Magdalena Gómez

Magdalena Gómez (1953-) is an American playwright, poet, social activist, motivational speaker, and performer. She lives in Springfield, Massachusetts where she is the artistic director of Teatro V!da, the city's first Latin@ theatre, and served as the city's second Poet Laureate. Gómez has worked with young people through the arts for nearly forty years and focuses much of her work on intergenerational collaboration. Gómez's parents were not formally educated. Her father had only completed school to a second-grade level, but was fluent in three languages and proficient in five languages, Spanish, English, Basque, Italian, and Portuguese. Gómez describes her interest in writing and academics as something she discovered independently, as her schools were "more like prisons than centers of learning." After this, she became involved in the New York City poetry scene, performing in cafes, bars, churches, theaters, and artists lofts.

She studied English and Theater at Lehman College, as well as Spanish Literature at the University of Seville in Spain. In the 1970s, Gómez returned to New York City and taught drama at Johnny Colon's East Harlem Music School. She continued to perform poetry, finding a mentor in Emilie Glen, who held regular poetry salons in her living room. At these salons and other readings, she encountered many prominent members of the Nuyorican Movement, including Pedro Pietri, José Ángel Figueroa, Sandra María Esteves, and Judith Ortiz-Cofer. In 1982, she became the first volunteer theater director at Teatro El Puente in Williamsburg, New York. During her time there, the company became an HIV/AIDS and health issue educational touring company.

In 1989, Gómez moved to Massachusetts, living in Hadley and Northampton before settling in Springfield with her partner, Jim Lescault. She is a former columnist for La Prensa de Western Massachusetts, the first bilingual regional newspaper in the area founded by Natalia Eugenia Muñoz, the granddaughter of Luis Muñoz Marín. Within Teatro V¡da, she founded the Ferocious Women's Group, a multi-generational group dedicated to promoting the voices of girls and women through writing and performing arts, which meets regularly to provide mentorship and produce theater. She also commentates for the New England Public Radio and writes a monthly column, Latino Groove, for the Springfield area newspaper, Point of View. Founded in 2007, Youth development and youth leadership are central to the theatre's mission, with their mission statement reading, "We encourage youth to strive for excellence in all facets of their lives with a spirit of generosity, non-violence and compassion.”

Dancing in My Cockroach Killers (2013) is a performing arts piece consisting of a collection of Gómez's poems and monologues set to music by composer Desmar Guevara. The poetry included in the book was composed over several decades, from the 1970s to the time the book was published. The book is divided into six sections: Shameless Woman, Family, To the Essence, The Invention of War, Lessons from the Dream World, and Endangered Species.

Awards and recognition Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA – 2019–2021 Latinas 50 Plus Literature Award, Fordham University - 2019 Latinx Excellence on the Hill Award, Black and Latino Legislative Caucus of MA State House – 2019 Excellence in the Arts Award, Springfield Cultural Council, Springfield, MA – 2018 Arts and Humanities Award, New England Public Radio – 2018