Lina Patel

Lina Patel is a playwright, screenwriter, director, and performer who tells socially relevant stories wrapped in drama, sci-fi, and dark comedy; stories about what happens when people stop hearing each other, and the world begins to break.

Her plays have been developed, produced, and presented at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Harmony Project, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chalk Rep, Rogue Machine Theatre, Ammunition Theatre Company, and The Sewanee Writer's Conference (Walter E. Dakin Fellow). Her Center Theater Group-developed play, "The Ragged Claws" was nominated by David Henry Hwang for Cherry Lane's Mentor Project. Her play, "Sick Girl or, Don't Hate Me Cuz I'm Pretty" was invited to New Harmony Project's PlayFest Indy. Her rom-com adaptation of Lope De Vega's Widow of No Importance,...

Lina Patel is a playwright, screenwriter, director, and performer who tells socially relevant stories wrapped in drama, sci-fi, and dark comedy; stories about what happens when people stop hearing each other, and the world begins to break.

Her plays have been developed, produced, and presented at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Harmony Project, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chalk Rep, Rogue Machine Theatre, Ammunition Theatre Company, and The Sewanee Writer's Conference (Walter E. Dakin Fellow). Her Center Theater Group-developed play, "The Ragged Claws" was nominated by David Henry Hwang for Cherry Lane's Mentor Project. Her play, "Sick Girl or, Don't Hate Me Cuz I'm Pretty" was invited to New Harmony Project's PlayFest Indy. Her rom-com adaptation of Lope De Vega's Widow of No Importance, "Traces of Desire", commissioned by Playwright's Arena and UCLA, was published by Bloomsbury. Her dark comedy, "Bonobos" was workshopped at Flint Rep.

As a theatre director, Lina has worked with East West Players, Pomona College, and will direct the world premier of Joy Gregory's "Saint Megan" for Rogue Machine. She recently wrote, directed, and produced her first short film, "Cabin Time", a 2025 Mallorca International Screenplay Finalist.

On television, Lina has been a writer/producer for Array/Warner Horizon, DC, and Warner Brothers. She is currently working on her first graphic novel about three defiant women with Eisner-winning illustrator E.J. Su. As performer/voice-over artist, Lina recently appeared on ABC's "Will Trent" and voiced L.A. Theatre Works' Earphone Award-winning adaptation of "The Secret Garden".

Lina is the Director of Rogue Machine Theater's Playwrights' Roundtable, and was a participant in the 2023 inaugural group.

A Lecturer of screenwriting and playwriting at Pomona College, Lina connects students with real-world opportunities to grow their craft and develop their careers.

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Scripts

Bonobos

by Lina Patel

Cast Size
7—8
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
farce,
political

At a suburban book club, a group of women discover just how far they’ll go to protect one another when an abusive ex shows up. Can solidarity save us, or does violence always win?

At a suburban book club, a group of women discover just how far they’ll go to protect one another when an abusive ex shows up. Can solidarity save us, or does violence always win?

Traces of Desire

by Lina Patel

1
Cast Size
6
Genre
adaptation,
comedy,
movement/physical,
romantic comedy

Can desire be inherited? Or rather, can the inability to fulfill it trickle down through a family?
Once upon a time in Bombay, a widowed Uma Bhatt refused a suitor. He was Muslim; she was Hindu. Unwilling to risk her reputation, she shunned her heart’s desire. Shortly after this denial, Uma died. What might be the end of a tragic love story is, in fact, the spark that lights up Traces of Desire, a choral play...

Can desire be inherited? Or rather, can the inability to fulfill it trickle down through a family?
Once upon a time in Bombay, a widowed Uma Bhatt refused a suitor. He was Muslim; she was Hindu. Unwilling to risk her reputation, she shunned her heart’s desire. Shortly after this denial, Uma died. What might be the end of a tragic love story is, in fact, the spark that lights up Traces of Desire, a choral play chronicling the struggles and pleasures of female sexuality in one Indian family. Over three generations, these women gradually learn to embrace their bodies and yearnings, freeing themselves — and a fourth generation — of long-held notions of womanhood. Lina Patel explores the central questions of Lope de Vega’s The Widow of Valencia in this hilarious and moving adaptation as she takes on female agency and transgression, prejudice, and even the idea of womanhood itself. Commissioned by Playwright's Arena/UCLA for Golden Tongue's Diversifying the Classics, "Traces of Desire" is based on Lope De Vega's 16th century commedia, "The Widow of Valencia"/

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Sick Girl or, Don't Hate Me Cuz I'm Pretty

by Lina Patel

Cast Size
5
Genre
drama,
experimental,
fable/folktale,
immersive,
movement/physical,
political

Sick Girl or Don't Hate Me Cuz I'm Pretty is a painful and playful tale about a young immigrant woman, battling chronic illness within a family struggling with cultural dislocation and medical misdiagnosis. When western medicine focuses on fixing rather than listening, a hasty surgery leads to complications and sets parents on a path of self-recrimination, forcing them to confront their expectations and...

Sick Girl or Don't Hate Me Cuz I'm Pretty is a painful and playful tale about a young immigrant woman, battling chronic illness within a family struggling with cultural dislocation and medical misdiagnosis. When western medicine focuses on fixing rather than listening, a hasty surgery leads to complications and sets parents on a path of self-recrimination, forcing them to confront their expectations and vulnerabilities. Through a multi-faceted, experiential, and experimental exploration of disability, desire, and resilience, the play examines the value of broken things as Sick Girl’s journey toward healing.

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The Ragged Claws

by Lina Patel

1
Cast Size
8
Genre
drama

Set in the near future, The Ragged Claws is about what happens when ALEC, the adopted Indian son of a power couple questions his mother's politics and family pain tumbles out - like the tsunami about to consume Manhattan.

Set in the near future, The Ragged Claws is about what happens when ALEC, the adopted Indian son of a power couple questions his mother's politics and family pain tumbles out - like the tsunami about to consume Manhattan.

Sankalpan

by Lina Patel

Cast Size
10—11
Genre
adaptation,
drama,
period,
political

An adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters set in pre-Partition Bengal.

An adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters set in pre-Partition Bengal.

Karma

by Lina Patel

Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
holiday

A washed out ad exec brings a new friend for a surprise visit to her former assistant's home on Thanksgiving.

A washed out ad exec brings a new friend for a surprise visit to her former assistant's home on Thanksgiving.

The Randomness of Bees

by Lina Patel

Cast Size
2
Genre
young audiences

When nine-year old Ryder moves to a new town and meets Charlotte at swim practice, she finds the courage to tell her she's adopted. Her candor pays off, and as we follow the girls from ages 9 to 15, their chance encounter evolves into a true friendship. When Charlotte moves away, Ryder discovers that a good friend can still be there for you, even when they're not.

When nine-year old Ryder moves to a new town and meets Charlotte at swim practice, she finds the courage to tell her she's adopted. Her candor pays off, and as we follow the girls from ages 9 to 15, their chance encounter evolves into a true friendship. When Charlotte moves away, Ryder discovers that a good friend can still be there for you, even when they're not.