Tanya O'Debra (born Tanya Michele Ritchie), is a New York based writer and performer.
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The oldest of five children, O'Debra was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She moved to New York at age 19, where she studied acting at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
O'Debra wrote her first play (as Tanya Ritchie), Fuck You or Dead Pee-Holes; an American Tale in Thirteen Acts with fellow AMDA students, John C. Bowman and Adam Hardman. Fuck You went on to win the top award at The New York International Fringe Festival in 2001.
After Fuck You, O'Debra teamed up with Diane O'Debra to form The O'Debra Twins, a comic twin sister duo. The O'Debra Twins hosted the hit open mic SHOW & TELL at The Bowery Poetry Club for five years. They performed all over New York at venues such as Joe's Pub, Performance Space 122, Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction, Luna Lounge, Surf Reality, Collective; Unconscious, The Cutting Room, and The Ohio Theater until their split in 2008.
O’Debra’s play Radio Star opened at The Glasslands Gallery before running at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009. Radio Star was then presented by the Horse Trade Theater Group at The Red Room in 2010. Radio Star is nominated for three New York Innovative Theatre Awards; Outstanding Original Full Length Script, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role, and Outstanding Original Music (Andrew Mauriello).
In May 2010, Tanya O'Debra won the Miss Fag Hag Pageant. The competition was judged by Michael Musto, John Cameron Mitchell, and Leslie Jordan. She also won the Skinny Girl Margarita Online Video Challenge, and the award was presented in a video by Bethenny Frankel.
O'Debra plays Patrice O'Debra in Straight Up Vampire, written by Nick Jones, Peter Cook, and Zak Vreeland. Straight Up Vampire has been presented at Goodbye Blue Monday, the Bowery Poetry Club, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Ars Nova and Joe's Pub.