Wikipedia

Marisela Treviño Orta

Marisela Treviño Orta is a third-generation Mexican-American playwright and poet from Lockhart, Texas.[1] She attended the University of San Francisco where she received an MFA in Writing.[2] While she was trained in poetry, Treviño Orta began writing plays after becoming the resident poet for El Teatro Jornalero!, a Latino theatre company which focuses on social justice issues.[3]

Marisela Treviño Orta
EducationSouthwestern University (BA)
University of San Francisco (MFA)
University of Iowa (MFA)

Career

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Marisela Treviño Orta was first attracted to theatre and playwriting during her time as the resident poet at El Teatro Jornalero!. She was attracted to the theatre community, as she found poetry was often a lonely craft.[3] Additionally, she found it was easier to explore political and social justice themes in playwriting, which she could not do in her poetry.[3]

The playwright found immediate success with her first play Braided Sorrow, which won the 2006 Chicano/Latino Literary Prize in Drama, and the 2009 Pen Center USA Literary Award in Drama.[4] This play was accepted into the 2005 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and officially premiered at Su Teatro in Denver, CO. Since then, she has written other successful plays including Heart Shaped Nebula (2012 O’Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist, 2013 Aurora Theatre Global Age Project Finalist), American Triage (2012 MetLife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Runner-Up), which was a commissioned by Marin Theatre Company, and Woman on Fire, which was commissioned by the Latino Playwrights Initiative.[4][5] Treviño Orta was awarded the 2013 National Latino Playwriting Award for The River Bride, and most recently was a 2018/2019 Kendeda Finalist (Alliance Theatre) for Shoe.[5][6] She is a 2011 alumna of the Playwright Foundation's Resident Playwright's Initiative and a graduate of the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop.[7]

Most recently,[when?] Treviño Orta authored a trilogy of plays inspired by Latinx mythology[8] and the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.[3] The River Bride, the first of the three, is set in Brazil and is inspired by Amazonian folklore and premiered February 21, 2016 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[9] The second, Wolf at the Door, which is currently featured in National New Play Network's Rolling World Premieres program, is set in Mexico and focuses on Mesoamerican belief.[10] Alcira, the trilogy's conclusion, is set in San Francisco and based on Aztec mythology.

Involvement in the theatre community

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Treviño Orta is currently a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Latinx Theatre Commons, and is a founding member of the Bay Area Latino Theatre Artists Network.[11]

Works

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  • Braided Sorrow[12]
  • Heart Shaped Nebula[13]
  • The River Bride[9]
  • American Triage[14]
  • Woman on Fire
  • Wolf at the Door[15]
  • Alcira[16]
  • Ghost Limb[17]
  • Somewhere[18]

Awards and recognition

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Year Award Category Work Result
2006 Chicano/a Literary Prize[19] Drama Braided Sorrow Won
2009 Pen Center USA Literary Award[20] Drama Braided Sorrow Won
2012 Repertorio Español MetLife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition N/A American Triage Runner-up
2012 O'Neill Playwrights Conference N/A Heart Shaped Nebula Semi-finalist
2013 Aurora Theatre Global Age Project N/A Heart Shaped Nebula Finalist
2013 National Latino Playwriting Award N/A The River Bride
2017 50 Playwrights Project's Best Unproduced Latin@ Plays 2017[21] N/A Wolf at the Door Finalist

References

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  1. ^ Szymkowicz, Adam (January 28, 2011). "I Interview Playwrights Part 310: Marisela Treviño Orta". Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  2. ^ "Marisela Treviño Orta". HowlRound. Emerson College. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Muñoz, Abel (October 27, 2015). "Coffee and Chat: Marisela Treviño Orta". HowlRound. Emerson College. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Marisela Treviño Orta". New Play Exchange. National New Play Network. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Marisela Treviño Orta". Brava for Women in the Arts. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  6. ^ "Winners & Finalists". Alliance Theatre. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  7. ^ "Membership Profile: Marisela Treviño Orta". Dramatists Guild. Dramatists Guild of America. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  8. ^ trevorboffone (April 7, 2016). "Marisela Treviño Orta". 50 Playwrights Project. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "The River Bride". Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  10. ^ "Rolling World Premieres". National New Play Network. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  11. ^ "Marisela Treviño Orta". Goodman Theatre. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  12. ^ "Braided Sorrow by Marisela Treviño Orta". New Play Exchange. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  13. ^ "Shotgun Players Present Heart Shaped Nebula". Shotgun Players. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015.
  14. ^ "American Triage by Marisela Treviño Orta". New Play Exchange. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  15. ^ "Wolf at the Door - Iowa New Play Festival 2016". Events Calendar. University of Iowa. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016.
  16. ^ "Alcira - Iowa New Play Festival 2017". Events Calendar. University of Iowa. Archived from the original on April 2, 2017.
  17. ^ "Ghost Limb". Brava. July 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  18. ^ "Somewhere by Marisela Treviño Orta". New Play Exchange. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  19. ^ "The Chicano/Latino Literary Prize History". Latino Literatures. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  20. ^ "Past Winners". Pen America. December 19, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  21. ^ "50PP's Best Unproduced Latin@ Plays 2017". 50 Playwrights Project. March 19, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
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