Henry Godinez

Godinez is co-editor of The Goodman Theatre's Festival Latino: Six Plays (2013) and has written for Latino USA.

Other Chicago productions Godinez has directed include Two Sisters and a Piano (2004) at Apple Tree Theatre; Anna in the Tropics (2005) at Victory Gardens Theatre; Esperanza Rising (2008), A Year With Frog and Toad (2013), and Last Stop on Market Street (2018), all three at Chicago Children's Theatre; A Civil War Christmas (2010) at Northlight Theatre; and End Days (2015) at Windy City Playhouse. Godinez's university directing credits include Water By the Spoonful (2014) at University of Chicago's Court Theatre, as well as Anna in the Tropics (2016) and In the Red and Brown Water (2017), both at Northwestern University's Josephine Louis Theatre.

Although Godinez got into theatre through acting, his truest love for theatre comes from the collaborative process of directing. He has directed numerous productions throughout his career, having worked at such venues as Oak Park Festival Theatre (Macbeth), WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Signature Theatre Company in New York City (Urban Zulu Mambo, 2001), Kansas Repertory Theatre (The Winter's Tale, 2002), Indiana Repertory Theatre, Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Romeo and Juliet, 1997), and Portland Center Stage (True West, 2002). However, much of his work has been in Chicago. At the Goodman Theatre alone Godinez has directed Cloud Tectonics (1995) in co-production with Teatro Vista; six of the annual productions of A Christmas Carol (1996 - 2001); Straight as a Line (1998); Millennium Mambo (2000); Zoot Suit (2000); Electricidad (2004); Mariela in the Desert (2005); The Cook (2007); Boleros for the Disenchanted (2009), which he also directed in its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre; The Sins of Sor Juana (2010); and Feathers and Teeth (2015).

Godinez has been award the TCG Alan Schneider Directing Award (1999), the Distinguished Service Award by the Lawyers for the Creative Arts (2000), the Latino Professional of the Year Award by Chicago Latino Network (2008), and the Clarence Simon Award for Teaching and Mentoring (2013).

As a theatre educator, Godinez has taught at Columbia College Chicago (1994 - 2000) and DePaul University (2000 - 2006). He is currently serving at Northwestern University (2006–present) where he teaches courses in acting and other special topics, such as Latino Theatre and Advanced Shakespeare. During the summer of 2016, Godinez led a Northwestern study abroad program to Havana, Cuba, during which students were able to collaborate with renowned theatre company Teatro Buendía to gain an understanding of the style of Cuban theatre and storytelling, and foster new connections between Cuba and the United States.

At Teatro Vista, Godinez has directed Broken Eggs (1991), The Crossing (1991), Journey of the Sparrows (1996), Santos and Santos (1996), and El Paso Blue (1997).

Godinez serves/has served as a board member for several organizations for Chicago theatre. First and foremost, Godinez is the co-founder and former artistic director (1990 - 2005) of Teatro Vista. While part of the cast of a show at the Goodman Theatre, Godinez was talking with two castmates, Ramiro Carillo and Edward Torres, about all of the plays by Latino playwrights that were not being produced. The three decided that they should be producing the shows themselves, and from there Godinez and Torres founded Teatro Vista. The first production of Chicago's new Latino theatre company was at Pilsen Arts Center (now the National Museum of Mexican Art). Their goal was to bridge the gap between Latino theatre and mainstream, big theatres, as well as the non-Latino communities of Chicago. In addition to Teatro Vista, Godinez has served on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Albany Park Theatre Project, and the Northwestern University Press. He is also the Resident Artistic Director at the Goodman Theatre after having joined their Artistic Collective in 1997.

In addition to acting on stage, Godinez has also found roles on screen. In the realm of film and television he has appeared in Above the Law (1988), The Beast (1988), The Package (1989), The Fugitive (1993), Boss, The Chicago Code, (2011), Empire, and Chicago Fire.

Godinez has performed on many stages. His first role in Chicago after receiving his graduate degree was in Kabuki Medea (1983) at Wisdom Bridge Theater. Additionally, his love of Shakespeare has led him to play roles in multiple productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre: Hamlet, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Cymbeline, and King John. He also led Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival's 2014 production of Henry IV. Godinez's Goodman Theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet (1988), A Christmas Carol (1988), The Rover (1989), Massacre (Sing to your Children) (2007), 2666 (2016), and a co-production of Pedro Páramo (2013) with Teatro Buendía. Additional stage credits include Quixote: On the Conquest of Self (2017) at the Writers Theatre, as well as having performed at the Kennedy Center and the Old Globe Theatre.

Godinez was born on August 4, 1958 in Havana, Cuba, the ninth of ten children in a middle class family. At the time, his parents were worried about the possibility of their children being enlisted in Castro's army. Because of this, the family moved to the United States when Godinez was three years old. A year after the family arrived in the US, they moved and settled in Dallas, Texas. It was during a high school theatre class that his younger sister convinced him to take with her that Godinez became interested in theatre. From this new fascination that was sparked by the class, he went on to take part in rhetoric and declamation competitions, taking first place at a competition in Oklahoma during his junior year of high school. After high school Godinez decided to study theatre in his undergraduate years at the University of Dallas. After graduating in 1980, Godinez worked in an apprenticeship in Louisville at The Actor's Theatre. He then furthered his theatre education by getting an MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's professional theatre training program, all of this fanning the flames that would ignite his career.