Yari Cervas is a theatre director, teaching artist, and somatic worker exploring artistic expression through music, intuitive movement, poetry, illustration, and meditation. They are inspired by yet untold stories steeped in restorative justice, cultural memory, queerness, and trauma recovery. As a developer of new plays they can be found nurturing young playwrights, devising site specific theatre, and creating docuplays in collaboration with local community. Inspired by a lack of Filipino voices in San Diego theatre they founded MaArte Theatre Collective, and as the Artistic Director produced and directed nearly two dozen plays, short and long, by emerging Pilipinx playwrights. MaArte’s work established Yari as a many awarded director for the original docuplay The Fire in Me (Award of Recognition from the State Legislature of California) and the original one-woman show Your Best American Girl (Best of the Fest, Critics’ Pick, and Cultural Exchange awards.) Previously, they were also honored by the first ever Double Indy Award for performance as Dido in Dido Queen of Carthage and Direction of the World Premiere of Tar and Feather. Yari has had the pleasure of collaborating with organizations such as Amigos Del Rep, Asian Story Theatre, Blindspot Collective, Cygnet Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, People of Interest, the San Diego Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, TuYo Theatre, The Old Globe, MOXIE Theatre, and Westmont Festival Theatre. They are most proud of their November 2019 docudrama, You’re Safe Here, produced in partnership with Allain Francisco M.D. with support from the UCSD School of Medicine to foster empathy for the experience of patients navigating their relationships with mental health care providers. As the creator of Practical Somatics, Yari teaches body-based meditations, especially for QTBIPOC, to empower them to overcome trauma in their daily lives. Yari believes that by practicing breathing, intuitive movement, and compassionate self awareness individuals are better positioned to heal the relationships with themselves and their wider communities.

yaricervas.com.