Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa | |
|---|---|
 Aguirre-Sacasa in 2019 | |
| Born | 1973 (age 52–53) |
| Occupation | Comic book writer, playwright, screenwriter |
| Education | |
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (born 1973)[1] is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work forMarvel Comics and for the television seriesGlee (2011–14),Big Love (2009–11),Riverdale (2017–23),Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–20) andPretty Little Liars (2022–24). He isCCO ofArchie Comics.[2][3]
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa grew up in Washington, D.C.,[4] the son of the senior Nicaraguan World Bank official turnedNicaraguan Ambassador to the US (1997–2000) and later Foreign Minister (2000–2002)[4] 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 fromGeorgetown University and later a master's degree in English literature fromMcGill University in 1997.[5]
Although he wrote some plays in high school, it was after college, while working as a publicist at theShakespeare Theatre, that Aguirre-Sacasa had an opportunity to attend a week-long playwriting workshop underPaula Vogel atArena Stage in Washington, D.C.[6] He recalled in 2003 that Vogel held one of her periodic playwriting "boot camps" in the area:
...Paula's a great playwright and a really extraordinary teacher. So Arena invited other D.C. theaters to send their resident playwright to the boot camp. ... Michael Kahn, the Shakespeare's artistic director, had seen a couple of my really barebones productions that me and friends had thrown together here in D.C., and he asked me if I wanted to go. So I did this boot camp with Paula. At the end of it, Paula asked me, "Are you going to get serious about this?" I said I would like to, and she said, "I would get serious about it, right now." While I was working at the Shakespeare I had been writing plays like everyone else -- in the morning, after work, on weekends, but I really wasn't focusing on it.[6]
Aguirre-Sacasa then applied to theYale School of Drama, from which he graduated in 2003.[7]
Early plays during his first year at Yale includeSay You Love Satan, "a romantic comedy spoof of theOmen movies," andThe Muckle Man, "a serious family drama with supernatural overtones," good reviews on summer productions of those helped him get a professional agent.[6]Rough Magic, an interpretation ofShakespeare'sThe Tempest in which Caliban escapes from Prospero's island and finds himself in present day New York City, was produced during his last year at Yale.[6]
On April 4, 2003,Dad's Garage Theatre Company inAtlanta was scheduled to debut Aguirre-Sacasa's new play,Archie's Weird Fantasy, which depicted Riverdale's most famous residentcoming out of the closet and moving to New York. The day before the play was scheduled to open,Archie Comics issued acease and desist 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."[8] It opened a few days later as "Weird Comic Book Fantasy" with the character names changed.[9] Aguirre-Sacasa would later develop theRiverdale television series as well as becomingArchie Comics' chief creative officer.
Other plays produced in 2003 wereThe Mystery Plays in New York, which had won a writing award the previous year from theKennedy Center, and a hit production ofSay You Love Satan at the 2003New York International Fringe Festival.
Playwriting continued along withcomic-book writing, with several productions of new and old works. In 2006, his semi-autobiographicalBased on a Totally True Story (about a comic-book writer/playwright struggling with new-found success and boyfriend problems) was staged at the prestigiousManhattan Theatre Club in New York. When asked byThe 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.[10]
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'sSteppenwolf Theatre in winter 2008.[11]
In mid-2009, theRound House Theatre inBethesda, Maryland, premiered his playThe Picture of Dorian Gray, based on the novel byOscar Wilde. That same year, Aguirre-Sacasa and artistTonci Zonjic finished Marvel Comics'Marvel Divas miniseries, and he began working as a writer for theHBO seriesBig Love, a position he continued in 2010 during the show's fourth season.[12][13] In February 2010, he was announced to write the book for the musical adaption of the novelAmerican Psycho.[14]
South Coast Repertory inCosta Mesa, California, presented the premiere of his playDoctor Cerberus in spring 2010.[15] He also revisedRobert Benton's musicalIt's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman for theDallas Theater Center production inDallas, Texas, in June 2010.[citation needed]
In 2011, Aguirre-Sacasa was approached by the producers of the troubled Broadway musicalSpider-Man: Turn Off the Dark to help rewrite its script.[16][17]
In May 2011, Aguirre-Sacasa was hired as a co-producer and writer ofGlee.[18] Two months later, he was hired to write the comic bookArchie meets Glee, published in 2013.[19]
In April 2013, Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the book fora musical based onBret Easton Ellis's novelAmerican Psycho, which ran in London from December 3, 2013, to January 25, 2014.[20] It later transferred and ran on Broadway for 27 previews and 54 performances[21]
Aguirre-Sacasa grew up liking comic books, recalling in 2003, "My mom would take us out to the7-Eleven on River Road during the summer, and we would getSlurpees and buy comics off the spinning rack. I would read them all over and over again, and draw my own pictures and stuff."[6]
He began writing forMarvel Comics, 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?'"[6]
His first submissions were "not what [they were] interested in for the character[s]" but eventually he was assigned an 11-pageFantastic Four story, "The True Meaning of...," for theMarvel Holiday Special 2004.[22] He went on to write Fantastic Four stories inMarvel Knights 4, a spinoff of thatsuperhero team's long-running title; and stories forNightcrawler vol. 3;The Sensational Spider-Man vol. 2; andDead of Night featuring Man-Thing.[23]
In May 2008 Aguirre-Sacasa returned to the Fantastic Four with a miniseries tie-in to the company-wide "Secret Invasion" storyline concerning a years-long infiltration of Earth by the shape-shifting alien race, theSkrulls,[22] and anAngel Revelations miniseries with artistsBarry Kitson and Adam Polina, respectively.[12] Headapted for comics theStephen King novelThe Stand.
In 2013, he createdAfterlife with Archie, depictingArchie Andrews in the midst of azombie apocalypse; the book's success led to Aguirre-Sacasa being namedArchie Comics' chief creative officer.[2]
Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the screen adaptation of the remake ofStephen King'sCarrie, released in October 2013.[24] In June 2013 was scheduled to writeWarner Bros.' planned live-action Archie movie.[25] He also wroteThe Town That Dreaded Sundown, a metasequel to the cult-classic horror filmof the same name.[26]
Aguirre-Sacasa wrote for television episodes ofGlee,Big Love andLooking. In addition, he is the series developer ofRiverdale,Katy Keene,Chilling Adventures of Sabrina andPretty Little Liars: Original Sin.[27][28][29][30]
He receivedGLAAD Media Award nominations forGolden Age[15] and forSay You Love Satan,[15] with the latter also winning aNew York International Fringe Festival Excellence in Playwriting Award.[31] He tied for aHarvey Award for Best New Talent for his work onMarvel Knights Four.[32]
In 2020, Aguirre-Sacasa was awarded an Impact Award by theNational Hispanic Media Coalition for his work as an "Outstanding Executive Producer".[33]
| Year | Title | Credited as | Network | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | Producer | Creator/Developer | Showrunner | ||||
| 2009–11 | Big Love | Yes | Yes | No | No | HBO | Writer: 3 episodes |
| 2011–2014 | Glee | Yes | Yes | No | No | Fox | Writer: 6 episodes |
| 2015 | Looking | Yes | Yes | No | No | HBO | Writer: 2 episodes |
| 2015–16 | Supergirl | Yes | Yes | No | No | The CW | Writer: 3 episodes |
| 2017–23 | Riverdale | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Writer: 21 episodes; Director: "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale" | |
| 2018–20 | Chilling Adventures of Sabrina | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Netflix | Writer: 10 episodes |
| 2020 | Katy Keene | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | The CW | Writer: 3 episodes |
| 2020 | The Brides | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ABC | Unsold pilot |
| 2022 | Jake Chang | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | The CW | Unsold pilot |
| 2022–24 | Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | HBO Max | |
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