Rubén Sierra is one of the major figures of contemporary Chicano theater. He has distinguished himself as a playwright, actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Most of his plays are socially conscious dramas.

Sierra was born in San Antonio, Texas, on 6 December 1946. One of his great-grandfathers was a musician and writer in Mexico and Texas, and one of this ancestor's works was a pastorela (a pastoral Christmas play), La caída de Luzbel (The Fall of Luzbel). Sierra's paternal grandmother, herself a playwright and director, directed the play in 1927. As Sierra tells it (according to critic Bob Marvel), "My mother went to audition and was cast as Mary. My father was cast as Luzbel. That's how they met!" Sierra's mother continued as an actress and a singer. She was particularly well known as a declamadora de poesía (a reciter and performer of poetry).

Growing...