JESUS LOPEZ
  • STAGE/FILM
    • Artistic Direction (Producer) >
      • When We Watch (WWW)
      • Zu Sein
      • TZAQIK
      • /ECHO
      • Distance in its Movement
      • In This Light There is Silence
      • Video Colleges
      • No Erasure
      • Duality Broken
      • Symptoma 20
      • Brace for Impact
      • Curie, Curie
      • Mary's Wedding
      • RED
      • FAWNZ
    • Lighting & Projections Design
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    • Photography Portfolio
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  • RELATED WORK
    • MOON Collective
    • Publicity Art
    • INDIE ART PROJECTS >
      • Collages (nsfw)
      • "Visual Poetry"
      • "sil nce"
      • "Define the Unmade"
      • "HUU SHK"
      • Film Photography
    • "ReCreating the Stage"
    • "i.see.red" poetry & photography book
    • ♫ MUSIC
    • OTHER EXPERIENCE
  • ABOUT
    • BIOGRAPHY | ENGLISH
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Artistic Direction

in the performance & VISUAL arts

STAGE & FILM
Director | Writer | Producer ​​
​

DIRECTING RESUME | ​CV

MOON Collective
Founder & Artistic Director
​
​2017 - Present
International / Stage & Film
New Swan Shakespeare Festival
Assistant Artistic Director,
2020 Season

Irvine, CA
Independent Producer
Consultant in Performance Art
​2020 - Present
International
KB Theatre Company
Assoc. Creative Director
​2018 - Present

El Paso, TX
 Transversal Theater Company
Associate Creative Producer, Director & Writer
2020 - Present
International Theater Company
Brown Bag Theater Company*
Managing Director & Producer, 2019-2020 Season
Direction & Mngt. Mentor, 2020-2021 Season
Irvine, CA (*University Organization)

Upcoming Projects
​

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No Erasure (April 2021)
​ (Devised Live Theater)
​Written & Directed by Bryan Reynolds & Jesús López Vargas 
Choreographed by Jesús López Vargas
Assistant Choreographer: Brandon Ray Alba
Lighting & Projections Designer: Merle DeWitt III

Music Composer: Dimitri Soto
Lyricist: Jesús López Vargas

Sound Designer: Athziri Morales
Production Assistants: Gosia Lorenza & Sky Reynolds
Publicity & Production Management by MOON Collective
Produced by Transversal Theater Company (International)
     & Dawar Arts (Cairo, Egypt)
April 10th at 7pm & 8:30pm
Jesuit Theater (Cairo, Egypt)
Cast: Nada Nader, Nadine Emil, Mohammed Shafey, Ahmed El Sakka,
Randa Magdi, Rasha Mabrouk & Sawi Laila
"A devised work produced in the span of 5 days that utilized movement, choreography, song, dialogue & poetry as commentary on the subject of censorship. Three different types of self were explored throughout this 40 minute long project: the private self, the impressive self, and the social self."
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Duality Broken (July 2021)
​ (Short Film) (12min.)
Episode 1 of 3 from "Trilogy on Duality"
Script by Jesús López Vargas
​Concept by Jesús López Vargas, Evan Lugo & Felix José Colón
Directed by Jesús López Vargas
Movement/Choreography by Evan Lugo
Score & Sound Design by Pan-Pan Gou
Cinematography by Athziri Morales & MOON Collective
Editing by MOON Collective
Starring Felix José Colón, Evan Lugo & the voice of Hope Andrejack
Production Assistants: Merle DeWitt III & Dimitri Soto
Publicity Team: Arielle Singer, Athziri Morales & Jesús López Vargas
Creative Producer: Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk
Produced by MOON Collective
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Zu Sein (June 2020)
​ (Short Film) (5min.)
​Directed & Edited by Jesús López Vargas
Score & Sound Design by Pan-Pan Gou
Starring Erika Clark
Produced by MOON Collective & the Medici Circle


"Wann ich Kunst machen, warum töte ich Teile von mir?"

I tell stories because it's the only thing I've ever known to do. Is it an addiction of sorts? An action upon which I depend on? Is it that which keeps me strong or that which keeps me tethered and unstable? Why is it that each time I tell a story, it takes a toll on me? A piece of me that gets torn away and played with. Made with. And how do I know which part comes next.... through this ritual of making, doing & sharing? All I know is that today, another piece of me has died.
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English Narration
Spanish Narration

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Distance in its Movement (August 2021)
​ (Interactive Dance Film) (~10min.)
Produced & Directed by MOON Collective
Concept by Jesús López Vargas, inspired by Maximilian Niemann's "An deiner Seite"

Choreographed by Piper Bockstahler & Katie Lingle
Original Music by Dimitri Soto, remixed by Héctor Baltazar Torres 
Cinematography & Camera Work by Athziri Morales & 
Jesús López Vargas
Video Editing by Jesús López Vargas & Merle DeWitt III
Coding & Web Design by Merle DeWitt III

Costume Design by Ayrika Johnson & Cassie DeFile 
Executive Producers: Jesús López Vargas, Athziri Morales & MOON Collective
Starring Piper Bockstahler, Katie Lingle & Felix José Colón


"Distance in its Movement" is an interactive dance film, in which movement takes form not only within the limitations of
a dancer's body. Choreography can be defined as an arrangement or sequence of steps and movements - our project
takes this definition, expands it, and challenges all creative elements within it to be composed as a collage in a
permanent state of movement, where stillness in a body can exist as movement around it persists. "Distance in its
Movement" also invites its audiences to join in its continuous shaping, actively engaging with the choreography from
​beginning to end. One gets to decide the final form of these movements and their distance.


Experience the film by following this link: (Release Date August 22nd, 2021)

SYMPTOMA 20 (2021)
​ (Experimental Feature Film) (50min.)
Watch on Prime Video
​Prologue & Epilogue Directed by Jesús López Vargas
"Symptoma World" Directed by Jesús López Vargas & Brandon Ray Alba

Art Direction & Design by Athziri Morales & Jesús López Vargas
Story Written by Jesús López Vargas
Choreographed by Brandon Ray Alba

Musical Score: Pan-Pan Gou
Cinematography: Jesús López Vargas

Lead Video Editor: Merle DeWitt III
Assistant Director: Cassandra Soto

​Lighting Design: Athziri Morales & Merle DeWitt III
Sound Designer: Jaime Lupercio

Remote Management: Mason Bergenholtz | PA: Rodolfo Mariscal

Executive Producers: Jesús López Vargas, Merle DeWitt III & MOON Collective

Produced by Sergio E. López Briones, Maria del Carmen Vargas Rodriguez,
Athziri Morales, ​
Brandon Ray Alba, British Ballet & Literarity Bookshop
Cast: Aaron Louis Herrera, Valeria Alvarez, Armando Acosta, ​Jared Berry, Marayah Angeliz, Kaelin Li, 
​Robbie Olmos, ​
Joseph Fernandez & Athziri Morales
“Symptoma 20” is a video project that explores 9 different lives as they adapt to the strange new world caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Individual and collective struggles that mirror daily challenges of today take an experimental turn in this multiversed world where reality has two definitions. 
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" Let’s get this clear
         so you can understand

               so YOU can understand
        Because if YOU can not / understand
            then you get angry
                       then you get loud
                then you get pissy and snippy and violent!
         Yes, you do!
It’s all about YOU.
                         Isn’t it?                
                                                     You.​​
It’s all about you tonight.     
                                    It’s always been you."
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TZAQIK  |  a tale, of many (March 2020)
​ (Movement Operetta)
​Written by Jesús López Vargas
Directed by Shelby Caughron & Jesús López Vargas
Choreographed by Piper Bockstahler
Scored by Dimitri Soto & Ezra Anisman
​Production Manager: Jessica Keasberry
Technical Director: Merle DeWitt III
Lighting Designer: Nita Mendoza
Assistant Lighting Designer: Jacqueline González
Sound Designer: Ezra Anisman
Projection Designer: Arielle Singer
​Associate Projection Designer: Kyrsten Goodrich
Costume & Make-Up Designer: Athziri Morales
Associate Costume Designer: Meghan Marshall
Associate Costume Designer: Maria del Carmen Vargas Rodriguez
Scenic Designers: Jesús López & Merle DeWitt III
Production Stage Manager: Samson Lautzenheiser
Assistant Stage Managers: Mason Bergenholtz & Matthew Byrd
Dramaturge: Herman Gomez

Produced by MOON | COLLECTIVE, Brown Bag Theatre Company
​UCI Illuminations 
&
K.B. Theatre Company

POSTPONED due to COVID-19
March 27th, 28th & 29th | 4pm & 8pm
xMPL (Experimental Media Performance Lab)
(California)
Cast: Félix Colón, Katherine Lingle, Evan Lugo, Jessica Montez, Pallavi Rajan, Erika Clark, Erica Bogan, Violeta Ruiz-Lopez, Carina Negrete, Freya Starks, Isabella Harris, Natalia Chambers, Emily McKeon, Taylor Payne & Ashley Onks
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Inspired by the Mayan myth of Xb’alanque, the moon twin-god from the “Popol Vuh”, we are presented with the story of a gentle deity doomed to watch the miseries, tragedies and laments of human kind, in an effort to find a cure for sadness. Tzaqik is a contemporary mystical performance inspired by and dedicated to the many who fight for a better tomorrow, to the many seeking the light. Rooted on various cultures from around the world and their many myths and stories, Tzaqik aims to thrill and captivate its audiences by integrating multilingual verse, original music and stylized movement, along with experimental visual designs in order to compose an unforgettable live experience. Tzaqik tells and represents the tragedies, but most importantly the triumphs, of many different groups of marginalized peoples around the world. This project is currently offering professional-level opportunities to 39 young visual artists, linguists, performers, writers, music composers, designers, technicians & project managers and we are one of the first performance groups to casts their performers regardless of each individuals' cultural or gender identities, taking a strong stand for inclusion. 

For more info visit: KB Theatre | Tzaqik

Dimitri Soto · Tzaqik Soundtrack
PUBLICITY MATERIAL & REHEARSAL SHOTS
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Erika Clark as Ix U
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Evan Lugo as Tato
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Jessica Montez as Estro
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Erica Bogan as Frija
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Pallavi Rajan as Aarushi
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Violeta Ruiz-Lopez as Pyramid
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Spítha (Movement Choir)
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Félix José Colón & Katherine Lingle
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Spítha (Movement Choir)
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Carina Negrete as Carmen
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​In This Light | There ​is Silence​ (February 2019)
​ (Outdoor Festival Installation Performance) 

​Directed by Jesús López Vargas
Animation & Production Design by Jesús López Vargas & Athziri Morales
Associate Designer: Nita Mendoza
Scored by Dimitri Soto
Costumes & Makeup Design: Athziri Morales
Technical Director: Merle DeWitt III
Performers & Improvisational Movers: Daniella Ballester & Brandon Ray

Featuring Music by Ernie Figueroa between performances
Produced by
MOON | COLLECTIVE, KB Theatre & UCI Beall Center for the Arts

February 23rd, 7:00pm-10:00pm (6 consecutive, 22min. performances)

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Plaza (California)

​In This Light There is Silence  was an outdoors installation performance.
A physical & conceptual space tangibly confined by both shadow & light, a space known as fear.

The performance was made up of different elements that shared the same space & interacted
with each other synchronously in front of an audience. Our message, design, musicality & poetry were created
in the span of 2 months prior to the event, yet the performances themselves consisted of free creative instinct and
improvisational movement between the two performers, as they each owned different understandings yet the same confinements. 

Digital animations shifted throughout the night on the "upstage wall" accompanied by music, together they dictated the mood of each moment.
The performer known as "RED" had the freedom to enter and exit the performance space only through two openings on the "upstage wall".
The individual known as "---", without sharing their goal, sought to understand why they found themselves
stuck in this space, stuck in this state of mind, paralyzed by fears unknown. 

The end of each performance concluded with a realization, "---" now able to exit this space.
​

Dimitri Soto · In This Light | There Is Silence - Soundtrack
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​ /Echo (April 2018) production website
​ (Live Theater in Verse)

Written & Directed by Jesús López Vargas
​Original Score by Lexy Amador & Hector Torres
​Choreographed by Skye Taylor, Jon Rodriguez & Christopher Delgado
​Preshow Artists: FAWNZ Dance Company
Production Manager: Athziri Morales
SM: Cassandra Soto | 
Assistant Director: Ethan Barrera
​Lighting Designer: Nita Mendoza
​Sound Designer: Lexy Amador
​Projections Designer: Merle DeWitt III
Set Designer: Constanza Romero | Props: Olivia Fuentes
Costume Designer: Sofia Perez
​Dramaturgy & Web Design: Herman Gomez
Publicity Art by 
Jesús López
Produced by MOON | COLLECTIVE, K.B. Theatre Company &
UTEP Playmakers
​

​April 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th | 6:30pm & 8:30pm
​UTEP Basement Theater 
 (Texas)
Nonprofit Performance
Original script written by Jesús López, with original work from Angelina Castillo, Armando Acosta & Cynthia Alvarez. Arabic translation by Reem Issa & Jad Aboud.
Cast: Bianca Taylor, Angelina Castillo, Mando Acosta, Katie Daniel, Romanti Mata, Cynthia Alvarez, Logan Martin, Alexis Medina, Luis Arias, Ana Miramontes, Gabriel Kull, Lauren Wagner, Theo Hernandez (formerly known as Skye Taylor), Chris Delgado & John Rodriguez

​"/Echo simultaneously unfolds over three decades and one long night. Told in a series of vignettes, the show inspects the universal experiences of loneliness and human connection in intimate detail. Souls meet, fall in love, and betray one another in sporadic, reoccurring fashion over 37 years – suggesting a deeper connection between all humanity that has been abused, ruptured, and repaired. It dares to ask us what is love, what is pain, and what is time while challenging the social constructs of gender, race, and relationships. As performance poetry, the lyrical movement of the show ebbs and wanes like an erratic ocean concurrently beautiful, haunting, and dangerous." - Herman Gomez, Dramaturg

.
​Mary's Wedding (May 2018)
​by Stephen Massicotte
​ (Theater Production)

Directed by Stephanie Carrillo
​Assistant Director: Ray Alba

Stage Manager: Cassandra Soto
Lighting & Sound Designer: Athziri Morales
​Costume Design: Katie Daniel

Production Assistant: Ethan Barrera
Director of Production: Jesús López Vargas


Executive Producers: Stephanie Carrillo, 
​Jesús López Vargas & Merle DeWitt III​

​Producers: K.B. Theatre Company, thChurch, Gabe Fernandez & MOON Collective

​​May 18th, 19th, 20th, 25th,
​26th & 27th | 7:30pm
​thChrch 
(Texas)


​FAWNZ Dance Company
​In-Utero
(2018)
​ (Dance Performance)

Company Directors & Executive Producers:
​Oliver Dominguez & Ray Alba
​Producers: FAWNZ Dance Company, MOON | COLLECTIVE
​
& Shundo Ballroom Dance Studio
​
Lighting Designer: Jesús López Vargas
​Associate Lighting Designer: Merle DeWitt III
​Set & Properties Designer: Susan Precket
​Sound Engineers: FAWNZ Dance Company
​Costume Designer: Oliver Dominguez & Ray Alba
​Publicity Material by Jesús López Vargas
​
​January 6th and 7th | 2:30pm & 7:30pm
​Shundo Ballroom Dance Studio 
(Texas)

​​​RED (2017)
​(Dramatic Poetry Performance)

Poetic material from "I See Red" by K. Zakrevski
​Directed by Jesús López Vargas
Production Assistant: Merle DeWitt III
​Production Assistant: Stephanie Carrillo
​Production Design: Jesús López & Merle DeWitt III
Produced by
MOON | COLLECTIVE
​
​April 7th | 6:00pm
​UTEP Basement Theater 
(Texas)

Cast: Stephanie Carrillo, Nancy Batres, Tony Romero, Katie Scarlett, Gabriel Kull, Lauren Wagner, Bianca Taylor, Raul Chavez, Nancy Batres, Cynthia Alvarez & LLuvia Lopez.

VIDEO COLLAGES
shot & edited by Jesús López Vargas
V. (2020)
music by Dimitri Soto
wrinkle. (2019)
music by Dimitri Soto
red doc. (2016)
music: Pretty Wicked Things by Dawn Richard
Bits & Pieces (2015)
music: Running up That Hill by Placebo
VCR (2013)
music: VCR by The XX


​*All photography in this website was taken by Jesús ​López unless stated otherwise*
​(c)opyright Jesús ​López 2021
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​Copyright © 2023
  • STAGE/FILM
    • Artistic Direction (Producer) >
      • When We Watch (WWW)
      • Zu Sein
      • TZAQIK
      • /ECHO
      • Distance in its Movement
      • In This Light There is Silence
      • Video Colleges
      • No Erasure
      • Duality Broken
      • Symptoma 20
      • Brace for Impact
      • Curie, Curie
      • Mary's Wedding
      • RED
      • FAWNZ
    • Lighting & Projections Design
    • Management
  • PHOTOGRAPHY
    • Photography Portfolio
    • Headshots
    • Stage Photography
    • Film Photography
    • Dance | Natural Light
    • Dance | Studio Light
    • Photography Services Info
  • RELATED WORK
    • MOON Collective
    • Publicity Art
    • INDIE ART PROJECTS >
      • Collages (nsfw)
      • "Visual Poetry"
      • "sil nce"
      • "Define the Unmade"
      • "HUU SHK"
      • Film Photography
    • "ReCreating the Stage"
    • "i.see.red" poetry & photography book
    • ♫ MUSIC
    • OTHER EXPERIENCE
  • ABOUT
    • BIOGRAPHY | ENGLISH
    • BIOGRAFÍA | Español
    • Collaborator's Quotes / Press & Media
    • Awards & Education
    • REFERENCES
  • CONTACT