Marisela Treviño Orta

Marisela Treviño Orta is an accidental playwright. She found her way to the genre while completing an MFA in poetry at the University of San Francisco. Eventually, she returned to graduate school and acquired an MFA in Playwriting from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Her plays include: A PLACE TO BELONG, ALCIRA, BRAIDED SORROW, GHOST LIMB, HEART SHAPED NEBULA, RETURN TO SENDER, THE RIVER BRIDE, SHOE, SOMEWHERE, WMB, WOLF AT THE DOOR, and WOMAN ON FIRE.

Her work has been presented at ACT Young Conservatory, American Players Theatre, Arizona Theater Company, Brava Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theater, Nashville Children’s Theatre, New Jersey Repertory Company, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shotgun Players, Su Teatro, and Teatro Público de Cleveland.

Marisela’s awards include the 2006 Chicano/Latino Literary Prize in Drama, 2009 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Drama, 2013 National Latino Playwriting Award Co-Winner, and 2019 Kendeda Finalist. She is a former resident playwright at the Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco, a former Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, and a former Playwrights Unit member at the Goodman Theatre.

Currently, Marisela is under commission by SPARC (Shakespeare Performing Arts Regional Center) and by the Latino Theatre Company as part of its Imaginistas Circle where she is working on a climate change play called BASILOSAURUS and a movement piece entitled A GIRL GROWS WINGS, respectively. Her Audible commissioned play NIGHTFALL is available on their platform.