Cornelio “Coky” Aguilera (he, him, el, del, etc.) studied as an Acting Specialist at UW Madison, moved to the Tampa area, and has been working professionally with the following companies since 2012: Stageworks Theatre, A Simple Theatre, The Tampa Repertory Theatre, St. Petersburg Opera Company, RQL Productions, Your Real Stories Theatre, Jobsite Theater, and The ThruLine Company. Coky also organizes the “Dreamer’s Teatro Crew,” a bilingual, theatrical group out of Dade City, in collaboration with the Farmworkers Self-Help Organization.
It is his honor to be working with the Outcast Theatre Collective (OTC) since its inception in 2018. During this time, he has actively utilized Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed” as a way in to the world of theatre for artists representing marginalized communities, both through the training and creation of original theatrical pieces that are more inclusive of their kind of characters, stories, and issues. Even within the past two pandemic years, OTC has found a way to evolve this form of social justice theatre to the virtual world and has successfully solidified contracts to establish and facilitate workshops with the following institutions: Arizona State University, YWCA out of Phoenix, AZ, UW Madison Extension, University of South Florida, WUSF, and recently, with the Spanish-speaking community of parents representing RCMA out of Wimauma, FL. Having served as a Curinga (Joker/Facilitator) for most of these workshops, it is his honor to use the magic of the theatre in order to champion the establishment, organization, and facilitation of meaningful dialogues around issues of social justice where historically, only monologues have existed.