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Rocky Mountain Online ArchiveTable of ContentsContents List ADDITION TO COLLECTION, MARCH 1995. |
 Inventory of the Denise Chávez Papers, 1965-1987The University of New Mexico, University Libraries, Center for Southwest ResearchEmail: cswrref@unm.eduURL: http://www.unm.edu/~cswrref/ ©2000 The University of New Mexico
Biography
Denise Chávez was born August 15, 1948 in Las Cruces, New Mexico to Epifanio E. Chávez, a lawyer, and Delfina Rede Chávez, a teacher. She was drawn at an early age to the artistic qualities of bilingualism. The Mexican-American border area, her home, and community environment afforded Chávez the opportunity to appreciate the musicality of the spoken word in conversations, prayers, tales, and legends--a poetic speech that she soon identified as a potential means of literary re-creation. At Madonna High School in Mesilla, New Mexico, she took a theatre class and discovered that theatre was the creative means by which she could integrate the different aspects of her artistic inclinations. Chávez received a drama scholarship to New Mexico State University where she studied with Mark Medoff, author of the play Children of a Lesser God, and in 1971 she received a bachelor's degree in drama. She received a master of fine arts degree in drama in 1974 from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and had the experience of working in the Dallas Theatre Center. She continued her studies in drama and writing, and in 1984 received a master of arts degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. Chávez has worked in the Artist-in-Residence Program in the New Mexico communities of Aztec, Socorro, Alamogordo (the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped), as well as in Carlsbad and Las Cruces. She taught at the Radium Springs Center for Women, where she helped to edit the women's newspaper and a poetry anthology, Life is a Two-Way Street. She taught play-writing at the College of Santa Fe and English composition and literature at Northern New Mexico Community College. She gives frequent workshops in writing, creative dramatics, and acting, as well as many readings from her work. She has worked as a writer-in-residence throughout New Mexico, most specifically with La Compañia de Teatro de Albuquerque, a bilingual theatre company, and Theatre-in-the-Red from Santa Fe. Seventeen of her plays have been produced throughout the United States including the Joseph Papp Festival of Latino Theatre in New York, and at the Edinburgh, Scotland Festival of the Arts. Chávez has taught at the American School in Paris. In 1988 she participated in a creative writing symposium in Moscow in which artists from the United States and the then Soviet Union exchanged ideas on contemporary art. Chávez has recently won the Premio Aztlán for her work Face of an Angel and presently teaches at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Scope and ContentThe collection consists of the original donation (processed February 1981) and an addition. Included in the original donation are manuscripts of plays, 1972-1983, and newspaper clippings, flyers and programs. The addition (processed March 1995) contains a 1987 resume, newspaper clippings, flyers, programs, reviews, letters of support and publications relating to Denise Chavez' work as playwright, poet, author, actress and artist in residence. Also included are manuscripts dating from 1971-1987. An oversize folder contains posters relating to her work. There are no original photographs in the collection. Ms. Chavez writes in Spanish and English. RestrictionsAccess RestrictionsThe collection is open for research. Copy RestrictionsLimited duplication allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. Preferred CitationDenise Chávez Papers, Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico. Access TermsChávez, Denise Hispanic American authors--20th century Hispanic American women--New Mexico Mexican American authors--20th century Mexican American drama (Spanish) Mexican American poetry (Spanish) Mexican American poets Mexican American women--New Mexico Original Accession
ADDITION TO COLLECTION, MARCH 1995.
Relevant Secondary SourcesLomeli, Francisco A. and Carl R. Shirley, eds. Chicano Writers: Second Series. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1992. |
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