Eliana Pipes

Eliana Pipes

Eliana Pipes is a writer, filmmaker and actor based in her hometown of Los Angeles. Her plays include DREAM HOU$E (world premiere co-production Alliance Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, and Baltimore Center Stage, published by Concord Samuel French); HOOPS (world premiere commission Milwaukee Chamber Theater); and BITE ME. She holds commissions from Two River Theater and South Coast Repertory. Her work has been...
Eliana Pipes is a writer, filmmaker and actor based in her hometown of Los Angeles. Her plays include DREAM HOU$E (world premiere co-production Alliance Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, and Baltimore Center Stage, published by Concord Samuel French); HOOPS (world premiere commission Milwaukee Chamber Theater); and BITE ME. She holds commissions from Two River Theater and South Coast Repertory. Her work has been developed or presented at the New York Theatre Workshop Dartmouth Residency, Playwright's Realm Scratchpad Series, South Coast Repertory Pacific Playwright’s Festival, NNPN National New Play Showcase, Kennedy Center NNPN MFA Playwright's Workshop, Old Globe Powers New Voices Festival, Fire This Time Festival, and Drama League DirectorFest. Her writing awards include the Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, Alliance Kendeda Prize, Leah Ryan Prize, KCACTF Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award, National Latine Playwrights Award, and Dr. Floyd Gaffney Award. As a filmmaker she's been awarded the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women through AMPAS, the WAVE Grant and Outfest x Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grant. BA English Columbia University, MFA Playwriting Boston University. www.elianapipes.com.

Plays

  • DREAM HOU$E by Eliana Pipes
    Recommendations: 9
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    Cast: 
    7–10
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 4 more
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    Keyword: Latinx, gentrification + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, experimental, farce, immersive, political
    Keyword: Latinx, gentrification, White Gaze, racism, identity, Diaspora, Surreal, meta, upward mobility
    Two Latinx sisters prepare to sell their home on a reality TV show, hoping to capitalize on neighborhood gentrification. But once the cameras are rolling, the family's turbulent past and uncertain future begin to collide, and the sisters are forced to reckon with the secrets held between the house's walls.
  • Bite Me by Eliana Pipes
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: two hander, comedy + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: two hander, comedy, teenagers, time jump, misfits, Race and Gender, high school
    Nathan is ditching class when he stumbles on Melody crying in a storage closet - he’s a white boy with family money and dangerous habits, she’s the lone black girl on campus, overachieving academically and battling the isolation. They form an unexpected bond and it’s not long before the heat between them boils over. Bite Me explores the drama (and trauma) of trying to fit in at high school, and the unfinished...
    Nathan is ditching class when he stumbles on Melody crying in a storage closet - he’s a white boy with family money and dangerous habits, she’s the lone black girl on campus, overachieving academically and battling the isolation. They form an unexpected bond and it’s not long before the heat between them boils over. Bite Me explores the drama (and trauma) of trying to fit in at high school, and the unfinished business waiting for them at their reunion a decade later.
  • Cowboy and the Moon by Eliana Pipes
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, experimental + 3 more
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    Keyword: family, Western + 4 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, immersive, period, tragedy
    Keyword: family, Western, Canon, Surreal, Imagistic, adult children of alcoholics
    A modern day alcoholic Father sees himself within his addiction as a wandering Cowboy in the Wild West. But the real world churns on for his wife and daughter, who must negotiate between playing along with his prairie fantasy and grappling with the impact of his drinking on their day-to-day lives. Cowboy and the Moon rewrites the trope of the Alcoholic Patriarch in the Western theater canon by introducing...
    A modern day alcoholic Father sees himself within his addiction as a wandering Cowboy in the Wild West. But the real world churns on for his wife and daughter, who must negotiate between playing along with his prairie fantasy and grappling with the impact of his drinking on their day-to-day lives. Cowboy and the Moon rewrites the trope of the Alcoholic Patriarch in the Western theater canon by introducing gender and race, leaving realism in the dust, and approaching everyone in the orbit of addiction with compassion.
  • Lorena: a Tabloid Epic by Eliana Pipes
    Cast: 
    8–100
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: class race and gender politics, sexism in relationships + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, farce, parody/spoof
    Keyword: class race and gender politics, sexism in relationships, sexual violence, vignette, 1990's, media, historical women, meta comedy
    LORENA: a Tabloid Epic spins out of the media hailstorm surrounding Lorena Bobbitt, who became a sensation after she used a kitchen knife against her abusive husband in 1993. The tacky dystopia of American pop culture tumbles onto the stage in a series of funhouse vignettes that know no bounds, while The Playwright desperately tries to protect Lorena from the story which has clearly gotten out of her control.
  • Stand and Wait by Eliana Pipes
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6–10
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 5 more
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    Keyword: Race, racism + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, fantasy, immersive, movement/physical, political, satire
    Keyword: Race, racism, slavery, Genre, Play within a play, anti-black racism, Black America, Surreal, time shifts
    In three acts that descend from broad comedy, through realism, into an antebellum dreamscape, “Stand and Wait” follows a seasoned black actress named Carla who bonds with a naïve white actress in an audition waiting room, only to be handed a script that caters to America's worst racial instincts. After a flurry of satirical twists and turns, they book the job - but on the day of the show Carla learns the...
    In three acts that descend from broad comedy, through realism, into an antebellum dreamscape, “Stand and Wait” follows a seasoned black actress named Carla who bonds with a naïve white actress in an audition waiting room, only to be handed a script that caters to America's worst racial instincts. After a flurry of satirical twists and turns, they book the job - but on the day of the show Carla learns the set was a plantation site, and starts to see ghosts. When she steps out to perform, she finds herself in a cotton field, forced to confront the history that’s haunting her, and her inability to understand her place within it.
  • Stiletto Envy by Eliana Pipes
    Recommendations: 109
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, political + 2 more
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    Keyword: love, LGBTQ + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, political, romantic comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: love, LGBTQ, gender identity, high school
    TEN MINUTE PLAY:
    Melanie asks her old friend Shaun to teach her how to walk in heels before prom. But when their meeting takes an unexpected turn. Melanie is forced to reconcile the fact that her upbringing may be at odds with her heart.
  • CrossTalk by Eliana Pipes
    Recommendations: 31
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, experimental + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, experimental, fantasy
    TEN MINUTE PLAY
    Julius has a very close relationship with Cee - she’s bubbly, she’s captivating, and she’s also his cellphone. When Julius decides to go off the grid for good, Cee fights for her life in a spirited tug of war that illuminates the complex and sometimes painful role that technology plays in our lives.