Diego Lanao

Diego Lanao

Diego Lanao is a Peruvian American writer who has studied playwriting at HB Studio under Julie McKee and Eduardo Machado. He is a proud 2024 NALAC Fund for the Arts recipient, member of the Latinx Playwrights Circle (2023 Summer Dramatists Guild Fellow) and The Ensemble Studio Theatre LA's New West Playwrights Group. Most recently, his play, Waitin’ for Gato, was selected as a Semifinalist for the 2024...
Diego Lanao is a Peruvian American writer who has studied playwriting at HB Studio under Julie McKee and Eduardo Machado. He is a proud 2024 NALAC Fund for the Arts recipient, member of the Latinx Playwrights Circle (2023 Summer Dramatists Guild Fellow) and The Ensemble Studio Theatre LA's New West Playwrights Group. Most recently, his play, Waitin’ for Gato, was selected as a Semifinalist for the 2024 Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference and for the 2024 Sin Muros Latinx Theater Festival for STAGES in Houston, TX. His playwriting has been developed and featured at: SolFest Latiné Theater Festival, AMT Theater New Work Development Program, Teatro Chelsea in Boston, The Barrow Group Performing Arts in New York, Latinx Playwrights Circle Fresh Draft Series and South Texas College Theater. His TV episodic pilot, THE RIGHT ONE ALIVE, was selected for the 2024 STARZ Writers' Intensive Program, 2023 NHMC Series Script Writers Program and placed on the 2022 Latinx List x The Black List. He was also named a TV writer finalist for the 2022 NBCUniversal Writers on the Launch Program and a writer finalist for the 3rd Annual NOSOTROS & NBC Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Showcase. He earned a B.A. in Biology with a Joint Minor in Computer Science and Mathematics from NYU.

Plays

  • Waitin' For Gato by Diego Lanao
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Latinx actors, Afro-Latino + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, parody/spoof
    Keyword: Latinx actors, Afro-Latino, nightclub, 2000's new york, South Bronx, Waiting for Godot, Latinx experiences, time, Samuel Beckett
    Three Latino men attempt to enter a South Bronx nightclub to watch the legendary reggaeton artist, Serio Loco, perform live.
    However, the hostess and guardian of the nightclub refuses to let them in.
    ...unless they find Gato and convince him to come inside the club.
  • Should We Grow Up? by Diego Lanao
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: diverse cast, COVID + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: diverse cast, COVID, filmmaking, a play with music, social media, adult relationships, actors falling in love, heartbreak, critical decision, Crossroads
    Three interconnected artistic couples around the U.S. have their worlds turned upside down during the COVID-19 pandemic. Awakening them abruptly to reality and forcing them to reflect on the future of their creative careers and relationships as they struggle to complete a movie during quarantine.
  • Just One of those Weird Days... by Diego Lanao
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Latinx, bilingual + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: Latinx, bilingual, Muslim Americans, Pakistani-Americans, a political, love, Relationships, forgiveness and home
    A Peruvian American woman witnesses her work superior racially targeting a young Muslim teenage girl. Out of guilt for remaining silent, she reaches out to the teenager to apologize. This interaction launches a journey of rediscovering her own identity and culture as she dissociates herself from her once "normal" life.
  • Before We Focus on Others by Diego Lanao
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Latinx, bilingual + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Latinx, bilingual, therapist and patient, therapy and therapist, broken marriage, social media
    An overly confident relationship counselor's life is unexpectedly shifted when his wife announces she wants a divorce. Forcing him to seek advice from his children...and a different relationship therapist. The play explores marital issues, therapy and the search for forgiveness through the lens of a Latinx family.