Paul S. Flores creates plays and oral narratives that spur and support societal movements that lead to change; his deep dive into themes of transnationality and citizenship comes at a crucial time in contemporary history. His last play, On the Hill: I Am Alex Nieto, brought together San Francisco communities divided by gentrification and police violence. Flores’s ability to paint a vivid picture of bicultural Latino experience is shaped by his personal background and experience growing up near the Mexican border. He began presenting spoken word as a founding member of Youth Speaks and Los Delicados in 1996. He performed in Cuba for the first time in 2001 while working at La Peña Cultural Center, and has since presented multiple times in Havana, Mexico, and El Salvador. His comprehensive body of work touches on the immigrant story in all its complexities, from the violent—forced migration, gang life, war, incarceration, separated families—to zooming in on intergenerational relationships and the struggle of preserving important cultural values. Flores’s newest play, Pilgrim Street, premiered in 2018 at Z Space in San Francisco. He is an adjunct professor of theater at the University of San Francisco.