MEET THE JUDGES

Directing work includes Guards at the Taj(Central Square Theatre, Cambridge, MA; IRNE nominee for best play; Boston Globe Top 10 Theatre OF 2018), Charles Cissel's MUST(Theatre at St. Clements, produced by Bruce Willis); as well as collaborations with Emmy Award nominated actor and musician, Tituss Burgess, on concert events at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Gabriel is an alum of the Drama League Director's Project, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellowship, and Williamstown Theatre Festival Professional Training Program. He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. His collection of short plays, Loose Canon, and adaptation,...

Cherry Lou Sy is a writer/playwright/performer originally from the Philippines and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College where she lectures in the English and American Studies Departments. She is also a teaching artist for PEN America’s DREAMING Out Loud where she facilitates creative writing classes for undocumented and formerly undocumented immigrants. She's been the recipient of fellowships and residencies from VONA and Tin House among others. She is also the Co-Artistic Director of the International Minor Feelings Trading Company (aka Trade Co) where the collective examines third culture perspectives.

A.J. Muhammad has a background in library public service, dramaturgy and arts administration. He is on the producing team of The Fire This Time Festival and a librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He is also a member of CLASSIX, an initiative that was founded by Awoye Timpo to explode the theater canon through an exploration of Black performance history and dramatic works by Black writers.

Gethsemane Herron is a playwright from Washington, D.C. She has developed work with JAG Productions, The Hearth, The Fire This Time Festival, The Liberation Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, The Playwright’s Center, Ars Nova, and WP Theater. She is a Resident Artist with Ars Nova’s Play Group, a 2020-2022 member of the WP Lab, and a 2021-2022 Jerome Fellow at the Playwright’s Center. Additional residencies from VONA and the Millay Colony. Winner of the Columbia @ Roundabout Reading Series. Winner of the 45th Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship and the Bay...

Preston Burger is an actor, advocate, and educator hell bent on leveling the playing field for people with disabilities in all societal domains he can. A performer and creator since childhood, Preston has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus (1998-1999 season); served as Dance Captain for Rachel Klein in her delightfully ghoulish dance-theater work The Tragedy of Maria Macabre at Dixon Place; danced a lead role in indie music video Fire To The Ground(The Forms, feat. Matt Berninger of The National); and had his original work selected for the Roundabout’s Reverb Arts Festival (under the mentorship of Jerron Herman)....