Henry Godinez is the Resident Artistic Associate at Goodman Theatre in Chicago and Director of the Goodman’s Latino Theatre Festival. He’s also the co-founder and former Artistic Director of Teatro Vista. He has directed at Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, Yale Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre (NYC), Portland Center Stage, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre and Apple Tree Theatre. He is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and the Artistic Director of the Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University.

This post-show discussion immediately followed the performance of American Ethnic, a spoken word and hip-hop infused exploration of how the media shapes the way we see race, gender and ourselves. American Ethnic was written and performed by hip-hop theater artist Usman Ally, NEA Award-winning performer Idris Goodwin and three-time HBO Def Poetry Jam performer Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. It was directed by Remy Bumppo Artistic Associate Nick Sandys.

Remy Bumppo’s thinkTank features short dramatic works with a focus on provoking timely conversation about a social, political or economic issue in which Chicago citizens have a stake. A post-show discussion follows, led by speakers from the community representing various viewpoints on thinkTank’s theme. Past topics include immigration (2007) and national security (2008).

Recorded Friday, March 20, 2009 at The Greenhouse Theater.