Meet Gretchen Suárez-Peña

Gretchen Suárez-Peña (she/her) is a Puerto Rican playwright based in Central Florida. She is an MFA candidate in the Dramatic Writing program at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (Class of 2024). She is a frequent collaborator with New Generation Theatrical (FL) and is part of the 2022 Conch Shell Productions (NY) Artists Collective of writers. She frequently works with Just Write! Lakeland (FL), the Latinx Playwright Circle (NY), and the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab (NY). Her musical, Melina: A Steampunk Musical Tragedy was an official selection of the 2020 Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival. Other successes include winning the writer's grant and best play at the 2019 Be Original Festival for her play, Trafficked. Also, winning best full-length play at the 2018 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival for her show Conversations in the Car, and first prize for her short play, Dry Spell, at the 30 by Ninety Theatre’s 2018 Night of One Acts Competition. Her short play, The Arithmetic of Memory, has been produced across the country and was published in the Stonecoast Review where it was nominated for a Pushcart Award in Drama (2021). A portion of her work is available to be read on the New Play Exchange and she is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild.