Elaine D Romero

Biography

Playwright Elaine Romero once passed out ham sandwiches with Mother Teresa in Paris. She loves to write in coffee shops and claims that most of her plays “begin as a sort of haunting.”

Elaine’s trilogy U.S. at War: Three Plays includes Graveyard of Empires, A Work of Art, and the upcoming Sticks and Stones. Graveyard of Empires won the American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink! Playwriting Award. 16^th Street Theater produced the World Premiere of this first installment of the U.S. at War under the direction of Kevin Christopher Fox. In association with the Goodman Theatre, and under the direction of Goodman’s Associate Artist, Henry Godinez, Chicago Dramatists  produced the World Premiere of A Work of Art.The play was developed as part of the Goodman Theatre’s Playwrights Unit under the leadership of dramaturg Tanya Palmer. Elaine has had the good forture of participaing in After Orlando, an International Theatre Action with her play Orlando. The play has been produced in London and across the U.S. Inheritance, her contribution to Every 28 Hours has been produced in prestiougs regional theatres across the country.

Her second trilogy about the Arizona/Mexican border includes Wetback, Mother of Exilesand Title IX. Mother of Exiles was commissioned by and produced at Cornell University and in the UA's Studio Series. With Arizona Theatre Company, Elaine has received an NEA grant to spearhead Voices of a New America, an ambitious company-wide project developing and celebrating the work of Latino writers. For Voices, ATC  commissioned Elaine to write Title IX, which Elaine developed at Chicago Dramatists in two intensive workshops and at the prestigious Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference in 2017.  Secret Things received its World Premiere with Camino Real Productions. Romero recently penned Modern Slave for Ford’s Theatre in DC, which has since gone onto readings at Victory Gardens in Chicago and The Road Theatre in Los Angeles. She  wrote two plays Barrio Stories Project for Borderlands Theater that also included playwrights Martin Zimmerman and Virginia Grise.

Ponzi and Walk into the Sea were also presented at the Goodman. Ponzi (Edgerton Fund for New American Play Award) premiered at Kitchen Dog Theater. 

Something Rare and Wonderful received its World Premiere at the Alley Theatre. Barrio Hollywood was performed at Orlando Shakespeare Theater (OST; Spanish translation) and premiered in Spanish at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, GA. Acting editions of Barrio Hollywood in separate English and Spanish are published by Samuel French. Elaine was the first author in Samuel French’s 175-year history to be published in Spanish. The play also appears in Vaqueeros, Calacas, and Hollywood (Bilingual Review Press). Other productions include Borderlands Theater, Miracle Theatre, and New Theatre. Revolutions premiered in Spanish at the Panama National Theatre and in English in New York City.

Some of Elaine’s other plays iCuranderas! Serpents of the Clouds, Walk into the Sea, If Susan Smith Could Talk, Secret Things, The Fat-Free Chicana and the Snow Cap Queen, Before Death Comes for the Archbishop, Undercurrents have been developed/produced at such theatres as Actors Theatre of Louisville, Magic Theatre, Ford Amphitheatre, New Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Curious Theatre Company, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Kitchen Dog Theater, Urban Stages, INTAR, the Playwrights’ Center, Women’s Project and Productions, the Working Theater, the Lark Theatre, Invisible Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Borderlands Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Miracle Theatre.                     

Publishers include: Samuel French, Vintage Books, Playscripts, Smith and Kraus, Heinemann Press, University of Iowa Press, UA Press, Simon and Schuster, and Bedford/St. Martin’s Press. Upcoming publications include pieces in Re)Positioning the Latina/o Americas: Theatrical Histories and Cartographies of Power. Southern Illinois University Press, Xochi: Jaguar Princess in Palabras Del Cielo: A Critical Anthology of Latina/o TYA Plays & Playwrights with Dramatic Publishing, and Bloody River for When the Promise was Broken. Walking Home will be published abroad.

Elaine has been a Guest Artist at the Mark Taper Forum, Denver Center Theatre Company, and South Coast Repertory. Playwright-in-Residence at the Arizona Theatre Company, Elaine co-chaired the National Association of Independent Producers’ National Conference. She participated in the Hermitage Artist Retreat, ENVISION Retreat, and the Orchard Project. Wetback received readings nationwide and is now part of the 30/30. Revolutions premiered in English at Manhattan Theatre Source. Rain of Ruin was produced in Sydney where it appeared on Australian television. A Simple Snow won the InspiraTO Festival/Toronto.

Some commissions include Ford’s Theatre (Modern Slave), Kennedy Center for Performing Arts (Xochi: Jaguar Princess), Theatre Seven of Chicago (These People), Alley Theatre, Cornell University (Mother of Exiles), Arkansas Repertory Theatre (Sun, Stone, and Shadows), Kitchen Dog Theater Company/NNPN Commission (Ponzi), InterAct Theatre Company (The Dalai Lama is Not Welcome Here), and Magic Theatre/Sloan Science & Technology Grant (Walk into the Sea).  She has participated in the Sundance Playwrights’ Retreat, Playwrights’ Center’s New Plays on Campus Program, and Arkansas Repertory’s Voices at the River.

Elaine had also received the Arizona Commission on the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, TCG/Pew National Theatre Artist in Residence grant, the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights grant.  Other awards include: Los Angeles Film School Scholarship, Sprenger-Lang New History Play Contest, Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Award, and The Chicano/Latino Literary Award.

Elaine participated in the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Television Writer’s Program, NBC’s Writers on the Verge Program, and CBS Diversity Institute’s Writer’s Mentorship Program. Elaine is the co-writer of the web series, The Ethical Slut, which is a LAWebFest2015 Official Selection., receiving nominations for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy, Outstanding Directing in a Comedy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, and Outstanding Series Premiere). Her feature, Killing Beauty, about sex slavery in the United States, was a finalist for Cinefestival’s 2015 Latino Screenwriting Project.

Elaine was a 2012-2013 Carl Djerassi Fellow at UW-Madison under the generous support of the late Carl J. Djerassi. Recent premieres include Secret Things with Camino Real Productions in New Mexico, and, These People with Theatre Seven of Chicago. Elaine is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. Elaine is an Associate Professor in the School of Theatre, Film and Television.

 

Degrees

• M.F.A. Dramatic Art (Playwriting)
• University of California, Davis, Davis, California, US
• Collection of Plays
• B.A. Creative Writing
• Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon, US
• Collection of Original Work

Awards

• Integrative Arts Research Fellowship
• CFA, Fall 2024
• The Alberto Rios Outstanding Literary/Arts Award
• Pete C. Garcia Victoria Foundation, Fall 2024
• Udall Fellowship
• Udall Center for Public Policy, Spring 2024
• 2023 ariZoni Award (2023, Best Original Script)
• ariZona Theatre Association, Scottsdale, AZ, Fall 2023
• El Tiradito Commission
• Teatro Dignidad, Spring 2023
• O'Neill National Playwwrights Conference Playwright
• NPC, Spring 2023 (Award Finalist)
• Our Towns Theatre Commission
• Ours Towns Theatre Initiative, Spring 2023
• DC Metro Theatre Arts DCMTA 2021 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Professional Theater Productions
• DCMTA, Spring 2022
• Our Towns Theatre Initiative Commission
• Our Towns Theatre Initiative, Spring 2022
• RomeroFest
• Arizona Theatre Company, Spring 2022
• Top Five Picks for 19th Amendment Project
• Chatham Life & Style, Summer 2020
• Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award
• Linfield College, Fall 2019
• My Own Private Idaho Retreat
• Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Summer 2019
• Erik Ehn's Silent Playwrights' Retreat
• Erik Ehn, Summer 2018
• Headlands Artist in Residence
• Headlands Center, Summer 2018
• Arts Hero ("The Lumies: Noche de las Artes: A Celebration of Arts Heroes
• Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona/ON Media Publications, Fall 2017
• Carnaval
• Latina/o Theatre Commons, Spring 2016
• Francesca Primus Prize
• American Theatre Critics Association, Fall 2015 (Award Nominee)
• Steinberg Award
• National Theatre Critics Association, Fall 2015 (Award Nominee)
• Sundance Screenwriters Lab
• Sundance Institute, Fall 2015 (Award Nominee)
• Susan Smith Blackburn Award
• Susan Smith Blackburn Committee, Fall 2015 (Award Nominee)
• Jeff Recommendation
• The Jeff Awards, Spring 2015 (Award Nominee)
• NEA Arts Works
• TCG/NEA, Spring 2015
• A-ha! Program: Think It, Do It (with Borderlands Theater)
• MetLife Foundation (Theatre Communications Group), Fall 2014
• Latino Screenwriting Lab
• San Antonio CineFestival, Fall 2014 (Award Finalist)
• NEA Art Work Grant
• National Endowment for the Arts, Fall 2014