About This Person
Gabriel Rodriguez is a curious creature: an actor, writer, storyteller, theatermaker, teacher, and witch. They want you to remember you are made of dirt and water and sunlight and seed. They want to make art that is nourishment. Gabriel’s stories are not swords, spears, or arrows. Gabriel’s stories are sacks, bundles, bowls, and cups.
Gabriel’s principle love as an artist is theater, particularly devised theater. Their work integrates theater’s ancient origins as communal spiritual ritual with a faithful commitment to the manifestation of a freer and queerer future, all while remaining deeply rooted in the living context of the present moment.
As an artistic practitioner, Gabriel is most fully embedded in the psycho-physical-spiritual performance technique developed by legendary actor and theater teacher Michael Chekhov. Gabriel has trained and collaborated with some of the world’s foremost masters in the Chekhov work, most fruitfully at The Michael Chekhov School in Hudson, NY. Gabriel teaches the Chekhov technique, both in private sessions and public workshops. Recent workshops include “Living in the Questions” at Michael Chekhov Acting Studio and “Imaginary Body” at Daya Yoga Studio.
In 2019, Gabriel’s play Jack of Cups was produced at legendary off-off-Broadway theater The Flea. Ecologist and philosopher Timothy Morton called it “truly the first work of art I’ve seen that really, really gets to grips with the actual vastness and intensity of what is happening.”
Gabriel runs a weekly Queer Meditation Circle that meets Sunday mornings. If you identify as queer and are interested in checking it out, reach out to them at gabriel@gabrod.com.
They also have a periodic newsletter about their activities, as well as other stuff (spiritual stuff, queer stuff, nerd stuff, and more), which you can subscribe to here: gabrod.com/log
Here are some lovely things said about them by lovely people:
“Gabriel Rodriguez is a unique theatre artist. Their profound grasp and understanding of the pure essence of theatre, and of story, is rare in one so young. There abides in Gabriel, I believe, a great need and desire to find and bring forward — in their own innovative way — the key to the truth and vitality of their and our own story and good journey. I can think of no greater pleasure and privilege than to travel with them on this road."
— Ted Pugh, actor, world-renowned acting teacher, co-founder of The Michael Chekhov School
“In case you are attracted by the world of the imagination, and you seek to enliven it, allowing it to be available to you for artistic purposes, enabling you to broaden your perspective of what is possible, seek out Gabriel Rodriguez as your mentor. Being a young person living in the age of the screen, which can supply all of your images for you, Gabriel is unique in their capacity to think, live, and image creatively, beyond the ordinary and conventional, not bound by outside stimulations. This is a rare gift, one to be nourished and cherished, one desperately needed in our time.”
— Fern Sloan, actor, world-renowned acting teacher, co-founder of The Michael Chekhov School
“Gabriel Rodriguez shows the qualities of a consummate and gifted artist. They live in conversation with eternal being, the numinous, with those creative forces that unfold and evolve the world. An excellent collaborator, and communally inspired, Gabriel tirelessly hazards the unknown in a relentless, extraordinarily compassionate, pursuit of transformation, not just for themself but for the world. It is an inspiration and a creative joy to work with the presence they bring to any process.”
— David Anderson, actor, teacher, Founding Artistic Director of Walking the dog Theater
“Gabriel is perfectly situated to offer guidance in service of artists more fully exploring and locating their deeper creativities. Not only is Gabriel versed in performance technique(s) but they also have the artist's sensitivity, which is something that cannot be taught. There is a generous and spacious impulse running through their work, one which allows the performer to disentangle from habits and stoppages which may keep them from their truest work. Gabriel is a true servant to the performer and the performance."
— Craig Mathers, actor, acting teacher
“Gabriel is a sensitive, intuitive, and generous collaborator. I have always felt that I could come to them in my most vulnerable, discombobulated, or confused state, and I would still be met with patience and understanding. Gabriel is a gift to anyone who is looking for guidance or just a joyous presence in any room.”
— Josephine Elwood, IRNE award-nominated actor, activist
"I have never met someone who sees the human spirit quite as clearly as Gabriel. They are at once both incredibly astral and pragmatic, which proves to be a remarkably unique talent for crafting work that studies the intricate grandeur of a world the rest of us can't help but fumble through. They are a most delightful oddity and a joy to create with."
— Nicholas Medvescek, creative producer, graphic designer
“As an artist, Gabriel is always tuned into the truth of a story. They pursue not what they want to be true or to happen, but what actually happens when you let the story lead. Not just “making up a story” but more uncovering it through asking it, listening it, playing it into being. There’s always a feeling of depth and history to their characters and the stories they tell. It’s as if each element within a story could continue to unfold, that there’s nothing that doesn’t belong to or is not vital in the story. Each part is the whole.”
— Valorie Kissel, actor, playwright, designer
Pictures by Karen Santos. Except the one with swan friend, which is by Allison Lee Relihan.