My Story
Penelope Lowder has enjoyed performing and writing since she was a kid growing up in Los Angeles. Her mother . Christine Redding-Lowder was a lover of books and her father, Billy Lowder a consummate story teller but it was her Uncle, Otis Redding, who was her inspiration.
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She studied at Los Angeles City College Theater Academy, received her BA degree in theater at University of Southern California, performed in Los Angeles, New York and London theater but it was writing that stole her heart.
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Returning stateside, her play, And So We Supped, was produced at McCadden Place Theater and her career began to take steam. She wrote Reaching Autonomy, based upon a story her mother told her about a relative that was a mistress to a Klansman. She partnered with Black Women State of The Union , who produced her plays 15 Minutes and The Follicle Prison War, at Skylight Theater. The latter was also selected for the NAACP Ten Minute Play Festival.
The Short Playwriting Festival in New York selected "Honest Sam" about an African war criminal that finally receives his comeuppance as a semi finalist. Her other works that have been performed in Los Angeles and New York are "Pushing Yellow", "A Drop of Sun" and currently Skylight Theater is producing the world premier of her play "West Adams."
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Hilldog Productions produced her first short film 4Closure and her short film 15 Minutes is winning awards and appearing in festivals.
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Ms. Lowder is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Theater and is a past member of the Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program, Audrey Skirball Kenis Playwrights Lab, Los Angeles Playwrights Center, Che'Rae Adams Playwright Workshop, Robey Theater Playwrights Lab.
