Jorge Ortoll

JORGE Z. ORTOLL
Executive Director
Ma-Yi Theater Company

Born and raised in Manila, Jorge is the fourth of five children of
Jose Antonio Ortoll of Barcelona and Concepcion Zaragoza of
Manila. He went to San Beda College from Grade I up thru High
School.

He holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Accounting from Holy
Cross College (Worcester, Massachusetts) and an M.B.A.
degree from Columbia University. While a junior executive at
Citibank in Manila, he was bitten by the theatre bug and has
not looked back.

As an actor, director and stage manager, he has worked with
National Asian American Theatre Company, La Mama ETC, Public
Theater, Manila Theatre Guild, Tanghalang Pilipino, Repertory
Philippines, and Terre de Scene in Liguge, France, among
others.

Among works produced for Ma-
Yi: WAVE by Sung Rno (2004),
LAST OF THE SUNS by Alice Tuan
(2003), THE ROMANCE OF
MAGNO RUBIO, by Lonnie Carter
(2002), THE SQUARE (2001),
WATCHER and MIDDLE FINGER
by Han Ong (2000-2001
Season), L’IL BROWN BROTHERS
by Chris Millado (2000), Brecht’s
MOTHER COURAGE AND HER
CHILDREN, adapted by Rody
Vera (1999), PEREGRINASYON
by Chris Millado and THEORY OF
EVERYTHING by Prince
Gomolvilas (1998), A PORTRAIT
OF THE ARTIST AS FILIPINO by
Nick Joaquin (1997), FLIPZOIDS
by Ralph Pena (1996), and
PINAYTOK by Chris Millado
(1993).

He has served as panelist for
the Nancy Quinn Fund of the
Alliance of Resident Theatres in
New York, and has represented
the United States in the bi-
annual conventions of ITI
(International Theater Institute
of UNESCO) in Athens (2002),
Tampico, Mexico (2004) Manila
(2006), and Madrid (2008). He
was the sole invited
representative of the U.S. at the
Committee of Cultural
Development Conference for
Latin America held in Santa
Marta, Colombia in September
2007. He was part of the
steering committee of the First
National Asian American Theater

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Jorge Ortoll

Jorge assumed the position of Executive Director for Ma-Yi in 1991, and up through 2004,
produced all of its productions and oversaw its steady growth and respect in the industry and in
the communities it serves. He believes that the bedrocks of longevity for an arts organization,
besides artistic excellence, are fiscal responsibility and responsiveness to the communities that
it is important to.

Conference in Los Angeles in June 2006, and one of three members of the executive committee that organized the
highly successful First National Asian American Theater Festival held in New York City from June 11 to 24, 2007.

Ma-Yi Theater Company has been honored with the 2010 Drama Desk Special Citation Award for “over two decades
of Excellence and for nurturing Asian American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater”. To date Ma-Yi
Theater Company is the recipient of nine Obie awards (given for outstanding work by off-Broadway theater
companies), and has received funding thru the years from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the
Andrew Mellon Foundation, Time Warner and many other foundations and corporations, as well as support from the
National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs.

Ma-Yi’s main mission is to heighten national and international awareness of the excellence of Asian American theater
artists, be they actors, playwrights, directors, choreographers, composers, musicians, designers, or stage managers.
From its inception in 1989 to 1999, Ma-Yi focused on Filipino American works, and after one decade its mission
expanded to include Asian American artists. It is today considered the premier Asian American theater company in
the world. It has toured twice to the Philippines, and has also been invited to perform its signature piece, THE
ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO, in Bucharest and Sibiu, Romania in 2008.

In 2006, Ma-Yi published its first anthology of plays commissioned, developed and premiered by the company.
SAVAGE STAGE, edited by Ma-Yi’s Literary Manager Joi Barrios-LeBlanc, PhD, is now being studied in many
universities here and in the Philippines.

Theater is teamwork, and countless credit goes to Artistic Director Ralph B. Pena, Associate Director Suzette Porte
and the Board members, whose tireless generous work has kept Ma-Yi in its unique place in contemporary theater.

M a-Yi Theater
Company