Jose Perez IV
Jose Perez IV

Individual/Collective Exposure awardee: $20,000

This grant will be used by José Pérez IV to facilitate rehearsal processes that support artists from marginalized communities and their mental health; to create original plays featuring both spectacle and depth; and to launch, at a national level, a new genre called “fight theatre.”

Pérez describes himself as a queer, Hispanic theatre maker and fight director, who lives with significant mental health struggles. He says his background informs the way he works and what he creates. Namely, creating spaces and processes, which are safe and sustainable for artists from marginalized communities, and writing plays that uplift these individuals.

For over a decade Pérez has been creating original fight theatre productions – new plays with stage combat at their center. In musicals, the characters break into song and dance. In fight theatre, the characters break out their broadswords and perform elaborate combat sequences. While there are plenty of plays that feature stage combat, almost none feature more than just a few minutes of fighting. In my Pérez’s plays, the characters often fight more than they speak with stage combat being the primary performance material.

“At the core of all of my shows are issues that have weight. Mental health, LGBTQIA+ issues, and our current struggle against racism and capitalism,” says Pérez. “My favorite compliment, one I’ve received many times, is ‘I hate going to the theatre, I was dragged here. But I loved this! It’s like it wasn’t theatre at all!’ I’m not saying that I trick people to engage with this craft, I think of it as new audiences outreach.” 

Jose Perez IV
José Pérez IV, photo by Kitoko Chargois. 

WEB: https://www.josepereziv.com/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jose.perez.iv/
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ8p-kjxn0xRrXTSwtfgJTg