Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (born 1973) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work for

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and for the television series ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' (2011–2014), ''

Big Love ''Big Love'' is an American drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer that aired on HBO from 2006 to 2011. It stars Bill Paxton as the patriarch of a Mormon fundamentalism, fundamentalist Mor ...

'' (2009–2011), '' Riverdale'' (2017–2023), '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' (2018–2020) and ''

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'' (2022–2024). He is chief creative officer of

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

Early life

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa grew up in Washington, D.C., the son of the senior Nicaraguan World Bank official turned

Nicaraguan Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America after Guatemala and ...

Ambassador to the US (1997–2000) and later Foreign Minister (2000–2002) Francisco Javier Aguirre Sacasa and Maria de los Angeles Sacasa Arguello y Gomez Arguello, both Nicaraguan nationals. Aguirre-Sacasa received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and later a master's degree in English literature from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

; he then graduated from the Yale School of Drama in 2003. 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. ''Rough Magic'', an interpretation of Shakespeare's ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' in which Caliban escapes from Prospero's island and finds himself in present-day New York City, was produced at Yale during his last year there. Although he wrote some plays in high school, it was after college, while working as a publicist at the Shakespeare Theatre, that Aguirre-Sacasa had an opportunity to attend a week-long playwriting workshop under Paula Vogel at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He recalled in 2003 that Vogel held one of her periodic playwriting "boot camps" in the area:

Career

Playwriting

On April 4, 2003, Dad's Garage Theatre Company in

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was scheduled to debut Aguirre-Sacasa's new play, ''Archie's Weird Fantasy'', which depicted Riverdale's most famous resident

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

of the closet and moving to New York. The day before the play was scheduled to open,

issued a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

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." It opened a few days later as "Weird Comic Book Fantasy" with the character names changed. Aguirre-Sacasa would later develop the ''Riverdale'' television series as well as becoming

' chief creative officer. 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 The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

, and a hit production of ''Say You Love Satan'' at the 2003

New York International Fringe Festival The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It took place over the course of a few weeks in October, spread on more than 20 stages across se ...

. 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 An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard 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. ''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. In mid-2009, the Round House Theatre in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, premiered his play ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', based on the novel by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

. That same year, Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Tonci Zonjic finished Marvel Comics' '' Marvel Divas'' miniseries, and he began working as a writer for the

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series ''

'', a position he continued in 2010 during the show's fourth season. In February 2010, he was announced to write the book for the musical adaption of the novel ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a black comedy horror novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the First-person narrative, first-person by Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic, and vain Manhattan investmen ...

''. South Coast Repertory in

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...

, presented the premiere of his play ''Doctor Cerberus'' in spring 2010. 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 Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, in June 2010. 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. In May 2011, Aguirre-Sacasa was hired as a co-producer and writer of ''

''. Two months later, he was hired to write the comic book '' Archie meets Glee'', published in 2013. In April 2013, Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the book for a musical based on

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author and screenwriter. Ellis was one of the literary Brat Pack (literary), Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique as a writer is the expression of extreme acts ...

's novel ''American Psycho'', which ran in London from December 3, 2013, to January 25, 2014. It later transferred and ran on Broadway for 27 previews and 54 performances

Comics

Aguirre-Sacasa grew up liking comic books, recalling in 2003, "My mom would take us out to the

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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." He began writing for

, 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?'" His first submissions were "not what

hey were Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

interested in for the character but eventually he was assigned an 11-page

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

story, "The True Meaning of...," for the ''Marvel Holiday Special 2004''.Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

He went on to write Fantastic Four stories in '' Marvel Knights 4'', a spinoff of that

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

team's long-running title; and stories for '' Nightcrawler'' vol. 3; ''

The Sensational Spider-Man ''The Sensational Spider-Man'' is a comic book series starring Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) published by Marvel Comics for 35 issues (#0–33, with #−1 published in July 1997 between #17 and 18), from January 1996 until November 1998. Publication ...

'' vol. 2; and '' Dead of Night featuring Man-Thing''. In May 2008 Aguirre-Sacasa returned to the Fantastic Four with a miniseries tie-in to the company-wide "

Secret Invasion "Secret Invasion" is a comic book fictional crossover, crossover storyline written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu, that ran through a self-titled eight-issue Limited series (comics), limited series and several ti ...

" storyline concerning a years-long infiltration of Earth by the shape-shifting alien race, the Skrulls, and an ''Angel Revelations'' miniseries with artists Barry Kitson and Adam Polina, respectively. He adapted for comics the

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

novel '' The Stand''. In 2013, he created '' Afterlife with Archie'', depicting Archie Andrews in the midst of a

zombie apocalypse Zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Usually, only a few individuals or small bands of human survivors are left living. There are many d ...

; the book's success led to Aguirre-Sacasa being named

' chief creative officer.

Film and television

Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the screen adaptation of the remake of

's '' Carrie'', released in October 2013. In June 2013 was scheduled to write

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

' planned live-action Archie movie. He also wrote '' The Town That Dreaded Sundown'', a metasequel to the cult-classic horror film of the same name. Aguirre-Sacasa wrote for television episodes of ''

'', ''

'' and ''

Looking Looking is the act of intentionally focusing visual perception on someone or something, for the purpose of obtaining information, and possibly to convey Interest (emotion), interest or another sentiment. A large number of Troponymy, troponyms ex ...

''. In addition, he is the series developer of '' Riverdale'', '' Katy Keene'', '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' and '' Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin''.

Awards

He received

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

nominations for ''Golden Age'' and for ''Say You Love Satan'', with the latter also winning a

Excellence in Playwriting Award. He tied for a

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

for Best New Talent for his work on '' Marvel Knights Four''. In 2020, Aguirre-Sacasa was awarded an Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for his work as an "Outstanding Executive Producer".

Works

Comics

* ''Spider-Man 2: The Official Comic Book Adaptation'' (2004) * '' Marvel Knights 4'' #1–27 (April 2004 – April 2006), continued as ''Four'' #28–30 (May 2006 – July 2006) * ''Fantastic Four: Season One'' (2012) * '' Nightcrawler'' #1–12 (Nov. 2004 – Jan. 2006) * ''

'' vol. 2, #23–40 (July 2006 – Oct. 2007) * '' Dead of Night featuring Man-Thing'' #1, 4 (April & July 2008) * ''

'' #1–3 (July–Sept. 2008) * '' Angel: Revelations'' #1–5 (July–Nov. 2008) * '' The Stand: Captain Trips'' #1–5 (early Dec. 2008 – March 2009) * ''The Stand: American Nightmares'' #1–5 (May–Oct. 2009) * '' Marvel Divas'' #1–4 (Sept.–Dec. 2009) * ''The Stand: Soul Survivors'' #1–5 (Dec. 2009 – May 2010) * ''The Stand: Hardcases'' #1–5 (Aug. 2010 – Jan. 2011) * ''Avengers Origins: Ant-Man and the

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

'' No. 1 (November 2011) * ''

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

'' vol. 2, #1–4 (four-issue miniseries) (Dec. 2010 - May 2011) * ''The Stand: No Man's land'' #1–5 (April–Aug. 2011) * ''The Stand: The Night Has Come'' #1–6 (Oct. 2011 – March 2012) * '' Archie Meets Glee'' #641-644 (March 2013 - June 2013) * '' Afterlife with Archie'' No. 1 - present (Oct. 2013–present) * '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' No. 1 - present (Oct. 2014– present)

Published plays

* ''The Mystery Plays'', Dramatists Play Service, 2005, * ''Say You Love Satan'', Dramatists Play Service, 2005, * ''Based on a Totally True Story'', Dramatists Play Service, 2008, * ''Dark Matters'', Dramatists Play Service, 2009, * ''Good Boys and True'', Dramatists Play Service, 2009, * ''King of Shadows'', Dramatists Play Service, 2009, * ''The Muckle Man'', Dramatists Play Service, 2009, * ''Rough Magic'', Dramatists Play Service, 2009, * ''The Velvet Sky'', Dramatists Play Service, 2009, * ''The Weird : a collection of short horror and pulp plays'', Dramatists Play Service, 2008, * ''Abigail/1702'', Dramatists Play Service, 2017, * ''American Psycho'', Concord Theatricals

Television

Films

* '' Carrie'' (2013) * '' The Town That Dreaded Sundown'' (2014)

Productions

* ''Morning Becomes Olestra'', Cherry Red Productions * ''The Ten Minute Play About Rosemary's Baby'', July 11, 2001, Summer Camp 7 Fest at Soho Rep, New York City * ''Say You Love Satan'', September 14, 2001, Dad's Garage Theatre Company,

, Georgia * ''The Muckle Man'', August 8, 2001, Source Theatre Company, Washington, DC. * ''Weird Comic Book Fantasy'', April 2003, Dad's Garage Theatre Company, Atlanta, Georgia * ''Rough Magic'', April 24, 2003, Yale School of Drama New Haven, CT * ''The Mystery Plays'', June 21, 2003, Second Stage Theater at McGinn/Cazale Theatre, New York City * ''Dark Matters'', December 3, 2003, Source Theatre Company, Washington, D.C. * ''Golden Age'', 2005, Horse Trade Theater Group/Tobacco bar Theatre Company at Kraine Theater, New York City * ''Rough Magic'' (world premiere), July 29, 2005, Hanger Theatre, Ithaca, NY * ''The Velvet Sky'', January 30, 2006, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington D.C. * ''Bloody Mary'', April 6, 2006, The Thursday Problem at 45th Street Theatre, New York City * ''Based on a Totally True Story'', April 11, 2006, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City * ''King of Shadows'', 2006, The Working Theater, Arena Stage, Washington, D.C. * ''The Muckle Man'' (revised), January 25, 2007, City Theatre,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania * ''Rough Magic'' (revised), January 27, 2007, Rorschach Theatre at Casa del Pueblo Methodist Church, Washington D.C. * ''The Picture Of Dorian Gray'' September 9, 2009, Round House Theatre,

* ''The Weird'' (NYC Premiere), February 9–10, 2010, Manhattan Source Theatre, NYC * ''Doctor Cerberus'', April 11, 2010, South Coast Repertory,

* ''It's a Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman!'' (revised book), June 18, 2010, Dallas Theater Center Dallas, TX, * ''The Weird'', January 19, 2012, 12 Peers Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * ''Abigail/1702'', May 9, 2013, City Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * ''The Weird'' (First NYC Revival), April 11–13, 2019, The Brick Theatre, NYC

References

External links

* * * * ''

Marvel Spotlight ''Marvel Spotlight'' is a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book. It stood out from Marvel's other try-out books in that most of the featured characters made their first appearance in the series. The series or ...

: David Finch/Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa'' (March 2006) * Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa video interview b
The Playwright
Working in the Theatre CUNY-TV/

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

, December 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguirre-Sacasa, Roberto 1973 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American comics writers American gay writers American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights American LGBTQ screenwriters American male dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters American people of Nicaraguan descent David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay screenwriters Georgetown University alumni Harvey Award winners for Best New Talent LGBTQ comics writers LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people LGBTQ people from Washington, D.C. LGBTQ television producers Living people Marvel Comics writers McGill University alumni Screenwriters from Washington, D.C.