Malena Pennycook 

 

Malena Pennycook (she/they) is a white-Latine writer & performer currently pursuing their MFA in Playwriting at The University of Texas at Austin. 

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As a writer, their plays include Diving Board (O'Neill Finalist 2022; Crashbox, Austin Latinx New Play Festival); Two Apprentices Were the Only Volunteers (The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 2022: Latinx Playwriting Award, Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, Paula Vogel Playwriting Award Runner-Up, Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award Runner-Up); 9/10 Beds, a play with music (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 2023: Musical Theatre Award 2nd Place, Paula Vogel Award Distinguished Achievement, Latinx Award Distinguished Achievement ); WEAVER UNDER (O'Neill SemiFinalist 2023); 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 new projects with The Public's Under the Radar, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, sheCREATES, The Flea Theatre, Fresh Ground Pepper, Dixon Place, Shakespeare in the Square, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, The Brick and more.

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Malena was a 2022 writer in residence at the New Harmony Project, a 2019 Richie Jackson Artistic Fellow and a 2017 Santa Cruz Shakespeare Acting Fellow. 

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They are a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, The Dramatist Guild, EMC, Ring of Keys and The Latinx Theatre Commons. 

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BFA NYU Tisch Experimental Theatre Wing.

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