Water People Theater creates theater that questions, moves, and opens shared spaces for connection. A Latino nonprofit organization, based in the United States, it has spent 25 years developing bilingual and intercultural productions and educational programs, guided by artistic rigor and, excellence, and by a deep commitment to human rights and to building a more just, more humane, and peaceful society.
Water People Theater envisions a world in which theater becomes a shared space for connection, dialogue, and memory, where diverse voices meet, stories cultivate empathy, and artistic creation contributes to justice, dignity, and peace across cultures and communities.
Artistic Rigor & Excellence
Water People Theater pursues artistic rigor as a guiding principle. Its productions and programs are shaped by craft, depth, and care, honoring theater as a space of discipline, risk, and creative integrity
Human Rights & Dignity
Water People Theater holds that theater is inseparable from the defense of human rights. Its work affirms human dignity, amplifies historically silenced voices, and engages with the ethical questions of our time.
Connection & Community
Water People Theater creates shared spaces for connection, dialogue, and exchange. Theater is conceived as a collective act that brings people together across differences and fosters empathy and mutual understanding
Inclusion & Cultural Dialogue
Water People Theater embraces a bilingual and intercultural approach that reflects the complexity of its communities. Diversity is understood not as an abstract concept, but as a living dialogue rooted in respect and attentive listening.
Education & Transformation
Water People Theater understands education as a transformative process, anchored in curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity. Its educational programs invite people of all ages to experience theater as a tool for reflection and social change.
“The only way to drive change and transform society is through bold initiatives, impactful projects, and amplifying diverse voices, with the hope that transformation will come soon. We contribute through art, from the stage, and through theater, demonstrating that each of us has the power to make a difference from wherever we stand. History tends to give us the ideal stage to play on. It’s up to us to avoid choosing the wrong one”.
“Making theater is a constant and challenging exercise in the pursuit of freedom. I’ve stated once again that a portion of humanity seeks to transcend mortality by making an impact on others, while others achieve this through the creation of poetry, theater, music, culinary recipes, or chemical formulas. We do theater as an act of love in favor of life.”
“What excites me most about working with Water People Theater is their ability to create work that is both critical and sublime, always guided by a strong sense of social justice. Watching one of their plays means knowing I won’t leave the same person: I’ll walk out inspired, moved, or shaken, with more questions than answers. That’s where the transformative power of theater lies.”
“Working at Water People Theater gives me a sense of purpose, allowing me to share powerful stories through art and connect with people on a deeper level. The themes we bring to the stage awaken consciousness and invite essential reflection on justice and freedom.”
JOSÉ R. SÁNCHEZ – CHAIR
President and CEO – Humboldt Park Health
THAIS LOPEZ VOGEL – VICE CHAIR
Co-Founder/Trustee – Volo Foundation
PHILLIP BARREDA – TREASURER
Executive Vice President – Chicago MSDC
MARTA MEDINA – SECRETARY
Journalist – President – M2 Communications
DIRECTORS
PEPE VARGAS
Founder & Executive Director – International Latino Cultural Center
JOSE LUIS VALENZUELA
Artistic Director – Latino Theater Company | Professor – UCLA
VANESSA VALECILLOS
Dancer & Faculty Member – Northwestern University
CASPER SANDERSON – DIRECTOR
Vice President, Sales – Americas Markit
REBECA ALEMÁN – DIRECTOR
President & Founder – Water People Theater
A Story of Creation, Displacement, and Humanity
Water People Theater | Gente de Agua is a Latino theatrical organization of Venezuelan origin, founded in 2001 between Venezuela and the United States. Its work emerges from Venezuelan artistic creation and is shaped by the lived experience of a permanent cultural and geographic border. Since 2017, as a result of the political situation in Venezuela, the company has continued its creative work from the United States, while maintaining a theatrical practice deeply connected to Latino culture, language, and perspective. The theater it produces is rooted in memory, inclusion, and displacement, and responds to an urgent need for dialogue with contemporary realities. For twenty five years, has used the transformative power of theater to defend human rights and to inspire social change. Its productions and educational programs are bilingual, inclusive, and intercultural, and are distinguished by artistic rigor, emotional truth, and a profound commitment to human and social values.
Since then, Water People Theater has approached theater as a land of freedom—a place where diverse languages, cultures, and bodies can come together safely and on equal terms, where emotion is inseparable from critical thinking, and where creativity and imagination are not escapism but a form of resistance. Its work has been sustained by the conviction that theater has the power to move, generate empathy, and bring people together in the face of injustice, suffering, racism, and violence—not as a slogan, but as a shared experience.
In 2007, Chicago became its home and creative base. The city, with its complex migratory history and vibrant theater scene, offered fertile ground to explore a question that has accompanied Water People since its inception: what does it mean to create Latin American theater in the United States? Not as a closed identity label, but as a living practice shaped by cultural intersections, political tensions, and structural challenges. From there, the organization began to consolidate as an essential space for the creation, production, and circulation of contemporary Latin theater, engaging both local communities and national and international circuits
Over the years, Water People Theater has developed a rigorous and deeply human repertoire. Its works do not merely address urgent issues—human rights, memory, social justice, violence, migration, and identity—but do so with a careful aesthetic approach, where form is inseparable from content. Each project has been a conscious exploration of how to tell a story without overemphasis, how to move audiences without manipulation, and how to generate thought through sensitive experience. In this balance, a recognizable poetics has emerged, seeing the stage as a space where the intimate and the political coexist without hierarchy.
In 2014, amid an increasingly difficult and hostile social and political situation in Venezuela, Water People Theater made a crucial decision for its survival: to take refuge in the United States and formalize as a nonprofit organization. This displacement did not mean abandoning its roots but was a strategy for continuity and growth. From this new institutional framework, the company reaffirmed its commitment to artistic creation, community, and education, strengthening its structure without losing its ethical drive or creative risk.
The story of Water People Theater has always been shaped by collective work. The organization exists thanks to the trust, risk, and dedication of artists, technicians, managers, educators, and collaborators who understand theater as a shared process. This human network has been the true backbone of the company over time, allowing it to grow without losing coherence between discourse and practice.
One of the most challenging and revealing moments in Water People Theater’s trajectory was the pandemic period. When physical stages closed, the organization transformed virtual space into an active place for creation and connection. For twenty-four months, theater found new ways of being present, bringing together artists and audiences across geographic borders and time zones. This period confirmed that theater does not depend solely on physical space but on the will to connect and the need to share meaningful experiences.
In 2020, Water People Theater STUDIO was created as a natural extension of its pedagogical and community vocation. Through creative labs and formative processes for children, adolescents, and emerging artists, the organization deepened its vision of theater as a tool for social transformation and citizenship building, understanding arts education as a living, relational experience.
In recent years, Water People Theater has reaffirmed its presence on key stages and festivals. In 2025, a sold-out season at the Latino Theater Center in Los Angeles confirmed the deep connection of its work with diverse audiences. That momentum continued with its participation in Teatro a Mil in Santiago, Chile—one of the most important festivals in Latin America—where the organization represented Venezuela and the United States with a work addressing memory, truth, and human rights through a poetic and powerful lens.
By 2026, as it celebrates twenty-five years of work, Water People Theater looks back with gratitude and forward with responsibility. More than marking longevity, the organization reaffirms a way of being in the world. For Water People, theater is not only performance—it is experience, encounter, and imprint. A space where art and ethics continue to dialogue, opening paths where once there was silence, distance, or exclusion.
Water People Theater in Numbers:
(Statistics as of December 31, 2025, prior to the 25-year celebration)
24 years of continuous work
39 theatrical productions
24 seasons
647 participating artists
More than 124,000 audience members
10 peace campaigns
5 short films
15 festival participations in theater and film
2 Talía Awards, New York
1 Jeff Award, Chicago
2 ACE Awards, New York
3 Jeff Award nominations, Chicago
21 Water People Theater STUDIO creative labs
238 children and young participants in training programs
157 scholarships for children
Born in Venezuela. at age 17 was selected to join the first National Youth Theater Ensemble of Venezuela. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism/Media Communication and Music, Rebeca continued her training in London and NYC for both acting and directing. She has played leading roles in over 39 theatrical productions, soap operas, and films including those as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Frida Kahlo, Camila O’Gorman, and Yerma. Rebeca was an ensemble member at the Repertorio Español-NYC. She has written six plays, four short films, and one children’s book. She has produced 23 plays and directed and produced four short films focused on denouncing violence. “Gone with The Sea”, was Official Selection FIACINE-2019 – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Madrid, Spain. As an actress, she has been honored with the 2025 Talía Award in New York City, an ACE Award and a second nomination, also in New York, as well as a Jeff Award nomination in Chicago, along with numerous distinctions in her home country. She is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Water People Theater.
Venezuelan playwright, director, producer, and scriptwriter with 52 years of experience in theater. She has specialized in producing and directing plays by Hispano-American authors. Mrs. Tapias has written seven plays and produced more than 32 theatrical productions. She has directed twelve stage plays and six musicals, including The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca, MUSES by Néstor Caballero, Orchids in the Moonlight by Carlos Fuentes, Rosa de dos arómas and Orinoco, both by Emilio Carballido, Acto Cultural by José Ignacio Cabrujas, The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon by Rebeca Alemán, Lorca Living the Experience with texts and lyrics by Federico García Lorca, It Never Was You with texts and lyrics by Kurt Weill, and The Man of La Mancha, the musical written by Dale Wasserman with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion.
Iraida is a two-time Jeff Award nominee for Best Director. Her awards include the National Artist Award of Venezuela for Best Director, the Premio Municipal de Cine of Venezuela for Best Scriptwriter, and the Havana Film Festival Award for Best Producer.
Constanza Mendoza (she/ella) is a Venezuelan-born, Chicago-based cultural organizer, facilitator, and nonprofit consultant. With over a decade of experience in strategy and community engagement, she founded Terra Cotta in 2023 to support BIPOC arts and cultural organizations. Her work spans legacy institutions like the South Side Community Art Center and Joel Hall Dancers & Center, as well as transformative organizations like Black Girls Code, Enrich Chicago, and Water People Theater. A 2024-2025 fellow at the Intercultural Leadership Institute, Constanza also serves as a grant panelist for the NEA, NALAC, and DCASE. She holds a master’s in Arts Administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Post-Bac in Museum Studies from UASB-Quito, and a bachelor’s in Art History from the Université Paris-Sorbonne.
Marisabel is honored to serve as the Set and Prop Designer, as well as the Art Director, at Water People Theater. Her recent theatrical work on ’North & Sur’, an extraordinary encounter between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfonsina Storni, showcases her passion for blending creative visions. Her most recent film works include Gauguin and the Canal (2022) and Humanpersons (2018). Her talents have been recognized at various creative festivals.
