He teaches theater at NYU's Tisch School of Arts[1] and is a member of the Playwrights Unit at Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
[1] Peña is the co-writer of the Golden Globe nominated TV series, Jane the Virgin and was on the "Future Broadway Power List," by Backstage (magazine) in 2014.
[2] Christopher Oscar Peña is the first of his family to be born within the borders of the United States (San Jose, California[3]).
[4] A self-proclaimed nerd, Peña identified his participation, his freshman year, in his high school's production of Romeo and Juliet as his first time falling in love with theatre as "people were forced to interact with [him] and the social boundaries fell apart.
"[5] He felt both vulnerable and safe at the same time and decided he would continue theatre and acting at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
He switched his major to sociology, thinking of pursuing a career in law, and was going to give up on theatre in general.
[1] In 2013, Peña's play Tiny People (or, it gets better) was a finalist for both the O'Neill Playwrights Conference and the Sundance Theatre Lab, and was selected to feature at the Crossing Borders Festival.
[2] Peña's works frequently focus on stories that deal with bicultural identities, sexuality, and growing up in the modern world.
[12] A Latino himself, Peña works closely with culturally diverse theaters like The Lark Playwright Workshop, US/UK Exchange, INTAR'S Hispanic Playwrights Lab, Diverse City Theater Company and New York Theatre Workshop, where he was named an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow.
[22] He has acknowledged, after the fact, that his personal loneliness from moving to Chicago, where he didn't know anyone, and his own questioning of what makes somewhere home, influenced the play and the development of his characters.
[22] Peña states that this play is his response to the 2008 election, when former President Barack Obama took office, and California passed Proposition 8.
[23] The play takes place during the environment of the 2008 election where the political rhetoric of "hope and change [is] giving rise to dreams.
"[24] The play focuses on the lives of six individuals who, because of this rhetoric, are hoping to go after their dreams but face obstacles that make it harder for them survive as part of marginalized communities.