Technical Director · Production Director · Safety Manager
Performing Arts · Live Events · International Touring
BILINGUAL EN/ES
NEW YORK · MEXICO CITY · THE WORLD
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What sets Aholibama Castañeda González apart is rare: a Technical Director and Production Director who is also a certified paramedic, and who treats safety not as a compliance requirement, but as a creative responsibility. With over 18 years of experience across theater, dance, opera, circus, and large-scale events in Mexico, the US, and Europe, they currently hold role at Ballet Hispánico. Their practice spans rigging systems, CAD documentation, international touring logistics, vendor management, and emergency protocols, all carried across languages, borders, and disciplines. Fully bilingual in English and Spanish, Aholibama works fluidly across both industries and both cultures.
HOW I WORK
Technical Direction and Production Work is not just about what gets built; it's about what gets possible. Aholibama approaches every production as a translator: between the artist's vision and the structural reality, between the creative team and the technical crew, between what was planned and what the moment actually requires. With a background that spans community theater in rural Mexico, international festival stages, and large-scale corporate events, they have learned that the best technical solutions are the ones the audience never notices, and the ones the artist never had to fight for. The goal is always the same: get the work on stage, safely, on time, and exactly as it was imagined.
RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
Aholibama has been recognized by leading institutions in the field. The William J. Reynolds Award honors excellence in theater safety. The USITT - KM Fabrics Award recognizes outstanding potential in technical production. The Pierre-André Salim Prize, awarded by the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, is given to a graduating student who shows distinct promise of raising the standard of practice in the field. Together, these recognitions reflect a career built on both technical rigor and a commitment to a safer, more equitable industry.
WELCOME TO MY JOURNEY
DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE UNIVERSITY
M.F.A. Candidate. Technical Design & Production. Class of 2024
I am extremely fortunate to be immersed in a profoundly professional environment guided by exceptionally skilled professors. As I prepare to tackle the constantly evolving challenges within this dynamic field, I am acutely aware of the significant personal and intellectual growth it necessitates.
Despite the privilege of attending one of the world's preeminent educational institutions, under the tutelage of exceptional mentors, I've come to recognize the urgent need to deconstruct the barriers that often hinder individuals' learning and professional development. In addition to the technical aspects, my educational journey also encompasses essential training in anti-racist practices, equity, diversity, and inclusion. This comprehensive approach to my education has sparked a profound shift in my perspective since my arrival. It's not merely my professional knowledge that's expanding; I'm embarking on a profound journey of self-discovery, gaining insights into both myself and the world that were previously beyond my imagination.
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DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA
YALE UNIVERSITY
M.F.A. in Technical Design & Production. Class of 2024
Aholibama holds a Master of Fine Arts in Technical Design and Production from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, one of the world's leading conservatory training programs. Their graduate work deepened expertise in structural systems, technical direction, production management, and the intersection of safety and design. Yale also grounded their commitment to equity and inclusion as active principles of professional practice — not additions to the work, but foundations of it.
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PARAMEDIC TRAINING
CECAP: Centro de Capacitación para la Atención Prehospitalaria. Class of 2011
Before most production professionals have considered what happens when something goes wrong, Aholibama already had the training to respond. Certified as a paramedic through the Green Cross of Guadalajara, they are equipped to stabilize critical emergencies, administer medications, perform invasive procedures, and make high-stakes decisions under pressure, all in pre-hospital settings. In live production, this credential translates directly: enhanced communication with emergency agencies, rigorous safety protocol design, and the ability to provide direct emergency care to artists and crew on site. It is not a parallel career, it is a core part of how Aholibama approaches every production.
LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Summer for the City. Assistant Technical Director, 2022–2024
For three consecutive summer seasons, Aholibama served as Assistant Technical Director for Summer for the City, Lincoln Center's large-scale outdoor festival featuring over 300 events annually across five venues on the Lincoln Center campus. Responsibilities included overseeing load-in and load-out operations, monitoring weather conditions, and executing emergency response plans. Aholibama also produced a comprehensive CAD documentation package, including 2D and 3D drawings for each venue, that supported scenery strikes, storage logistics, and long-term production planning. Working at the intersection of technical precision and public-facing performance, this role sharpened their ability to manage complex, high-volume operations in a world-class environment.
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NATIONAL FINE ARTS INSTITUTE AND LITERATURE (INBAL)
National Theater Coordination. Centro Cultural del Bosque, Mexico City, 2018–2019
The Centro Cultural del Bosque is Mexico's most active cultural complex, housing multiple resident theater companies operating simultaneously year-round. As part of the Technical Production team, Aholibama coordinated operations across up to four concurrent resident companies, supporting a technical staff of 120 and contributing to over 200 performances. Their work included developing standardized templates for safety protocols, technical riders, and lighting and sound specifications for special events — tools that improved departmental efficiency and established clearer communication between artistic and technical teams. This role built deep fluency in managing high-volume, multi-company environments within a major national institution.
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INTERNATIONAL CERVANTINO FESTIVAL
Technical Production. Guanajuato, Mexico, 2014–2019
The Festival Internacional Cervantino is the most prominent performing arts festival in Mexico and one of the largest in Latin America, with over 50 editions and a global reputation for presenting ambitious international work. Over six seasons, Aholibama coordinated the technical setup and execution of performances for nearly 40 international companies representing more than 20 countries, managing the full range of logistical, technical, and communication challenges that come with presenting world-class work in a festival environment. This sustained engagement with international artists, technical directors, and production managers across languages and production cultures became a defining foundation for the cross-border practice that shapes their work today.
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PHAWAY
Technical Producer. International Performing Arts Festival, Querétaro, Mexico, October 2019
Phaway is an Argentine aerial spectacle built around a 60-meter telescopic crane suspending eight performers above a 10×10-meter stage, accompanied by four live musicians. As Technical Producer for the grand opening of the Performing Arts Festival in Querétaro, Aholibama oversaw the full technical execution of this large-scale outdoor production, coordinating the structural, rigging, and logistical requirements of a show whose scale and complexity demanded precise planning and real-time decision-making. The production opened the festival without incident, setting the technical standard for the events that followed.
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EL CORAZON DE LA MATERIA
Production & Logistics Coordinator. National Tour and Mexico City Seasons, 2017–2018
A major theatrical production directed by Luis de Tavira, one of Mexico's most distinguished theater directors, with set and lighting design by Philippe Amand. Aholibama coordinated all load-in, load-out, and transportation logistics for scenery, props, and costumes across a national tour and two consecutive seasons at the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City. Working closely with a high-profile creative team on a production of significant scale, this role demanded precise coordination between artistic vision and technical execution — and delivered it consistently across multiple venues and configurations.
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LUNA MORENA EXPERIMENTAL PUPPETS WORKSHOP
Technical Apprentice, 2010–2012. Production & Technical Manager, 2016–2017
Aholibama's relationship with Luna Morena spans nearly a decade and two distinct chapters. Beginning as a technical apprentice in 2010, they returned in 2016 as Production Manager for two productions marking the company's fifteenth anniversary: Cactácea and ARKA. Both productions toured internationally -Cactácea to Germany and ARKA to China- with Aholibama serving as Technical Coordinator for both tours. Managing the full technical and logistical demands of international puppet theater touring, across languages, venues, and production cultures, this work laid an early foundation for the cross-border production practice that defines their career today.
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LA CARAVANA DEL ELEFANTE POLAR
Stage Manager & Assistant Technical Director. Itinerant Stage, 2012–2013
An itinerant theater project with a clear social mission: bringing free live performance to communities across Mexico that rarely have access to it. As Stage Manager and Assistant Technical Director, Aholibama traveled across five states, presenting three shows per night in 26 small cities, managing load-in, load-out, and full technical operations with a mobile stage and a lean crew. The production infrastructure was built to be assembled quickly, often with the help of local community members who joined the setup process on arrival. This project remains one of the most operationally demanding and personally meaningful chapters of their career, a reminder of why the technical work exists in the first place.
LA VALENTINA TEATRO
Production Manager 2010–2014
A four-year engagement with one of Guadalajara's active theater companies, spanning multiple productions and nearly 200 performances across a wide range of venues and configurations. Most notably, Valentina y la Sombra del Diablo demanded consistent technical execution across highly variable spaces and conditions — building strong instincts for adaptable, site-responsive production management. The set design for El Viaje de Ulises presented a specific technical challenge: scenery that needed to appear fragile and paper-like while remaining structurally sound through repeated performances. The solution involved custom magnet systems integrated into the props, a practical example of the creative problem-solving that has defined Aholibama's technical approach from the start.
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BETO RUIZ
Production Manager 2012 - 2015
Beto Ruiz is a multidisciplinary Mexican performance artist who designs, directs, and performs his own work, a practice that demands a production collaborator who can translate highly personal creative visions into technical reality. Over three years, Aholibama served as Production Manager across multiple productions, working closely with Ruiz to build the technical infrastructure for work that resisted easy categorization. This collaboration sharpened a skill that runs through Aholibama's entire practice: the ability to enter an artist's creative process as a technical partner, not just an executor, and to find solutions that serve the work without compromising it.
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Aholibama Castañeda González
Technical Director & Production Director
New York City, NY
Available for consulting in projects in theater, dance, opera, live events, international touring, logistics and large-scale productions.
