THE SHORT VERSIONS OF MY BIO (Bullet point or paragraph form)
GILL SOTU - PERFORMANCE POET / PLAYWRIGHT/ DJ/ HOST
SHORT BIO (paragraph form)
Gill Sotu is a navy veteran, poet, playwright, musician, DJ, and performing artist. He is a two time Grand Slam Poetry Champion, two time Raw Performing artist of the year, and a five time TEDx San Diego presenter. Currently, he is a teaching artist and a commissioned playwright with The Old Globe Theatre & The La Jolla Playhouse, a guest teaching artist with the SD School of Creative and Performing Arts and New Village Arts Theatre, and the official Poet in Residence for the San Diego Writer's Festival. 2 X Winner of Toastmaster’s “Best Speaker Award” & "Inspirational Award" Gill has been featured multiple times on KPBS, The Union Tribune, The Voice Of San Diego, Fox 5 San Diego, The Coronado Times, and The VCReporter, as well as many other news outlets.
His screenplay “The History Of Joy” in 2022 won two Gold Anthem Awards, was an Official Selection of the SoCal Film Awards and The San Diego Movie Awards as well as the Silver Award for Best Drama at the Paris Film Awards; and was a Finalist at the Cannes World Film Festival. The poem he created and performed in for Project Clean Water won the Gold MarCom Award for advertising and has been shown at AMC & Regal Cinemas across San Diego County. As a DJ, Gill is a premiere DJ with MY DJs - One of the top wedding, private event and corporate DJ companies in SD, as well as one of the official DJ's for the SD Half Marathon. Gill is a former program director and teaching artist with Intrepid Theatre, creative director for TEDx San Diego, 2020 Artist in Residence for the Gainesville Creative Forces Art Summit, as well as the former Artist In Residence for The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Makers Church. He has been commissioned to produce original pieces for leading arts and community organizations such as: The San Diego Symphony, Classical Kids Live!, New Village Arts Theatre, The Unity Way, Feeding America, SD Fringe Fest, and the San Diego Opera to name a few.
BIO (Under 100 words - paragraph form)
Gill Sotu is a veteran, poet, playwright, DJ, and performing artist. He is a 2x Grand Slam Poetry Champion, 2x Raw Performing artist of the year, and a 5x TEDx San Diego presenter. Currently, he is a teaching artist and a commissioned playwright with The Old Globe Theatre, a teaching artist with The La Jolla Playhouse and the Poet in Residence for the San Diego’s Writer’s Fest. He has been commissioned to produce original pieces for leading arts and community organizations around the country and is honored to be a part of this event.
BIO (Bullet Point version for EVENT HOSTS)
Currently: Teaching Artist - The Old Globe Theatre, Teaching Artist The La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, Poet In Residence at San Diego Writer's Festival, & Premiere DJ at MYDJS.net
2020 Artist in Residence for the Gainesville Creative Forces Virtual Arts Engagement & Telehealth Summit
Host of THE POET's TREE - Weekly online poetry show and workshop. Produced with the OLD GLOBE THEATRE
Former: Artist and Residence at the Jacob’s Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Makers Church
3 x Partnered with and was commissioned by various arts organizations to be a part of THE LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE'S WOW FESTIVAL
2 x GRAND SLAM POETRY CHAMPION
2 X RAW ARTIST PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
3 X CLOSING PRESENTER AT TEDx San Diego
HOST OF TEDx San Diego 2017
FORMER CREATIVE DIRECTOR - TEDx SAN DIEGO 2020
Wrote and performed all the poetic segments to Melissa Adao's dance theatre showcase, "Hip-Hop CabHooray!"
Which won an award for Outstanding Production at the 2015 Fringe Fest.
(Jan 2016) Opened for rap legend Talib Kweli @ the San Diego Symphony
2 X Winner of Toastmaster’s “Best Speaker Award” & "Inspirational Award"
His work has been commissioned and has curated shows from The Old Globe, The SD Symphony, San Diego Fashion Week, NBC’s Art Pulse TV, Museum Of Man, & United Way to name a few.
He has had 3 original plays fully produced since 2015 with two others commissioned in 2017.
Besides the stage and the page, you can find Gill teaching poetry and performance workshops to schools and organizations all over San Diego County.
FULL VERSION OF BIO
Gill Sotu isn’t strictly one thing.
He is a veteran, poet, playwright, DJ, and performing artist. He is a 2x Grand Slam Poetry Champion, 2x Raw Performing artist of the year, and a 5x TEDx San Diego presenter. Currently, he is a teaching artist and a commissioned playwright with The Old Globe Theatre since 2017 and has taught within Centinela State Prison since 2019. Gill has over ten years experience working in carceral settings, five years in recovery settings, was well as with veterans and students from junior high to college. Gill Sotu is also a currently a teaching artist with The La Jolla Playhouse, content creator for Made For Joy, and the Poet in Residence for the San Diego’s Writer’s Fest. He is the former Artist In Residence for The Jacob Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Maker’s Church. He has been commissioned to produce original pieces for leading arts and community organizations such as: The San Diego Symphony, New Village Arts Theatre, The Unity Way, Feeding America, SD Fringe Fest, Classical Kids Live! and the San Diego Opera to name a few. Gill has produced, hosted, and curated large scale community events for the over 10 years.
Gill Sotu is a paradigm shifter whose audience feels that he’s speaking to them individually, making a performance to hundreds seem more like an intimate dialogue between close friends. Charismatic and with an ability to adapt to any event, Gill quickly garners people’s attention and doesn’t let go until he says “Thank you”.
ARTIST SNAPSHOT: PERFORMANCE
ARTIST SNAPSHOT: EDUCATION
Gill Sotu has been a featured poet at every college in the city of San Diego and North San Diego County. Learn more about his work to engage students of all ages in this Artist Snapshot.
ARTIST SNAPSHOT: THEATRE
