Gretchen Suarez-Pena is a long-time playwright and lover of the theatre. Her most recent success was winning the writer's grant and best play in the Table Read Category at the Inaugural Be Original Festival 2019 in Orlando, Florida for her play Trafficked. Other successes include best full-length play at the 2018 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival for her show Conversations in the Car and first prize for her piece Dry Spell at the 30 by Ninety Theatre in Mandeville, Louisiana in their Night of One Acts Competition in 2018. She also had success with her production and direction of Conversations in Bed, which premiered to a sold-out audience at the 2017 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. Other shows include: C'est La Vie, Martha and Mary, When the Bell Rings, and Melina: The Steampunk Musical Tragedy. Gretchen enjoys acting for local community theatres and assistant directing for local high school productions.