In the Name of Forgotten Women

 Poet-dramatist Cindy Williams Gutiérrez draws inspiration from the silent and silenced voices of history and herstory. A recipient of the 2017 Oregon Book Award for Drama, her play Words That Burn premiered at Milagro Theatre in Portland, Oregon in 2014 in commemoration of the William Stafford Centennial, Hispanic Heritage Month, and the 70^th anniversary of FDR’s rescindment of Executive Order 9066 (incarcerating Japanese-Americans during WWII). This award-winning play was also produced at the Linkville Playhouse in Klamath Falls, OR and the Merc Playhouse in Twisp, WA in 2017 and recorded by OPB for Literary Arts’ Archive Project in 2018.

Cindy’s play A Dialogue of Flower & Song was featured in the 2012 GEMELA (Spanish and Latin American Women’s Studies) Conference co-sponsored by the University of Portland and Portland State University. Her recent poetry collection, Inlay with Nacre: The Names of Forgotten Women, was awarded the 2018 Willow Books Editor’s Choice Poetry Selection and a 2016 Oregon Literary Fellowship. Cindy was selected by Poets & Writers Magazine as a 2014 Notable Debut Poet for her collection the small claim of bones (Arizona State University/Bilingual Press), which placed second in the 2015 International Latino Book Awards. 

Along with graduate degrees from The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies, Cindy earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA Program with concentrations in Mesoamerican poetics, drama, and creative collaboration. She has taught poetry to youth in every grade from K-12 through Literary Arts, the Methow Arts Alliance, Portland Art Museum, and the Right Brain Initiative and has served on the Literary Arts Youth Programs Advisory Council and on the Right Brain Initiative Diversity Council. Cindy is co-founder of Los Porteños, Portland’s Latino writers’ collective, and the Methow Valley’s Confluence Poets. She is founder of GRITO Poetry/Productions and the founding producer of El Grupo de ’08, a Northwest collaborative-artists’ salon.

The Forgotten Women Donation Campaign

Help bring In the Name of Forgotten Women to life. Be a part of activist theatre by donating to this production which centers women’s stories from around the world. All funds raised will support the 22 artists involved in creating this powerful choreopoem. You can make a difference in raising awareness of women’s issues and empowering women artists.

This campaign will run from October – November of 2021 to raise awareness of International Day of the Girl and International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. No amount is too small and all donations are tax-deductible. Find the donor level that works for you and enjoy our offers of appreciation. Get involved and help bring this mesmerizing work of art to the CoHo stage!