Caridad Svich (/svɪtʃ/ SVITCH;^[1] born July 30, 1963) is a playwright, songwriter/lyricist, translator, and editor who was born in the United States to Cuban-Argentine-Spanish-Croatian parents.

Biography

A member of the New York's New Dramatists, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and her Master of Fine Arts at the University of California, San Diego. She has written over forty full-length plays and fifteen translations as well as other short works. Svich has been a guest artist at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and the Royal Court Theater and has taught playwriting workshops at Paines Plough Theater in London and the US-Cuba Writer's Conference in Havana.^[2]

Career

Caridad Svich is the founder of theatre alliance and publisher NoPassport. Her work has impacted communities of multiple diversities and has responded to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, veterans and their families, survivors of trauma and those committed to artistic expression of advocacy for US Latin writing voices, and engagement with representations of the “fragile shores” in our lives, amongst others.^[3]

Svich sustains a career as a theatrical translator as well, mainly of the dramatic work of Federico García Lorca. She has received fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study,^[4] NEA/TCG, PEW Charitable Trust, and California Arts Council. She has trained for four consecutive years with Maria Irene Fornes in INTAR Theatre's HPRL Lab.

Svich teaches creative writing and playwriting at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and Primary Stages’ Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She has been a guest lecturer at the Yale School of Drama and a visiting faculty member at Bennington College. She has also has taught playwriting at Bard College, Barnard College, Denison University, Ohio State University, ScriptWorks, University of California, San Diego, and Yale School of Drama.^[5]

Svich was the co-organizer and curator of After Orlando, a collection of new 3–to-5 minute plays responding to the 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub. Over 40 theatrical institutions and universities nationwide and abroad participated.^[6][7]

In 2023 her play Arbor Falls was performed at Grinnell College.^[8]

Awards

• 2015 Source Festival (Washington D.C.) finalist
• 2013 National Latino Playwrights Award
• 2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement
• 2012 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award
• 2012 Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Drama
• 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize
• 2009 Lee Reynolds Award, League of Professional Theatre Women
• 2009 HOLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting
• 2007 Whitfield Cook Award for New Writing
• 2004 Selected for inclusion Oxford Encyclopedia of Latino History
• 2003 National Latino Playwrights Award
• 2002-2003 Harvard University Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellow
• 2002-2003 TCG/Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artist Residency
• 1997-1998 NEA/TCG Playwrights Residency
• 1994 Rosenthal New Play Prize

^[5]

Works or publications

• Alchemy of Desire Dead-man's Blues. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772595.
• Any Place but Here. New York: Theatre Communications Group. 1993. OCLC 28186496.

• Delgado, Maria M.; Svich, Caridad (1999). Conducting a Life : Reflections on the Theatre of Maria Irene Fornes. Lyme, NH: Smith and Kraus. OCLC 42592806.
• Svich, Caridad (2005). Divine Fire : Eight Contemporary Plays Inspired by the Greeks. New York: Back Stage Books. OCLC 61724907.

• García Lorca, Federico, 1898-1936; Svich, Caridad (2000). Federico García Lorca : Impossible Theater : Five Plays and Thirteen Poems. Hanover, N.H.: Smith and Kraus. OCLC 44391687.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Fugitive Pieces. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 318240754.
• Gleaning/Rebusca. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772604.

• Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart : a Rave Fable. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772607.
• Luna Park. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2005. OCLC 268790129.
• Marrero, María Teresa; Svich, Caridad (2000). Out of the Fringe : Contemporary Latina/Latino Theatre and Performance. New York: Theatre Communications Group. OCLC 42397219.
• Perdita Gracia. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772609.
• Prodigal Kiss. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772610.
• Slow Fast Walking on the Red Eye. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772611.
• Something Simple, Plain-spoken. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772614.
• Steal Back Light from the Virtual. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772615.
• Svich, Caridad; Delgado, Maria M. (2002). Theatre in Crisis? : Performance Manifestos for a New Century. Manchester, UK: Palgrave. OCLC 50102041.
• Svich, Caridad (2003). Trans-global Readings : Crossing Theatrical Boundaries. Manchester, UK: Palgrave. OCLC 53389407.
• Transmission 0500 to the Blue Peninsula. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772616.
• Turn the Dark Up, Bow Down, This Is a Hymn. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772617.
• Twelve Ophelias. Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press. 2004. OCLC 180772618.

^[9]

Notes and references

External links

• Quotations related to Caridad Svich at Wikiquote
• The Caridad Svich papers are available at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. This archival collection contains the personal and literary works of playwright Caridad Svich. The collection is organized into two series. Series 1 consists of original theater works as well as translations by Svich; materials related to theater productions, such as playbills, advertisements, clippings, and reviews; and articles about other playwrights. Series 2 consists of audiovisual material such as MiniDVs, CDs, and tapes containing presentations by Caridad Svich and performance soundtracks.
• Selected photographs from the Caridad Svich papers are available through the University of Miami Libraries Digital Collections Archived 2015-01-19 at the Wayback Machine portal.
• Creator page for Caridad Svich in the Cuban Theater Digital Archive.
• Caridad Svich Collection  includes playscripts, correspondence, essays, and interviews.  Held by the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, The Ohio State University Libraries.