Rudi Goblen

Rudi Goblen

Rudi is a playwright, professor, and performer who creates solo theatre and devised theater work. As an acclaimed dancer, he has toured nationally, and internationally, competing, adjudicating, and teaching with his award-winning group Flipside Kings.

Rudi is a recipient of the Vineyard theatre’s Colman Domingo Award: a three-time recipient of playwriting awards from the Kennedy Center, the...
Rudi is a playwright, professor, and performer who creates solo theatre and devised theater work. As an acclaimed dancer, he has toured nationally, and internationally, competing, adjudicating, and teaching with his award-winning group Flipside Kings.

Rudi is a recipient of the Vineyard theatre’s Colman Domingo Award: a three-time recipient of playwriting awards from the Kennedy Center, the Distinguished Achievement for the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and an O'Neill Finalist; as well as a Future Aesthetics Artist Award, two Miami-Dade County Choreographer Awards; a FEAST Award for his book of poetry "A Bag of Halos and Horns," and a Theater Masters' Take Ten Playwright.

He has trained and worked with Cirque De Soleil and DV8 Physical Theater and is a founding member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects and Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre.

Publications include Theater Magazine, Imagined Theatres: Writing for a Theoretical Stage, and Samuel French/Concord Theatricals.

Rudi holds an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama; and is currently on faculty in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Miami.

Plays

  • littleboy/littleman by Rudi Goblen
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, experimental + 4 more
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    Keyword: afro-latinx, black + 5 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, movement/physical, political, tragedy, verse
    Keyword: afro-latinx, black, bi-lingual English/Spanish, street musicians, Miami, immigration, Colorism
    Fíto and Bastian, Two Nicaraguan brothers, find themselves at odds when their views and dreams collide. At the expense of their relationship, both make life-changing decisions that put the pursuit of their American Dream and their future in peril. Alongside poetry and a rhythmic drive, we are invited into a space where live music, ritual, and reality intertwine in this fable about the bond between brothers.
  • FITO: A Concert Play by Rudi Goblen by Rudi Goblen
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, experimental + 4 more
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    Keyword: Latinx, immigration + 6 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, immersive, movement/physical, political, verse
    Keyword: Latinx, immigration, American Racism, Colorism, live music, dance, Concert, physical theater
    It is the day of Fito’s naturalization ceremony. As he raises his hand for the Oath of Allegiance, he is transported to a composition of musical snapshots that make up his tapestry in this country. Some are jaded, some filled with bodies of water, some disheartening—but none ever debilitating enough to keep him from chasing his dream to be the first American citizen in his family.

    FITO is an...
    It is the day of Fito’s naturalization ceremony. As he raises his hand for the Oath of Allegiance, he is transported to a composition of musical snapshots that make up his tapestry in this country. Some are jaded, some filled with bodies of water, some disheartening—but none ever debilitating enough to keep him from chasing his dream to be the first American citizen in his family.

    FITO is an interdisciplinary, interactive concert-play; where songs, stories, dance, and spoken-word tell the story of a Nicaraguan man becoming the first American citizen in his family after 30 years in the United States.

    Originally Commissioned & Presented by The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts as part of the 2019 Live Arts Bard Biennial: Where No Wall Remains.
  • While We Wait by Rudi Goblen
    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 6 more
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    Keyword: grief and mourning, celebration + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, movement/physical, satire, tragedy, verse
    Keyword: grief and mourning, celebration, choreopoem
    A compilation of stories being interwoven through the theme of death, the dead, the dying, and the shared experiences of those still mourning. But also, a celebration; an ode, a poem; a slow dance with someone you don’t like—your mother, father, or self.

    A necessary ritual consisting of a string of comedic satires, late-night commercials inside a skilled nursing facility, gospel singing, dancing, and lip-synching.
  • Green Suga Bloos by Rudi Goblen
    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 4 more
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    Keyword: Afro-Latina, Latinx + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, fantasy, movement/physical, tragedy, verse
    Keyword: Afro-Latina, Latinx, black, the afterlife, Allah/God, drag queen, lipsync
    Two ten-year-old Afro-Latinas, Belli and Siddi are being raised by their fathers, Pops, and Pa; while their determined mothers, Yovi and Yuli, who have recently transitioned are stuck between our world and death.

    When things go awry because of pops' habitual ways, the girls decide to rob a bank and god shows up in the form of a drag queen to…help?
  • Rise and Beings by Rudi Goblen
    Cast: 
    8
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    Genre: drama, tragedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: Afro-Latinx stories, BIPOC characters + 1 more
    Genre: drama, tragedy, verse
    Keyword: Afro-Latinx stories, BIPOC characters, climate change
    Coco’s dreams never lie and she has been dreaming about the end. Now, her son Rice who supports the family is being derailed by a newfound love, and her daughter Naughty has gone missing. 

    Rise and Beings is a modern-day epic that spotlights how spatial [in]justice affects BIPOC communities.