Zen Buddhist Priest, Author, Scriptwriter, Photographer
Elizabeth Orr is a Latinx author, screenwriter, humorist, playwright, journalist, photographer, and has been a member of The Dramatists Guild of America. Her book, Banjo, My Buddha of Love: Mindfulness, Miracles, and Mischief with a Very Wise Dog is being published by Monkfish Publishing Company, NY. Other writers in their roster include: Robert Thurman, Ram Dass, Bernie Glassman, Mother Teresa, Allen Ginsberg, Alan Watts, DT Suzuki, and H.D. Wells. Release date: Winter, 2027, Spring 2028.
On Upwork’s Top Talent Cloud, she developed a worldwide scriptwriting business including features, documentaries, TV pilots, short films, treatments, and web videos. Her commissioned screenplays include The Lusi, Daniel’s Sun, and the bilingual Echoes of Silence. Her two-act play, Badass Women—The World’s First Ladies Strike Back, has had five readings from San Francisco to New York. It also is a screenplay.
Personal Statement: Central to my life is my Sōtō Zen practice. Above is Rev. Mishha Shungen Merrill and my teacher, Rev. Kyōshō Valorie Beer. On August 10, 2025, I was ordained as a priest in the Shukke Tokudo Sōtō Zen Priest Ceremony at Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View, California. This makes me Rev. Gensen So-on (Subtle River, Ancestor Voice) in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. I have never been stronger, happier, and more at peace than I am now. I share my path to this joyous life through my new book, Banjo: My Buddha of Love.
• Banjo: My Buddha of Love. About a dog sent by the spirit of my Andean nanny to save my life. It is filled with magical realism, pathos, humor, and miracles. The memoir confirms there is no such thing as coincidence. A lively vein of Zen, indigenous wisdom, and multicultural music blend throughout.
• Echoes of Silence: Based on a true story, a bilingual screenplay about a Scottish Trappist monk who falls in love with a Salvadoran freedom fighter and who learns about love as they are being chased by the Salvadoran Death Squad in Los Angeles.—Great interest is being shown by peace activists and by the people of a remote mountain village in Nicaragua, whose fate may depend upon this screenplay. No pressure there.
• Into the Light:A Photographic Gift of Peace and Beauty from the Divine. Shares my near-death experience and subsequent “calling” into a garden to photograph the luminous plains of the afterlife micro-deep within flowers. I am developing this completed book into an e-book for hospice organizations, ministries, and hospital chaplains and patients. I have been a professional photographer with credits listed below.
• Badass Women, The World’s First Ladies Strike Back: This feminist political comedy is about the ladies taking matters into their own hands to change world history through DNA modification. The play has had five plus readings from San Francisco to New York and is ready for production. A screenplay is also available.
• Hearts Wide Open with Foster Care Warrior, Shelley Nichol: A nine-minute promotional video on a documentary I wrote and directed. Now in consideration with director/producer Michael Braverman. Fundraising for a feature documentary continues.
• Maria Del Rey, a bi-lingual screenplay with music about my aunt, a famous 1940s South American singer, engaged to a mafioso who upon the eve of their wedding learns she’s been having a lesbian affair.
• The Road Map to Childhood Joy: Finding Your True Self and Buddha Nature. A spiritual self-help book on rediscovering childhood joy, which includes interviews from the world’s top artists such as Isabel Allende, Nicholas Payton, and Amy Tan.
• My Night With John Lennon, a comedic one-act play based on a true story about two young fans finding themselves locked in John’s bedroom with John fast asleep. Beside his bed, is Aldous Huxley’s book, “Island,” containing the buddhist theme of “Be Here Now.”
She is also outlining an article on The Power of Mitochondria and why new wonder diet drugs can’t replace exercise for wellbeing. Recommend visiting mitoworld.org. Past achievements include The Montalvo Award for Daniel’s Play, the Best One-Act Play in the Bay Area; a screenplay story East of the Sun, West of the Moon for (Disney) Don Bluth Productions. The film was a few million in production when the company switched gears to work with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
Her Op/eds in the Los Angeles Times, The Peninsula Times, and The Mercury News emphasize her commitment to social justice. The latter helped rally the Latinx community resulting in the building of the Biblioteca Latino Americana Library and campaign for the Washington United Youth Center in San Jose, California.
Photojournalism includes Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and Burda Publications. Photography staff Motorola Inc. The Huntington Library, Art Gallery, and Botanical Gardens.