About

Alvaro Saar Rios is a Texican playwright based in Chicago who creates theatrical experiences for multigenerational audiences.  His work has been staged in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, Seattle, St. Louis, Milwaukee and all over Texas. Over the years, he has been fortunate to collaborate with and receive commissions from outstanding organizations like Chicago Children’s Theatre, First Stage, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, DePaul University, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Alley Theatre, Purple Rose Theatre Company, Lexington Children’s Theatre, Houston Community College, and the Zoological Society of Milwaukee.

His award-winning plays include Luchadora!, On The Wings of a Mariposa and Carmela Full of Wishes.  Other plays include Piggsville, In Darkness, Audio Flowers Bloom, and Unmuted, a virtual musical he co-created with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma.  Last year, Alvaro premiered a new play for the BIPOC Superhero Project and a stage adaptation of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s iconic novel Esperanza Rising for Milwaukee’s First Stage. He is currently developing a bilingual touring musical for Colorado’s Creede Repertory Theatre and a young audience play for DePaul University.

Alvaro holds an MFA in Writing for the Stage and Screen from Northwestern University,  a BA in English–Creative Writing from the University of Houston and an AA in Communications from Houston Community College.  He’s a member of Goodman Theatre’s Dramatists Exchange, Playwright-In-Residence at Milwaukee's First Stage and a former Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. In different lives, Alvaro drove M1A1 tanks in the U.S. Army and growled & sang for a death metal band. Unfortunately, these skills have yet to overlap.

Rios co-founded The Royal Mexican Players with his wife, Michelle Lopez-Rios. Since 2004, they created original scripted and devised plays.  They also developed workshops for high schools, colleges and conferences, including Texas A&M University, Palo Alto College, Voice & Speech Teachers Association, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and the Texas Thespian State Festival. Their work has been seen in London; Bogota; Washington, D.C.; Houston and Denver. 

Alvaro is also a Professor of Playwriting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts, where he mentors aspiring theatremakers.  One aspect of his university research is New Dramaworks, a series geared at introducing undergraduates of various disciplines to the process of new play development.

Alvaro is also a proud board member of The Children’s Theatre Foundation of America and co-founder of Alebrije Writers Collective.

Click below to find downloadable copies of Alvaro’s resume, CV, bio, and screen res headshot.