Playwright Biographies
Renee Baillargeon, Kims Story, The Story of Kim Sang Mai
Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, Canada.
Renee has a B.A. in theatre from the University of Windsor and an M.A. in “Lettres Modernes” from the University of Paris, France.
Following a twenty five year as a theatre performer/choreographer/director, I began my playwrighting career. I have written over 20 plays and my work has been presented and workshopped at many theatres including Tarragon Theatre, Fanshaw College, Niagara University NY, Brock University, Midtown Manhattan Festival, First Draft, Radio CFUV, Bonita Springs Performing Arts Florida, Tiny Theatre Alabama, Theatre One B.C, the Very Useful Theatre Company and Theatre On The Ridge.
I am the founder of “Playwrights Niagara” and am dedicated to the promotion and development of new Canadian Plays.
Ella Baldwin, Crinoidea At the Lounge
Brooklyn, NY
My work comes with a focus on devising, comedy, and the wackiness in womanhood. I am a founder of Lumina Theatre Co., recipient of the Brooklyn Public Library Community Incubator Grant, and my plays have been featured at the Workshop Theatre, the Mid-America Theatre Conference Fringe Festival, and En Garde Arts.
Claudia Barnett, Feather
Tennessee by way of the Bronx
I won the Brick Playhouse Award for New Plays from the Brick Playhouse in Philadelphia (2004) for Feather. I have also won first place in the Science Playwriting Contest at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics (2023) and the Andaluz Award Jury Prize from Fusion Theatre (2016).
Ben Beck, Loopin Ladies of Loredo
Omaha, NE
He is a member of the Great Plains Theater Commoners Residency and is the inaugural recipient of the Omaha Community Playhouse’s NOW Lab Fellowship.
Christine Benvenuto, Remember Me, Mr. Smith?
Western Massachusetts
Christine Benvenuto’s plays have been performed at Boston Theater Marathon, International Human Rights Art Festival and Sixth Festival NYC, The Braid Los Angeles, Clamour Theater Florida, Fern Street Festival Connecticut, LAVA Center Western Massachusetts and online. A play is available as a podcast from Onstage/Offstage; another was performed by Orpheus Theatre Company, Lancaster, PA and included in the anthology Borderless Thalia. I am the author of two books from St. Martin’s Press, and stories and essays that appear in many newspapers, magazines and anthologies. I have been selected as a 2024 member of New Perspective Theatre’s Women’s Work cohort, NYC and am a recipient of a 2024 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/77023/christine-benvenuto
Doc Andersen-Bloomfeld, Where Momma Left Off
Oxford, England
Doc writes realistic drama to the Bechdel Test but with political settings.
My plays have won numerous awards and have been produced in USA, the UK, and Ireland. In My Bones, won Pandora New Works Prize/produced in May, ’23, Panndora’s Box, Los Angeles. Dear Viggo and The Blue Haired Woman, Best New Play, Dublin, AboutFace, November ’22. Spitfire Sisters, produced, London’s The Space Theatre, ‘20. My refugee play, Little Did I Know, won Bread and Roses Prize for New Playwriting/produced, Bread & Roses Theatre, 2018, London. Where Mama Left Off (the full length) was produced in Orlando, Florida, April, ‘24.
New Play Exchange
Molly Breen, Mimi Alford
Nashville, TN
Director, Tennessee Playwrights Studio/actor/producer/director/dancer/writer
Carol Campbell, Let The Winds Of Mystery Take Us
MA - Oakton, VA
Carol is an award-winning writer, musician and adjunct professor.
My musical, Chicks In Heaven, premiered on April 2024 at Creative Cauldron in Falls Church, VA. A book launch of my newest fiction, Rebel Rose debuted in May. I teach Women’s Studies and Greek Mythology at several Virginia community colleges and I travel regionally as a performance artist.
Grace Cavaleire, Anna Nicole Smith In Court
DMV
Grace Cavalieri was Maryland Poet Laureate 2018-2024. I founded and produce "The Poet and the Poem from The Library of Congress" celebrating 47 years on-air. I hold the Allen Ginsberg award, CPB Silver Medal, Bordighera, Garrett, Columbia awards plus others.
Maureen Chadwick, The Commandment
London, UK
Throughout my extensive career writing award-winning TV dramas, plays and musicals, I have always deployed my trademark tragicomic style to create strong female roles.
www.macfarlane-chard.co.uk/maureen-chadwick
Liz Coley, The Good Wife
Cincinnati, OH
Liz Coley writes novels, short stories, and plays in front of her fireplace. My internationally best-selling psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 won the Eliot Rosewater award and appears on two “best of” lists by the American Library Association 2014. Her absurdist tragicomic play Castaways won both Judges’ Choice and Audience Favorite awards at Enter Stage Left Theatre’s one-night production. Full-length dramedy Moving In, Moving Out, Moving On won several awards during development and was nominated for best new play by BroadwayWorld Columbus after its premier professional production by MadLab Theatre.
Cindy Cooper, Swimmingly Yours
New York City
I am an award-winning writer who seeks to elevate stories of resilience and inspiration.
Cecelia Copeland, Light of Night
A Latina from the Midwest and Middle East.
Athena List Finalist, Winner of Female Eye Film Festival and La Femme Int. Film Festival, NNPN Featured Writer, and Kilroy’s List Nominee.
https://www.nymadproductions.com/
Sorina Corneanu, Dopamine Deficiancy
Romania
Ana Sorina Corneanu is a graduate in acting and television, an actress, playwright, content writer, and personal development counselor through art. My debut as a playwright occurred in 2020, during the pandemic, with the play "Let’s talk about life," which was awarded a UNITER award for the best Romanian play of the year and staged at the National Theatre in Bucharest. Between 2020 and 2023, four of her plays were nominated and awarded, with two of them being staged and two presented as reading performances at theater festivals in the country.
https://www.facebook.com/anasorina.corneanu/
https://theatrum.ro/persoana/ana-sorina-corneanu/
Allie Costa, Power Pose
Los Angeles, CA
Allie Costa is an actor, writer, director, and singer working in film, TV, theatre, and voiceover. My work has been produced internationally, including the critically acclaimed Two Girls, Boxes Are Magic, Music of the Mind, Low Light, and Can You Keep a Secret?
https://newplayexchange.org/users/995/allie-costa
William Robert Crary, Danielle
Chicago
William Robert Carey has a B.A. in English from Northwestern University and attended DePaul Graduate School and Columbia Film School.
His 2-act play, DANIEL/DANIELLE (from which the monologue is excerpted), won the Scribe Playwriting Competition Award.
Migdalia Cruz, Miriams Flowers
Bronx
MIGDALIA CRUZ is an award-winning playwright, lyricist, translator, and librettist of more than 60 works for stage, radio, film, TV, and podcast, performed in 150 venues in 40 cities in 12 countries.
Named the 2023 DGF Legacy Playwright, she is an alumna of New Dramatists, with several awards including: NEA, McKnight, NYSCA, TCG/Pew, and the 2013 Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright Award.
www.migdaliacruz.com Agent: Peregrine Whittlesey, pwwagy@aol.com
Victoria Z. Daly, Figure Out How To Live
Connecticut
Victoria Z. Daly is a playwright, EMMY-winning story editor, Faculty Member at the Dramatists Guild Institute, and script consultant whose work has been produced across the United States and on 4 continents.
Alison Fradkin, Holy Inappropriate
Chicago
Scriptly speaking, Allison Fradkin creates satirically scintillating stories that (sur)pass the Bechdel Test and enlist their characters in a caricature of the idiocies and intricacies of insidious isms.
newplayexchange.org/users/16309/allison-fradkin
Fengar Gael, Bat Scat Fever
Irvine, California
As a struggling playwright currently living in Irvine, California, I’m still evolving an artistic vision, but could not write for the theatre without a quixotic belief in the power of language to transform and transcend our lives. As a fantasist, I prefer a theatre that takes me to unfamiliar worlds, a theatre of heightened passions that’s imaginative, dangerous, and boldly reflects the collage of sounds and images that bombard us daily, yet is as dark, dense, and mysterious as our collective cultural myths.
Carolyn Gage, The Last Reading of Charlotte Cushman
Southwest Harbor, Maine
Carolyn Gage is an autistic playwright, performer, director, and activist. I am the author of nine anthologies of plays and eighty-eight musicals, dramas, and one-woman shows, I specialize in non-traditional roles for women, especially reclaiming famous lesbians whose stories have been distorted or erased from history.
Paddy Gillard-Bently, It Was Isadora
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Paddy Gillard-Bentley is a playwright/director/producer and the founding Artistic Director of Flush Ink Productions, and a past president of The International Centre for Women Playwrights.
Over 100 productions of my plays have been performed in England, Ireland, Australia, USA, France and Canada.
http://www.skyedragon.com/plays.html
Vivienne Glance, Modern Gods
Perth, Western Australia
Vivienne Glance lives and works in Perth, Western Australia, on the lands of the Whadjuk People of the Noongar nation. Along with productions in Perth and Sydney, my plays have been produced or developed in UK, USA, Canada, and Europe, including a showcase performance at The International Playwriting Festival, London. I was selected for The Playwrights Realm 2021- 2022 International ScratchPad Series for my play Bruised. Other plays have won prizes or been shortlisted in Australia, UK and USA.
I work with Sudanese writer, Afeif Ismail, co-transcreating his plays into English, including the 2011 AWGIE-nominated The African Magician.
Dana Leslie Goldstein, Anzia, A Fiction
Brooklyn, NY
Dana Leslie Goldstein is a playwright, librettist and lyricis. My writing has won the New England New Play Competition, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Prize, Different Voices New Play Award, ACTF New Play Award and numerous development grants. My work has been seen at Manhattan Theatre Club, Cherry Lane, Culture Project, Women’s Project, York, Theatre80, New Dramatists, Vineyard Playhouse, Brave New World, Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, Clamour (FL), American Stage Company (FL), Left Edge (CA), Pacific Theatre (Canada), TischAsia (Singapore), Baggage Productions (Australia), Red Brick Theatre (U.K.), NYMF, on Ellis and Liberty Islands, at the UN and more. Dana’s play “Daughters of the Sexual Revolution” and her collection “Birth, Death & Bourbon: 3 Short Plays by Dana Leslie Goldstein” are published by Next Stage Press. Several of her other short plays and monologues appear in anthologies published by Applause Books and Smith & Kraus. Dana is a member of the BMI Librettists Workshop, Brave New World Rep, The Workshop Theater, PlayGround-NYC and the Dramatists Guild.
https://www.danalesliegoldstein.com
or contact the Michael Moore Agency, Agent: Michael Moore, Michael@MichaelMooreAgency.com
Melinda Gros, This Is My First Pandemic
New York City
I write about women’s lives – their regretted might-have-beens, and their still unrealized dreams – where pain is confronted, truths revealed and kindness sometimes, but not always, offers redemption. These stories are sometimes messy, often tumultuous, always real.
newplayexchange.org/users/22529/melinda-gros
Fran Handman, The Sticking Point
New York City by way of Canada (a couple of times)
Fran Handman is a lyricist/bookwriter/playwright
My awards include: Adding Machine, The Musical - Jerry Kaufman Development award. Pucelandia, Where the Only Color is Puce, a family show, produced in New York by Turtle Shell Productions.
A Magical Goose Called Sam – a family show, Jerry Kaufman Development Award. It’s a Dog’s Life – short play Best play award – Two Good Dogs Theater, NY
Fran Handman is on YouTube
Alli Hartley-Kong, Synchronized Swimming
Washington DC
The American theatre has done women wrong, and I write to change that.
Alli Hartley-Kong’s awards honors include being Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist, Henley Rose finalist, publication in Smith & Krauss, and more!
https://newplayexchange.org/users/47640/alli-hartley-kong/
Paula Hendrikson, The Dance, A Monologue Based On Real Events
Illinois
The Biker and The Big Yarn —staged reading at the Durango Arts Center’s 13th Annual 10-Minute Play Festival, Durango, Colorado (June, 2023).
Near Mint —staged reading at The Center for Performing Arts’ Staged Reading Series, Bonita Springs, Florida (January 2023). Staged Reading at The West Side Showroom’s Rockford New Play Festival, Rockford, Illinois (August 2018).
The Dance —staged reading at The West Side Showroom’s Rockford New Words Festival, Rockford, Illinois (February 2022).
The Grove —staged reading at The West Side Showroom’s Rockford New Play Festival, Rockford Illinois (August 2016).
Judit Hollos, The Stone Ship
Hungary
Judit Hollos is an emerging playwright, screenwriter, poet and essayist. My short stories, poems, translations and articles have been featured in English, Swedish and Hungarian in literary magazines, periodicals and anthologies across the globe. I am the author of two chapbook collections of Japanese-style poetry and short prose. My monologues and short plays have been produced and received staged readings at theaters and festivals in Glasgow, San Francisco, New York, London, Manchester, Leicester and Kyiv.
Some of my Japanese-style poems earned honorable mentions or placed at international competitions, such as the 6th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest (distinguished prize winner) or the 2015 Betty Drevniok Haiku Award (honorable mention).
Allston James, Negative Is, Negative Does
Carmel, California
My plays have been performed in New York, London, Glasgow and festivals around U.S..
Kenneth Branagh New Drama Award finalist, 2021.
Full-credits found on LinkedIN
Caytha Jentis, Sugar and Spice
New York City
Caytha is the writer, director and producer of feature films, plays, essays and episodic content. My stories challenge the old tropes of motherhood with pathos and heightened reality humor. My stage play It's All About the Kids won the NJ Playwrights competition and had a regional production. My stage play Sex Work/Sex Play had a limited Off Broadway production produced by Emerging Artists Theatre in September 2023.
Sugar & Spice monologue was selected to be part of Theatre Y Company’s Women in Theatre Festival
Moriah Joy, Tearing Out My Hair
Richmond, Virginia
My goal is to create works that accomplish at least one of three things; allow people to engage in meaningful discussion, celebrate a facet of life not commonly featured, and/or allow people to laugh at the absurdity of reality. My shows often juxtapose a naturalistic performance with a metaphysical component to engage the audience in a story that is both relatable but visually stimulating.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/80435/moriah-joy
M. Kamara, Black Joy
a first-generation Sierra Leonean American
England to Georgia to Virginia, and now Illinois
M Kamara is a writer of the world. I have been awarded the Sonia Sanchez-Langston Hughes Poetry Prize and have poems published in Pwatem and The Quarry.
Paula Kamen, Micki From Jane: Abortion and the Underground
Evanston, IL
Since 1999, the Jane play has had at least seven full productions and more than a dozen staged readings, including at Venus in 2005 and 2006, and in 2019 off-Broadway at Rattlestick in New York City to benefit A is For, starring Cynthia Nixon and Kathy Najimy. The latest production, nominated for a 2024 Jeff award for best Ensemble, was in fall 2023 with Idle Muse at the Edge Off Broadway in Chicago. I’m a 2022 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist a drama/comedy, “Dionne’s House.”
Rebecca Kane, Orbit
Queens, NY
My performances and awards include (but are not limited to) several performances at The Tank NYC, the National Women’s Theatre Festival, and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/16500/rebecca-kane
Jayme Kilburn, Ding. Or, Bye Bye Dad
Santa Cruz, CA
Jayme Kilburn is a theatre “generalist” and educator. I started writing plays in graduate school after studying feminist performance. Inspired by the badass women of second-wave feminism, I have carved out my own small space in theatre where “flawed” and complicated women navigate trauma (but make it funny!).
Judy Klass, Salt
Nashville, Tennessee by way of New York City
Eight of my full-length plays and 41 one-acts have been produced onstage. My full-length play Cell is published by Concord Theatricals and her full-length play After Tartuffe by Next Stage Press.
JM Lahr, Big, Bold, and Beautiful
Sacramento, CA by way of St. Louis, MO
My awards include 2018 Fringemeister of the St. Louis Fringe Festival, 1st Place Prize at the A Taste of Theatre Festival in Chicago, IL. I want to write works that celebrate the human condition, provoke audience thoughts and discussion and create a shared space of community and fellowship.
Stacey Lane, Uterus-less
San Diego, California
My plays have been performed at over a thousand theatres on six continents. My scripts are published with Dramatic, Playscripts, Pioneer, Brooklyn, Eldridge, Smith & Kraus, Heuer, Routledge, Applause, YouthPLAYS, Meriwether, and many others. I am the recipient of the Wurlitzer Foundation Residency Grant and the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District’s Literary Artist Fellowship.
Joan Lipkin, Dinner
Saint Louis, MO
I am a playwright, director, producer, educator and social activist. I’m known for my work with short plays, rapid response theatre and devising.
Awards include a Visionary, Arts Innovator of the Year, Leadership in Community based Theatre and Civic Engagement Award and more.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/63172/joan-lipkin
Kristen Lowman, It’s Big and Red
New York City
As a playwright, my play Where We Are was a semi-finalist for the New Works Festival at the Gulfshore Playhouse, Naples, Florida. The Island of No Time was accepted into the Planet Connections Theatre Festival, NYC. Time Will Tell had a concert reading at The Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY, as well as a production at the Newburyport Theatre Festival. My fiction, “Black Eyes”, is published in The Evergreen. “Sadiki” is published in the thirtieth anniversary issue of Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts. “One Year, One Hundred Years” is published in The Bangalore Review.
As an actress, I began my career in John Houseman’s The Acting Company. I have worked in repertory companies throughout the country, u/s and performed on Broadway, as well as National tour.
Sherry MacDonald, Hot Milk
Vancouver, Canada
Primarily a playwright, but also a filmmaker and story-teller/performer. Theatre BC award winner.
Ali MacLean, The Girl Who Survived The Highway Hunter
Los Angeles by way of Boston, and can often be found populating London.
I have won the David Sedaris Humor Writing Prize, The John Gassner Playwright Award, She NYC Arts Best Play, Julie Harris Playwriting Award, Best Short film at Toronto, Atlanta, Int’l Canadian, Palm Springs, Gen Art, as well as being a finalist for The O’Neill Conference, Women’s Playwriting Prize UK, Kitchen Dog Theatre, WeScreenplay, Imagine Impact, and dozens of other places. I am a fellow at Stowe Story Labs, Writers For Writers, RespectAbility, 1in4 Coalition, Women In Film, a Mental Health Ambassador for MTV’s Mental Health Action Day, and a member of the Dramatist Guild. My work examines adversity, depression, violence, and trauma using humor as a Trojan horse. The goal of my work, in addition to entertaining folk, is to create empathy, spark a discussion, create a call to action, and also provide resources and help to those who need it.
My work can be seen in the BEST OF anthologies published by Smith & Kraus, The Best 100 Monologues By Women Over 40 by Applause Books, and on The New Play Exchange website.
Helen Cheng Mao, I Hate Depression Screenings
Olney, Maryland by way of Lawrenceville, NJ
It’s my mission to tell stories through humorous plays and monologues. “I Hate Depression Screenings” is from my play Waiting For The GYN, which had a staged reading at Curtis Theatre’s Page to Stage Playwrights Festival in California.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOBWRX6h1_Qm8VQZqPWymVGFIkfruadkU&si=eA1l6qSldG77ebuU
https://www.linkedin.com/in/helencmao/
Daria Mayeko Marinelli, Coming Home
Los Angeles, CA
I have developed work with: Venus Theatre (2014 - We are Samurai) | Cirque du Soleil. Roundabout Theatre. Playwright’s Realm. Fault Line Theatre. La Jolla’s WOW Festival. SPACE on Ryder Farm. New Harmony Project.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/2948/daria-miyeko-marinelli
Aleks Merilo, The Nearest Far Away Place
Pacific Northwest
Aleks Merilo is an award-winning playwright residing in the Pacific Northwest. My plays have been produced across America, the UK, Australia, and off-broadway. I have an MFA in playwriting from UCLA.
Karissa Murrel Meyers, On The Greenbelt
Chicago by way of Boise, ID
My play On the Greenbelt was a Semifinalist for the 2021 Blue Ink Awards and received an "Outstanding New Work" Jeff Awards nomination for the play’s world premiere at Strawdog Theatre.
Melissa Milich, I Ain’t Tired Yet, A Play and A Prayer About Sojourner Truth
Watsonville, California
I am a US Navy veteran.
New Play Exchange
D. Lee Miller, Ball and Chain
New York City by way of Poughkeepsie, New York
My mission is to write real women back into our history and present. I have been published by Broadway Play Publishing, Smith and Kraus and a variety of literary journals. She is a member of Honor Roll and the Dramatists Guild.
Elena Naskova, The Love of My Previous Life
Seattle, WA by way of Macedonia
Elena’s plays have been produced, read, and published in the USA, Canada, Spain, and the UAE. She received an award for best play at Edmond’s Driftwood Players Ten-Minute Festival, an award for participation in the 14/48 Theater Project in Seattle, and was a second-place winner at the La Vegas Little Theater’s New Works Competition. This year she was a playwright participant in the William Inge Play Lab. Some of her plays have been published in Smith and Kraus ‘Best Women’s Monologues of 2019, in the ‘Fleas on the Dog’ magazine, ‘The True Acting Institute’, The Borderless Thalia: A Multilingual Comedic Collection, and other publications.
Jennifer O’Grady, Nest
Pelham, NY
My plays have been produced around the U.S. and internationally and have won the Rising Artists Award, Henley Rose Award and other prizes
https://newplayexchange.org/users/799/jennifer-ogrady
Marj O’Neil-Butler, Don’t Look At Me Like That
Miami Beach, FL
I write plays that almost always feature a female character over fifty. My work has been seen in 34 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Great Britain, Scotland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and S. Korea.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/2803/marj-oneill-butler
Dorian Palumbo, She Got the Movie
Central New Jersey
Her play DIVINATION had its world premiere at the American Theatre of Actors in New York City and her short play THE GRAVE, THE FAN, THE WIFE has been produced four times, most recently by NEO Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles.
Martha Patterson, The Beauty of the Dado. A Monologue for Edith Wharton
Boston, Massachusetts
Martha Patterson's 27-story collection "Small Acts of Magic" was published by Finishing Line Press in 2021. Her work has also been published in more than 20 anthologies and journals, and her plays have been produced in 21 states and eight countries. She has two degrees in Theatre, from Mount Holyoke College and Emerson College, and lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
1st line-name and where you hail from: Martha Patterson, from Boston, (Dramatist's Guild, Artist Relief, Author's League Fund, Massachusetts Theatre Benevolent Fund).
https://mpatterson125933.wixsite.com/martha-patterson-
Judith Pratt, The Fat Lady Speaks
Ithaca, NY
It’s all in the stories.
Novels:
The Skill, Page Turner Award Finalist, 2021
Siljeea Magic, published by Black Rose, 2019
The Dry Country, self- published, 2017
Stories and Essays published in many online and print journals.
My play Maize was selected for the 2019 Louisiana State University SciArts Prize. My play Losing It was published in Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2020.
Amy Judith Reuben, A Trick Babies Tale
I am a Toronto-born New Orleanian, who has spent half my life in NOLA.
“Ya can take da gal outta New Orleans, but ya can’t take New Orleans outta da gal!”
It has always been my intention to preserve the historical significance and memory of The District, that area of New Orleans more popularly known as “Storyville”, through carefully researched materials presented in tasteful, entertaining and artistic ways.
Proclamation recognizing “Storyville Day” bestowed by the Honorable Mayor of New Orleans, Marc H. Morial, October 1, 1997 for the Centennial Anniversary of the Opening of The District.
Proclamation recognizing the Centennial Anniversary of the Closing of the “Storyville” District bestowed by the City Council of the City of New Orleans, November 12, 2017.
Amy Judith Reuben | New Play Exchange
http://newplayexchange.org/users/22700/amy-judith-reuben
Robin Rice, Off The Edge without A Ruler
New Englander transplanted to New York City.
Off-Broadway to London, Mongolia to Australia.
Publishers include Samuel French, Original Works Publishing, Next Stage Press. Awards include Great Plains Theatre Conference, Jane Chambers, Goshen Peace Play Prize.
Jass Richards, The Annual Staff Retreat
Canada
My mission is to make people laugh and think at the same time. (After all, I obtained a Master's degree in Philosophy.)
Layli Rohani, things my mother told me while standing in front of a mirror, getting dressed
Eugene, Oregon
With my love for animals of all shapes and sizes, and my opinion that the world is too serious and needs more whimsy, my work tends to encapsulate talking creatures, fun adventures, and a heightened sense of reality.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/66727/layli-rohani
Kathryn Rossetter, Please Marry My Dad
Peekskill, NY
Tennessee Williams Fellowship for writing and performing solo performance. Writes about women navigating life and love with humor and heart. Especially looks at hope and survival.
www.kathrynrossetter.com and also registered on NPX
Madison Sedlor, Jozi
Buffalo, New York.
Madison's prior publications include Smith & Kraus’ Best Female Monologues of 2021, Fragmented Voices: Hearth (poetry), and Wingless Dreamers: Whispers of a Pumpkin (poetry). Most notably my play Keep a Little Soul was produced Off-Off Broadway in 2019. My plays continue to be produced across the country. I have also been an active screenwriter with the 48 Hour Film Project, bringing home seven awards in 2015 with my team's film No Grapes, No Glory including Best Film - New York City. This year, my team and I were nominated for six awards with my screenplay The Weatherbees.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/15543/madison-sedlor
Joyce Newman Scott, The Happy Place
Miami, Florida
Joyce started college in her fifties after a successful career as an actor and a flight attendant.
I studied Screenwriting at the University of Miami and Creative Writing at Florida International University. My short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies. My play The Audition was performed at Short Cuts 6. The Menopausal Freshman monologue was chosen by the Burning Man Festival 2020 in the U.K. and is published by Smith and Kraus in The Best Women’s Monologues of 2021. TOP 15 Winner The RAVEN SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL C.A. I am a proud member of S.A.G./A.F.T.R.A. and D.G.
Chloe Selavka, Cat Lady
New York City by way of Worcester, MA.
I write plays for bitter queer people and ex-romantics. I hope to reach audiences who have previously felt under represented in theater (women, queer people, fat people, and anxious messes).
Germaine Shames, If Only I’d Married Aiden Fuller
Tucson, AZ
Playwright/Librettist-Lyricist/Conjurer of the Possible World
Dramatists Guild Foundation Nat’l Fellowship, AZ Literary Fellowship in Fiction, Kilroys List
https//germainewrites.wixsite.com/buzz
Faye Sholiton, The Family Zoom
Cleveland, Ohio
Faye Sholiton has been writing plays for 30 years.
My full-length works, produced around the U.S. and as far away as London, have won five Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, among other honors.
Samara Siskind, Carhenge
South Florida
Samara Siskind's plays and monologues have been produced across the globe and published in various anthologies including Shorter, Faster, Funnier: Comic Plays and Monologues, Great Short Comedies Volumes 1 and 2, StageIt!7: Thirty Ten-Minute Plays, Young Women’s Monologues From Contemporary Plays: Volume 2, and The Best 10-Minute Plays of 2023. My work has been developed/produced by City Theatre Miami, Forward Theater Company, Morgan-Wixson Theatre, Ivoryton Playhouse, Whiskey Theatre Factory, B3 Theater, Play de Luna, Murmuration Theatre Company, Edmonds Driftwood Players, Lakeshore Players Theatre, and others.
Samara Siskind | New Play Exchange
Nina Solomita, Fania
Boston, MA/Carmel, CA
As a playwright, one of my intentions is to place women front and center on stage in their full, complex humanity. I received an MFA from Goddard College in creative writing. I am a writer, actor, editor, writing coach, and educator. Fania was produced at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel, CA in 2002 and was given a staged reading by The Listening Place in 2016 in Monterey, CA. Other plays include He Fell In, But I Did Not performed for the Monterey Short Plays Festival, Nature in the City, The Uninvited Guest, all produced at the Carl Cherry Center. A recent play, Maggie’s Labyrinth was chosen for staged readings at the Los Angeles Theater Company and Paperwing Theater in Monterey, CA. Two of my monologues are published in the International Center for Women Playwrights’ book, Mother/Daughter Monologues. I design and I teach Creative Writing and Playwriting workshops. I have taught my course Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwrights in several OLLI programs, including at Berkeley, Dominican College, CSUEB, and other venues.
Bara Swain, Regrettable
New York City
Bara lives by the mantra: “You can grieve and still experience joy.” Embracing the universal theme of loss in most of my writing, my award-winning plays and films have been shared in 250+ venues across the U.S. and abroad (UK, Ireland, UAE, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Ukraine).
Nora Louis Syran, Madame Medussa Would Prefer A Chardonney
Chicago/Nice, France
Nora Louise Syran is based outside of Chicago and near Nice, France. I am a member of the SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques), the Dramatists Guild and the Honor Roll!
https://newplayexchange.org/users/34709/nora-louise-syran
Kaniaka Vaish, Amaal
New York City/Mumbai
Kanika Asavari Vaish is a writer, director, and performer originally from and currently based in NYC, but I spent my teenage years in Mumbai. I am also the co-founder of South Asian theater ensemble and incubator Fresh Lime Soda Productions. My work focuses on hope, community, and transformation, and I believe in using theater as a tool for collective healing, social resistance, and self-empowerment.
MFA: Columbia University. BA: Wellesley College.
Alana Valentine, Suffocation Bay
Australia
Alana Valentine is an Australian playwright and librettist. Venus Theatre produced Soft Revolution (2016) which is also on the Australian school syllabus and The Ravens (2017) which also won the BBC International Radio Writing Competition (2014). Alana has won the highest award in Australian theatre, a Helpmann Award, for Barbara and the Camp Dogs, a musical co-written with First Nations artist Ursula Yovich. In 2024 an oratorio she co-wrote with Christos Tsiolkas called Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan will be presented by Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House.
www.alanavalentine.com and her plays are published by Currency Press.
Kathleen Warnock, How To Get Married in Five Steps and Seventeen Years
New York City
Kathleen Warnock is a New York City-based playwright and editor.
My work has been seen in NYC, regionally and internationally. I am a member of The Dramatists Guild, and the Honor Roll of women playwrights. I am Associate Artistic Director of The Other Side of Silence (TOSOS), NYC’s longest running professional LGBTQ+ theater.
NPX
Octavia Washington, Baby Breath
New York City
Octavia Washington is a New Yorker, fashion nerd, writer, and aspiring dramaturg. I’m a graduate of Carleton College with a degree in English and current candidate for a master’s degree in Dramaturgy at Columbia University. My scholarly work has appeared in the Winter issue of Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies in an article titled, “Black, In a Way,” exploring Jackie Sibbles-Drury’s Fairview and Black theater aesthetics.
“babybreath” has been previously published in Torch Literary Arts’ online archive.
Julia Weinberg, Carla Keeps Talking
New York City
I’ve been awarded The Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting.
Chloë Whitehorn, How Not To Die Terribly In A Fire
Born in Berkeley California, now living in Canada
Chloë’s work often examines taboo moralities, furthering audience discussion about women’s experiences.
chris wind, Portia
Canada
My prose and poetry have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, my theatrical work has been performed by several companies, and I have been awarded sixteen Ontario Arts Council grants.