Raven Petretti-Stamper has produced many love themed plays, which she has written, through her production company, Strange Bird Productions. Full length plays include 2020: A Fantasy and ‘Till There Was You. Her one-act plays have been presented through various festivals at Theater Workshop of Owensboro (KY), Tiger Heart Players, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Shetler Studios, Looking Glass Theatre (NY) and Wellesley College's Upstage (MA). Her short plays have been published in Smith & Krauss’ Best Women’s Monologues of 2021 anthology, Laughter is the Best Medicine: Forty-Five 5 Minute Plays in the Time of Coronavirus and the Little Red Theatre Company’s Tiny Plays from the Quarantine collection. An avid student, she has studied at the School of Early Departures (NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and American Academy of Dramatic Arts as an Acting Major) and obtained her MFA from the School of Life where she is now studying for her doctorate. She resides in the sixth borough of New York, Jersey City, NJ, with a hubby who occasionally gets tired of reading her drafts and her rambunctious cats who inspire characters in said drafts. She was selected for the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive in 2021 and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
Website: https://www.strangebirdproductions.com

MORE ABOUT ME:
I feel most like myself when I'm involved with a show from start to finish. I enjoy being involved with every aspect of a production from writing to producing (which includes casting, scheduling, creative team hiring, etc). I get off on overseeing all aspects, especially building the right team, and seeing our efforts pay off when the lights go down. When it's right and we can take the audience to another place I couldn't be prouder. In Jan a theatre in OH produces one of my pieces so I might change my mind around then but for now it's the entire process that makes me feel whole and in awe of what we do. To build something from scratch and make people feel is a gift like no other.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
I'm trying to get one of my full lengths produced and sprucing up my catalogue of plays after the Kennedy Center Intensive. The knowledge gained and camaraderie from our group is changing the way I write. It will be interesting to see what comes from it.

KEYWORDS:
​Rom com, comedy, atypical romantic comedy, mystery, drama

I grew up in the 'burbs of Penna., a landscape I frequently revisit in my work. I lived, worked, wrote in NYC post-college (first professional reading at EST), married and moved to Williamstown, Mass. where our three now-adult children were born. Currently working towards a reading in Hudson, NY of new full-length, My Own Flesh and Blood. (Thank you, Dir. Michelle Joyner!) One-act Our Lady of Broad Street was included in Road Theatre’s Summer 2021 Playwrights Festival. (Dir. Susan Vanita Diol) It premiered at New Perspectives Theater Co. in NYC (Dir. Melody Brooks) and subsequently, was part of Festival de Teatro Alternativo in Bogota, Colombia. Full-length play I Am, You Are, We Were saw a staged reading at Berkshire Voices/ Berkshire Playwrights Lab (Dir. Joe Cacacci), and an early iteration of my musical/farce/drama, The Marrow in the Bone, workshopped at Barn Arts Collective. A partial list of additional credits includes: Capital Region 24-Hour Theatre Project at the University at Albany, the Boston Theatre Marathon, Philadelphia Primary Stages, Curio Theatre (Philadelphia), and Made in the Berkshires Festival. I have also published three YA novels with HarperCollins and a picture book with Workman Publishing, and since 2013, have been a Playwright in Residence for Barrington Stage Company's Playwright Mentoring Project, a collaboration of theater artists and under-served teens and am a member of the Playwrights' Center. 

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
Website: www.janedenitzsmith.com

MORE ABOUT ME:
I have been a fortunate playwright in many respects: mentored and embraced by extraordinarily talented creative artists. I have also experienced ageism: In my orbit, "new voices" has often been a euphemism for "young voices". Doors have opened, but sometimes, I'm only allowed to step half-way in. How do I overcome disappointment? I move forward. Often, the most gratifying creative times have been the ones that I have created for myself. Whether I'm engaged in a professional production or not, it's the act of creating that moves me forward; I am hungry for collaboration and critique. It's in this communal space that I find inspiration. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
--I'm seeking opportunities to give my two-women one-act The Marrow in the Bone (a serf and an aristocrat on the eve of the Russian Revolution) another workshop go-around, especially musically. --Full-length My Own Flesh and Blood is moving toward a staged reading this winter. --A new full-length about the underbelly of the "perfect" N.E. town, The Village Beautiful, is finding its way on the page. 

KEYWORDS:
​History, Community, Cultural Identity, Verse, Family, Intersection of Past and Present, Epigenetics, Humor

I am a playwright, screenwriter and published author from New York City. My plays, screenplays and books include: THE FROG IN THE FLIPPER; SUPERNATURAL PLAYBOY; TRUMPET OF THE SWAN (adaptation); SWEET 15; GANGSTER; NETHERLAND; FACE; LOVE STORY IN 3 PHASES; and ANYTHING FOR YOU. My work has been produced at The Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, MN; The Hartford Children’s Theater in Hartford, CT; The Cell Theater in New York City; The Overtime Theater in San Antonio, TX; and The NJ Rep in Long Branch, NJ. In 2015, I was nominated by industry professionals for The Kilroy’s List of notable female playwrights. I’ve studied acting with Joan MacIntosh, Olympia Dukakis, Rochelle Oliver and Mark Blum. Favorite roles include: Colette in FOUR DOGS AND A BONE at The Red Room and Molly in MOLLY SWEENY at HB Studio Theater. I’ve taught everything from preschool to ESL to playwriting to acting and was the Artistic Director of The Peers Educating Peers Program at New Jersey City University for eighteen years. I went to Macalester College in St. Paul, MN and then got my M.A. in Theatre at Hunter College in NYC. I’m a member of The Actors Studio Playwright/Director Workshop, where I’m developing my next play, ANDROMEDA SPEAKS.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emily.adler.712/
Instagram: emilyadlerphotos

MORE ABOUT ME:
The only time I’ve ever won the top prize for anything (thus far, hope springing eternal) was at a Halloween party at The Ivoryton Playhouse in CT. We came as Gorillas in the Mist. I was the mist…

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
Developing my play ANDROMEDA SPEAKS…where worlds collide on parallel trains to Moscow as both the galaxy and the myth are used to explore the desire for love and security while chasing the more elusive thirst for work and freedom. I’m also embarking on a film adaptation of my play FACE.

​

Patrice LeBlanc is a composer and playwright who lives in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. She holds a M.A. degree in Musical Theatre with a certificate in Music Composition from Regis University. Patrice created a one-act musical, Passages, as her Capstone Thesis and began her journey as a playwright and composer. She has written and collaborated numerous musicals and has produced shows under her production company L & M Productions. Some of the favorable shows include Call Me Ned which premiered at the Frozen Dead Guy Festival in 2019, Where is Millie, a social distanced melodrama in 2020 and Prohibition in 2021.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://www.lmproductions.org
https://www.facebook.com/NewMusicals

MORE ABOUT ME
Theater will survive any condition. The pandemic forced the theater world to become innovative and resourceful in order to remain. I witnessed amazing triumphs during the pandemic of artists who made their voices known and prevailed in spite of all the obstacles. I experienced a need for theater in the midst of tragedy and how it brought communities together. Theater made us reflect, ponder and contemplate series subject matter. Theater also entertained, enlightened and raised our spirits. The magic of theater allowed us to submerge ourselves in another world temporarily and gave us a breath from reality. I create works because I feel it is my duty as an artist to reflect back my perception of society. I do this through stories of the human experience.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
2020: A Greek Tragedy

KEYWORDS
Historical Adaptations, musical, farce, holiday, Young Audiences

Crystal Adaway is a playwright, screenwriter, editor, artist, and teacher. Her first screenplay, BANGERS & MASH, was selected as a finalist in the Virginia Film Office’s Screenwriting Competition. Her play, THE WISH, received Honorable Mention in Dominion Stage’s first playwriting competition in 2020. Her monologue from THE WISH was selected for publication in SHE PERSISTED: ONE HUNDRED MONOLOGUES BY WOMEN OVER 40, edited by Lawrence Harbison and released in November 2021. Her short comedy, THE CHRISTMAS CARD, was selected for the Dover Little Theater’s 2019 Winter Holiday One-Act Festival, and was produced as part of Pipeline Playwrights’ 2019 DC Capital Fringe show. Crystal is a 2018 alumna of the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive, with the incomparable Gary Garrison. She is also a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America and of Honor Roll!, an advocacy and action group of women+ playwrights over 40 as well as their women+ over 40 allies. Crystal is also one of the Pipeline Playwrights, a collective of persistent women writers and producers. She is the owner/operator of WorthyNotes, a writing and editing business. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
NPX: https://newplayexchange.org/users/21270/crystal-adaway AND https://www.worthy-notes.com

MORE ABOUT ME
What was my most gratifying moment in theater? THE WISH grew from a dark & twisty idea I had in a half-awake haze one morning when my kids were at an age that required nearly all my attention. I wrote it down and tucked it in a folder. They grew and I grew and a need to write grew in my belly. It took many, many years for me to complete the play, and I was invited to present it at the Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage festival in 2018. The audience loved it. The discussion was transformative. That experience, that play, made it finally unequivocal in my own mind that I am a playwright.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I'm currently working on a full-length drama, TO BE STILL, and will be adapting a WWII action/romance novel I edited into a screenplay.

KEYWORDS
Women, Family, Comedy, Holiday, Dark Comedy, Developmental Editor, Copy Editor

I am the first-generation American daughter of Hungarian refugees, raised with a love of language and art. A lesbian, and a professional with a career in another discipline, over the years I have written and performed in radio drama, poetry and non-fiction, then produced, performed and directed women's community theater, finally emerging into playwriting a handful of years ago. I've workshopped and had two short pieces produced; at age over 60, my first full-length work was written in 2021

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
FB: Angie Bors
TW: @facethemuse
IG: @face_themuse

MORE ABOUT ME
Q:What was your most gratifying moment in the theater?
Me:Seeing my first byline on a program I didn't put together.
Q:Seriously, is that the best you can do?
Me:Okay, peeking through the curtains at the audience and hearing the gasp at just that line. Every goddamn time.
Q:Alright, that's better. Not great, but better.
Me:Are you fucking following me around?
Q:You knew that once you found me, I would never shut up.
Me:And never will I ask you to.
Q:Good. Just so we're clear about who's running this show.
Me:Without a doubt. I exist to serve only you.
Q:Nice touch. Let's get on with it.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I am working on my second full-length play, working title is Her Beautiful Back. Something of a coming out story, a bit of magic and a bit of tragedy. Who knows? It's a work in progress.

KEYWORDS
Lesbian, Queer, Family, Loss, Grief, Self, Women, Aging, Tattoos, Coming out, leaving, reinvention, community, betrayal, butch, femme, divorce, adult content

Tampa, Florida native and University of Tampa graduate, Deborah Bostock-Kelley is a multi-time, award-winning playwright, and a director, producer, actor – pretty much in that order. Her work has appeared across stages in Tampa Bay, competing in every year of the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival, and was honored with the inaugural Tampa Bay Theatre Festival Denise Deneen Award recognizing her work in the theatre community. Her one-acts have also been performed at Carrollwood Players One Act Weekend, 4×6 Festival, and Tarpon Arts. In 2018, she created The ThinkFast Experiment for Powerstories Theatre's SheVolution Festival where she and seven women playwrights were given a randomly drawn location, theme, quote, and situation, and had eight hours to collaborate and write, rehearse and perform an original script. Her original production Breast Advice debuted to rave reviews, workshopped in December 2019. In collaboration with another playwright, her last play about a school shooting A Necessary Conversation won “Critic’s Choice” in Powerstories’ virtual Voices of Truth Festival in March 2021, Regional Broadway World’s 2018 “Best Actor” and “Best Actress” Awards, and was nominated for Creative Loafing Best Script of the Decade, and 2021 Best Original Production.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
FB:  anecessaryconversation
FB: breastadvice
FB: lifeamplifiedshowcase
FB: thewriteonecs

MORE ABOUT ME
My most gratifying moment came with my first social commentary play 11:11 as part of A Necessary Conversation that debuted to rave reviews in January 2018. Recipient of the 2017 Theatre Tampa Bay Jeff Norton Dream Grant, I reached out to the Straz Center with the concept for this show and the venue graciously helped make my vision a reality in the TECO Theatre. Everytown- Moms Demand Action, Tampa Chapter was the community partner and the recipient of ticket sales of the evening show, following an incredible community talk-back. The moment that changed my life, besides making an entire audience cry about the events of the gun violence show, was a comment from a teen girl who said, after seeing my show, instead of ignoring her, she'd talk to the weird girl in the hall. I made an impact on a teenager enough to change her way of thinking. Another moment was when my play Breast Advice of original true story monologues about breasts collected through Facebook submission was called "The Vagina Monologues for boobs." I am working on getting it back in the theatre festivals once the pandemic is over.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I've submitted my new and revised school shooting play to several festivals. I'm working on a short play about three women's different situations and their rights being obstructed to have an abortion.

KEYWORDS
social commentary, school shootings, comedy, drama, activism, alley, monologues, female-centric, powerful, emotional

I am a writer and creator who dives into the personal and political aspects of women’s lives: their work; their families; and their friendships. My play "Big Pharma" was commissioned in 2004 by Bmoca. The Boulder Museum of Contempoarty Art and then toured. Produced at The Marsh Theater in San Francisco, The Changing Scene Theater in Denver and many college campuses across the U.S. My play "After, all" was featured at The Great Plains Theater Conference in 2010. My play “Ojalá” had it’s world premiere at Casa 0101 in 2010. Then in 2019 “Ojalá” was optioned as a screenplay. My play "The Maid's Daughters" was a finalist at Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference in 2016 & 2017. My Television pilot "Playing with Fire" was a finalist at The Orchard Project Showrunners Program in 2019 & 2020. My work has been featured in Ms. Magazine, HowlRound, and several other feminist publications. I am a proud member of The Playwrights Union, a network of L.A. Playwrights writing for theater, television and film and also part of Antaeus Theater Company Playwrights Lab. My feature film “The Exchange” was released in 2019. It was the opening short film at The Madrid International Film Festival. It was also honored at the Hollywood Reel Film Festival and The LA Women’s in February 2020. 

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: https://www.jenniferberry.net
Instagram: jenniferberry1
Twitter: JenniferLBerry

MORE ABOUT ME
My most gratifying moment. Each play is like one of my babies: Performing "Big Pharma" and seeing the success of that show. Watching people react to my words. Reading the reviews.Having it tour and travel for years. With my run of "After, all" I used to love listening to the actors say my words while I was backstage. There was one monologue of mine I used to just wait for. And I would think "I wrote that!" And now this actress is elevating it to even a higher atmosphere. I feel most like myself when I'm around other playwrights and theater people listening to my work being performed. I also feel like myself when I'm actually writing. I overcome disappointment by crying a lot, then calling friends, and then getting back to work. Baking and biking also prove to be useful when I'm in a funk. If I could bring one change to theater...it would be gender parity on all stages, every season. I want to hear more female, non-binary and trans stories. I want artistic directors to know that we as female playwrights are tracking them. We see who you produce. Please don't tell me "things are getting better." I've been told that for twenty years and things are not getting better fast enough!!!!! Excuse me, our lives are waiting. What's the one thing nobody knows about you that you'd like them to know? Gosh, I'm pretty open. I guess it would be that I still feel scared all the time. That as much as I like myself, I'm still way too hard on myself. And what I want for myself is what I want for every woman--freedom to express herself. When I'm not writing my favorite thing to do is dance in the kitchen with my twins after having eaten a great meal that my husband usually prepares. Why do I keep doing theater? Because it is a LIVE COMMUNITY event. It still startles me, excites me and fills me with hope. I was able to write myself into a life I wanted. All of my best friends I've made by doing my art! Why would ever quit? How do I imagine telling stories in these times? Work about the Climate Emergency. The Production that changed my life. "Twilight" by Anna Deavere Smith. It motivated me to write "Big Pharma." When the theater critic of The LA Weekly compared my show to hers, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
A play about a mother, daughter and grandmother. How their dreams intersect on a planet that is running out of time.

KEYWORDS
​Family, Political, Food, Native American, Climate, Historical, Radio plays, Equality, Climate, Bi-sexual, Historical

I am an author and arts journalist and most recently wrote the first biography of playwright Emily Mann, "Emily Mann: Rebel Artist of the American Theater." I co-founded and was 1st president of Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the American and have been devoted to the theater, and to playwrights, all of my working life. 

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: http://www.alexisgreene.com
Twitter: TW:@alexisgreene6
Facebook: alexisgreene 

MORE ABOUT ME
My most gratifying moments in the theater occurred when I was literary manager at the George St. Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ, in the 1980s, and produced a reading series of new plays. So often in the theater, audiences respond privately--by laughing, crying, clapping (dozing). But audiences at the readings wanted to talk about what they'd just heard and seen, and I always believed that the experience brought them closer to theater and enabled them to commit to theater in a way they hadn't by buying a ticket and sitting in the audience. It made me want to keep doing theater. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
A collection of 19th & 20th-century plays by American women

KEYWORDS
​Jewish, Feminist, Political, True Crime, Historical

Susan Goodell is a resident playwright with Rising Sun Performance Company in New York and a member of Connecticut’s Theatre Artists Workshop, founded by Keir Dullea and the late Susie Fuller. She is author of the full-length HEELS OVER HEAD, first produced by Tri-State Actors Theatre; winner of Rover Dramawerk’s Seconds Award and now chosen by Rising Sun as one of its “Pipeline Plays” in development. Her 90-minute HOPE THROWS HER HEART AWAY was staged at Chicago’s Genesis Theatrical Productions. Her scripts have been developed at theatres including Virginia Stage Company, The Barrow Group, and The Women’s Theater Company, Parsippany, New Jersey. Her short plays have received over 140 stagings at venues including The Abingdon, the Boston Theatre Marathon, Mildred’s Umbrella and The Changing Scene Northwest. Other recognition: Steppenwolf Theatre Company commission, Djerassi Resident Artist, Denver Drama Critic’s Circle nomination and the Denver Post’s 10-best list. A former small-town newspaper editor and Madison Avenue public relations executive, she lives in New England. 

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: https://newplayexchange.org/users/913/susan-goodell

MORE ABOUT ME
I began writing plays because I’m intrigued by ordinary annoyances and wanted to see a moment on stage when a character’s arm falls asleep. I see comedy in small, everyday things. Though I abandoned my childhood dream to become a photojournalist, I remain captivated by what photographer Cartier-Bresson described as “decisive moments,” those snapshots in time that distill a larger human situation. My plays reflect my absurd world view. If one appliance breaks, it’s an inconvenience. If two break consecutively it’s calamitous. If three appliances fail, it’s a hysterically funny vortex of the cosmos that must be heroically jousted. Likewise, I see how our personal realities create often-comic pseudo-worlds in every living room. Particularly today, the eroding of truth, the rise of demagogues and hucksters, the allegiance to false prophets prompts an infinite exploration. Playwriting helps me cope with the puzzle of being human. Audience response, particularly laughter, assures me others share my observations. It’s my privilege as a playwright to receive that connection. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
Rewriting HEELS OVER HEAD and another full-length play.

KEYWORDS
​Quirky comedy