Originally an actor, Marissa Alaniz fell into playwriting out of frustration with the female characters she was always cast as or was reading for. Focusing on big questions, her work lives in the world of dark comedy and often explore queerness, trauma, and misfits. She holds an Associate's degree from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she received an award for Excellence in Drama from the Lee Strasberg studio. She is a founding member of the Imaginarium Theater Company, which advocates for equity and sustainability in the theater. She is currently working towards her MFA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.