Milta Ortiz

Milta Ortiz is a playwright, poet, and performer.

Quotes

• …There’s momentum about making our presence known. We’re here. We’re Latino playwrights and theatre professionals. Eventually there’s going to be a tipping point and more of our stories will become part of the American canon. I write what I know and for now I focus on Latinos because going through school, I longed to read about my experience…
  • On the emergence of Latino writers in “Cafecito: Milta Ortiz” (HOWLROUND THEATRE COMPANY; 2015 Sep 18)

• …I believe that the more specific you write, the more universal it becomes. I see plays that aren’t Latino all the time. Why shouldn’t my work speak to a broad audience? What if theatre becomes a little more balanced? I believe that as the Latino middle class grows, they’ll buy tickets if there’s theatre for them.
  • On the universality of plays regardless of the subject matter in “Cafecito: Milta Ortiz” (HOWLROUND THEATRE COMPANY; 2015 Sep 18)

• …For me, interviewing was like being a detective and listening for cues into a story. Ana Deavere Smith says that as an actor she listens for emotions. As a writer I listen for both emotions and details. People sometimes get emotional and sometimes they get descriptive when recalling a memory. Sometimes it seems people are visualizing what they see. Other times memories involve the senses, like the smell of burnt beans, or nana’s eucalyptus leaves…
  • On using interview techniques to research for a play in “Thinking Like a Folklorist: How Writing Docudramas Taught Me to Listen” (Southwest Folklife Alliance; 2019 May 28)