Evelyn Díaz Cruz is a theatre artist and educator, originally from the Bronx, New York with experience in writing, directing, and acting.  Professor Cruz earned her B.A. in Theatre from San Diego State University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from the University of California at Los Angeles. 

Recent projects include a workshop production of her play Besito Pa’ Ti, which documents the tumultuous life of legendary Salsa Diva La Lupe and the writing and directing of a bi-lingual and bi-national play Muertos, that explored issues of death and dying on the U.S. Mexico border.  Other works include an adaptation and directing of García Lorca's Yerma (a bilingual translation reset in the Latino Caribbean world) and the directing of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.  Her full-length play “Glass Cord” received third place in a nation-wide competition, Nuestras Voces 2004, at New York City’s Repertorio Español and was given a full production at the University of San Diego in the Spring of 2007.  

Evelyn Diaz Cruz is a recipient of the KPBS 2008 Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero Award in the Arts and is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of San Diego, where she teaches courses on Playwriting, Acting, Theatre of Diversity, Theatre and Society, and a Theatre and Community course that gathers stories from the community and presents them in an evening of one-acts. Professor Cruz is a member of the Los Angeles Association of Playwrights and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.