Draft:Tatiana Suarez-Pico

Tatiana Suárez Pico or Tatiana Suarez-Pico, is a Colombian American writer, producer, and director born in Santander del Sur, Colombia. She is known as a screenwriter and producer with an extensive resume in television. Her past work includes films and plays.

Education

Suarez-Pico is a graduate of The Juilliard School's prestigious Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, holds a Masters of Fine Arts in acting from The Actors Studio Drama School, when the program was housed at The New School University in New York, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

Screenwriting and Producing

As a TV writer and executive producer she has worked for Invasion, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Snowfall, Hunters, Parenthood, The L Word: Generation Q, Iron Fist, A Series of Unfortunate Events, among others.

She has developed film and television projects with and for -- Amazon, Fox, Starz, Apple TV, CBS, Hulu, Universal Content Productions, and Paramount, along with a myriad of producers and production companies.

Playwriting

Suarez-Pico has been the recipient of several coveted fellowships and residencies including the Humanitas Prize/PLAY LA Workshop in 2016-2017, the Royal Court Theatre's Residency (London, UK) in 2015, SPACE on Ryder Farm's 2014 season, the Dramatists Guild Residency at NY Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater Season in 2013, the MFA Playwrights' Workshop at The Kennedy Center in 2013, and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship in 2012-2013. She was a member of Inktank at Rising Circle Theater Collective and a Mary Louise Rockwell Scholar at ESPA/Primary Stages.  She also participated as an actor and translator in the Lark Theater's The Word Exchange in New York, New York.

Suarez-Pico was a finalist for the Leah Ryan Prize for Emerging Women Writers, The Latino Screenwriting Project, The Old Vic's 2013 US/UK TS Eliot Exchange (London, UK), and semi-finalist for the O'Neill.

Plays

Suarez-Pico is the author of The Anatomy of an Accent or Lesson 443, Flesh & Blood, Profit, The Beast, The Mystery Spot, Powerplay, and Like Water among others.

Publications

The Piper Plays, Smart Plays for Young Actors. The Detention Plays (Anthology/ESPA) by now defunct Indie Theater Now, 2013

Productions

Piper Theatre produced Suarez-Pico's play "Cravings" in 2012.

Moxie Theatre produced her play "Lesson 443" in 2015. "Lesson 443" is about a Mexican teenager who wishes she could hide her ethnicity as she struggles to fit in at school. In an interview with Kpbs.org Suarez-Pico said "The play is about that identity crisis and how much of her accent is a part of that."

Other Writing

Early in her career, Suarez-Pico worked as a freelance writer for publications such as Backstage, Latin Week NY, and was the co-creator of BodegaAve, a bilingual webcomic which focused on multicultural teens living in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2011 she was included in the list of "Groundbreaking Latinas" by Catalina Magazine for her work on BodegaAve.

In 2015 Suarez-Pico served as mentor for The Screenwriters Colony TV lab. In 2021 she was a creative advisorfor Sundance Institute's Episodic Lab. In 2023 she was a judge for The Austin Film Festival's script competition.

Teaching

Suarez-Pico was a junior professor at Essex County College where she taught acting classes. Additionally, she conducted theater workshops in the New York City public school system through various after-school programs including ENACT and the CASA Program at Queens Theatre in the park.

Suarez-Pico has taught writing workshops for a variety of organizations.

Acting

Suarez-Pico performed extensively in the New York City off broadway and off off broadway circuit. In 2010, she was selected to be a part of the Old Vic's US/UK TS Eliot Exchange in London, UK, which gave her an opportunity to perform on The Old Vic stage.

Suarez-Pico said she was unhappy with the availability of roles for Latine/a/Latinx-identified actors and actresses, "There has certainly been an increase in the number of 'best friend' roles available. Yet lead roles for actors of color remain invisible," she said in an interview for Backstage in 2019.

Early Life

Suarez-Pico lived in Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, until she was almost fifteen years old and spoke Spanish only. When she first moved to the United States, she lived in a Naval Base in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Soon after, she moved to Marion, Ohio. During her first day at Harding High School an English teacher asked Suarez-Pico to stand up and read from The Crucible. Suarez-Pico didn't know how to speak or write in English. The teacher kicked Suarez-Pico out of her class and told her she didn't belong there. She was placed in a remedial English class with pupils who were either neurodivergent or had a learning disability as the school didn't have a curriculum for English Language Learners. Her remedial English teacher realized that Suarez-Pico had been placed in the wrong class and asked that she go to the library to work on her English skills. At the library, Suarez-Pico listened to the Black Beauty on tape and followed the story along using the book.

While Suarez-Pico experienced discrimination and racism from teachers and students at Harding high, she also received support from key administrators. She credits principal Vaughn Williams with changing her life. Only a year after immigrating to the US, Principal Williams offered Suarez-Pico an opportunity to take college classes at The Ohio State University satellite campus in Marion, Ohio, through a state program. Suarez-Pico excelled in her coursework and at the end of her senior year was offered a tuition scholarship to attend The Ohio State University.

As a child Suarez-Pico imagined herself acting, singing, and producing movies but she never imagined she would be a professional writer. A professor in college once told her that she had talent for writing and to come see her so they could discuss it. Suarez-Pico never went to see the professor. During an audition in her 20s, Suarez-Pico was offered a spot in an MFA writing program after she auditioned with a monologue she wrote. She turned down the offer but says that all the signs were there, she just didn't believe she was a writer.

External links

• Tatiana Suarez-Pico | Writer, Producer, Actress