Vero Maynez
Hello, and welcome! Veronica “Vero” Maynez (she/they) is a queer, Mexican-American, Chicago-based actor, teaching artist, director, and third-year MFA Acting Candidate at The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Two years ago, Vero moved to the Windy City from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked with theaters such as Brava Theatre Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and San Francisco Playhouse. While in the Bay, Vero appeared in the world premieres of Cherríe Moraga's The Mathematics of Love and Chris Chen's Aulis: An Act of Nihilism in One Long Act, as well as the Bay Area premiere of Lucas Hnath's The Christians. She recently performed in the U.S. premiere of Robert Icke's Oresteia at DePaul University, where she has also played Viola in Twelfth Night, Yaz in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Water by the Spoonful, and Nana Lupita in the Chicago-Premiere of Luchadora!. As an actor-activist, Vero has also performed in The Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval of New Latinx Work, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Breaking the Binary: A Symposium on Building Trans*/Gender-Non-Conforming/Non-Binary Inclusive Theatre, and Bechdel Fest 7: Momentum, produced by Broken Nose Theatre and a part of Steppenwolf's LookOut Series. Vero's most recent staged reading was The Coronavirus Plays Project through The One-Minute Play Festival and directed by Ben Ranaan. Recent film credits include: Kill the W.O.L.F. and Have a Mint--both short films through DePaul's CDM Department. Vero graduated summa cum laude from UC Berkeley in December 2016 where she received her BA in Theater & Performance Studies and minor in Spanish. Vero has also trained at The American Conservatory Theater, and is represented by Paonessa Talent Agency.
In addition to acting, Vero is a teaching artist having led workshops at UC Berkeley on educational inequity and how to integrate theatre practices into literacy tutoring, as well as a month-long workshop at DePaul University for non-theatre majors. For three years, Vero worked for UC Berkeley's Public Service Center and, for two of those years, she served as the BUILD (Berkeley United in Literacy Development) Site Director for the after-school tutoring programs at Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement and Young Adult Project. While working with BUILD, Vero also directed, starred in, and adapted BUILD's first published children's book, Snackers and the Mysterious Search. The work culminated in an interactive performance for under-resourced K-5th grade students about navigating college life. Vero is also yoga instructor at The Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center on DePaul University's campus. She's currently teaching a free virtual vinyasa flow class through The Ray Meyer on Sundays 11am-12pm, and will be leading a free indoor/outdoor virtual mini-yoga retreat for DePaul Students in late May. Details to be announced soon!
Vero's directing credits include Anton Chekhov's A Marriage Proposal for UC Berkeley's Director's Showcase; La Visita, a short film written, produced, directed, and edited by Vero; the aforementioned Snackers and the Mysterious Search; and staged readings of Marisela Treviño Orta's The River Bride and José Rivera's Marisol for Latinx Artists at The Theatre School, or LA TTS, of which Vero is a founding member. Vero will be Assistant Directing Prop Theatre's upcoming production of Diary of an Erotic Life, directed by Olivia Lilley and devised by The Ensemble.