Matias, David, 1961-1996

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Matias, David, 1961-1996

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      • Rodriguez, David Thomas Matias

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      Dates of existence

      1961-1996

      History

      David Matias was born David Thomas Matias Rodriquez in Seagoville, Texas, on February 5, 1961. He grew up in Kerrville, Texas, where his father was a prominent fourth generation Southern Baptist minister. David graduated from Tivy High School in Kerrville, and earned a BA in Speech and Drama from Trinity University in 1983. He was awarded an MFA in Theater from the University of North Dakota in 1987.

      After graduation, he moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he became heavily involved in the Provincetown Theatre Company, where he wrote, directed, and acted in numerous productions. He began to use the pen name David Matias, both to honor his father and because "Rodriguez was the 'Smith' of Texas."

      Matias was diagnosed with HIV sometime during his graduate school. Poetry provided him with a creative outlet to process his illness. His first collection of poems, Dances with Family and Disease was published in 1993. Other poems were published in Cosmos, Provincetown Art, Body Positive, New Letters, the anthology Starry, Starry Night, the anthology Things Shaped in Passing: More Poets for Life Writing from the AIDS Pandemic, and the anthology Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS. In 1994 he was awarded a poetry fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center. His second volume of poetry, Fifth Season, was published posthumously in 1998 by the Provincetown Arts Press.

      Matias was active in the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Provincetown, and served as the co-chairperson of the committee that established the Provincetown AIDS Ministry, one of the first such organizations in the country. Matias died of AIDS complications on December 13, 1996. He was survived by his partner, Dr. Leonard Alberts.

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      LCNAF n 99049338

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