Noriega wins Distinguished Leadership Award
Jimmy Noriega, a doctoral student in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance, received
the Distinguished Leadership Award as a part of the Student Organizations Awards and
Recognition (SOAR) ceremony held by Cornell’s Student Activities Office May 10.
On campus, Noriega directed 13 plays for various groups including Teatrotaller, a Cornell
group focused on preserving and promoting Hispanic theatre.
Noriega “has worked tirelessly over the past six
years to bring international recognition to the
organization Teatrotaller,” said Catherine Holmes,
associate dean of students, during the ceremony.
“Teatrotaller has been able to expand beyond the
Cornell community and showcase their amazing
talent at other institutions and internationally. Over
the past 6 years, the group has been invited to
perform at the University of Kansas, a professional
theater in New York City, as well as, international
theater festivals in Ecuador, Peru and Israel.
“(Noriega) has touched the lives of undergraduate
and graduate students, faculty and staff as well as
community members through his guidance, effective leadership and creative vision.”
In March, Teatrotaller presented one of its plays, Mujeres de Cuidad Juarez, at the Flex
Theatre in the Schwartz Center then traveled to perform at a theatre festival in Quito,
Ecuador, where they were one of only eight international plays chosen for the festival.
In 2008 he directed two original pieces by Nora Glickman at the Jerusalem International
Theatre Festival, and in 2009 he directed Mexican playwright Hugo Alfredo Hinojosa’s
border play, Desiertos, in its first full staging in the United States, presenting it at Cornell,
the University of Kansas, and at the historic Pregones Theater in New York City.
Noriega said his childhood growing up on the Arizona-Mexico border had a heavy influence
on his research and passions for Latino and Latin American theatre.
"Growing up, immigration issues were just a part of everyday life," he said. "Now that the
issue has risen to such national prominence, there are more opportunities to use theatre to
explore its challenges and complications."
Noriega holds a BA from Missouri Southern State University in Theatre, English, and
Spanish Literature.