Alicia Grega

Alicia Grega

Alicia Lynn Grega is a writer, artist, and professor from Scranton, Pennsylvania. A playwright and screenwriter by passion, she is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and a rostered artist with Arts in Education Northeast Pennsylvania, a partner organization of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Original scripts produced include Operation Wanderlust, Insomniac Salad, Banger's Elixir, and White...
Alicia Lynn Grega is a writer, artist, and professor from Scranton, Pennsylvania. A playwright and screenwriter by passion, she is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and a rostered artist with Arts in Education Northeast Pennsylvania, a partner organization of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Original scripts produced include Operation Wanderlust, Insomniac Salad, Banger's Elixir, and White Matter Surplus. Alicia has also published two books of poetry including Haptikos in 2016 and Dystalgia in 2020.

Alicia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Drew University and an MFA in Writing for Screen and Stage from Point Park University. She's been teaching arts, literature, communications, and writing courses at Lackawanna College since 2016. She also teaches screenwriting at the University of Cincinnati. From January 2020 to July 2022, she worked on a U.S. Department of Education research project led by the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership to integrate arts into elementary school curricula in Hazleton, PA.

Previously, she worked as an arts writer/editor at The Scranton Times-Tribune (electric city) for 15 years (2001-2016), and in nonprofit marketing and communications for organizations including the Catherine McAuley Center for women and children experiencing homelessness (2019-2022). Freelance and theatre projects include work with the Lackawanna County Council for Arts, Culture, and Education; United Neighborhood Centers; Scranton Fringe; Lackawanna ProBono; ScrantonMade; TEDx Scranton; Scranton Public Theatre; and Electric Theatre Company. Among her awards are the Robert Fisher Oxnam Award in Playwriting, grants from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and an NEA Arts Journalism Institute fellowship.

Plays

  • Grip by Alicia Grega
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental
    ·
    Keyword: Sisters, resentment + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental
    Keyword: Sisters, resentment, Inequality, dark, absurd, fingers, hands, cutting, control, sewing
    An exhausted woman goes to drastic measures to challenge her privileged sister's aloofness while on a much-needed vacation in this absurd dark comedy.
  • Pepper Canyon Blues by Alicia Grega
    Cast: 
    6–9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: rock and roll, Scranton + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: rock and roll, Scranton, music, Musicians, tribute band, band, identity
    When the legendary frontman of a Laurel Canyon supergroup dies, the members of a defunct tribute band must decide whether to reunite for a benefit concert in his honor. In the eight years since they’ve shared the stage, Brad and Marla have started a family and Ken still hasn’t gotten over Joe’s suicide, but Pepper Canyon’s biggest fan won’t take no for an answer. Pepper Canyon Blues spans 20 years in the course...
    When the legendary frontman of a Laurel Canyon supergroup dies, the members of a defunct tribute band must decide whether to reunite for a benefit concert in his honor. In the eight years since they’ve shared the stage, Brad and Marla have started a family and Ken still hasn’t gotten over Joe’s suicide, but Pepper Canyon’s biggest fan won’t take no for an answer. Pepper Canyon Blues spans 20 years in the course of a troubled tribute band’s journey from conception to break-up to second chances.
  • Lara's Door by Alicia Grega
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: family, siblings + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, experimental, fable/folktale, fantasy
    Keyword: family, siblings, abandonment, magical realism, fairy tale, doors
    Frustrated with the lack of opportunity in her life, a young woman literally constructs a door in her backyard in hopes it will take her somewhere.
  • III me me me III by Alicia Grega
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, experimental + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: rapture, absurdism + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, experimental, fable/folktale, satire
    Keyword: rapture, absurdism, society, doomsday, social media, narcissism, ego, author, journalism
    a short play about an apocalypse
  • Avenging Arachne: A Nemesister Fable by Alicia Grega
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, fable/folktale
    ·
    Keyword: women, mythology + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, fable/folktale
    Keyword: women, mythology, Advertising, crafts, work, chorus, Greek mythology, creativity
    In this contemporary drama inspired by the ancient Greek myth about the weaver, a young advertising creative lands a dream job working for her role model only to discover working for Athena Valburg isn't what she hoped it would be. Arachne’s anxiety manifests in nightmares she shares with a female chorus of friends from her “stitch and bitch” group after the manipulative Athena meddles in Arachne’s...
    In this contemporary drama inspired by the ancient Greek myth about the weaver, a young advertising creative lands a dream job working for her role model only to discover working for Athena Valburg isn't what she hoped it would be. Arachne’s anxiety manifests in nightmares she shares with a female chorus of friends from her “stitch and bitch” group after the manipulative Athena meddles in Arachne’s personal life and steals her ideas.
  • Banger's Elixir by Alicia Grega
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: office, workers + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, satire
    Keyword: office, workers, peanuts, feminism, gender, capitalism, spam, anonymous, cybercrime, hacktivism
    A short absurd workplace comedy drawing on real spam email subject lines. The R-rated, one-hour expansion of Banger's Elixir premiering as part of the Scranton Fringe Festival Oct. 2-5. 2015, dives even deeper into the dark web, toying with the evolution of marketing spam into cybercrime and hacktivism.
  • White Matter Surplus by Alicia Grega
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Scranton, Architecture + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Scranton, Architecture, liars, gentrification, karma, addiction, Recovery, Art and Artists, Con, healing
    Four adults from two different generations shed skins and transition into the next previously inconceivable phase of life, trying to build a new world as the old one literally comes crashing down around them. White Matter Surplus addresses themes of personal and urban identity crises, economic exploitation, addiction and recovery, love and limerence, community responsibility and creative placemaking.