Elaine Avila’s works include: Jane Austen, Action Figure, Quality: the Shoe Play, Strike!, At Water’s Edge, Burn Gloom, Lieutenant Nun, Naked Singularity, Step Right Up!, Good Fooling and Made in China. Her plays have been produced around the world, notably in Central America (Teatro Lagartija, National Theatre of Panamá), New York (Ontological-Hysteric Theatre), France (upcoming); London, England (Tracey Neuls, Nordic Nomad); Edmonton, Alberta (Canadian Centre for Theatre Creation, Gravity Pope, Vault Theatre of Invention, Stage Lab), Vancouver, BC (Cor Departure at Performance Works, Women In View, Theatre Anima); Santa Fe, NM (Santa Fe Rep); Albuquerque, NM (Tricklock), Victoria, BC (Theatre SKAM), and Seattle, WA (Theatre Simple). Her favorite collaborations with directors and dramaturgs include: Kathleen Weiss, Ted Gregory, Amiel Gladstone, Karin Coonrod, D.D. Kugler, Joe Peracchio, Rachel Ditor and Heidi Carlsen.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including The Victoria Critic’s Circle for Best New Play, a Canada Council Millennium Grant, “New Works for Young Women” Award/Residency from Tulsa University, Canada Council (the Canadian NEA)/Playwright’s Guild of Canada Awards, University of New Mexico Large Research Grant (a project with Assistant Professor Mary Anne Santos-Newhall in Lisbon, Portugal), UNM Teaching, Career Development and Creative Work Grants, the A.S.K. Theatre Projects Scholarship, Research Fellowship from the Office of the New Mexico State Historian (project on the Harvey Girls) and the Alden B. Dow Fellowship. Her screenplays include “Fortune,” “Kai takes a Solo” "Outskirts" "Alvarado" and “Lead Dress” (with Juliet Belmas). MFA: California Institute of the Arts (Suzan-Lori Parks, Erik Ehn, Brian Freeman, Alice Tuan). She has taught in universities from British Columbia to Tasmania, China to Panamá.

Publications: Books/Plays: NoPassport Press (Jane Austen Action Figure and other Plays, 2012), Canadian Theatre Review (Lieutenant Nun) Playwrights Guild of Canada (see website for current and upcoming titles), Articles in (selected): American Theater, Canadian Theatre Review, The Collector’s Guide, New Mexico Office of the State Historian Archive, Lusitania. Professional associations include: The Playwrights Guild of Canada, Playwright's Center, Playwright's Theatre Centre, CAEA/UBCP/ACTRA, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and NoPassport. She is currently the Robert Hartung Endowed Chair and Head of the MFA Dramatic Writing Program at UNM and Producing Artistic Director of the Words Afire! Festival of New Plays.