Laura Rohrman was born and raised in Northern CA and graduated from UC Davis. She moved to New York City  many years ago to pursue playwriting. Keeping a toe on both coasts she often spends summers in Northern CA with her family and she’s had many productions and readings across the country and across the pond in London. Full-length plays include: Reporter Girl (Finalist Princess Grace Fellowship, Semi-Finalist O’Neill Festival, Weissberger Award Nominee, and My Life As You, a Playwrights First Finalist and recently a top five Finalist in the Mad Cow Women’s Play Festival 2020) and Hoboken (Shetler Studios/Hollywood Fringe – LA 2019). Shorter plays include: Below 14th (currently under development with The Actors Playhouse streaming network) Without and He Says His Name Is John, all Samuel French Short Play Finalists. Laura is published by Smith and Kraus in Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2017 and will be in Applause Books (upcoming 2021) for monologues and short plays. She’s also published by Drama Notebook for her kids’ plays. She runs a popular program in New York City (that is now on zoom) called Playwriting For Kids where the kids write and perform their own plays. MFA: Actors Studio/New School Drama. Laura is proud member of The Dramatist Guild and Honor Roll. Laura has received residencies with Rising Sun Theater Company (Governors Island) and The Workshop Theater in NYC.

As an actor she’s been seen in theater and film.  She regularly choreographs and was the choreographer for Main Stage West’s version of A Chorus Line in 2018.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/1786/laura-rohrman

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
https://newplayexchange.org/users/1786/laura-rohrman
FB: Laura Noni Rohrman
TW: @LauraRohrman
IG: @Nonirohr

MORE ABOUT ME
My very first theater production was in New York City just three weeks after September 11th. One of the actors had to drop out because she lost her partner in 9/11. I really didn’t want to go on, but the theater believed in me, had booked space for me and they begged me to go on, so I did. Through the process of making art during one of the worst tragedies in American history (I also directed this play) I learned a lot about myself – who I am as person and creator. Not only did we laugh a lot in rehearsal, but the audiences loved the play. They laughed at all the right moments. I was elated, standing in the back, or maybe I was on stage some nights working as a stage manager. I just knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be – out there making the magic happen.

Every few years, I’m reminded why I’m still a playwright and why I haven’t pivoted to something easier. I write for the stage because I’m good at it and I have something unique to say. In late 2019, I was presenting a staged reading for a Broadway producer of my play Reporter Girl. Everything that could go wrong with this reading did go wrong. But somehow even with main actors missing, it was still fantastic. After, when I was sitting with the producer, a publisher came over to compliment me on the play. He said it was the best reading he’d ever been to. Then, he simply started crying as he was talking about my play. I turned red, but I was also elated in that same way I was at the very beginning of my career when I stood in the back reacting to the audiences’ laughter. Theater gives you these little gold bumps that keep you going.
 
WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I'm teaching two playwriting classes for kids. As part of the class we write a play together. I'm busy getting those plays in order. I'm also working on a brand new play called The Agency about an old literary and talent agency in New York City. Additionally, I have a biography TV project that we are just starting that is very exciting.

KEYWORDS
Biography, farce, holiday, Romance, Thriller, dark comedy, International, history

Jennifer Maisel’s THE LAST SEDER premiered Off-Broadway with Gaby Hoffmann and Greg Mullavey after productions around the country and abroad.  Her Sundance-developed OUT OF ORBIT was awarded an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P Sloan rewrite commission for plays about science and technology, made the 2016 Kilroy List and won both the Stanley Award and the Woodward Newman Award for Drama before premiering at Williamston Theatre and Bloomington Playwrights Project.  Her Pen West Literary finalist THERE OR HERE had its London premiere in January, 2018.  Her @thespeedofJake, also a Pen West Literary finalist, premiered in LA with Playwrights’ Arena.  Jennifer has written movies for major networks and cable, as well as independent features; she sold a pilot to Super Deluxe with MomentumTV.  Jennifer was one of five writers invited into the prestigious Humanitas 2018 PlayLA workshop where she developed her new play, BETTER. Her newest play, THIRD PERSON, was developed in the inaugural UNDER CONSTRUCTION workshop at The Road Theatre. Her EIGHT NIGHTS premiered to critical acclaim at Antaeus Theatre in the fall of 2019 as part of their foray into new plays they deem “future classics”.  With a mission for linking the arts to socio-political issues, a nationwide series called 8 Nights of EIGHT NIGHTS - readings of the play in different cities followed by panel discussions - raised tens of thousands of dollars for HIAS and RAICES' Families First Fund.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://www.jennifermaisel.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jennifermaisel
TW: @jennifermaisel
IG: jcmla

MORE ABOUT ME
Why do I keep doing theatre?*  The magic of the moment of the first read, the rehearsal room, the words coming to life, the collaboration, the intimacy, the energy.  And now? I keep going back to Oscar Brockett's quote "Don't you people ever ask yourself why the theatre is still here after all of these years?  It's because you can't kill it.  You can't kill the theatre."  

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
Polishing my new plays, THIRD PERSON -  kind of a Spaulding Gray meets Love Letters, perfect for socially distant theatre - and BETTER - about a woman who invites a "family architect" into their home to scrutinize their life and make it better.

KEYWORDS
Female-forward,  Diverse casting: Jewish, Black, Muslim, South East Asian, Asian. LGBTQ. Dysfunctional family,  Relationships

Gonzalez’ creative writings focus on telling women’s stories and histories.  Her work has appeared on PBS national television and at Lincoln Center Out-of Doors, the Working Theatre, New York Live Arts, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, The Cell, and Dixon Place.  Recent work includes Zoom performances of her ten-minute musical "Dance Off" for Chicago Dramatists, a libretto workshop for "Home of my Ancestors" at Frontiers/Fort Worth Opera (originally commissioned by Houston Grand Opera Co.), and an Equity showcase production of "Ybor City" with Brooklyn Tavern Theatre in NYC (Cuban unionists, readings, rhumba, and smoke converge in 1918 Tampa, Florida), and reimagined performances of the devised work "The Living Lakes" for Links Hall in Chicago (dance theatre about African American and Latino migrations in the icy Great Lakes)

Anita Gonzalez has completed three Senior Scholar Fulbright grants and been awarded a residency at Rockefeller’s Bellagio Center in Italy. She was a Humanities Center Fellow at the University of Michigan during the 2017/18 academic year and she is a recent recipient of the Shirley Verrett Award for outstanding teaching of performance. Gonzalez is a member of the National Theatre Conference, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, League of Professional Women in Theatre, the Player’s Club and the Dramatists Guild.

Anita has authored two books "Afro-Mexico: Dancing Between Myth and Reality" (2010) and "Jarocho’s Soul" (2005) and co-edited the volumes "Black Performance Theory" (2013) and "Performance, Dance and Political Economy" (2021). Her essays about multi-cultural and international performance appear in several edited collections including Narratives in Black British Dance (Akinyele), Black Acting Methods (Luckett), Community Performance Reader (Kuppers)

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
https://anitagonzalez.com/

MORE ABOUT ME
My most gratifying experiences in the theatre are experiences where I learn about other cultures and human beings through evocative storytelling. I love the way in which music carries story through song because it better reflects the diverse cultural experiences of communities I work with.

Storytelling as cultural exchange defines my work. I am interested in how differing experiences intersect to create communities. In addition to my writing I have developed a Massive Open Online course called Storytelling for Social Change which has reached over 35,000 learners. I like when stories communicate across genres, so I work in media, song, theatre and dance. I even work as a destination lecturer for cruise ships in the Caribbean. My experiences making performance in Mexico, the Caribbean, England and Africa contribute to my writing and creative work.

Artistic Directors should know I'm an awesome person to work with because I really enjoy the spark which emerges from collaboration. I am at my best when collaborating with other artists. When I'm not writing, I like to swim in warm waters and hear the sounds of birds. In these times, it is particularly important to sometimes take a break from Zoom engagements.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
A new small-cast musical about Black women's empowerment called "Zora on My Mind" about a woman named Key who "don't know who she wants to be."

An opera libretto for Boston Opera Collaborative, titled "Courthouse Bells", about voting rights and justice.

A new play called "Spitfire at the Sunset Dream" with the Vagrancy about a group of African Americans who travel to the Caribbean for fun only to find themselves.

Continuing development of "Ybor City the Musical" which premiered  in NYC in 2020

KEYWORDS
African American, Latin X, Caribbean, Black, writer, teacher, racial justice, People of Color, fable/folktales, musicals, dance, comedy, immersive/site-specific, historical, political, women, Native American, indigenous, cosmos, spiritual, wellness

Christine Evans’ plays have been produced and won awards in her native Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, Austria and New Zealand. Her play Trojan Barbie is published by Samuel French (UK and US). Recent honors include a 2020 Howard Foundation Award, three MacDowell Fellowships and four DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowships. Her novel-in-verse, Cloudless, was released by UWA Publishing (2015). Current projects include the Russian-American play festival, Flash Acts; the libretto for Three Marys, a contemporary chamber opera composed by Andrée Greenwell; and a novel, Nadia, about a Bosnian refugee in 1990s London. Christine holds an MFA and PhD from Brown University, served as Briggs-Copeland Lecturer on English at Harvard from 2007-12, and is an Associate Professor of Performing Arts at Georgetown University.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://www.christineevanswriter.com
@christineteagrl

MORE ABOUT ME
I feel most like myself beside, or in, the ocean. There's a sense of connection and peace, and an expanded kind of time --rhythmic, cyclic time--by the sea. It reminds me that life is tidal. Likewise, in theater and art, I'm most drawn to work that gestures, through form, to the ineffable, giving me fresh perspective and breath. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
My second novel; a libretto for an Australian chamber opera; and small fragments of writing. Working on quieting my mind to see what wants to come in. 

KEYWORDS
tragi-comic, poetic, international, women, adaptations, opera

Ms. Villanueva is a stage manager by profession, but holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara in Playwriting.  She has continued writing on and off since graduating.  Her one act musical, Rooftops, was produced by the university and again at Center Stage in Santa Barbara.  During her tenure at Honolulu Theatre for Youth, her play Renovations was mounted as a part of Where Do Things Go?. Pacific, a play about the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese tsunami had a staged reading in 2013 at the Next Act! New Play Summit in Schenectady, NY. Her devised piece, The Crane Fable Project, about the Japanese American soldiers in WWII, was part of the Capital Fringe Festival in DC in 2015 and she has been a contributing playwright for the DC One Minute Play Festival for two years running. The Veils was selected for participation at the Baltimore Playwrights’ Festival (2016), The Black and Latino Playwrights’ Conference (2016), The Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival (2016), The Discovery New Play Festival (2017), and The Kitchen Dog New Play Festival (2017). She was invited to be a participant in the HMBG Winter Playwright Retreat in 2017 and The Veils received its first full production in February 2018 in Washington, DC as a part of the Women’s Voices Festival. The Head that Wears the Crown, was a part of The Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival in 2018 and produced by Ally Theatre Company in 2019. Her new play, Her, Across the River, about the friendship between an American woman and a novice monk who meet in Bangkok, was part of the INKubator On Air series (iTunes and Spotify) and is a part of the WTF Occupy the Space Festival this November. The QoL Mandate has been developed at NextStop Theatre Company and with The Quarantine Reading Society in NYC. She also is working an original musical about a college student who is slowly disappearing.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://www.stagewoozle.com
FB: Hope Villanueva
IG: stagewoozleSM

MORE ABOUT ME
My favorite moments as a playwright are when I know something has really connected with people. My friends who know my work well tease me that almost every play reduced the audience to tears at some point, but it's a point of pride that people are so close to the characters emotionally. In one of my plays in particular, about a female Marine with PTSD, every time I attended a performance, someone pulled me aside and said that they were reminded of a friend or sibling or family member who had gone through something similar and that I'd really captured the agony their loved ones were going through. I really feel like that why I write.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I've got two full length pieces that are in late development and that I'm starting to submit. One is about a hypothetical future where we require boys to have reversible vasectomies at puberty. The other is about a Vietnamese American family in the South, trying to decide to sell their shop. There's also a superhero musical mid-process (musicals take much longer!) with a female lead and a sweet queer love story at the center. I'm also in early days of a TV pilot about a company that disappears people and a new play about murder hornets.

KEYWORDS
​Female, Filipino, Mexican, American, drama, musical, magical realism, family drama, contemporary, relationships

Chrisphonte has written Talc: A Haitian Zombie Story, Marielle: A Musical, Lea Kokoye: A Musical and is currently writing Rhum: A Haitian Zombie Story. She also serves as director of community engagement at the Dramatists Guild of America. Her professional experience includes positions held within the Lillys, Global Affairs Canada, the French Ministry of National Education and the State and City of New York. She received her Bachelor’s and Juris Doctor from the University at Buffalo. Her work has been presented at the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Dixon Place, the Dramatists Guild of America and WOW Cafe Theatre. She currently serves on the board of the Times Square Alliance.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
https://www.chrisphonte.com/
TW: @jchrisphonte79
IG: @jennachrisphonte

MORE ABOUT ME
Truth bearer. Misanthropic curmudgeon. Resident dissident. Writer.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I work in theater to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

KEYWORDS
Haiti, Vodou, Zombies, Black Lives Matter

Lisa Kenner Grissom is an LA-based playwright whose work explores complex social issues through intimate relationships, often through the lens of strong, complicated women. Her multiple award-winning short film TATTOO YOU is based on her award-winning one-act play of the same name (Winner, Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival), and has screened at festivals nationally and internationally. Full-length plays include: HERE COMES THE NIGHT (Finalist: Garry Marshall New Play Festival), FOUR CHAMBERS (Winner: Jean Kennedy Smith Award, Kennedy Center; Finalist: O’Neill Playwrights Conference), MOTHERLAND (Finalist: Jewish Plays Project; Semi-Finalist: Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship), BUILDING THE PERFECT CHAIR (Finalist: TruVoices) and SHELTER (Semi-Finalist: PlayPenn).

In addition, her work has been recognized as a finalist for the Ashland New Play Festival, The Lark, The Playwrights' Center, and The Heideman Award. Her short plays are published by Smith & Kraus. Lisa twice attended The O'Neill as a Kennedy Center Fellow. Her work has been presented and/or developed at The Kennedy Center, Antaeus Theater Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Chalk Rep, Clurman Theater, Collaboraction, Inkwell Theater, Moving Arts, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Road Theatre and more.

Recent projects include HERE COMES THE NIGHT,  a new play developed as part of the Road Theatre Company's Under Construction 2020 Playwrights Lab, and HISTORY IS NOW, a documentary/oral history series created during the pandemic as a response to this moment in history: www.historyisnow.me.

Originally from Boston with a bicoastal heart, Lisa is a proud member of The Playwrights Union, Dramatist Guild, and Antaeus Playwrights Lab. More at www.lisakennergrissom.com and the New Play Exchange.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
https://www.lisakennergrissom.com/
FB: Lisa Kenner Grissom
TW: @lisakenner1
IG: @lisakennergrissom

MORE ABOUT ME
As writers and artists, we are continually emerging and evolving, regardless of age. For me, each project is an opportunity to dive into new terrain, to learn something new, and to tell a story that resonates with audiences on a deep emotional level. I want to make people feel. If I’m feeling something deeply as I’m writing, then the audience will too. That’s what I’m striving for.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I’m continuing to work on my new play, HERE COMES THE NIGHT, which has been developed at The Road Theatre Company as part of their 2020 Under Construction Playwrights' Lab. I’m also working on a screenplay adaptation of my award-winning short play TATTOO YOU called GROWN-UP BULLY, and a female-centric WWII- themed TV project.

KEYWORDS
Female leads, female friendship, dark comedy, drama, family dynamics, identity, legacy, Jewish

Anne García-Romero’s plays include LORCA IN NEW YORK, STAGING THE DAFFY DAME, MARY DOMINGO, PROVENANCE, PALOMA, EARTHQUAKE CHICA, MARY PEABODY IN CUBA, DESERT LONGING, JUANITA’S STATUE and SANTA CONCEPCIÓN. Her plays have been developed and produced most notably at New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Goodman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Denver Center Theatre, Hartford Stage, Borderlands Theater, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Repertorio Español, Kitchen Theatre, Orchard Project, New Harmony Project, Arkansas New Play Festival, Launch Pad at UCSB and South Coast Repertory. She has also written for Peninsula Films, Elysian Films and Disney Creative Entertainment. She’s been a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights Center of Minneapolis as well as a MacDowell Colony fellow. She has received commissions from the Denver Center Theatre Company, the NYSF/Public Theater, South Coast Repertory and Mark Taper Forum. She is the U.S. translator of Jordi Galcerán’s The Grönholm Method, Cancun, Burundanga and Conversations with Mama. She’s an Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Television and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. Her plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Smith & Kraus, NoPassport Press and Playscripts. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. She is a founding member of the Latinx Theatre Commons and The Fornés Institute. She is an alumna of New Dramatists, Chicago Dramatists and the Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://www.annegarciaromero.com
FB: anne.garciaromero
TW: @a_garciaromero
IG: @annegarciaromero

MORE ABOUT ME
What plays or productions changed your life?*
Plays: BLOOD WEDDING, YERMA and THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA by Federico García Lorca. FEFU AND HER FRIENDS, SARITA and THE CONDUCT OF LIFE by María Irene Fornés.

Productions: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, FENCES and JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE by August Wilson. THE GEOGRAPHY OF LUCK by Marlane Meyer. ROOSTERS by Milcha Sanchez-Scott. DON GIL DE LAS CALZAS VERDES by Tirso de Molina.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I'm a playwright, theatre studies scholar and professor. As a playwright, I'm developing a new play I began during the Fornés Playwriting Workshop, led by Migdalia Cruz, in Chicago, that explores a woman's complicated relationship with her teenage niece, her alcoholic brother and her two black cats. I'm also developing a short musical with composer Daniel Padilla, that considers one woman's struggle to cook the perfect paella. As a scholar, I'm writing about the María Irene Fornés playwriting method, as well as delving into the work of contemporary female Latin American playwrights in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. As a professor, I continue teaching playwriting, screenwriting and theater studies at the University of Notre Dame, and am particularly interested in how I can incorporate anti-racist theatre  pedagogy and practice into my work as an educator and theater artist.

Jovelyn Richards is a writer/director/ comedian, international improvisational performance artist living in Honolulu, HI. Jovelyn’s work has premiered (selected venues) The Marsh, SF, Afro Solo, SF, La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley CA, Los Angeles Women’s Theater Festival, the National Black Theatre Festival, North Carolina, Oakland Comedy and Central Eastern University, Budapest, HU.

Jovelyn was honored to be artist in residence 2010-2019, La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley, CA where Jovelyn directed and facilitated community members using their voice for social change including 9-1-1 What’s Your Emergency? -- an examination of the POC being harassed and traumatized by Whites to contain and control.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://jovelynrichards.com
FB:jovelynrichards
TW:@jovelynrichards
IG:@jovelynrichards

MORE ABOUT ME
What was your most gratifying moment in the theater?*
My play 'Come Home,' the story of a community of African Americans pre & post  WWll  and the impact of what war does to its people.

What play or production changed your life?*
Come Home was life-changing as solo artist work moved me deeply in the middle of the final scene when one character showed up and offered me both as writer and performer an emotional lens I had not encountered. It was magic!  

I feel most like myself when I ….*
When I'm playing in the theater with artists, I'm myself. 

How do you overcome disappointment?*
Not really part of my mindset; things happen, you move on.

If you could bring one change to theater, what would it be?*
POC/Black Women would do the next major body of work for no less than 10 years with complete support of allies.

What do you want artistic directors to know? *
If POC/Black Women, I want them to know they know so trust themselves and the magic of memory and hope. If not POC/Black Women, I would want them to know if you don't know by now and if 2020 and beginning of 2021 didn't show you, you don't want to know.

What’s the one thing nobody knows about you that you’d like them to know? *
I don't want to own a house, I don't want to own nothing but my thoughts and even those I want to give away as offerings to those needing em.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?*
Making up stuff in my head and reading

Why do you keep doing theater? *
Complicated to why I keep doing theater... easier to say if I don't do theater, I'll end up married again and learn to die while still moving and nobody will know but me.

How do you imagine telling stories in these times? *
Through the memories of my ancestors.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
It Was Never Just Sex: An exploration of emotional DNA inherited by a 1934s Jazz Club Owner who unknowingly is struggling with an traumatic incident from 1834 thrust on her shoulders to resolve. This is a multi-disciplinary piece using musicians, video and movement.

KEYWORDS
Spiritual, Bi-sexual, Food, Historical Drama, Environmental, Mystical, Erotic, Sensual, Black Woman, Mother, People of Color

(Updated 1/5/22) Coni Koepfinger, a 2021 recipient of the Olwen Wymark Award by the Writer's Guild of Great Britain, is currently playwright-in-residence at both Manhattan Rep and Cosmic Orchid and has worked with several other notable NYC companies such as Theatre for the New City, The Secret Theatre, the New York Unfringed Fest, Broadway Bound Festival and Pan Asian Rep. She has connected hundreds through her virtual programs Airplay and Determined Women. She is a member of the Dramatist Guild, a former board member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) and a chair for the League Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) and currently sits as Media Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation. As a very prolific indie artist, Coni’s work has been published and produced all over the globe.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: http://www.livefromthebardo.com
TW. @Conikoep
IS: @Conikoep

MORE ABOUT ME
In 1999, I wrote a play called “CandleDancing, The Voice of Julian of Norwich”. The two main characters in the play were a soon to be defrocked priest, Fr. Peter, a a young orphan, Will. They were each devised from real people that I knew but they did not know each other. Opening night, at intermission, the two real people approached each other. I was amazed, asking how they knew each other… The boy, David / Will, the character was now in college studying Myth and Religion with Fr. Athanasious/ Fr. Peter. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
A new play called “ Beyond Carbon “ that will attempt to understand the creative evolution of humanity. 

KEYWORDS
Spirit, Ancient Wisdom, Sahaja Yoga, metatheatre, metaphysical, radio plays, Sci Fi, Feminist, universal peace, magical realism