Mercedes Bátiz-Benét is a Mexican-Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and award-winning director.  She was born and raised in Mexico and in 1997 she moved to Canada. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing in both poetry and drama, and a BA Honours in Philosophy from the University of Victoria, as well as a Diploma in Film Production from the Pacific Film & New Media Academy. 

Productions of her work include Faust: Ignis Fatuus (FaustFest International Festival), Shining Through, Lágrimas Crueles (Teatro Salvador Novo in Mexico City), With Open Arms, El Jinete – A Mariachi Opera, Cruel Tears/Lágrimas Crueles, a Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre and Puente Theatre co-production, and as co-writer, The Secret Sorrow of Hatchet Jack Macphee for The Caravan Farm Theatre in BC, The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan with the Old Trout Puppet Workshop, The Umbrella, an Old Trout Puppet Workshop and Puente Theatre co-production, and Puente Theatre’s 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 poetry, fiction, and non-fiction editor at Bayeux Arts, and the artistic director of Puente Theatre.