He first studied playwriting with Octavio Solis, Cherríe Moraga and María Irene Fornés.
Possibly his highest profile play to date is Blind Mouth Singing, which was produced by the Chicago based Teatro Vista in 2005[3] and by the National Asian American Theater Company (NAATCO) in New York in 2007.
A Latino was subsequently published in the anthology Savage Stage: Plays by Ma-Yi Theater Company (see[10]) and by Playscripts, Inc. (see[11]).
Before he began writing plays, Cortiñas worked as a community organizer for a variety of leftist or progressive causes.
Most notably, he was a high-profile participant in AIDS activist groups,[12] including the SF based group Proyecto ContraSIDA por Vida, and other organizations seeking to advance the rights of immigrants and queer Latino organizations.