“Lina Patel is that rare playwright who not only excites and entertains but proves over and again that a sharp intellect and the desire to explore ideas make for great theatre.”
– Jamil Khoury, Co-Executive Artistic Director, Silk Road Rising
THEATRE
SELECTED PLAYS
Full-Legth
TRACES OF DESIRE
A commission from UCLA and Playwright's Arena, "Traces of Desire", is a loose adaptation of the 15th-century commedia, "The Widow of Valencia" by Félix Lope de Vega. Exploring themes of female agency, transgression, and prejudice, the play asks, can desire be inherited?
To be published by Bloomsbury Books, 2024
SANKALPAN
A loose adaptation of Three Sisters set in pre-Partition Bengal.
RAGGED CLAWS
When Alec, the adopted Indian son of a power couple questions his mother's politics, family pain tumbles forth, like the tsunami about to consume Manhattan.
BONOBOS
Four women extricate a friend from a bad relationship. Chaos ensues. A darkly comedic telenovela for the stage, Bonobos looks at female friendships and loyalty and wonders, why can’t two wrongs equal a right?
SELECTED PLAYS
Short Plays
KARMA
A washed up ad exec shows up at her former assistants house on Thanksgiving.
THE RANDOMNESS OF BEES
A journey of friendship between two tweens.
Available now in the anthology ALL OF US published by YouthPLAYS.
SWEET LIFE
Three misfits find community at a convenience store in a Texas town.
WIN
A couple is detained at LAX for dubious reasons.
INVOLUNTARY
Two liberals question their politics while setting up a polling station.
CANARY
Two cops get personal during a homicide investigation
On television, Lina has written for CW’s Frequency, DC’s Krypton, and Ava DuVernay’s Cherish the Day.