The Alcove
New Play Development Program
YEAR ONE
Commissioned Playwrights (2022-2023)
Terence Anthony
Terence Anthony is a playwright and TV writer based in Los Angeles. He has been awarded writing fellowships to the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. Terence’s work has been seen at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival (San Francisco), the PlayPenn Conference (Philadelphia), the Chicago Dramatists, and the RADAR LA Festival. Select Credits Include: The House of the Negro Insane (World Premieres at the Contemporary American Theater Festival + the National Black Theater Conference), Burners (Ovation Award nominee), Tombolo (O’Neill Conference finalist)
Mathilde Dratwa
MATHILDE DRATWA's plays include Milk and Gall (Theatre503, London), A Play about David Mamet Writing a Play about Harvey Weinstein, and Dirty Laundry (Audible). Her work has been presented by the Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Rattlestick, LAByrinth Theater Company, the Playwrights’ Center and the Young Vic. On the film/TV side, Mathilde has developed content for Picture Start, Endeavor, LuckyChap, Dirty Films, FX, Red Wagon, Sony/TriStar, Chernin and wiip.
Rudi Goblen
Rudi Goblen is a playwright, poet, and performer who creates solo theater and devised theater works. He is a 3x recipient of playwriting awards from the Kennedy Center, and the Distinguished Achievement for the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award; as well as the Future Aesthetics Artist Re-grant, two Miami-Dade County Choreographer Awards, a FEAST Award for his book of poems "A Bag of Halos and Horns," and a Theater Masters' TAKE TEN Playwright. Publications include Theater Magazine, Imagined Theatres: Writing for a Theoretical Stage, and Samuel French/Concord Theatricals. Rudi received his MFA in playwriting from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale in May 2023.
Deborah Zoe Laufer
Deb’s plays have been produced at Steppenwolf, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, The Humana Festival, Everyman, Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and hundreds of other theaters around the world. Deb is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Lilly Award, The ATCA Steinberg citation, and grants and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Edgerton Foundation, NNPN, and the Lincoln Center Foundation. She is a graduate of Juilliard, an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop, and a Dramatists Guild Council member. DEBORAHZOELAUFER.com
Dan O’Brien
Dan O’Brien is a playwright, poet, librettist, and nonfiction writer whose recognition in theatre includes a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Horton Foote Prize, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize, the L. Arnold Weissberger Award, and two PEN America Awards. His plays have premiered at such theaters as Primary Stages, Second Stage Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Page 73 Productions, Hartford Stage, Geva Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Wilma Theater, Theater J, Boston Court Pasadena, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Gate Theatre in London. O’Brien lives in Los Angeles.
Mildred Inez Lewis
Mildred Inez Lewis writes films, plays, and podcasts. A Dramatists Guild member, she writes for Central Works, PlayGround-LA, and Towne Street Theatre. She’s an associate artist with Rogue Artists Ensemble. Commissions include JUKED for A Different Myth and SMITH’S REVENGE for Ohlone College. In 2021, the Harlem9, Lucille Lortel and National Black Theatre commissioned GHOSTS OF BLACKNESS. Honors include the 2022 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway festival, 2021 L.B. Williams Award (New Circle Theatre) and Humanitas’ PLAY LA (2018). Her script for $10 AND A TAMBOURINE earned a 2021 Ambie nod as part of the Zip Code series.
Mónica Sánchez
Mónica Sánchez is a playwright, actor, and educator. She holds an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from the University of New Mexico and is currently on faculty as Assistant Professor of Playwriting and Performance at Colorado College (Colorado Springs, CO). Her plays aspire to unveil the varied and underrepresented experiences of Latinidad in the U.S., particularly the complex and unique philosophical, cultural and historical milieu of the Southwest; not only ripe for dramatic exploration but also sorely missing from the canon of the American theatre. dramatista.com
Reid Tang
reid tang writes plays and makes weird internet experiments. Their play FUTURE WIFE was selected for the 2022 Theatertreffen Stückemarkt in Berlin. Currently, they are a member of Ars Nova's Play Group and the New Georges Jam, and an alum of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers' Group & NYTW’s 2050 Fellowship. They’re also under commission from Long Wharf Theatre + NAATCO. Their past work includes Party in A Google Sheet (New Georges). They grew up in Singapore and presently live in Brooklyn, NY. Upcoming: WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks 2023).
Jesús I. Valles
Jesús I. Valles (they/them) is a queer Mexican immigrant, educator, writer-performer from Cd. Juarez/El Paso. Jesús is the winner of the 2023 Yale Drama Series selected by Jeremy O. Harris (Bathhouse.pptx), the winner of the 2022 Kernodle Playwriting Prize (a river, its mouths), and was named the 2022 Emerging Theatre Professional by the National Theatre Conference. As a playwright, Jesús received support from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Kennedy Center, The Flea, Teatro Vivo, and Outsider Festival. For their work as a poet, Jesús’ received fellowships from CantoMundo, Lambda Literary, Community of Writers, Idyllwild Arts, Undocupoets, and Tin House.
Calamity West
Calamity West is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Calamity West work has been developed at Primary Stages, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout Underground, and The Goodman – to name a few. She holds a BA in dramatic writing from Webster University and an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She teaches playwriting and literature at her alma mater of Webster University and playwriting at the University of Chicago. In 2018 she founded the Playwrights Lab at Jackalope Theatre where she is a proud company member.
Dramaturgy & Directors Cohort (2022-2023)
Emma Dorfman
Emma Dorfman (she/her) is a dramaturg, writer, and performer currently based in London. She was previously the Resident Dramaturg for Life Jacket Theatre Company in New York, where she assisted in the research and development of the company’s latest production, THE GORGEOUS NOTHINGS. Emma also holds an MA in Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths University, London and a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Hannah Fennell Gellman
Hannah Fennell Gellman (she/her) is passionate about queer stories, movement, and poetry. Her dramaturgy credits include the ripple, the wave that carried me home by Christina Anderson (Yale Rep); Wake by Stefani Kuo and Hedda Gabler (David Geffen School of Drama at Yale); Dr. Ride’s American Beach House and soft apples (Yale Cabaret). She has also developed dance pieces with BODYSONNET and Qualia Dance Collective and worked as an educator at Elm Shakespeare Company, Berkshire Theater Group, Lookingglass Theatre, and Shakespeare & Company. BA in English, Carleton College; MFA candidate in Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism at Yale.
Elly Green
Elly is a London based theatre director. She worked in Chicago for 10 years where she was an ensemble member with Strawdog Theatre and Sideshow Theatre. She previously worked with Calamity directing the world premiere of In The Canyon. Recently Elly has been directing/teaching in the UK where her credits include Three Little Words (Birmingham Conservatoire) and Blister (LAMDA).
Sarah Rose Leonard
Sarah Rose Leonard is a dramaturg and creative producer. She is currently a Live Events Producer at KQED, Northern California’s NPR and PBS member station. Previously, she was the Literary Manager at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Literary Associate at Signature Theatre. She dramaturgs plays nationally, reads on a bunch of committees, and her curating/producing work includes three PRELUDE Festivals and a myriad of downtown NYC theatre projects.
Adil Mansoor
Adil Mansoor (theatre director) has developed new work with NYTW, Woolly Mammoth, Mercury Store, New Dramatists, The Poetry Project, BAAD, NYU Tisch, and others. Recent directing projects include “Daddies”(Audible) and “Once Removed”(Tribeca) by Paul Kruse, "Gloria" (Hatch Arts) by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and "Kentucky" (Pgh Playhouse) by Leah Nanoko Winkler. His solo performance “Amm(i)gone” is co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, The Theater Offensive, and National Performance Network. https://www.adilmansoor.com/
Tatiana Pandiani
TATIANA PANDIANI is a Latin American director-choreographer who works in Spanish and English. Recent: TORERA (Alley Theatre), Our Town (Dallas Theatre Center), Blood Wedding (Yale), What the Constitution Means to Me (Associate, Broadway). Upcoming: LEMPICKA (Associate, Broadway). Tatiana is the New Works Director at Miami New Drama, and a professor at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University (YSD). Her original bilingual musical, AZUL (music by Jacinta Clusellas, orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire) was programmed at the Eugene O'Neill (NMTC), Goodspeed Musicals, NAMT, 54 Below. Next: Joe's Pub on May 24 (listen on Spotify!) Member of SDC. MFA: Columbia. Reps: Brillstein Entertainment Partners. @tatianapandianii
Christian Parker
Christian Parker is a director, dramaturg, and former Chair of the graduate Theatre Program (2012-19) at Columbia University, where he also heads the Dramaturgy concentration. Christian’s career has been focused on the production and development of new plays. He has held leadership roles at Atlantic Theater Company, where he spent many years as Associate Artistic Director and Manhattan Theatre Club where he began his career as Literary Manager. For the past several years he has spent more time as a freelancer in addition to his teaching, and has worked all over the US at various regional theatres and play development centers. He is a graduate of Middlebury College (BA) and Columbia University (MFA).
Nicholas Orvis
Nicholas Orvis (he/him) is a dramaturg, critic, and director. His previous dramaturgy includes Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles by Luis Alfaro and Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Hedgehog’s Dilemma (Yale Cabaret); and the father, the son, and the holy spirit (Yale Summer Cabaret). From 2014-2019 Nick was the Literary Associate and Resident Dramaturg for Premiere Stages at Kean University. He is a former managing editor of Theater magazine and a co-creator of the ongoing Dungeons + Drama Nerds, a podcast exploring the intersections between theater and tabletop roleplaying games.
Arminda Thomas
Arminda Thomas (Dramaturg) is resident dramaturg and a producing member of CLASSIX. Selected dramaturgy credits include The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Jones Theatre/Brooklyn Academy of Music), Death of a Salesman (Hudson Theatre), Wedding Band (Theatre for a New Audience), Black Picture Show (Artists Space), Mirrors (Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop), and Black History Museum...According to the United States of America (HERE Arts Center). She previously served as archivist and dramaturg for Dee-Davis Enterprises, where she was an executive producer for the Grammy-awarded audiobook, With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together.
Sebastián Eddowes-Vargas
Sebastián Eddowes-Vargas (he/him/él) is a Peruvian theater artist and researcher, who focuses on queer stories and how these are shaped by the colonial histories of the Americas. He is author of several award-winning plays, including El Rancho De Los Niños Perdidos, Una Historia De (Poli)Amor, Debut (with Caro Black Tam), Nunca Estaremos En Broadway (with Rodrigo Yllaric), Hasta Que Choque El Hueso (with Mario Zanatta), and Can The Peruvian Speak? As dramaturg, he has worked on Expats Anonymous by Rachel Chin, directed by Alex Keegan (Yale Cabaret); Exposed by Laura Goodenow (Real Women Make Waves); and Between Two Knees by The 1491s, directed by Eric Ting (Yale Repertory Theatre). He is currently an M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama.
R & D Work Sessions (2022-2023)
Jeremy Tiang
Digital Reading Series
Red Sky at Night by Eve Leigh, directed by Taylor Reynolds. (May 2023)
(in partnership with The Brick Theater in Brooklyn, NY.)
Racist Actor by Daniel York Loh, directed by Lucy Jane Atkinson. (October 2023)
The Deodand, Or; The Rat Play by Justice Hehir, directed by Joan Sergay. (October 2023)
The Revolutionary’s Son by Terence Anthony, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. (October 2024)
FEAST! by Calamity West, directed by Elly Green. (October 2024)