Rosemary Parrillo
Rosemary Parrillo (she/her) is a New Jersey playwright and journalist. Her work has been performed at festivals and community theaters across the country and in Canada. Her post-9/11 play, “The New Normal Trilogy,” was selected as a semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference in 2017. Her one-act plays, “The Waiting Room” and “Grind City” have won one-act play competitions in New Jersey (The Ritz Theatre Company, 2025) and Dubuque, Iowa (The Dubuque One-Act Festival, 2017), respectively. “The Nature of Stars” was a 2024 finalist for the Tennessee Williams One-Act Contest, marking Parrillo’s fourth finalist placement in the New Orleans competition. It also was performed at the Newmarket International Festival of One-Act Plays in Ontario, where it was also nominated for outstanding script. Her play "On the Road to Tikrit" was produced at the 8 Tens @ 8 Festival at Actors Theatre in Santa Cruz, Ca., and featured in the podcast Sell Yourself Short, by Curtain and Mic Productions. Her new full-length, “Spaghetti Western,” received staged readings at the Waterfront South Theatre in Camden, N.J., and the Theater Project in Cranford, N.J. Also, her screenplay, “Bella Vista,” based on the true story of Italian nationals interned at a prison camp in Missoula, Montana, during WWII, was selected as a semifinalist for the Philadelphia Off Page Film Festival. Parrillo is a member of the Dramatist Guild, the New Play Exchange, The New York Playwrights Group, The Philadelphia Dramatists Center, The Theater Project, Cranford, N.J., Honor Roll Playwrights, and the International Centre for Women Playwrights.
WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
FB:https://www.facebook.com/rosemary.parrillo
IG:https://www.instagram.com/roeparrillo105/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rparrillo105.bsky.social
X: x.com/rparrillo
MORE ABOUT ME:
How do I overcome disappointment? Of course every playwright wants to see their work on stage, wants to advance in competitions, or win contests. But at this point in my life, after having had a full and satisfying career in journalism, I am thankful for the freedom to write what I please and to have such a rich medium in which to explore issues and themes that are important to me. So, at the most basic level, I consider just finishing projects a victory because it's so easy to get discouraged and give up when you're struggling with a work. It takes determination to see it through and not just end up with a drawer full of half-written plays. Then, if I'm satisfried with a script, if I think it adequately expresses what I want to say, I'm good with it, whether anyone else agrees with me or not. Sure, it would be great to get a production, but honestly, I know how difficult that can be considering all the forces that can work against you. So I don't consider rejections as failures, just missed opportunities. Because you won't ever know the reasons why your play doesn't resonate with a script reader, it does little good to beat yourself up. Just keep moving forward. Keep doing the work. Don't get too high or too low. And just appreciate whatever wins that come way.
What I'm working on:
At the moment I'm working on a disability play called "The Big House" about a former physician suffering from advanced MS who has been forced to move into an adaptive housing complex where she is struggling to maintain her independence. Down to only one functioning hand, she is determined to stay out of the "The Big House," the dreaded nursing home that looms up on the hill.
KEYWORDS:
Dark comedy, Social Issues, Political, Magical Realism, Italian-American
