Diego Arciniegas is a Lecturer in the Theatre Studies Department at Wellesley. He teaches Introductory Acting, Advanced Scene Study, and Playing Shakespeare. Diego is also Producing Artistic Director of the Publick Theatre (www.publicktheatre.org), an open-air theatre on the banks of Boston's Charles River, offering classical outdoor theatre for the past 33 years. Diego is the Founder of the Publick Theatre's Young Company, a youth outreach program offering performing arts education and experience to inner-city high school students and their suburban counterparts regardless of socio-economic status. The Young Company recently received a grant from the Charles Stark Draper Laboratories in Cambridge, providing scholarships for qualifying youth. Diego has represented Wellesley College at the American College Theatre Festival and serves regularly as a Judge at the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival, sponsored by the Boston Globe.

Diego is the recipient of the Elliot Norton Award for outstanding actor, and has been cited repeatedly by the Independent Reviewers Association. He is also an Emerging Artist/Humanist Fellow from the City of Boston for his work at the Publick Theatre. As a director, Diego has devoted himself to new plays and the reinterpretation of classics. At the Publick Theatre he directed "Macbeth," "Much Ado About Nothing," "The Winter's Tale," "As You Like It" and "Hamlet." At North Shore Music Theatre he directed "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Romeo and Juliet." Other directing credits include Christopher Hampton's "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," as well as Diego's own translation of "The House of Bernarda Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorca for Emerson Stage. Diego also directed the world premiere of "The Sins of Sor Juana," a play based on the life of 17th Century Mexican poet Juana Inez de la Cruz, for Boston Playwrights' Theatre. He is also the recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play for "The Sins of Sor Juana," which was recently published by Samuel French, Inc., and awaits production at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.

A native of Colombia, South America, Diego holds a B.A. from Williams College. He trained in theatre at the British and European Studies Group, 9 York Terrace East, London, U.K., James Wilson (Oxon., dir.).

Profile last updated: 3/03