LILIANA PADILLA is a playwright, director, and educator whose work explores the body, time, decay, and desire. 

How to Defend Yourself won the Yale Drama Series Prize. The New York Theatre Workshop production, which Liliana co-directed with Rachel Chavkin and Steph Paul, was selected as one of The New York Times Best Theatre of 2023. Liliana’s writing has been produced and developed at venues including Victory Gardens, the Humana Festival, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival; has been recognized by The Kilroys and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Liliana directed Jesús Valles’ PLAY MAID at The Public and co-directed the film COCKROACH, starring Justice Singleton and John Cameron Mitchell.

Padilla’s artistic practice draws on physical performance traditions including Grotowski and Contact Improvisation, alongside vocal work exploring the full range of human emotional expression. Their new play TWITCH will be produced by Breaking the Binary at the Edinburgh Festival this summer.

Padilla teaches playwriting and acting at Dartmouth College, and holds an MFA from UC San Diego and a BFA from NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing.