Marco Antonio Rodriguez

Marco Antonio Rodriguez

Bilingual writer born and raised in New York with roots from the Dominican Republic. MFA in acting-Meadows School of the Arts. Second MFA in television and screenwriting-Stephens College. Named one of fifty key figures in LatinX and Latin American Theatre by Routledge Key Guides. Award-winning stage plays Ashes of Light, Barceló on the Rocks and In the Name of Salomé have been performed all over the world...
Bilingual writer born and raised in New York with roots from the Dominican Republic. MFA in acting-Meadows School of the Arts. Second MFA in television and screenwriting-Stephens College. Named one of fifty key figures in LatinX and Latin American Theatre by Routledge Key Guides. Award-winning stage plays Ashes of Light, Barceló on the Rocks and In the Name of Salomé have been performed all over the world including New York, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Ashes Of Light and Barceló on the Rocks have been published in Spanish/English editions by NoPassport Press and studied at universities such as Rutgers and the University Of Puerto Rico. Marco Antonio has written guest commentary for national publication Latino Leaders Magazine and the Theatre Communications Guild. Recipient of a Banff International Writing Residency in Alberta, Canada and a CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Fellowship. His acclaimed stage adaptation of Junot Díaz' Pulitzer Prize-Winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, recently celebrated its third year of performances at Off-Broadway’s Spanish Repertory Theatre. His most recent play, Bloom, enjoyed a critically acclaimed run at New York’s IATI theatre and won the New York Independent Theatre Award (ATI) for outstanding achievement in playwriting. Horror full-length screenplay, Suffer the Children, named Finalist-Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition and Creative World Awards. Half-hour dramedy pilot, Our Friendly Neighbors, scored a rare 8 on The Black List. Marco is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the Read LatinX Writers Initiative. He is a National Hispanic Media Coalition Series Scriptwriters Program Fellow and a recipient of The Movement Theatre Company x Black List Playwriting Commission.

Plays

  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
    World premiere adaptation of Junot Díaz' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Oscar is a naive “nerd” from New Jersey who has finally left the grips of his imposing Dominican mother and is attending his first semester of college at Rutgers with his rebellious sister. He dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the “fukú”—a curse...
    World premiere adaptation of Junot Díaz' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Oscar is a naive “nerd” from New Jersey who has finally left the grips of his imposing Dominican mother and is attending his first semester of college at Rutgers with his rebellious sister. He dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the “fukú”—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.
  • Bloom
    Inspired by true events. For years the government has sought to eradicate those who love in the way that Roan does. After being taken, imprisoned, and tortured, he is returned home to his mother, Julia. But the sentence is clear: she has but one hour to end her son's life or face the consequences for her and her entire family.
  • In The Name Of Salomé
    An original new play inspired by Julia Alvarez’s epic, best-selling fictional novel of real-life iconic poet Salomé Ureña de Henríquez. Born in the 1850s, in a time of intense political and emotional repression and turmoil, Salomé’s fervent patriotic poems turned her into a national icon. “In the Name of Salomé” is equally the story of Salomé’s daughter, Camila, who grows up in exile, in the shadow of her mother’s legend.
  • Barceló On The Rocks
    Nino Antonio Ortiz — a man with an intriguing past and dark secrets — is confronted by hallucinations of late Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer. Transported between his youth in the island’s countryside and his old age in his Washington Heights home in New York, Nino must face the true origins of his bitterness before they destroy himself and his entire family.
  • Ashes Of Light
    Over the course of two evenings mother and son, two estranged generations of Dominicans living in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, attempt to rekindle the love and appreciation for each other and their roots; but unexpectedly revealed intimate and taboo secrets threaten to destroy an already thin bond.