Biography

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Silviana Wood was a lifelong resident of Tucson, AZ, particularly proud to have grown up in Tucson’s historic Barrio Anita. Silviana was a professional storyteller, actor, director, teacher of literature and Chicano Theater, award- winning playwright and author, weaving her stories with her unique brand of folklore, history, and “Spanglish” to give a rich, authentic voice to the Chicano/Latino culture of the Southwest. Her plays have been performed regionally and nationally, having received various playwriting fellowships and been invited to numerous residencies in the United States and Mexico. An avid activist, she took part in the Chicano civil rights movement in the 70s.

Silviana was also known as the beloved and feared Doña Chona, V.M.B (Vieja Mitotera del Barrio), her feisty alter ego with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, created in 1978 from the Teatro Libertad play Los Pelados. The character evolved through the years, often making live appearances at parties, political rallies, or conferences as well as appearing as a regular segment on Tucson’s KUAT and Telemundo. No one was safe from Doña Chona’s opinion or unsolicited advice and endless chisme.

Silviana received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and was a two-time recipient of the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize from the University of California, Irvine: once for Short Story, and once for Drama. She also received various playwrighting fellowships and had several residencies at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, TX. She was a member of TENAZ (El Teatro Nacional de Aztlán), Teatro del Pueblo, a founding member of Teatro Libertad, and Teatro Chicano. Silviana was a proud founding member of Mujeres Que Escriben, a Latina writers' group that was formed in 1991 that was comprised of professional women whose poetry and fiction have been published in various anthologies.

Barrio Dreams/Selected Plays by Silviana Wood was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2016. La Quinta Soledad, her first and only novel, was published by Aztlan Libre Press in 2022.