Rubén Martínez, a native of Los Angeles and the son and grandson of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador, is a writer, teacher and performer. He holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University and is the author of several books, including Desert America: A Journey Across Our Most Divided Landscape and Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail. He is the host of the VARIEDADES performance series. His most recent production, “Little Central America, 1984” received a New England Foundation for the Arts national touring grant and will be staged in Washington, D.C., Houston, Tx and Berkeley, Ca.