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Christopher Oscar Peña

January 01, 1970

Christopher Oscar Peña is a playwright, screenwriter, actor and educator who resides in New York City. He teaches theater at NYU's Tisch School of Arts[1] and is a member of the Playwrights Unit at Goodman Theatre in Chicago.[1] He also has had work commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre.[1] Peña is the co-writer of the Golden Globe nominated TV series, Jane the Virgin and was on the "Future Broadway Power List," by Backstage (magazine) in 2014.[2]

Personal life edit

Early life edit

Christopher Oscar Peña is the first of his family to be born within the borders of the United States (San Jose, CA [3]). His parents emigrated from Honduras and entered the U.S. before he was born.[4] A self-proclaimed nerd, Peña identified his participation, his freshman year, in his high school's production of Romeo and Juliet as his first time falling in love with theatre as "people were forced to interact with [him] and the social boundaries fell apart."[5] He felt both vulnerable and safe at the same time and decided he would continue theatre and acting at the University of California Santa Barbara.[5]

Academics edit

Peña received his B.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of California Santa Barbara and his M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.[2][5][6] When he first got to UC Santa Barbara he pursued acting but quickly realized that it was not his strength. He switched his major to sociology, thinking of pursuing a career in law, and was going to give up on theatre in general.[7] He then got introduced into playwriting by a professor named Naomi Iizuka. She told him "'You're a playwright. You tell Stories.'"[7] When he heard those words, he quickly enrolled in her writing course. In her writing course he was not exposed to the classics and Shakespearean plays that are common of writing courses, but instead to emerging playwrights and peers of his professor. He credits the exposure to new and up and coming playwrights as a something that "sparked [his] theatrical imagination."[7]

Career edit

As a playwright, Peña has produced a large number of plays, some of which have been produced all over the United States and in the UK. Peña's plays include Maelstrom, Icarus Burns, Alone Above A Raging Sea, L(y)re, The Suicide Tapes and Awe/Struck.[8] His work has been developed or seen in theaters in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles such as: The Public Theater, INTAR Theatre, LAByrinth Theater Company, Goodman Theatre, Theater for the New City, Son of Semele Theater and more.[8][9] As part of the T.S. Eliot US/UK Exchange in 2011, Peña attended the premiere of his play However Long The Night at The Old Vic.[1] In 2013, Peña's play Tiny People (or, it gets better) was a finalist for both the O'Neill Playwrights Conference and the Sundance Theatre Lab, and was selected to feature at the Crossing Borders Festival.[1] His play, A Cautionary Tail premiered at The Flea Theater where every performance sold out and the production was extended twice.[1] In 2014, he co-produced his first play in Chicago, with Melissa Lusk called I Wonder If Its Possible For a Love Affair To Last Forever? Or Things I Found On Craigslist, which premiered at the University of Illinois at Chicago.[10] Peña is a recipient of the Norman Corwin Award for excellence in audio theatre.[8]

As a screenwriter, Peña created and is the co-star of the web series 80/20, which focuses on viewing sexuality as a spectrum.[11] 80/20 was selected for the 2013 New Media Film Festival and the 2015 Outfest Web Series: In With The New Out. The web series also won the 2013 LAWEBFEST Outstanding Achievement writing award.[2] Peña is a writer for the Golden Globe nominated TV show, Jane the Virgin on The CW.[2]

Peña's works frequently focus on stories that deal with bicultural identities, sexuality, and growing up in the modern world.[12] A Latino himself, Peña works closely with culturally diverse theaters like The Lark Playwright Workshop, US/UK Exchange, INTAR'S Hispanic Playwrights Lab, Diverse City Theater Company and New York Theatre Workshop, where he was named an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow.[1][2][13][14] Through these relationships, he works to represent a variety of cultural and sexual populations in theater.[2][13] In 2012, Peña performed at the INTAR Producing Latino Voices in English Festival;[14] while In 2009, he won the Latino Playwrights Award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his work, Maelstrom.[2]

Peña's work is published by NoPassport Press and Smith and Kraus.[2]

View of theatre edit

Peña writes to understand the many issues he grapples with in everyday life. He believes a play should make the audience both feel surprised and think of the world from a new perspective.[7] One play that stood out to him was Angels in America due to its use of metaphors. This was different from the realistic plays that he had read earlier and it made him realize that realism was the not the only form of theatre.[5]

Peña often writes about Asian characters because of his experience growing up around Vietnamese people in the Bay Area. To him, "Asian-Americans are a part of [his] cultural identity" and therefore should be a part of his work.[15] He doesn't believe that Latinx playwrights should be forced to write plays about "immigration, drug cartels, and the working class" because not every Latinx individual shares those experiences. For this reason he has received questions about what makes a play "Latinx" and has had a hard time at some theatres putting on his plays.[15]

Peña does not take notes in order to write his plays but instead thinks of writing as a bucket of water; it continues to fill with water as he interacts more with his environment and experiences different things daily and when it's full, it spills and that is when he begins to write. He has written plays over the course of 4–6 days this way: "When the writing comes it comes."[5][16] He sees the fact that you can be vulnerable for people like an actor but avoid being in front of them on stage; which is what he loves.[5]

Notable plays edit

A Cautionary Tale edit

The play follows two Chinese-American siblings who are academically very successful at their high school and all about work and no play due to the strong presence of their Chinese mother in their lives. The Chinese mother expects perfection from her children and denounces their actions when they try and act like their American friends. Aside from clashes between American culture and Chinese culture, the play also tackles issues of race (the daughter is dating someone who is African-American) and sexuality (the son is gay).[7] Peña was glad to see the play put on by The Flea and has said the actors represent both "New York, [and] what America looks like to [him]."[17] The play has been positively reviewed by many critics.[18][19][20]

Awe/Struck edit

"Denia arrives in Chicago, looking to create a place for herself in this unfamiliar land. Monique's never left Chicago but feels more and more like a stranger in her own home. A chance encounter between them transforms their lives forever in this new play about identity and perception."[21] Peña has said that the inspiration for this play came from a terrible incident he saw in a newspaper one day. He has not clarified on the event. Reading about the event made him think about "What [it] means to be a good neighbor" and "how we can be good neighbors" in our local neighborhoods but also as countries that are next to each other.[22] He has acknowledged, after the fact, that his personal loneliness from moving to Chicago, where he didn't know anyone, and his own questioning of what makes somewhere home, influenced the play and the development of his characters.[22]

Icarus Burns edit

Peña states that this play is his response to the 2008 election, when former President Barack Obama took office, and California passed Proposition 8. This sparked questions, for him, of "what it means to be a person of color in the United States".[23] The play takes place during the environment of the 2008 election where the political rhetoric of "hope and change [is] giving rise to dreams."[24] The play focuses on the lives of six individuals who, because of this rhetoric, are hoping to go after their dreams but face obstacles that make it harder for them survive as part of marginalized communities. Key themes the play touches on are immigration, same-sex marriage, and domestic abuse.[24]

Works edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "The Flea Theater - a cautionary tail". www.theflea.org. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "christopher oscar peña". New Dramatists. from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  3. ^ Szymkowicz, Adam (November 17, 2010). "Adam Szymkowicz: I Interview Playwrights Part 285: christopher oscar peña". Adam Szymkowicz. from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  4. ^ "Current Season - Two River Theater ::". tworivertheater.org. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Working In The Theatre Playwrights 2014". The American Theatre Wing. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  6. ^ "bio". the digital home of christopher oscar peña... September 8, 2010. from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Theatre Is Easy | Featured Artist | christopher oscar peña". www.theasy.com. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  8. ^ a b c "christopher oscar peña | Goodman Theatre". www.goodmantheatre.org. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  9. ^ "christopher oscar pena - Playwright". www.doollee.com. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  10. ^ "bio". the digital home of christopher oscar peña... September 8, 2010. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  11. ^ Durkin, Jeff (March 21, 2013). "The Last Great Roadshow: Web Series To Check Out - 80/20". The Last Great Roadshow. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h "Playwrights Realm Presents New Works by Brickman, Brunstetter & More". BroadwayWorld.com. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  13. ^ a b Szymkowicz, Adam (November 17, 2010). "Adam Szymkowicz: I Interview Playwrights Part 285: Christopher Oscar Peña". from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  14. ^ a b . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  15. ^ a b "My Parents Were Tiger People: christopher oscar peña chats about writing race with A. Rey Pamatmat". HowlRound. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  16. ^ ""a cautionary tale" part II: Interview with Playwright Christopher Oscar Peña". www.theaterspeak.org. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  17. ^ "The Flea Theater - a cautionary tail". www.theflea.org. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  18. ^ "Theatre Is Easy | Reviews | A Cautionary Tail". www.theasy.com. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  19. ^ "Matthew Paul Olmos on christopher oscar peña's "a cautionary tail"". from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  20. ^ "'A Cautionary Tail' — an epic play in a snug space". Joe's View. June 15, 2013. from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  21. ^ "Sundance Institute Announces Nine Projects Selected for 2015 Theatre Lab at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, July 6-26". www.sundance.org. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  22. ^ a b . Labyrinth Theater Company. December 3, 2015. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  23. ^ ThePlaywrightsRealm (May 29, 2011), 2011 INK'D Writing Fellows: Christopher Oscar Peña, from the original on August 11, 2017, retrieved April 26, 2017
  24. ^ a b BWW News Desk. "Playwrights Realm Presents New Works by Brickman, Brunstetter & More". BroadwayWorld.com. from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  25. ^ "Christopher Oscar Pena". IMDb. from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  26. ^ "christopher oscar peña". New Dramatists. from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.

External links edit

  • Christopher Oscar Peña at IMDb

January 01, 1970
christopher, oscar, peña, playwright, screenwriter, actor, educator, resides, york, city, teaches, theater, tisch, school, arts, member, playwrights, unit, goodman, theatre, chicago, also, work, commissioned, yale, repertory, theatre, peña, writer, golden, glo. Christopher Oscar Pena is a playwright screenwriter actor and educator who resides in New York City He teaches theater at NYU s Tisch School of Arts 1 and is a member of the Playwrights Unit at Goodman Theatre in Chicago 1 He also has had work commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre 1 Pena is the co writer of the Golden Globe nominated TV series Jane the Virgin and was on the Future Broadway Power List by Backstage magazine in 2014 2 Contents 1 Personal life 1 1 Early life 1 2 Academics 2 Career 3 View of theatre 4 Notable plays 4 1 A Cautionary Tale 4 2 Awe Struck 4 3 Icarus Burns 5 Works 5 1 Plays 5 2 TV shows and web series 6 References 7 External linksPersonal life editEarly life edit Christopher Oscar Pena is the first of his family to be born within the borders of the United States San Jose CA 3 His parents emigrated from Honduras and entered the U S before he was born 4 A self proclaimed nerd Pena identified his participation his freshman year in his high school s production of Romeo and Juliet as his first time falling in love with theatre as people were forced to interact with him and the social boundaries fell apart 5 He felt both vulnerable and safe at the same time and decided he would continue theatre and acting at the University of California Santa Barbara 5 Academics edit Pena received his B A in Dramatic Arts from the University of California Santa Barbara and his M F A in Dramatic Writing from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU 2 5 6 When he first got to UC Santa Barbara he pursued acting but quickly realized that it was not his strength He switched his major to sociology thinking of pursuing a career in law and was going to give up on theatre in general 7 He then got introduced into playwriting by a professor named Naomi Iizuka She told him You re a playwright You tell Stories 7 When he heard those words he quickly enrolled in her writing course In her writing course he was not exposed to the classics and Shakespearean plays that are common of writing courses but instead to emerging playwrights and peers of his professor He credits the exposure to new and up and coming playwrights as a something that sparked his theatrical imagination 7 Career editAs a playwright Pena has produced a large number of plays some of which have been produced all over the United States and in the UK Pena s plays include Maelstrom Icarus Burns Alone Above A Raging Sea L y re The Suicide Tapes and Awe Struck 8 His work has been developed or seen in theaters in New York Chicago and Los Angeles such as The Public Theater INTAR Theatre LAByrinth Theater Company Goodman Theatre Theater for the New City Son of Semele Theater and more 8 9 As part of the T S Eliot US UK Exchange in 2011 Pena attended the premiere of his play However Long The Night at The Old Vic 1 In 2013 Pena s play Tiny People or it gets better was a finalist for both the O Neill Playwrights Conference and the Sundance Theatre Lab and was selected to feature at the Crossing Borders Festival 1 His play A Cautionary Tail premiered at The Flea Theater where every performance sold out and the production was extended twice 1 In 2014 he co produced his first play in Chicago with Melissa Lusk called I Wonder If Its Possible For a Love Affair To Last Forever Or Things I Found On Craigslist which premiered at the University of Illinois at Chicago 10 Pena is a recipient of the Norman Corwin Award for excellence in audio theatre 8 As a screenwriter Pena created and is the co star of the web series 80 20 which focuses on viewing sexuality as a spectrum 11 80 20 was selected for the 2013 New Media Film Festival and the 2015 Outfest Web Series In With The New Out The web series also won the 2013 LAWEBFEST Outstanding Achievement writing award 2 Pena is a writer for the Golden Globe nominated TV show Jane the Virgin on The CW 2 Pena s works frequently focus on stories that deal with bicultural identities sexuality and growing up in the modern world 12 A Latino himself Pena works closely with culturally diverse theaters like The Lark Playwright Workshop US UK Exchange INTAR S Hispanic Playwrights Lab Diverse City Theater Company and New York Theatre Workshop where he was named an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow 1 2 13 14 Through these relationships he works to represent a variety of cultural and sexual populations in theater 2 13 In 2012 Pena performed at the INTAR Producing Latino Voices in English Festival 14 while In 2009 he won the Latino Playwrights Award from The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his work Maelstrom 2 Pena s work is published by NoPassport Press and Smith and Kraus 2 View of theatre editPena writes to understand the many issues he grapples with in everyday life He believes a play should make the audience both feel surprised and think of the world from a new perspective 7 One play that stood out to him was Angels in America due to its use of metaphors This was different from the realistic plays that he had read earlier and it made him realize that realism was the not the only form of theatre 5 Pena often writes about Asian characters because of his experience growing up around Vietnamese people in the Bay Area To him Asian Americans are a part of his cultural identity and therefore should be a part of his work 15 He doesn t believe that Latinx playwrights should be forced to write plays about immigration drug cartels and the working class because not every Latinx individual shares those experiences For this reason he has received questions about what makes a play Latinx and has had a hard time at some theatres putting on his plays 15 Pena does not take notes in order to write his plays but instead thinks of writing as a bucket of water it continues to fill with water as he interacts more with his environment and experiences different things daily and when it s full it spills and that is when he begins to write He has written plays over the course of 4 6 days this way When the writing comes it comes 5 16 He sees the fact that you can be vulnerable for people like an actor but avoid being in front of them on stage which is what he loves 5 Notable plays editA Cautionary Tale edit The play follows two Chinese American siblings who are academically very successful at their high school and all about work and no play due to the strong presence of their Chinese mother in their lives The Chinese mother expects perfection from her children and denounces their actions when they try and act like their American friends Aside from clashes between American culture and Chinese culture the play also tackles issues of race the daughter is dating someone who is African American and sexuality the son is gay 7 Pena was glad to see the play put on by The Flea and has said the actors represent both New York and what America looks like to him 17 The play has been positively reviewed by many critics 18 19 20 Awe Struck edit Denia arrives in Chicago looking to create a place for herself in this unfamiliar land Monique s never left Chicago but feels more and more like a stranger in her own home A chance encounter between them transforms their lives forever in this new play about identity and perception 21 Pena has said that the inspiration for this play came from a terrible incident he saw in a newspaper one day He has not clarified on the event Reading about the event made him think about What it means to be a good neighbor and how we can be good neighbors in our local neighborhoods but also as countries that are next to each other 22 He has acknowledged after the fact that his personal loneliness from moving to Chicago where he didn t know anyone and his own questioning of what makes somewhere home influenced the play and the development of his characters 22 Icarus Burns edit Pena states that this play is his response to the 2008 election when former President Barack Obama took office and California passed Proposition 8 This sparked questions for him of what it means to be a person of color in the United States 23 The play takes place during the environment of the 2008 election where the political rhetoric of hope and change is giving rise to dreams 24 The play focuses on the lives of six individuals who because of this rhetoric are hoping to go after their dreams but face obstacles that make it harder for them survive as part of marginalized communities Key themes the play touches on are immigration same sex marriage and domestic abuse 24 Works editPlays edit Maelstrom 1 Icarus burns 1 L y re 1 However Long The Night 2 The Suicide Tapes 1 Awe Struck 1 A Cautionary Tale 1 One of Us 12 5 Letter word 12 TINY PEOPLE or it gets better 1 Mnemonic 12 Point of Reference 12 How Should I Address You 12 The strangers And Rain And Rain And Rain 12 X Y Z 12 What Came after 25 TV shows and web series edit Year Title Distributor 2013 80 20 1 N A 2015 Jane the Virgin 1 The CW 2017 2018 Insecure 26 HBO 2019 Sweetbitter Starz 2020 Motherland Fort Salem Freeform 2021 The Jenkins Family Christmas Stargazer Global Media 2022 Promised Land ABCReferences edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p The Flea Theater a cautionary tail www theflea org Retrieved December 8 2015 a b c d e f g h i christopher oscar pena New Dramatists Archived from the original on December 24 2015 Retrieved December 8 2015 Szymkowicz Adam November 17 2010 Adam Szymkowicz I Interview Playwrights Part 285 christopher oscar pena Adam Szymkowicz Archived from the original on February 26 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 Current Season Two River Theater tworivertheater org Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 a b c d e f Working In The Theatre Playwrights 2014 The American Theatre Wing Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 bio the digital home of christopher oscar pena September 8 2010 Archived from the original on November 22 2016 Retrieved April 26 2017 a b c d e Theatre Is Easy Featured Artist christopher oscar pena www theasy com Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 a b c christopher oscar pena Goodman Theatre www goodmantheatre org Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved December 9 2015 christopher oscar pena Playwright www doollee com Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved December 9 2015 bio the digital home of christopher oscar pena September 8 2010 Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved December 9 2015 Durkin Jeff March 21 2013 The Last Great Roadshow Web Series To Check Out 80 20 The Last Great Roadshow Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved December 9 2015 a b c d e f g h Playwrights Realm Presents New Works by Brickman Brunstetter amp More BroadwayWorld com Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved December 9 2015 a b Szymkowicz Adam November 17 2010 Adam Szymkowicz I Interview Playwrights Part 285 Christopher Oscar Pena Archived from the original on February 26 2017 Retrieved December 9 2015 a b INTAR One Minute Play Festival Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved December 8 2015 a b My Parents Were Tiger People christopher oscar pena chats about writing race with A Rey Pamatmat HowlRound Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 a cautionary tale part II Interview with Playwright Christopher Oscar Pena www theaterspeak org Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 The Flea Theater a cautionary tail www theflea org Retrieved April 26 2017 Theatre Is Easy Reviews A Cautionary Tail www theasy com Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 Matthew Paul Olmos on christopher oscar pena s a cautionary tail Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 A Cautionary Tail an epic play in a snug space Joe s View June 15 2013 Archived from the original on July 6 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 Sundance Institute Announces Nine Projects Selected for 2015 Theatre Lab at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah July 6 26 www sundance org Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 a b Q amp A with christopher oscar pena Labyrinth Theater Company Labyrinth Theater Company December 3 2015 Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 ThePlaywrightsRealm May 29 2011 2011 INK D Writing Fellows Christopher Oscar Pena archived from the original on August 11 2017 retrieved April 26 2017 a b BWW News Desk Playwrights Realm Presents New Works by Brickman Brunstetter amp More BroadwayWorld com Archived from the original on November 22 2016 Retrieved April 26 2017 Christopher Oscar Pena IMDb Archived from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 christopher oscar pena New Dramatists Archived from the original on May 9 2017 Retrieved April 26 2017 External links editChristopher Oscar Pena at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Christopher Oscar Pena amp oldid 1218343602, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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