Rafael Santiago Casal born August 8 1985 is an American writer performer and producer originally from the Bay Area Rafaels first TV appearance was performing on three seasons of HBOs Def Poetry and as a creator online with millions of YouTubeFacebook views for his original music poetry web shorts and political commentary His theaterinverse work has brought him around the country and the world both in the realm of activism and arts performance at hundreds of colleges and venues Rafael is the CoFounder and Artistic Director of the BARS workshop at The Public Theater in New York