Jasmin Cardenas is a Colombian-American award winning bilingual Storyteller, Theater maker, Actress, Educator and Social Activist. Jasmin Cardenas is a theatermaker who uses teatro and play to create spaces where people can connect, tell their story and spark change. A proud daughter of Colombian immigrants, Jasmin was inspired by El Teatro Campesino when she began using Theater of the Oppressed to devise original scenes with working people in the fight for workers rights. Learning T.O. with Augusto Boal dramatically altered the course of Jasmin's life and she will be forever grateful. Together with Chicago's working people she co-founded WorkersTEATRO in Chicago, IL to amplify wage worker stories by engaging the public.

Recognized for her arts & civic engagement work she was awarded a

2020-2022 international LAB Fellowship by The Laboratory for

Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.

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UNESCO and the International Theatre Institute (ITI) selected Jasmin to be the 2022 U.S. Emergent Theater Artists for World Theater Day. (Her address)

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In 2023 Jasmin was awarded the USArtists International MidAtlantic Arts Grant to support her invitation to perform her newest solo show DISPOSABLE at the Mitambo Theater Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe and additional touring & Master Classes in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

 

In 2020 she added filmmaker to her skills when she produced her first short DOC Film about essential workers, Essential?...Tengo que Trabajar/ I have to Work. Screened at Collaboraction’s 2020 PeaceBOOK Festival and 2021 Screening Scholarship Media Festival  CAMRA. Recently awarded a Solo Commissioned by 1st Stage Theater in Tysons, Virginia Jasmin is currently writing her newest solo play DISPOSABLE, a Documentary Style theater piece.

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Winner of the 2018 OUTSTANDING STORYTELLER ALTA Award Jasmin was recognized by the Alliance of Latinx Theater Artists of Chicago. Her personal tales explore the uncomfortable truths found when you grow up between cultures. A featured teller at the Midland Storytelling Festival(Texas), Kansas City Storytelling Festival (Missouri) and the Evanston Storytelling Festival (Illinois). Jasmin's national touring reached new heights when she was an Exchange Place Teller at the 2016 National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. 

 

One of the the first two Latina's awarded the 2012 Race Bridges Storytelling Fellowship, she create two new social justice stories from her life now available on her CD My Brothers' Keeper: Stories of Social Justice and Civic Responsibility.  Jasmin regularly tours her bilingual program Cuentos from the Americas which highlights lesser known folktales, myths and legends from North, Central and South America (with special attention to Colombian stories) as well as personal tales about being bi-cultural. As the Chicago Public Library Cuentos Aqui Teller she had the privilege of working with Latino children and families as an early literacy specialist.  Jasmin is a 2nd Story performer and adores that tribe. 

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Her one-woman show, written and performed by Jasmin is called ¿Niña Buena? A coming of age story highlighting the joys and challenges of being Latina y Americana. It has been toured in the Midwest and to Puebla, Mexico when it was included in the Susana Alexander International Theater Festival.

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Jasmin is professional actress working throughout Chicagoland’s vibrant theatre community, last seen on stages across the city:  Steppenwolf, Goodman, Urban Theater, Lifeline, Teatro Luna, and Adventure Stage Chicago. A proud SAG-AFTRA member who’s TV Credits Include NBC’s Chicago Fire, Showtimes' The CHI & ABC's Betrayal and several independent films. Proudly represented by the Big Mouth Talent Inc. 

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