Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Gretchen Suárez-Peña (she/her) is a Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter based in Florida. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (Class of 2024). She is an Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University Department of Theatre and Dance.
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She is currently the book writer for Sometimes Love (music and lyrics by Michael Mott). Her play, Epiphany, was the winner of the 2025 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival Staged Reading competition. Her screenplay, For Such a Time, received the $5,000 Third Place Award in the 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Script Competition at Carnegie Mellon University. Her play, 2052, is part of the Theater Masters Take Ten anthology published through Concord Theatricals.

Her piece Searching for Abuelo was the first-place winner...

Gretchen Suárez-Peña (she/her) is a Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter based in Florida. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (Class of 2024). She is an Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University Department of Theatre and Dance.
​
She is currently the book writer for Sometimes Love (music and lyrics by Michael Mott). Her play, Epiphany, was the winner of the 2025 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival Staged Reading competition. Her screenplay, For Such a Time, received the $5,000 Third Place Award in the 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Script Competition at Carnegie Mellon University. Her play, 2052, is part of the Theater Masters Take Ten anthology published through Concord Theatricals.

Her piece Searching for Abuelo was the first-place winner at the 2023 Voices of Women Theatre Festival, the best full-length play at the 2023 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival, and an official selection of the 2024 NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival and the SheATL Festival. Her show Across the Atlantic opened the 2023 BIPOC Play Reading Series at the Straz Center in Tampa, Florida.

Her short play, The Arithmetic of Memory, has been produced across the country and was published in the Stonecoast Review where it was nominated for a Pushcart Award in Drama (2021). It was the 2023 Gary Garrison National Ten-Minute Play Award winner for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). Her play, With a Torch of Seven Virtues, was the 2nd Place Latinx Playwriting Award recipient for the 2024 National KCACTF. Her one act, Wingman, was also recognized by KCACTF as a 2023 John Cauble Regional 2 Finalist.

Her musical, Melina: A Steampunk Musical Tragedy was an official selection of the 2020 Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival. Other successes include winning the $5,000 writer's grant and best play at the 2019 Be Original Festival for her play, Trafficked. Also, her show Conversations in the Car was awarded Best Full-Length play at the 2018 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

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Scripts

Epiphany

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Cast Size
5
Genre
docudrama/historic,
drama,
experimental,
holiday,
political,
tragedy

A family prepares to go on a road trip to Washington DC for the "Rally to Save America," January 6, 2021. And the aftermath...
Cast Size: 5 characters

A family prepares to go on a road trip to Washington DC for the "Rally to Save America," January 6, 2021. And the aftermath...
Cast Size: 5 characters

The Saga of Peaches and the Black King

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Cast Size
2
Genre
romantic comedy

Peaches is a businesswoman, she's married, but her husband has given his blessing for her to seek out a lover since their libidos don't match and his health condition inhibits intimacy. King has always thought Peaches has all the body he could ever want. Friends for a long time, intimacy grows in an irreverent text message thread that spills over to reality.

Peaches is a businesswoman, she's married, but her husband has given his blessing for her to seek out a lover since their libidos don't match and his health condition inhibits intimacy. King has always thought Peaches has all the body he could ever want. Friends for a long time, intimacy grows in an irreverent text message thread that spills over to reality.

Searching for Abuelo

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

3
Cast Size
1
Genre
biography,
comedy,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
immersive,
political

My maternal grandfather died before my mother even graduated from High School. I know very little about him except that he was a bartender, an aspiring actor and writer in New York City, and he really wanted to own a Mercedes Benz. In this one-act solo show, framed in the traditional Puerto Rican musical style of Bomba, I (Gretchen) put myself through the journey of figuring out who he was, who I am, and what to...

My maternal grandfather died before my mother even graduated from High School. I know very little about him except that he was a bartender, an aspiring actor and writer in New York City, and he really wanted to own a Mercedes Benz. In this one-act solo show, framed in the traditional Puerto Rican musical style of Bomba, I (Gretchen) put myself through the journey of figuring out who he was, who I am, and what to do about it.

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The Arithmetic of Memory

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

2
Cast Size
2
Genre
political,
radio drama,
tragedy,
young audiences,
zoom

(FIFTEEN MINUTES) Claudine and Missy remember in their own way. The goal is not to forget.

(FIFTEEN MINUTES) Claudine and Missy remember in their own way. The goal is not to forget.

Watchwomen

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

5
Cast Size
3
Genre
adventure,
comedy,
dark comedy,
fable/folktale,
fantasy,
farce,
movement/physical

(TEN-MINUTES) The watchwomen of Menas keep watch by night at the southern end of town. A messenger breaks their monotony with unbelievable, yet horrifying news.

(TEN-MINUTES) The watchwomen of Menas keep watch by night at the southern end of town. A messenger breaks their monotony with unbelievable, yet horrifying news.

The Child Groom

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

2
Cast Size
4
Genre
drama,
fable/folktale,
fantasy,
political

(TEN-MINUTES) The head council hears the complaints of its citizen. Aquarius comes to plead for his son's life in the matter of his engagement to a wealthy matriarch.

(TEN-MINUTES) The head council hears the complaints of its citizen. Aquarius comes to plead for his son's life in the matter of his engagement to a wealthy matriarch.

Wingman

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Cast Size
4—6
Genre
comedy,
romantic comedy,
science fiction,
young audiences

Dr. Anthony Warren has broken the code to dating: You just have to read a person's mind. This brilliant biochemist has found a way to tap into telepathy. He capitalizes on this by helping awkward nerds woo the mate of their dreams, but what happens when Tony ends up falling for one of his client's love interests?

Dr. Anthony Warren has broken the code to dating: You just have to read a person's mind. This brilliant biochemist has found a way to tap into telepathy. He capitalizes on this by helping awkward nerds woo the mate of their dreams, but what happens when Tony ends up falling for one of his client's love interests?

Checkmate

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

2
Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
romantic comedy

(TEN-MINUTES) A post-coital game of chess reveals something deeper.

(TEN-MINUTES) A post-coital game of chess reveals something deeper.

Eye Candy

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

1
Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
parody/spoof,
political

(TEN-MINUTES) Three college-age girls sit by the pool post-final exams. They are checking out the guys at the pool.

(TEN-MINUTES) Three college-age girls sit by the pool post-final exams. They are checking out the guys at the pool.

Shadowed Arrangement

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

2
Cast Size
2
Genre
drama,
radio drama,
tragedy,
zoom

(TEN-MINUTES) After the sudden death of Sergio's wife, he meets with Tremaine, his wife's lover. They both are suffering from their loss.

(TEN-MINUTES) After the sudden death of Sergio's wife, he meets with Tremaine, his wife's lover. They both are suffering from their loss.

Dry Spell

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

9
Cast Size
2
Genre
drama

(TEN-MINUTES) A marriage hangs in the balance as a drought and heat wave continues to ravage their hometown.

(TEN-MINUTES) A marriage hangs in the balance as a drought and heat wave continues to ravage their hometown.

El Malecon

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Cast Size
2
Genre
drama,
melodrama

(TEN-MINUTES) Arturo and Yesenia are old friends turned lovers at a time when they were both married. Two years later, at Arturo's request, they meet at the iconic Malecon in Havana, Cuba; the place where they first met as teenagers.

(TEN-MINUTES) Arturo and Yesenia are old friends turned lovers at a time when they were both married. Two years later, at Arturo's request, they meet at the iconic Malecon in Havana, Cuba; the place where they first met as teenagers.

Tea Town

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

3
Cast Size
4—5
Genre
dark comedy,
horror,
science fiction

(TEN-MINUTES) The town of Chesterfield is slowly changing. A mysterious tea and card game are at the center of the change.

(TEN-MINUTES) The town of Chesterfield is slowly changing. A mysterious tea and card game are at the center of the change.

The Wind is Me

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Cast Size
2
Genre
drama,
experimental,
fantasy,
melodrama,
tragedy

(TEN-MINUTES) A lost romance in a whirlwind of dream recollection.

(TEN-MINUTES) A lost romance in a whirlwind of dream recollection.

Practically Perfect

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

Cast Size
4
Genre
comedy,
fantasy,
farce,
parody/spoof,
period

(TEN-MINUTES) Nannies come and go. They debrief and train to support the families they are on assignment to take care of.

(TEN-MINUTES) Nannies come and go. They debrief and train to support the families they are on assignment to take care of.

Love Letters

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

2
Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
romantic comedy

(TEN-MINUTES) Bianca is helping her aunt move when she uncovers an exciting yet heartbreaking chapter in her aunt Gia's life.

(TEN-MINUTES) Bianca is helping her aunt move when she uncovers an exciting yet heartbreaking chapter in her aunt Gia's life.

Trafficked: A Story

by Gretchen Suarez-Pena

1
Cast Size
10—25
Genre
drama,
experimental,
political

(FULL-LENGTH) The horrors of human sex trafficking are very real. It is not just a problem in some distant country; it happens in our own backyard. Follow Dr. Ana Saco as she journeys from her office, to her past and tells the world her story and the story of countless others, exposing the underbelly of the illicit sex trafficking industry.

(FULL-LENGTH) The horrors of human sex trafficking are very real. It is not just a problem in some distant country; it happens in our own backyard. Follow Dr. Ana Saco as she journeys from her office, to her past and tells the world her story and the story of countless others, exposing the underbelly of the illicit sex trafficking industry.