Director
Daniel Jáquez, he/him, is a director, theater-maker, producer, and translator of plays. He has directed and produced shows Off and Off-Off Broadway, across the United States, and internationally.
Jáquez has translated plays by award-winning Mexican playwrights and is published by NoPassport Press, The Mercurian, and Asymptote. His translation, Rarámuri Dreams, was
selected for the 2020 Columbia University School of the Arts International Play Festival.
Jáquez was commissioned by The Old Globe Theatre to devise, write, and direct plays for community celebrations of Día de Muertos. He is founder of Camino23 Collective and TuYo
Theatre, organizations that center Latinx theatre artists and audiences in San Diego.
Jáquez is a member of The Latinx Theatre Commons Steering Committee and a Trustee of Diversionary Theatre, the third oldest LGBTQIA+ theater. He worked in NYC as Advisory for The Lark’s México/U.S. Playwright Exchange, Director and Co-Founder of Unit52 (Intar Theatre), Director of INTAR/Jerome Foundation’s New Works Lab Festival, Artistic Director of Calpulli Mexican Dance, and Interim Artistic Director of Milagro (Portland, OR).
Jáquez earned an MFA in Directing from the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute at Harvard University and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Texas. www.danieljaquez.com
The Ensemble
Vanessa Flores
Vanessa (she/her) is a performer, producer, and choreographer from the San Diego-Tijuana region. She holds a double Bachelor’s in Theatre and Dance from the University of California San Diego. She has recently been seen onstage in Optika Moderna’s La Lucha as Lucha, Bocon’s Mía/All Mine as Mía, and TuYo Theater’s stage reading of DayDreamer: A New Musical as Candelaria. Choreography credits include William Shakespeare’s The Tempest at UCSD and Henry V at the Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare Program. When she’s not onstage, Vanessa is a teaching artist for San Diego Opera, where she is leading a new pilot project that connects Words and Music program students to postsecondary educational opportunities in the arts and humanities.
Adriana Cuba Cuentas
Adriana (she/her) is a Peruvian born performer, marketer and filmmaker. She’s Camino23 Collective Marketing Director. She’s been acting for almost 20years and has been involved in several productions in Peru, Mexico, Canada and United States. She’s also worked in different areas of the film industry. Her most recent film as a director “Proyecto Tinku: el documental” will soon be released, and her most recent work as an actress in San Diego has been “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
Valeria Vega-Kuri
Binational Artist, Teaching Artist, Producer and Cultural Promoter.
Graduated from Centro de Artes Escénicas del Noroeste. Starts her career as an actress on 1999. Has participated in numerous plays as a member of different theatre companies such as Grupo Ojo, Grupo Las Diablas, Tijuana Hace Teatro and Optika Moderna.
Her profesional development include studies in both México and the US. In November 2017 she begins to work with The Old Globe as a Teaching Artist in the department of Arts Engagement and now is the Programs Associate for all Spanish speaking programs. Recently seen at “La Lucha” by David Reynoso and produced by La Jolla’s Playhouse and MCASD. Also just ended a week long residency with The Old Globe with presentations of “The Frontera Project” produced by Tijuana Hace Teatro and New Feet Production.
Member of Camino 23 Collective a Latinx+ theatre collective directed by Daniel Jáquez.
Lourdes Arteaga
Lourdes is a current senior at San Diego State working on earning her degree in Theatre with an emphasis in Youth Theatre. She has been performing her whole life, but some of her favorite shows and projects include, The Weight of Dreams (Swing), MIA: All Mine (Asst. Stage Manager), The House on Mango Street (Esperanza), Theranos (Ian), The Addams Family (Wednesday), and can be currently seen in Once Upon A Brick at Legoland. Lourdes is thrilled to be a part of Camino 23 and is excited to show the world what they’ve all been working on.
Markuz Rodriguez
A San Diego native, Markuz has been acting, writing and directing professionally for the last 16 years in this beautiful, dynamic community. Favorite local credits include: Normal Heights (Loud Fridge Theatre Group); Witchland, Stage (Backyard Renaissance); All in the Timing, A Bright New Boise, Good People (Onstage Playhouse); Sweat, A Christmas Carol, Corridos REmix (San Diego Repertory Theatre); The Madres(Moxie Theatre); Under Construction (Sledgehammer Theatre); Speech & Debate (Diversionary Theatre); Seven Spots on the Sun (InnerMission Productions); Punks (Ion Theatre); Wally & His Lover Boys, Midnight Alley, Bedrooms & Boyfriends (Compulsion Dance & Theatre). Mr. Rodriguez has studied on-camera performance with Robert Dahey, commedia dell’arte with Gale McNeeley, and most recently completed two years of the Meisner technique at Studio 4/Playhouse West in North Hollywood, California. A teaching artist with Playwrights Project, he devotes most of his time to the development of new work for stage, film, television, radio/podcast, and the interwebz at large. He is grateful to have found a home with the incomparable members of Camino23.
Laura Jiménez
Laura Jiménez (She/Her) is an actor, teaching artist, and assistant director born in El Centro, California, and raised in Holtville and San Diego. Laura received her training from Grossmont College and has worked as a Teaching Artist for East LA Classic Theatre. As an Assistant Director, she last worked on Hay Fever at Coronado Playhouse and is thrilled to be Assistant Directing Camino 23’s first lab, Stoneheart by Georgina Escobar.
Some of her favorite acting credits include Benvolia in Romeo and Juliet, Wife in Lorca’s Bodas de Sangre, Belen in The Madres, Carla in In The Heights, Sally in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Ensemble in Lucky Stiff, Kathy in Vanities, and Rosali in Real Women Have Curves. Laura is honored to be part of the incredible Camino 23 familia and is excited for the future of the collective.
Maya Sofia
Maya Sofia is a local artist raised in Tijuana. She spent her early life attending a performing arts school in San Diego, crossing the border everyday to do so. As a bicultura/bilinguall actress and musician, she had been fortunate enough to study in both cities and perform in both languages. Currently, she is in rehearsals for her upcoming role as Anita in Teatro San Diego’s West Side Story. Other local credits include Noche (Villain Queen) in TuYo Theatre’s “Daydreamer: A New Musical”, Mimi in SDMT’s “Rent” and Olympe in CSUSM’s “The Revolutionists”. Maya’s love for the performing arts is only a reflection of the love and support she has received from her family and loved ones.
Paul Araujo
Paul Araujo, a native of San Diego, is honored to be part of Camino 23, a theatre collective.
Other credits: La Pastorela, The Pitch with Paul Rodriguez, Anna in the Tropics, Lesson 443, Logan Heights, Journey of the Skeletons, Let the Eagle Fly, Six Degrees of Separation, Saturday Night at the Palace, Zoot Suit, The Who’s Tommy, amongst others. At the American College Theater Festival, Mr. Araujo, a member of Los Amigos del REP, was nominated for an Irene Ryan Award for his work in Mariachi Quixote. Aside from theatre, Paul works with
Strategic Operations, a company that provides hyper-realistic tactical training for the military and law enforcement. Araujo has also served as a teaching artist for at-risk youth through the Old
Globe’s educational program. Araujo sings, plays guitar and percussion with various projects, and performs locally. Paul holds an AA in Theatre Arts from Southwestern College and attended
the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.
Lester Isariuz
Lester is thrilled to be a part of Camino 23! He began his acting training in 2017 at Diablo Valley College in the Bay Area. He then transferred to San Diego State University where he received a B.A. in Theatre with an Emphasis in Performance. He has enjoyed his time working with and creating a special family with the wonderful members of Camino 23.
Credits include: Sinforoso in Mía, El-Fayoumy in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Pinky in Our Lady of 121st Street, Orlando in As You Like It, Edward in Sense and Sensibility, Bob Martindale in Perfect Arrangement, Harry Bagley/Martin in Cloud 9.
Enrique Arana
Enrique Arana (he/him) is an actor, dancer, singer and designer born and raise in Venezuela. He is a graduate from San Diego State University with a degree in Theatre and has an associate from San Diego Mesa College in Performing Arts. He has been part of the San Diego International Fringe Festival since 2022 and Without Walls Festival with La Jolla Playhouse. His also been part of independent feature films and short films throughout his acting career. He has recently been seen onstage in 105 Miles away From Home for the San Diego International Fringe Festival as Papa, The Gift of the Magi in Lamplighters as Jim Dillingham, First Date in Onstage Playhouse as Man 3, Tuyo’s theatre stage reading of Daydreamer as Cuchillos, among other credits. He sound designed for The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, set designed for God of Carnage, and costume designed for the one act Laundry and Bourbon. You can see him next as Bernardo in Teatro San Diego’s rendition of West Side Story this August. He is honored to be part of Camino 23 and sharing the stage with this amazing artists.