Joel De Jesus-Pacheco (He/They) is a Philly theater artist, born and raised in Puerto Rico, where he started his acting training 10 years ago. His most recent training was at Temple University (BA in Theater/Acting), where he performed in various productions, including Beating a Dead Horse (Todd), The Tempest (Adrian/US Trinculo), and Airness (Bartender/Male Swing). He also had the chance to work as a playwright, with one of his plays produced for TU Side Stage’s Ben Vargas Short Stuff festival, and as a dramaturg with Temple productions of Our Country’s Good and The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women.

During this time, he’s grown fond of creating and performing new and uncommon works. As a queer Latinx artist, he focuses on portraying the realities of individuals, and through his years working and training as a performer, playwright, and dramaturg, he’s had the privilege of advocating for groups that typically go underrepresented in media. Joel focuses on these artistic goals because he believes in combating systemic issues that result in less representation for many people’s journeys and experiences.