Malena Pennycook 

 

Malena Pennycook is a writer and performer. She often creates formally inventive theater about the strange experience of having a body.

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Their plays include How Should A Conversation Be? (Playwrights Realm, Playwrights Center, O'Neill Finalist, Princess Grace Finalist) Diving Board (Teatro Vivo; Crashbox; O'Neill Finalist) Two Apprentices (The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 2022 Latinx Playwriting Award) 9/10 Beds, a play with music (UT Austin; Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 2023 - Musical Theatre Award 2nd Place, Paula Vogel Award Distinguished Achievement); Below, a ten minute play (Take Ten Theatre Masters 2023, Concord Theatricals/Sam French) and their solo show Am I Busy Yet? (Cosmic Cherry Arts NYC; Oregon Fringe Festival). 

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As a performer and deviser, Malena has developed projects with The Public's Under the Radar, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, sheCREATES, The Flea Theatre, ZACH Theatre, Fresh Ground Pepper, Dixon Place, Shakespeare in the Square, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, The Brick and more. She has also appeared in national commercials for AT&T and Chase. 

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Malena is an alumnus of the Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series, Playwrights Center Core Apprenticeship, The Richie Jackson Artistic Fellowship and the New Harmony Project. 

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MFA Playwriting UT Austin. BFA Acting NYU Tisch Experimental Theatre Wing.

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