Rob Penny

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Robert Lee "Rob" Penny (1941—2003) was an American playwright, poet, and professor.

Penny was born in Opelika, Alabama on August 6, 1941. He moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Hill District as a toddler, where he was raised. In 1968, he and his friend August Wilson, a fellow Pittsburgh poet and playwright, co-founded the Black Horizon Theatre, which staged performances until the mid-1970s. In 1976, he and Wilson co-founded the Kuntu Writers Workshop, which Penny coordinated until his death on March 16, 2003. Dr. Vernell A. Lillie founded the Kuntu Repertory Theatre in 1974 as a way of showcasing Penny's plays. Penny began teaching at the University of Pittsburgh in 1969 and served as chair of its Africana Studies Department from 1978–1984. Penny wrote more than 30 plays and 300 poems.