Malena Pennycook is a writer, performer and producer of new plays.

Malena’s plays include: How Should A Conversation Be? (Yale Drama Prize Finalist; Off-Broadway Playwrights Realm, The Playwrights Center, University of Washington, STAGES, Crashbox, O’Neill NPC Finalist, Princess Grace Finalist); Diving Board (Seoul International Theater Festival, O’Neill NPC Finalist, Crashbox, Teatro Vivo), Below (Take Ten, Concord Theatricals) and Choreomaniac 1518 (Off-Broadway Playwrights Realm, UT Austin). Malena is an alum of the New Harmony Project and The Richie Jackson Artistic Fellowship. She is a recipient of several recognitions from the Kennedy Center including the KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award. She was shortlisted for the 2025 Yale Drama Prize.

As a performer and deviser, Malena has developed projects with The Public's Under the Radar, The Flea, ZACH Theater, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Dixon Place, Shakespeare in the Square, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, The Brick and more.

Malena produces a semi-annual DIY artist retreat known as The Sprint out of their home in Austin, Texas.

She has taught playwriting and acting at UT Austin, ZACH Theater, STAGES Houston and Austin Community College, among others.

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