Mercedes Bátiz-Benét is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and award-winning director. She was born and raised in Mexico and in 1997 she moved to Canada. Productions of her work include Faust: Ignis Fatuus, Shining Through, Cruel Tears/Lágrimas Crueles, and as co-writer, The Umbrella, The Secret Sorrow of Hatchet Jack Macphee, The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan, and GRUFF. In 2014, Mercedes won the Canadian Stage Award for Direction at the SummerWorks Festival with her play El Jinete - A Mariachi Opera, and in 2015 she was chosen as the Distinguished Alumna of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria. She is the artistic director of Puente Theatre in Victoria. Mercedes lives with Judd, the man of her dreams, and their son Maximiliano.