA Weekly, Girlfriends, IN Los Angeles, Frontiers and became an award winning journalist for the Lesbian News where she wrote a monthly column from 1996-2002.

Monica is an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount University, California State University Los Angeles, The American Academy of Dramtic Arts, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA and UC Riverside.  Palacios has taught writing and performing classes, at other universities such as UC Berkeley; Stanford; University of Texas, San Antonio; University of Massachusetts and Smith College.

Palacios has been a director, writer & dramaturg for over 300 student theater projects.  Monica’s performances and publications continue to be studied in college curriculums throughout the country and internationally. 

Palacios was very instrumental during her 1992-2000 tenure with VIVA, Lesbian and Gay Latino Artists, creating art exhibits, performances, readings and other cultural events throughout Los Angeles as a performer, a producer and a Board of Directors.