- Rita began her entertainment writing career with an internship at Premiere Magazine.
- Her creative writing -- including poetry, short stories, and plays -- has been shortlisted for and won awards including CMU's Adamson Award, the Fish International Prize, and the Scotsman Orange Award.
- She spent time as a writer and presenter for the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, where she created and staged interactive dinosaur shows with giant, lifelike mechanical puppets.
Experience
Rita is a writer and educator with more than ten years' experience in both fields. In addition to penning and performing her own original work, she's covered movies, TV, books, theatre, and popular culture for outlets like Crooked Marquee, The Film Experience, CBR, and Looper. She's an awards season obsessive and a genre nerd with wide-ranging tastes that encompass everything from the lowest budget indies to tentpole franchises such as Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones. Rita has taught writing and theatre for Thiel College, Kent State University, and Penn State University. Besides contributing features for Looper, she helps facilitate City Theatre's Young Playwrights program and contest to inspire the next generation of writers and artists.
Education
Rita earned bachelor's degrees in English and drama from Carnegie Mellon University, where she graduated with honors. She received a master's in creative writing from the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
