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Nancy García Loza headshot

Nancy García Loza

Playwright

Nancy García Loza (she/her/ella) is an award-winning, self-taught, and self-proclaimed pocha playwright rooted in Chicago, Illinois and Jalisco, México. Her play, Pénjamo: A Pocha Road Trip Story, is a new commission by the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA), with major support by the National Endowment for the Arts and a 2022 Joyce Award. She is also currently developing work for Steppenwolf Theatre Company and has received recognition from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals ArtsForward Award, the Dramatists' Guild Council's Lanford Wilson Award, and American Theatre magazine’s podcast series, “The Subtext.”

Her audio drama Brava, a folktale con música launched Make-Believe Association’s inaugural podcast season (with mention from The New York Times), receiving six nominations in six categories at the 2019 Alliance of Latinx Theater Artists of Chicago Awards and winning in the category of “Outstanding Original Music in a Play” for her song "Corrido de la Brava." 

García Loza has enjoyed residencies with and development support from Goodman Theatre’s New Stages, Future Labs, and Playwrights Unit, respectively; Steppenwolf; The New Harmony Project; Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Black Swan Lab; SPACE on Ryder Farm; The Inception Project with Paramount Theatre (with support by Chicago Latino Theater Alliance); University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Fornés Playwriting Workshop; Chicago Dramatists Tutterow Fellowship; Association of Performing Arts Professionals; and more. In 2022 she was recognized by the Dramatists Guild Council (NYC) with the Lanford Wilson Award for Emerging Playwrights. 

García Loza writes from instinct, plays by ear, and is urgently determined to bring the pocha experience—in all its complexity, rawness, and lyricism—to the stage. She has been writing from her Chicagolandia kitchen for twelve years. She is Mexican American, no hyphen.  

Nancy García Loza's Website
Six people sitting on a multi-level platform under a spotlight in stage. "Rust" workshop production for Goodman Theatre’s New Stages Festival, 2022, Photo by Rich Hein.

Featured Artworks

  • Two people sitting at a wooden picnic table on a stage set. BULL: A Love Story World premiere at Paramount Theatre, Aurora, IL, featuring cast members Eddie Martinez and Jocelyn Zamudio. October 2022. Photo by Liz Lauren.
  • Two people singing and dancing on a stage set. BULL: A Love Story World premiere at Paramount Theatre, Aurora, IL, featuring cast members Alexandra Casillas and Kelsey Elyse Rodriguez. October 2022. Photo by Liz Lauren.
  • A person with a face mask talking through a microphone. Rehearsal, BULL: A Love Story Photo by Tom King.
  • Three people hugging under a spotlight on a dark stage. Rust Workshop production for Goodman Theatre’s New Stages Festival, 2022, Photo by Rich Hein.
  • Two people hugging under a spotlight on a dark stage. Rust Workshop production for Goodman Theatre’s New Stages Festival, 2022, Photo by Rich Hein.
  • Two people standing under a spotlight on stage. One person is holding a bundle of colorful balloons and the other is holding a stick with hanging hats. WAVE, 2021 World premiere at Theater for Young Audiences at Teatro Leyden, IL.
  • Two people sitting in a spotlight on the edge of a stage talking to each other. WAVE, 2021 World premiere at Theater for Young Audiences at Teatro Leyden, IL.