He first got involved with theater in middle school, when his Drama teacher told him he would need to take a role in a production to pass the class.
[3] Alvarado's first play-writing experience was a monologue inspired by Luis Valdez's Zoot Suit, particularly Edward James Olmos' character El Pachuco.
After a reading with Raúl Castillo in a Lower East Side bar, Alvarado decided focus his career on writing.
[8] He described Parachute Men as something "really personal" to him, written about himself and his brothers and "'a kind of asking for forgiveness' play that deals with manhood and the lack of motherly love."
Instead, he sees his writing as addressing family issues and believes that his work, in a vacuum, speaks to the American experience broadly.