Elvys Ruiz

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Elvys Ruiz is the founder and Artistic Director of The Village Theatre. He is a writer, director, playwright and cultural essayist.

 

Elvys has 20 years of experience in the field of translation and has published dozens of articles in newspapers and magazines, in the United States and the Dominican Republic. He is the author of the books: Café y Domino, Latin American Theater of the Diaspora and The Black Imaginary in Dominican Collective Memory.

 

Elvys began to work in theater in 1981 in the Dominican Republic. He has acted and directed theater in the main halls of his native country and has received numerous awards for his contributions to Dominican theater. He studied directing with Michael Griggs, director of the Bear Republic Theater in California, United States. 

He has given numerous talks and theater workshops, created theater groups and published several articles on theater in international newspapers and magazines. In 1984 his acclaimed play Café y Dominó was awarded in the Dominican Republic and staged in Providence, RI, USA. His legacy to the Dominican theater is contained in the book 25 years of Theater and Dance by Carmen Heredia de Guerrero, former director of the Dominican National Theater.

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Elvys created his theater company Teatro Tribal Danzante and founded the Center for Performing Arts and Theater Hall Freddy Ginebra Giudicelli, to pay tribute to Freddy Ginebra for his invaluable contribution to Theater and Artistic and Cultural Expressions in the Dominican Republic.

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In 2018, Elvys was a guest speaker for the 3rd International Colloquium of Studies on Native Cultures of America, in Habana, Cuba, held at the prestigious cultural center Casa de las Américas. He returned in 2019 once again as guest speaker for the 1st International Colloquium of Studies on Afro-America, as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of Casa de las Américas. 

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Elvys led the Diversity Program in the Rhode Island Office of Diversity, Equity and Opportunity (ODEO), has worked in state government for 20 years, and has successfully administered millions of dollars in community impact programs. He has received dozens of recognitions from both the Congress and Senate of the United States, state government, municipalities, private sector, public, academic centers and community entities, for his trajectory of contributions to cultural development in Rhode Island.​

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Elvys counts on a Masters of Science from Springfield College, Boston, MA; and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD). He also has a Specialty in Linguistics and Translation from the Open University of Catalonia, Spain.

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Director Credits: 

Elvys has directed numerous plays, including: El lugar, by Carlos Gorostiza, Minister of Culture of Argentina (Casa de Teatro, RD); Los Corsarios (Palace of Fine Arts, RD); Miracle in the Old Market by Osvaldo Dragún (Casa de Teatro, RD); The Stone of Happiness by Carlos José Reyes (Gardens, National Theater, RD); What More Do They Want From Me (Providence, RI); Café y Domino (Providence, RI); Chicken Cordon Blue by Frank Disla, (Providence, RI); There is a Country in the World, by Pedro Mír (Providence, RI), among many other avant-garde plays.

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Actor Credits:

As an actor, Elvys has been part of the cast of the following productions: 1540, Azúcar y Esclavos by Víctor Pujols Faynette (Palacio de Bellas Artes, RD); Death Under the Rain by Reynaldo Disla; The Stone of Happiness by Carlos José Reyes (National Theater, RD); The Last Charge to the Machete by Frank Disla; El Trono de Abomé (National Theater, RD); Fire on the Altar; Why the Goblins Shake Their Heads by Armando Carias and Morelba Domínguez (National Theater, RD); and other works of collective creation staged in the fields and neighborhoods of the Dominican nation.