Paloma Sierra

Writer | Director | Poet

Photo by Fer Devincenzi

Bio

Paloma Sierra is a writer-director who develops award-winning bilingual musical narratives, and reimagines poetry through theater and film. She has developed 18+ shows at renowned venues like Edinburgh Fringe and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Her first short “I Am Soil Breaking Off” received accolades from multiple international film festivals, including the inaugural ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival Grand Prize. Her work across stage and film has been shortlisted by the Writers Guild Foundation, Dramatists Guild Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation, and got her appointed 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, 20172019


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

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