BIOGRAPHY
Owen Panettieri is a three-time Finalist and invited Guest Writer for the National Playwrights Conference for his plays I'm Looking Forward to Tomorrow (2022), This Girl Is Magic (2019) and Whatever the Weather (2017). He is a resident playwright with New Light Theater Project, which has produced his plays The Lights Are On (2023), Meaningful Conversation (2018) and A Burial Place (2016) in NYC. Additional plays include Who’s There? (The Fresh Fruit Festival’s 2018 Outwright Developmental Play Reading Selection), Vestments of the Gods (Overall Excellence in Ensemble, 2014 FringeNYC) and The Timing of a Day (Outstanding New Play 2010, Talkin' Broadway, Summer Theatre Festival Citations).
His short plays produced across the United States include More Than a Memory, Processing, Searching, Our View From Paradise, Calendar Girl, A Charmed Life, Two Hearts Intertwined and The President is Gay! (And Other Delicious Scandals). Mr. Panettieri was a contributing Writer/Performer for four seasons with The Nitestar Program creating original health education theater pieces for primary school, secondary school and college audiences. He co-wrote the web series, Legally Brown: The Search for the Next Piragua Guy with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Most recently, Mr. Panettieri was a Story Consultant on Disney's Encanto (2022 Academy Award Winner - Best Animated Feature). Additionally, he assisted Mr. Miranda on the animated feature Vivo for Sony Animation, now available on Netflix and the upcoming Disney feature film Mufasa: The Lion King, in theaters nationwide Dec 20, 2024.
Mr. Panettieri has worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Miranda Family for over 15 years and is currently the Director of Development at 5000 Broadway Productions. Founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda, 5000 Broadway Productions is committed to uplifting diverse and underrepresented voices both in front of and behind the camera, in addition to making the world of theater more accessible to the masses. The team, led by Miranda and overseen by Mr. Panettieri, released Miranda’s film directorial debut tick, tick… BOOM! for Netflix in 2021. The film received two 2022 Academy Award nominations and was selected as one of the Top 10 Films of 2021 by the American Film Institute. Other recent critically-acclaimed projects include the 2021 release of Warner Bros. In The Heights, the multiple Emmy Award-winning filmed production of Hamilton for Disney+, and the multiple Emmy Award-winning limited series Fosse/Verdon on F/X. Mr. Panettieri is a Co-Producer on the 2023 feature film Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and an Executive Producer on the documentary feature Going Varsity in Mariachi which premiered at the 2023 Sundance FIlm Festival.
Mr. Panettieri is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Conservatory Program at The Actors Center. He is a member of Playwrights Gallery Writers Group. He lives with his husband and dog in NYC.