Elio Zarrillo
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Elio Zarrillo, MFA. Elio‘s thesis is a play entitled If We Be Friends.
Elio Zarrillo is a prairie-born queer originally from Treaty 1 territory, now based on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, having recently completed an MFA in Creative Writing & Theatre at the University of British Columbia. They have spent over 15 years making live performance works across the country as an actor, writer, director, dramaturg, and arts educator.
When a text from an old friend interrupts Neptune’s daily work-flow, it cracks open stories from the past they’ve never been able to finish. If We Be Friends moves between the present day and the early aughts, when teenage best friends Neptune and Phoebe found freedom in art & partying in a special forest facing imminent threat. When they begin rehearsing scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, their palpable creative intimacy spirals into a disruption and transformation. Through zine-making, self-invention and Shakespeare, this is a tenacious queer coming-of-age story about authenticity, resistance and the cost that comes with being known.
Contact
Request more information about Elio’s thesis project using our 2026 Graduate Showcase Contact Form.