workshop intensive SPRING 2020
The Workshop Intensive is a weekly writer’s group that runs for 8 weeks, with a group of writers, and two facilitators/dramaturges. Writers submit an unproduced play, along with a statement of rewrite goals, and are then selected by the artistic staff. The script can be a first draft, or only partially finished, or something that has been worked on many times. We are agnostic as to form and content.
Melisa Tien
is a playwright, lyricist, librettist, and producer. A member of New Dramatists, Melisa is also a recipient of NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, and Theatre grant, an EST/Sloan commission, and a fellowship in Playwriting/Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has been a resident at MacDowell, Millay, and Tofte Lake Center, and a member of the WP Theater Lab. BA, UCLA; MFA, Columbia University. www.melisatien.com.
Adrienne Dawes
(she/her) is an Afro-Latina playwright, producer, and teaching artist originally from Austin, TX. She has been an Alice Judson Hayes Fellow (Ragdale Foundation), a Literary Fellow at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and a NALAC Fund for the Arts grantee. Adrienne is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ScriptWorks, and a company member of Salvage Vanguard Theater. Follow her work online at www.adriennedawes.com or @heckleher
Michael Feldman
is a Texas born playwright living in Brooklyn. He is a proud member of EST/Youngblood and has been on the field team for the Civilians. Prior to pursuing playwriting, he had a career in politics, working at the White House and Everytown for Gun Safety. His writings and research have been featured by many outlets including the Washington Post and Huffington Post.
TANK
is a playwright and drag artist hybrid with a passion for Sad Gurl Dance Pop. Influenced heavily by icons such as Bjork, Tony Kushner, and The Wicked Witch of the West, Tank creates worlds that examine tragedy through the lens of a celebration and finds the party in the worst moments of life. They have recently relocated from Chicago back to NYC where they had an artistic residency with Nox Arca Theatre and created the "Queird Art Party". Now based in Brooklyn they co-produce alt-performance art with the artist collective "I Don't Wanna See That?!!?!"
Matthew Paul Olmos
A three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency, Center Theatre Group Playwright, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Playwright, Princess Grace Awardee, National Latino Playwright Awardee, Cherry Lane Mentor Project (selected by Taylor Mac), and La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Emerging Playwright (selected by Sam Shepard). Former Mabou Mines Resident Artist (mentored by Ruth Maleczech), New York Theatre Workshop Fellow, Baryshnikov Arts Center Resident, Ensemble Studio Theater lifetime member, and Kilroys nominator. Plays produced internationally and nationally; published by Samuel French and NoPassport Press. www.matthewpaulolmos.com.
Nicole Zimmerer
is a playwright and librettist with a deep-seated hatred of stairs. She has been a recipient of The Kennedy Center’s VSA Playwright Discovery Award and the Betty Z. Rose and Anne J. Exline Presidential Fellowship. She has had productions in Houston, New York City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. She holds a BFA in Playwriting and Dramaturgy from the University of Houston and an MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University.
NATE FOSTER
Nate is a playwright, performer, and dramaturg whose work focuses on using intimacy to explore the world around us. He is a 2017 Kennedy Center New Play Dramaturgy Fellow, a 2018 Cape Cod Theatre Project New Play Development Fellow and a 2019 New Work Apprentice at The Public Theater. He was the recipient of the 2018 Kennedy Center Ken Ludwig Young Playwright Award. His plays have been seen at New York Theatre Festival, The Brick Theatre in Brooklyn, The University of Northern Colorado, Fort Collins Fringe Festival and Pharmacy Theatre.
Abraham Johnson
(all pronouns) writes Big Messy Queer Plays that center around audience experience. Abe has produced or developed works with the Classic City Fringe, Horizon, Synchronicity, and Out Front Theaters (Atlanta), the 2020 Queer New Works Festival (Los Angeles), the intern/apprentice companies of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (Waterford, CT), and now with the Workshop Theater (New York City). In 2017 and 2018, the Lambda Literary Foundation named Abe an Emerging Queer Voices Fellow, developing works with Phillip Howze and Luis Alfaro.
Aaron Coleman
is a New York City-based playwright and lyricist originally from Los Angeles. His play Uncle Remus, His Life and Times, as Told to Aaron Coleman was part of Primary Stages’ 2019 Drills reading series. Works include the Off-Broadway musical IMELDA written with East West Players (Pan Asian Rep, David Henry Hwang Theatre), and co-book writer for STAY FOREVER: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (Renberg Theatre), produced at New World Stages as FOREVER DUSTY. Aaron has recently been a Finalist for NYTW’s 2050 Fellowship, the DGF Fellowship, and Playwrights’ Week at The Lark. He has an MFA in Writing from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Isabella “Izzi” D’Esposito
(she/her) is a New York based playwright and songwriter. She writes mostly about young women, the internet, outer space, and community. Her work has been produced or developed at The Playwrights Realm, Workshop Theater, Homegrown Theater, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Ars Nova, Arts Tristate, Carnegie Mellon University, Horizon Theater, Boise Contemporary Theater and more. Isabella received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, studying under Rob Handel, and a degree in Playwriting and Screenwriting from Purchase College, studying under Christina Anderson and Sylvan Oswald. She has a podcast, Lowercase Sober, about not drinking in your 20’s which is out now on most podcast platforms.
Alison Sullivan
is a playwright and dramaturg recently transplanted to NYC from Colorado. She graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, where she received BA degrees in European History and Theater Studies. Outside of her university, she has previously worked with Little Theater of the Rockies, Phamaly Theater Company, and has freelanced out her dramaturg work and playwrighting skills to high schools and individuals. www.alisonysullivan.com
Claire-Frances Sullivan
is an NYC-based performer, composer/lyricist, and internationally produced and award-winning playwright. She has had work produced by and/or developed at the Powerhouse Theater, Midland Center for the Arts, TACT studios, The Pulp Stage Theatre Company, Festival 56, TALOS/Cyborphic Productions, and the Bread and Roses Theater. Claire-Frances is a member of the Dramatists Guild and is a lyricist with the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. She was the recipient of the Kennedy Center’s National Musical Theatre Award for her original musical, Fostered Love, in 2018. www.clairefrancessullivan.com