Paloma Sierra
Writer | Director | Poet
Bio
Paloma Sierra is a writer-director who crafts captivating musicals, bilingual narratives, and poetry for theater and film. She has developed shows at renowned venues like Edinburgh Fringe and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Her videopoem “I Am Soil Breaking Off” received international acclaim, winning the inaugural ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival Grand Prize. Shortlisted by the Writers Guild, Dramatists Guild, and Sloan Foundation, her work across stage and film led her to an appointment as the first Emerging Poet Laureate of Allegheny County. She holds an MFA/BHA from Carnegie Mellon.
Paloma Sierra cemented her love for storytelling from a young age by reading picture books and puzzling her way through poetry. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, the trova tradition—which marries poetry with storytelling, performance, and improvisation—inspires her practice. Her passion for stories fusing words, music, and visuals not only got her stuck in her school’s library once, but also led her to complete an MFA and BHA at Carnegie Mellon, and studies in theater translation as a Fulbright scholar.
Trained in writing, direction, design, and performance, Paloma leverages her multidisciplinary experience to develop new plays, musicals, and operas alongside emerging and established artists. In consulting creative teams, Paloma has developed 18+ theater shows, including Tlaloc Rivas’ “The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano” (Edinburgh Fringe), Samora La Perdida’s “Spanglish Sh!t” (Berkeley Rep), Malique Guinn’s “Bounty on Our Heads” (Kennedy Center), and original musicals like “Cola’o: A Bilingual Trova” (Theatre Now New York).
She directed three animated shorts as the first Emerging Poet Laureate of Allegheny County. Her short “I Am Soil Breaking Off” received various accolades at multiple festivals across Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, including the inaugural ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival Grand Prize.
By taking words beyond the page, Paloma explores how words can surpass the limitations of language. In developing innovative arts programming, Paloma encourages companies to increase opportunities for multilingual narratives, and motivates audiences to engage with culturally immersive experiences.
Paloma has worked with Santa Cruz Shakespeare, New Hazlett Theater, Conch Shell Productions, and City of Asylum; published with Azahares Literary Magazine, Persephone’s Daughters, and Poetry Film Live; and been shortlisted by the Writers Guild Foundation, Dramatists Guild Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation. She is a proud alum of The Fornés Playwriting Workshop, the Academy for New Musical Theatre, and Eberly Center’s Future Faculty Program.
Paloma currently lives in London, UK, as she completes an MA in Directing from LAMDA.
Credits
Film
I Am Soil Breaking Off
Director, Writer
¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival Grand Prize, 2021
+ 2nd Best Poetry Film, Down East Flick Fest, 2021
+ Special Mention, Festival Fotogenia, 2021
Every Word I Say to You
Director, Writer
FUSE - Film Under Severe Experiment, 2022
+ 10th International Video Poetry Festival, 2022
Let This Be
Director, Writer
BronxNet TV Free Form Binge, 2022
Acting for the Camera
Assistant Director
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, 2017 – 2019
F*ck Birthdays
Lighting Design
2019
Teaching Yourself How to Die Fast
Art Director, Set Decorator
2017
Gazebo
Art Director, Set Decorator
2017
(in)alienable
Art Director, Set Decorator
2017
Stage
The Taming of the Shrew
Director, Writer
Santa Cruz Shakespeare, 2023
Adults
Director, Translator
National Women's Theatre Festival, 2023
Spanglish Sh!t
Dramaturg
Berkeley Repertory Theater: The Ground Floor, 2023
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano
Dramaturg
New Hazlett Theater / Edinburgh Fringe, 2021
Close (But Not Too Close!)
Book Writer
New Ohio Theatre Indie Theatre Film Festival, 2022
+ Project Y Theatre Company, 2021
+ New Musicals Inc., 2020
Cola'o: A Bilingual Trova
Book Writer, Lyricist
Theatre Now New York Sound Bites, 2022
+ City Theatre Miami National Short Play Award Finalist, 2020
+ Metropolitan Playhouse’s East Side Village, 2020
Rosa: The Day of the Dead
Librettist
White Snake Projects, 2022
BuT yOuR eNgLiSh Is So GoOd!
Writer
Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, 2023
+ Poetic Theater Productions's Poetic Open Sessions, 2019
+ Carnegie Mellon MLK Jr. Writing Awards, 2019
Fuga
Director, Co-Translator
Carnegie Mellon Playground, 2017
Poetry
Antología Versos en el Aire XIII
Azahares Literary Magazine, March 2023, "For The Ones They Took Away"
Azahares Literary Magazine, March 2023, "Seré un pelotero grandioso"
Azahares Literary Magazine, March 2023, "I Am Soil Breaking Off"
Moving Poems, September 2022, "I Am Soil Breaking Off"
The Bookends Review, August 2022, "I Am Soil Breaking Off"
Moving Poems: Best Poetry Videos on the Web, August 2022, "Every Word I Say to You"
Nature & Culture Poetry Film Anthology, 2021, "I Am Soil Breaking Off"
Poetry Film Live, 2021, "Let This Be"
Bridge: The Bluffton University Literary Journal, Spring 2019, "Cola’o: A Bilingual Trova"
Persephone’s Daughters, Fall 2018, "Where There’s Was Fire, Ashes Remain"
What They're Saying
Paloma has an incredibly efficient method of analyzing any situation or task and finding the best possible way (...) to achieve the desired result. Part of this is her excellent communication skill, and part of this is her genuine love of the puzzle.
— Christian Fleming, Designer
her analytical relationship with language gives her work immediacy, her calibrated sense of irony gives it bite, and the pressure she puts on formal boundaries (...) a reckless irreverence
— Rob Handel, Librettist
totally engaging and gorgeous
— Diana Burbano, Playwright
unexpected, funny, and entertaining
— Cora Frank, Director
wide-ranging in form and witty in tone
— Leyendo LatAm
Press
2022
2021
Orlando Sentinel, November 2021, "Joven puertorriqueña gana competencia de cine '¡Tú Cuentas!'"
The Young-Howze Theater Journal, March 2021, "Close But Not Too Close Made Us Beg for More"
2020
Carnegie Mellon University, September 2020, "Across the Cut: Paloma Sierra"
Pittsburgh Today Live, January 2020, "Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Competition Winners"