Our Team

Angel (Director/Writer/Producer/Lighting & Set Designer) is the Artistic/Executive Director of the Thalia Spanish Theatre in New York since 2000, and has been honored with the New York 2009 MAYOR’S AWARD FOR ARTS AND CULTURE, and the Hispanic Leadership Award by the New York City Council. He received the 2017 Raul Julia HOLA Founders Award for Excellence, and the 2018 ACE Gold Award for Artistic Achievement from the Association of Latin Critics of Entertainment of New York.

In 40 years he has produced, designed and directed more than 130 productions in Spain, the U.S., and France, which have met with international acclaim and have won him numerous awards, among them: the Silver Medal of the French Academie des Arts-Sciences-Lettres in Paris in 1987; the ACE (Association of Critics of Entertainment) Award for Best Director & Producer in 1989, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019-20 in New York; the HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors) Award for Best Director & Producer in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019-20 in New York; and the Prince Ferdinand Award in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1975.

Mr. Gil Orrios was Artistic Director of the Teatro Real Español (Royal Theater of Spain) from 1980 to 1985, and Artistic Director of IATI (International Art Theatre Institute) in New York from 1995 to 1999. In 2007, he directed & designed his innovative Flamenco-inspired production of Bizet’s Carmen for Knoxville Opera at The Historic Tennessee Theatre, and in 2010 designed the set & lighting for Solorzano’s Los Fantoches at the Keochang International Theatre Festival in South Korea and at the National Theatre of Guatemala. He has an M.F.A. in Directing with “Premio Extraordinario” from the School of Dramatic Arts in his native Zaragoza, Spain. In 1977-1979 he Directed and Designed LA CHANA’s Flamenco Dance Company in Madrid, touring Spain and South America; and wrote LA CHANA’s TV Special “CREACION: Genesis Flamenco”. In 1979 a grant from the U.S.-Spain Joint Committee for Cultural Affairs enabled him to research Broadway musicals in New York, where he remained ever since.

At Thalia Spanish Theatre in New York he produced & directed 17 World Premiere musicals with Maestro Raul Jaurena: I Love TANGO/TE AMO TANGO, which was recorded live at Thalia and released on CD by Soundbrush Records, winning the 2007 LATIN GRAMMY for BEST TANGO ALBUM; TANGOmenaje: LA CUMPARSITA 100 years (ACE & HOLA Awards for Best Musical Production), afroTANGO (HOLA Award for Best Musical Production), TANGO 5 senses, the Best of TANGO, youTANGO?, Puro TANGO, TANGO + Tango, Borges & Piazzolla TANGO (ACE Award for Best Direction of a Musical), he TANGO & she MILONGA (ACE Award for Best Musical Production), The 4 TANGO Seasons, 2018 Tango & Flamenco Fusion [with Diego Amador] (ACE & HOLA Awards for Best Musical Production) and 2006 Tango & Flamenco Fusion [with Daniel Casares] (HOLA Award as Best Musical Production), TANGOmania, Life’s TANGO, All that TANGO (ACE Award for Best Musical Production).

Three bilingual World Premiere flamenco musicals written by Pablo Picasso: Desire Caught by the Tail (ACE Award for Best Director), The 4 Little Girls and PICASSO FLAMENCOunt of Orgaz (HOLA Award for Best Musical Production). A bilingual world premiere and two bilingual American premieres written by the late Jaime Salom: La CALLAS & MEDEA, The Ladies of Avignon (2 HOLA Awards & 6 ACE Awards including Best Director and Best Production), and Almost a Goddess (4 ACE Awards & 4 HOLA Awards including Best Director and Best Production). The bilingual world premiere of Carlos Fuentes’ The One-Eyed Man is King (3 HOLA Awards & 2 ACE Awards including Best Director and Best Production).

The world premiere of Jaime Espinal’s No Problemo Amigo, invited to open the Manizales International Theatre Festival and touring Colombia in 2012; the bilingual world premiere of Ramirez de Haro’s Secret Weapons of FAT Destruction/Tu arma secreta contra la CELULITIS rebelde (3 HOLA Awards); the flamenco musical Amor Latino (HOLA Award for Best Musical Productions), DON JUAN through the Centuries (three 2009 ACE Awards including Best Classical Director). The U.S. premiere of Ramos Perea’s We Women Do It Better than Men; the bilingual American premiere of Jardiel Poncela’s Brake 4 Hearts (And Put In Reverse) (ACE Award for Best Director and two HOLA Awards); the world premiere of Lopez Mozo’s Picasso’s Guernica, and Calderon’s The Great Theatre of the World (4 HOLA Awards & 2 ACE Awards, including Best Production and Best Director).

His theatre translations include: Garcia Lorca’s Once Five Years Pass & other dramatic works, and Valle-Inclán’s Wild Works (the trilogy: Angel Face, Sign of the Eagle, and Ballad of Wolves) [with William Bryant Logan]; Carlos Fuentes’ (In the Land of the Blind…) The One-Eyed Man is King, Calderon de la Barca’s The Great Theatre of the World, and Pablo Picasso’s El Deseo cogido por el rabo (Desire Caught by the Tail) [from the original in French].

He has written, produced & directed three short films, including A Poet in New York (Trip to the Moon) with the late Raúl Juliá, winning the 1993 Award of the XVIII San Francisco Poetry Film Festival. His screenplays include: KACIKE Enriquillo and The Race [with Kathy Barrett], PISHTAKOS [with Ana Maria Estrada], No se compra el Silencio (Silence is Not for Sale) [with Luis Argueta], Serra: The Man Who Never Turned Back, ¡Yo No Fui! [with Luisito Martí], A Hunger Artist, Génesis Flamenco, and the TV mini-series God, Gold & Glory (U.S. Spanish Roots) [with Judith Escalona].

From 1988 to 1992 he was Cultural Correspondent in New York for EL PAIS, the main newspaper of Spain. From 1993 to 1997 he was Advisor on Film, Television and Theatre in the United States for the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SGAE) and for the Ministry of Culture of Spain until 2000, organizing, in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, SPANISH FILM SERIES with the Lincoln Center in New York and with the American Cinematheque in Hollywood.

A member of the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, The Dramatists Guild, and the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers & Publishers (SGAE), Mr. Gil Orrios has imparted Master Classes, lectured and taught at several universities, cultural centers and theatres in the United States, Spain and Latin America including Harvard University, New York University, Columbia University, City University of New York, Instituto Cervantes in NY, the Menendez Pelayo International University, University of Zaragoza, National University of Manizales, EAFIT and Colombo-American Center in Medellin, UNITEC in Bogota, and The National Theatre of Guatemala.

SOLEDAD LOPEZ (Managing Director) is an award-winning bilingual actress born in Avila, Spain where she began appearing in the theatre at an early age.  Since 2000, she is the Managing Director at Thalia and directs the Bilingual Theatre for Children & Youth Workshops. In New York, she has performed in numerous theatre productions, among them: La Visionaria (Public Theater),  El Purgatorio de San Patricio (St. Patrick’s Cathedral), The Misunderstanding (LATE), The Audience & Play Without A Title (Haworth Shakespeare Festival).  In 1989, she performed with critical acclaim the monologue Verde doncella asalta un cine.  In 1984 she received the Best Actress Award at the Golden Age Theatre Festival of El Paso, Texas, for Don Juan Through the Centuries.  She received ACE Best Actress Awards for Palomas Intrépidas in 1996, for her monologue Las Prostitutas os precederán en el Reino de los Cielos in 1994, and for Entre Mujeres in 1995 (also winner of an HOLA Award in 2000) at Thalia, where she also appeared in 2010 in the world premiere of Borges & Piazzolla Tango, and in 2008 in Don Juan Through the Centuries, winning the ACE & HOLA Best Featured Actress Award.  She starred with Josean Ortiz in 2019 in the New York Premiere of the LGBT drama La Golondrina; in 2013 in the bilingual world premiere of Ramirez de Haro’s secret weapons of FAT destruction for which she received the ACE Award for Best Actress; in 2012 in the bilingual world premiere of Jaime Salom’s La CALLAS & MEDEA (ATI Award for Best Actress); in 2007 in the American premiere of Salom’s The Ladies of Avignon (ACE and HOLA Awards as Best Actress); in 2004 in the American premiere of Salom’s Almost a Goddess (ACE and HOLA Awards as Best Actress); and in the world premiere of Ed Lopez’s Fireflies/Luciérnagas (HOLA Award for Best Ensemble Cast).  In 2003, 2007, 2014 and 2017 she starred in the American premiere of Ramos Perea’s We Women Do It Better Than Men which won her the ACE and HOLA Awards as Best Actress; in 2002 in the American premiere of Carlos Fuentes’ The One-Eyed Man Is King, in 2001 in Jardiel Poncela’s Brake Four Hearts (And Put in Reverse), and in 2000 in Picasso’s Guernica, and in Calderon’s The Great Theatre of the World, for which she received the HOLA Award as Best Actress.  In film, she starred in Francisco Lupini’s Sufrir como dedos que no sangran, El Nido Vacio and Blackout, which were showed at several International Festivals winning several Awards, and in Tony Wakefield’s Exilios, a USA Network production which won the Best Short Film Award at Mexico’s International Film Festival.  She also starred in the hit comedy Webseries ¡Madre Mía!  In 2005 she was awarded the VERMEIL MEDAL of The French Academie des Arts-Sciences-Lettres in Paris.

Fabricio Saquicela (Technical Director) was born in Cuenca, Ecuador.
He completed his studies in the University of Azuay, earning a degree in Electronic
Engineering.  Since 2000 he has developed his skills as a computer technician, implementing and maintaining databases computer equipment and networks, while completing various courses specializing in programming and development of robotic computers, and theatre lighting design.
Since 2008 he has been Thalia Spanish Theatre’s Technical Director, where he applies his skills in managing the computerized lighting board and projections system for its theatrical and musical productions. ACE award winner for Best Illumination in 2013.

JOSEAN ORTIZ (Development Director) is an award winning bilingualPuerto Rican actor, director, theater producer, playwright, and cultural manager with 39 years of professional experience in Puerto Rico, Spain, Argentina, Boston, He studied at the Drama Department of the University of Puerto Rico and at The Ortega y Gasset Foundation in Toledo, Spain. In 1984, starred in the World Premiere of Paseo al atardecer by Puerto Rican playwright Tere Marichal at the 1^st Latin American Theater Festival in Cordoba, Argentina.

His recent works includes: the American premiere of La golondrina by Spanish playwright Guillem Clua (which earned him the 2020 ACE as Best Drama Actor & the 2020 Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors HOLA Award for Outstanding Performance by a  Male Actor); the World Premiere of  the plays The Riot (2019Best Ensemble Award at FUERZAfest NY), Matiné y Noche, Water in the Basement, and The Improvement of Life by Puerto Rican playwright Leo Cabranes-Grant; the American Premiere of Nadie es profeta en su espejo by Chilean playwright Jorge Díaz (2018 HOLA Award for Outstanding Performance by a Visiting Actor, 2019 ACE Award as Best Visting Theater Actor, and 2019 ATI Award for Best Drama Actor);  the World Premiere of his play Bola de Nieve (2015 HOLA Award for Outstanding Solo Performance); the World Premiere of his theater adaptation of La última plena que bailó Luberza by Puerto Rican writer Manuel Ramos Otero (2014 ACE, HOLA & ATI Awards as Best Drama Actor), and the World Premiere of the Musical “DC-7: The Roberto Clemente Story”  by Puerto Rican playwright Luis Caballero (which earned him the 2013 ACE, HOLA & ATI Awards as Best Supporting Actor in a Musical).

 During his extensive theatrical career he has stood out for producing and directing the world premiere of important works of Puerto Rican dramaturgy, as well as important Latin American playwrights, and encouraging the development of new professionals in Puerto Rican theater and among Latinx in the United States.