Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

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Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Born 1973 (age 4344)

Washington, D.C.

Occupation Comic book writer, playwright, screenwriter

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (born 1973)[1] is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic

book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series Glee and Big
Love. He is Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics.[2][3]

Contents
[hide]

1Early life
2Career
o 2.1Playwriting
o 2.2Comics
o 2.3Film and television
3Awards
4Works
o 4.1Comics
o 4.2Published plays
o 4.3Television
o 4.4Movies
5Productions
6References
7External links

Early life[edit]
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was born in Washington, D.C., the son of a Nicaraguan diplomat,[4] and
raised in both the United States and Nicaragua.[5] He attended Georgetown Preparatory
School in North Bethesda, MD followed by Georgetown University where he studied playwriting
under Donn B. Murphy. Later he received a Masters Degree in English literature from McGill
University, and graduated from the Yale School of Drama in 2003.[6]
Although he wrote some plays in high school, it was after college, while working as a publicist at
the Shakespeare Theatre, that he had an opportunity to attend a week-long playwriting workshop
under Paula Vogel during her 1998-99 residency at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Vogel had
invited area theaters to send their "resident playwrights" and company director Michael Kahn sent
Aguirre-Sacasa. She told him to "get serious" about writing plays and so he started applying to
graduate programs in playwriting.[7]
Early plays during his first year at Yale include Say You Love Satan, "a romantic comedy spoof of
the Omen movies", and The Muckle Man, "a serious family drama with supernatural overtones";
good reviews on summer productions of those helped him get a professional agent. [7] Rough Magic,
an interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest where Caliban escapes from Prospero's island and
finds himself in present-day New York City, was produced at Yale during his last year there.[7]

Career[edit]
Playwriting[edit]
On April 4, 2003, Dad's Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta was scheduled to debut Aguirre-
Sacasa's new play, Archie's Weird Fantasy, which depicted Riverdale's most famous resident
coming out of the closet and moving to New York. The day before the play was scheduled to
open, Archie Comics issued a cease and desist order, threatening litigation if the play proceeded as
written. Dad's Garage artistic director Sean Daniels said, "The play was to depict Archie and his pals
from Riverdale growing up, coming out and facing censorship. Archie Comics thought if Archie was
portrayed as being gay, that would dilute and tarnish his image." [8] It opened a few days later as
"Weird Comic Book Fantasy" with the character names changed. [9]
Other plays produced in 2003 were The Mystery Plays in New York, which had won a writing award
the previous year from the Kennedy Center, and a hit production of Say You Love Satan at the
2003 New York International Fringe Festival.
Playwriting continued along with comic-book writing, with several productions of new and old works.
In 2006, his semi-autobiographical Based On A Totally True Story (about a comic-book
writer/playwright struggling with new-found success and boyfriend problems) was staged at the
prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club in New York. When asked by The Advocate, "Which came first,
being a comic-book geek or being gay?" he answered, "I would say I was probably a comic-book
geek before I knew anything about being gay or straight. I certainly loved superheroes before I knew
I was gay..." He also noted the play was, "thankfully", not about his current boyfriend.[10]
Good Boys and True, about a graphic sex tape that begins circulating around an all-boys prep
school outside Washington, D.C., premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in winter 2008.[11]
In mid-2009, the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland, premiered his play The Picture of
Dorian Gray, based on the novel by Oscar Wilde. That same year, Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Tonci
Zonjic finished Marvel Comics' Marvel Divas miniseries, and he began working as a writer for
the HBO series Big Love, a position he continued in 2010 during the show's fourth season. [12][13] In
February 2010, he was announced to write the book for the musical adaption of the novel American
Psycho.[14]
South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, presented the premiere of his play Doctor
Cerberus in spring 2010.[15] He also revised Robert Benton's musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's
Superman for the Dallas Theater Center production in Dallas, Texas, in June 2010.[citation needed]
In 2011, Aguirre-Sacasa was approached by the producers of the troubled Broadway
musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark to help rewrite its script.[16][17][18]
In May 2011, Aguirre-Sacasa was hired as a co-producer and writer of Glee.[19] Two months laters,
he was hired to write the comic book Archie meets Glee, scheduled to be published in 2013.[20]
London's Almeida Theatre said in April 2013 that Aguirre-Sacasa is writing the script for a musical
based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel American Psycho, to run December 3, 2013, to January 25,
2014.[21]
Comics[edit]
Aguirre-Sacasa grew up liking comic books, recalling in 2003, "My mom would take us out to the 7-
Eleven on River Road during the summer, and we would get Slurpees and buy comics off the
spinning rack. I would read them all over and over again, and draw my own pictures and stuff." [7] He
began writing for Marvel Comics, he explained, when "Marvel hired an editor to find new writers, and
they hired her from a theatrical agency. So she started calling theaters and asking if they knew any
playwrights who might be good for comic books. A couple of different theaters said she should look
at me. So she called me, I sent her a couple of my plays and she said "Great, would you like to pitch
on a couple of comic books in the works?" [7]
His first submissions were "not what [they were] interested in for the character[s]" but eventually he
was signed for the Fantastic Four, with the first issues published early in 2004. The 11-
page Fantastic Four story "The True Meaning of..." was in the Marvel Holiday Special 2004.[22] He
went on to write Fantastic Four stories in Marvel Knights 4, a spinoff of that superhero team's long-
running title; and stories for Nightcrawler vol. 3; The Sensational Spider-Man vol. 2; and Dead of
Night featuring Man-Thing.[23]
In May 2008 Aguirre-Sacasa returned to the Fantastic Four with a miniseries tie-in to the company-
wide "Secret Invasion" storyline concerning a years-long infiltration of Earth by the shape-shifting
alien race, the Skrulls [24] and an Angel Revelations miniseries with artists Barry Kitson and Adam
Polina, respectively.[12] He adapted for comics the Stephen King novel The Stand.
In 2013, he created Afterlife with Archie, depicting Archie Andrews in the midst of a zombie
apocalypse; the book's success led to Aguirre-Sacasa being named Archie Comics' chief creative
officer.[2]
Film and television[edit]
Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the screen adaptation of the remake of Stephen King's Carrie, released in
October 2013. In June 2013 was scheduled to write Warner Bros.' planned live-action Archie
movie.[25] He also wrote The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014 film) the sequel of the cult-classic
horror film The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
Aguirre-Sacasa wrote for television episodes of Glee, Big Love and Looking. He is the series
developer of Riverdale.

Awards[edit]
In 2002, The Mystery Plays received the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for
New American Plays.[5] He received GLAAD Media Award nominations for Golden Age[15] and for Say
You Love Satan,[15] with the latter also winning a New York International Fringe Festival Excellence in
Playwriting Award.[26] He tied for a Harvey Award for Best New Talent for his work on Marvel Knights
Four.[27]

Works[edit]
Comics[edit]

Marvel Knights 4 #127 (April 2004 April 2006), continued

as Four #2830 (May 2006 July 2006)
Nightcrawler #112 (Nov. 2004 Jan. 2006)
The Sensational Spider-Man vol. 2, #2340 (July 2006 Oct. 2007)
Dead of Night featuring Man-Thing #1, 4 (April & July 2008)
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #13 (JulySept. 2008)
Angel: Revelations #15 (JulyNov. 2008)
The Stand: Captain Trips #15 (early Dec. 2008 March 2009)
 The Stand: American Nightmares #15 (MayOct. 2009)
Marvel Divas #14 (Sept.Dec. 2009)
The Stand: Soul Survivors #15 (Dec. 2009 May 2010)
The Stand: Hardcases #15 (Aug. 2010 Jan. 2011)
Loki vol. 2, #14 (four-issue miniseries) (Dec. 2010 - May 2011)
The Stand: No Man's land #15 (AprilAug. 2011)
The Stand: The Night Has Come #16 (Oct. 2011 March 2012)
Archie Meets Glee #641-644 (March 2013 - June 2013)
Afterlife with Archie #1 - present (Oct. 2013present)
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #1 - present (Oct. 2014present)
Published plays[edit]

The Mystery Plays, Dramatists Play Service, 2005, ISBN 978-0-

8222-2038-1
Say You Love Satan, Dramatists Play Service, 2005, ISBN 978-0-
8222-2039-8
Based on a Totally True Story, Dramatists Play Service, 2008, ISBN
978-0-8222-2224-8
Dark Matters, Dramatists Play Service, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8222-
2218-7
Good Boys and True, Dramatists Play Service, 2009, ISBN 978-0-
8222-2318-4
King of Shadows, Dramatists Play Service, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8222-
2356-6
The Muckle Man, Dramatists Play Service, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8222-
2333-7
Rough Magic, Dramatists Play Service, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8222-
2332-0
The Velvet Sky, Dramatists Play Service, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8222-
2331-3
The Weird : a collection of short horror and pulp plays, Dramatists
Play Service, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8222-2255-2
Television[edit]

Big Love (2009, staff writer; 2010, story editor; 2011, co-producer)
3.05 "For Better or for Worse" (written by) (February 15, 2009)
4.03 "Strange Bedfellows" (written by) (January 24, 2010)
5.09 "Exorcism" (written by) (March 13, 2011)
Glee (20112014, staff writer, co-producer)
3.05 "The First Time" (written by) (November 8, 2011)
3.14 "On My Way" (written by) (February 21, 2012)
4.06 "Glease" (written by) (November 15, 2012)
4.16 "Feud" (written by) (March 14, 2013)
5.06 "Movin' Out" (written by) (November 21, 2013)
5.18 "The Back-Up Plan" (written by) (April 29, 2014)
Looking (2015, writer, co-executive producer)
2.04 "Looking Down the Road" (written by) (February 8, 2015)
2.09 "Looking for Sanctuary" (written by) (March 15, 2015)
 Supergirl (20152016, writer, supervising producer)
1.04 "Livewire" (written by) (November 16, 2015)
1.08 "Hostile Takeover" (written by) (December 14, 2015)
1.12 "Bizarro" (written by) (February 1, 2016)
Riverdale (2017, developer, showrunner, writer, executive producer)
1.01 "Chapter One: The River's Edge " (written for television
by) (January 26, 2017)
1.02 "Chapter Two: A Touch of Evil " (written by) (February 2,
2017)
Movies[edit]

Carrie - October 2013

The Town That Dreaded Sundown - 2014

Productions[edit]
Morning Becomes Olestra, Cherry Red Productions[28]
The Ten Minute Play About Rosemary's Baby, July 11, 2001,
Summer Camp 7 Fest at Soho Rep, New York City, New York[1]
Say You Love Satan, September 14, 2001, Dad's Garage Theatre
Company, Atlanta, Georgia[1]
The Muckle Man, August 8, 2001, Source Theatre Company,
Washington, DC.[29]
Weird Comic Book Fantasy, April 2003, Dad's Garage Theatre
Company, Atlanta, Georgia[9]
Rough Magic, April 24, 2003, Yale School of Drama New Haven,
CT[30]
The Mystery Plays, June 21, 2003, Second Stage Theater at
McGinn/Cazale Theatre, New York, New York[1]
Dark Matters, December 3, 2003, Source Theatre Company,
Washington, D.C.[31]
Golden Age, 2005, Horse Trade Theater Group/Tobacco bar
Theatre Company at[Kraine Theater, New York, New York [1]
Rough Magic (world premiere), July 29, 2005, Hanger
Theatre, Ithaca, NY[30]
The Velvet Sky, January 30, 2006, Woolly Mammoth Theatre,
Washington D.C.[1]
Bloody Mary, April 6, 2006, The Thursday Problem at 45th Street
Theatre, New York, New York[1]
Based on a Totally True Story, April 11, 2006, Manhattan Theatre
Club, New York, New York[1]
King of Shadows, 2006, The Working Theater, Arena Stage,
Washington, D.C.[1]
The Muckle Man (revised), January 25, 2007, City
Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[4]
Rough Magic (revised), January 27, 2007, Rorschach Theatre at
Casa del Pueblo Methodist Church, Washington D,C.[1]
The Picture Of Dorian Gray September 9, 2009, Round House
Theatre, Bethesda, Maryland[1]
 Doctor Cerberus, April 11, 2010, South Coast Repertory, Costa
Mesa, California[15]
It's a Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman! (revised book), June 18,
2010, Dallas Theater Center Dallas, TX,[32]
The Weird, January 19, 2012, 12 Peers Theater, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania[33]

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k "Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (1973 - )". The
Playwright's Database. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016.
Retrieved January 27, 2017.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Gustines, George Gene (March 2, 2014). "Archie
Comic Picks Film and TV Writer for Top Creative Post". The New York
Times. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
3. Jump up^ Nagy, Evie (8 April 2014). "How Archie Comics' New Chief
Creative Officer Is Reimagining Riverdale". Fast
Company. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016.
Retrieved November 6, 2014.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b O'Driscoll, Bill (January 18, 2007). "Roberto Aguirre-
Sacasa's Imaginary Folklore Drives 'The Muckle Man'". Pittsburgh City
Paper.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b "Author Biographies". Dramatists Play Service.
Retrieved May 20, 2011.
6. Jump up^ "Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa". Prism Comics. Archived
from the original on April 23, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2008.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Bugg, Sean (11 December 2003). "Other Worlds:
Playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Fantastic Journeys". Metro
Weekly. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
8. Jump up^ Hicks, Cinque (April 9, 2003). "Fallen Archies | Off Script |
Creative Loafing Atlanta". Atlanta.creativeloafing.com.
Retrieved August 16, 2010.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b Holman, Curt (2003-04-16). "Arch humor: Fantasy
sends comic characters into real world". Creative Loafing.
Retrieved 2012-10-28.
10. Jump up^ "SuperPowered", The Advocate (961): 59, April 25,
2006, ISSN 0001-8996
11. Jump up^ Walat, Kathryn (April 2008). "Sex, Lies, and Videotape la
Aguirre-Sacasa". The Brooklyn Rail.
12. ^ Jump up to:a b Phegley, Kiel (March 10, 2008). "Marvel Mondays:
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four". Wizard Entertainment.
13. Jump up^ "Whatever knows fear...". Broken Frontier. February 7,
2008.
14. Jump up^ Cox, Gordon (February 2, 2010). "'American Psycho'
Musical Takes Shape". Variety.
15. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "Ryback & Culp Reprise Roles in South Coast
Rep's 'Dr. Cerberus'". BroadwayWorld.com. March 25, 2010.
Retrieved 2011-03-10.
16. Jump up^ "'Spider-Man' Producers Have Their Eye on Script Doctor
with Superhero Credentials". The New York Times. February 16, 2011.
17. Jump up^ Friedman, Roger (February 21, 2011). "Spider Man
Musical Not Getting New Director or Writer, Says Julie Taymor".
ShowBiz411.com.
 18. Jump up^ Healy, Patrick (March 9, 2011). "Precipitous Fall for
'Spider-Man' Director". The New York Times. p. A23 of New York City
edition.
19. Jump up^ Fleming, Mike. "Broadway Spider-Man Re-Writer Tackles
'Glee' And 'Carrie' Remake", Deadline.com, May 19, 2011
20. Jump up^ Phegley, Kiel (2012-07-09). "Jon Goldwater Talks 'Archie
Meets Glee'". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
21. Jump up^ ""American Psycho" musical to get British premiere in
2013". Reuters. April 20, 2013.
22. Jump up^ Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at the Grand Comics Database
23. Jump up^ "Aguirre-Sacasa talks Dead of Night featuring Man-
Thing". Comic Book Resources. February 13, 2008.
24. Jump up^ "Brevoort announces Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four
limited series (among others)". Comicboards.com. February 16, 2008.
25. Jump up^ Finke, Nikki; Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 6, 2013). "Archie
Comics Movie Deal Set at Warner Bros: High School Comedy With
Zombies? Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to Write, Jason Moore to Direct,
Roy Lee-Dan Lin Producing". Deadline.com. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
26. Jump up^ Jones, Kenneth (2006-02-14). "Casting Complete for
MTC's Totally True Story, a World Premiere". Playbill. Retrieved 2011-
03-10.
27. Jump up^ "2006 Harvey Awards". Retrieved 2013-01-01.
28. Jump up^ "[List of] Cherry Red Productions". Cherry Red
Productions. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015.
Retrieved January 27, 2017.
29. Jump up^ Jones, Kenneth (August 8, 2001). "Muckle Man Emerges
from the Sea for DC World Premiere". Playbill. Retrieved January
1, 2013.
30. ^ Jump up to:a b Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (2009). Rough Magic.
Dramatists Play Service.
31. Jump up^ "Dark Matters by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa". About The
Artists, The Production History of the World.
32. Jump up^ "Translation/Adaptation of It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's
Superman by Charles Strouse". About The Artists, The Production
History of the World.
33. Jump up^ "The Weird by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa", 12 Peers Theater

External links[edit]
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at the Comic Book DB
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at the Internet Movie Database
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at the Grand Comics Database

Marvel Spotlight: David Finch/Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (March

2006)
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa video interview by The Playwright Working
in the Theatre CUNY-TV/American Theatre Wing, December 2006

Preceded by
Man-Thing writer Succeeded by
Hans
2008 current
Rodionoff

ldCat Identities
 F: 120343929
CN: no2002008840
I: 0000 0000 7805 4691
DOC: 144709694
F: cb150603645 (data)
Categories:
1973 births
Living people
American comics writers
Gay writers
Georgetown University alumni
LGBT comics creators
Yale School of Drama alumni
Harvey Award winners for Best New Talent
American people of Nicaraguan descent
LGBT dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male screenwriters
American male dramatists and playwrights
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