workshop intensive Winter 2025
Sixteen talented playwrights are selected to participate in The Workshop Intensives, which are collaborative dramaturgical sessions uniquely designed to support each writer wherever they are in the development of their script.
EDU DÍAZ
(he/him/él) is a multi-awarded theater maker, actor, and producer from the Canary Islands based in New York. A Fulbright grant in Performing Arts brought him to the City in 2019, where he creates works that blend magical realism, absurdity, and physical theater to explore themes of identity and resilience. His projects include Fantastic Mr. S, a fable about grief and hope (United Solo Festival, 2022), the nonverbal A Drag Is Born, a multi-awarded ride of self-discovery heading to Edinburgh Fringe 2025, and PULSE, a show about a playwright that resuscitates to fulfill his dreams, premiered at The Chain's One-Act Festival in 2025. Edu’s next project, PETRUS, is a metatheatrical tragicomedy inspired by the real story of Petrus Gonsalvus, a man from Tenerife with hypertrichosis who was held captive in the French Court of Henri II. It explores displacement, abuse, and ecology through clown, drag, and puppetry. Edu is committed to sustainability, theatrical experimentation, and artistic joy. www.edudiaz.com | @edudiazactor
Baylee Shlichtman
writes weird and magical plays about navigating relationships and autonomy. Most recently, her work was developed or recognized by GPTC New Play Festival 2025, Best of Playground-LA 2025, Otherworld Theatre Paragon Play Festival, and Trinity Theatre New Works Festival. Her work has been additionally produced or developed with AlterTheatre Ensemble, Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble, Curtis Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre/ LA, Flamboyán Theatre, The Larking House, Long Beach Shakespeare Company, New Relic Theatre, Playground-LA, Secondary Location Productions, South Texas College Latinx New Play Festival, UC Irvine, Urbanite Theatre, The Vagrancy Theatre, The Wayward Artist, and The Workshop Theatre among others. She graduated from USC with a B.A. in Journalism.
Justin Borak
is a Lebanese-American playwright based out of New York City. He started writing in the Chicago comedy scene and worked at comedy houses like The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance. His full length plays include White Walls, A Writer’s Room, and Kinda Sick. His most recent play, haters gonna hate, has been workshopped and developed all over the country with theatres and producers like Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, West Virginia Public Theatre, and The Prep NY. His plays Community Garden, Thank You for Shopping and Cabin Chronicles are published through Playscripts and are produced at schools around the country. He has been selected for the 2024-2025 Ripple Effect Writer's Group, the Workshop Theatre's Developmental Program, and has developed work in Jaclyn Backhaus's Writers Group. MFA: West Virginia University. Instagram: @justinborak. TikTok: @mediocrejokes. justinborak.com
Addie Ulrey
is a geographically polyamorous, multidisciplinary writer and theatre maker currently living in Detroit. Addie began writing during her time as a core company member of Ragged Wing Ensemble in Oakland, CA, with whom she wrote and produced nine new works between 2010-2020. She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College, where she was under the tutelage of Tina Satter, Anne Washburn, Elana Greenfield and Haruna Lee. Addie’s Workshop Theater play, The Only Season, was written on a commission from the Hearth Theater, and received a workshop with The Hearth in 2024 at Theaterlab. In NYC, her work has also been seen in the Exponential Festival, the Weasel Festival, and Queering the Canon at Joe’s Pub. Awards and residencies include: the Rona Jaffe Playwriting Fellowship; the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust; index freiraum artist residency (Zurich, Switzerland); and the New Harmony Project residency with collaborator T Carlis Roberts. Recurring themes in Addie’s work include chosen family and belonging, activist culture and the mechanisms of social change. Addie is a student of the small, the slow and the inefficient. She aims to make work that embodies a resistance to values of speed and scale, creating unretrievable, intimate, and deeply local experiences. www.addieulrey.com
Josh Miguel Ewing
is a playwright and television writer newly located in Los Angeles, California. In addition to writing, Josh has worked as a stage manager and lighting designer for several theaters around NYC. Josh holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch, where he was given the award for “Best TV Writing by an Undergraduate” at graduation. Most recently, he was invited to pitch his pilot “LesserHelp” in front of TV and film executives at NYULA Pitchfest. In his spare time, Josh moonlights as a professional Dungeon Master for Dungeons and Drafts. He loves to write magical stories with a bleeding heart, or as his friends have put it, "it's fantastical, but with an inescapable sense of loneliness." Josh hopes to write stories that communicate the things people feel, but could never put into words.
Tracy Carns
is a New York City-based playwright whose plays include SEVEN GASOLINE STATIONS (BC New Play Lab, Playwrights Horizons 2024; Bushwick Starr Reading Series Finalist 2023; Princess Grace Awards/New Dramatists Semifinalist 2023), CORROSIVES ARE THE CURE FOR HER CRUSHING NOSTALGIA (BAM Fisher, Weasel Festival 2024; The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2025, Smith & Kraus [forthcoming]), NATURE FILMS, SUN UP [ALL] THE GIRLS, 27 MOTHS, NOW SERVING ATOMIC COCKTAILS IN THE DESERT, and THE DISSOLVE/FOR JEAN SEBERG. She’s excited to be developing the French New Wave-inspired SOME PAGES FOR RIVETTE: a Chamber Play for the Revolution in The Workshop Theater’s Spring Intensive. Tracy’s plays have been developed/presented by La MaMa, BAM, Playwrights Horizons, Brooklyn College, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Valdez/Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Eden Theater Company, The Barrow Group, The Flea’s Pataphysics workshops, and others. Previously, Tracy was the Editorial Director and Associate Publisher of independent book publisher The Overlook Press, based in Soho. MFA Brooklyn College 2024. Instagram: @tracycarnsnyc
Kyra Davis
is a southern multidisciplinary artist focusing on acting, writing, and producing. She was a part of the inaugural class of the Uptown Collective’s Renaissance Playwright Residency and is currently a producing fellow at The Tank in NYC. Her passion is creating art for underrepresented voices and advancing their opportunities in the industry . Her inspirations are both the Black women who came before her and the Black women who will come after her. She wants to create work that empowers and encourages them to live unapologetically. Selected acting credits include Law and Order: Organized Crime, Jitney (Rena), Intimate Apparel (Esther), and The Christians (Elizabeth). Writings: SugarHill (Playwrights Horizons Downtown), Lot #18 (Brooklyn Art Haus).
David Quang Pham
is an award-winning composer-playwright and science communicator in Washington Heights. His musicals include Ellipses (2023 Theatre About Science International Conference, 2022 O’Neill semifinalist) and Turnover: A New Leaf (Best Book Award, Best Director Award: Aliyah Curry, Best Musical nomination – 2024 Theatre on the Verge New Musicals Festival), one acts Life After with Marie Incontrera and Stephanie L. Carlin and Check Out with Eric Grunin and Valerie Work. David’s plays have been produced or developed by Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, Musical Theatre Factory, The Tank, Theatre 71 at Blessed Sacrament, Signature Theatre’s Sigspace, and The Workshop Theater (The Living Fossils). His musicals have been staged in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, and Portugal. He is also an aspiring animation screenwriter, having studied under David N Weiss and Kimberly Barrante at Sundance Collab. They readapted Ellipses and Turnover into the animated features, The Galaxy Family and Photosynthesis. He was the 2024 Great Performances Artist Fellowship Award recipient, 2022 Harriet Tubman Effect Institute composer, 2021 Playwrights Foundation fellow, and 2020 Working Title Playwrights apprentice. David’s storytelling combines science and fantasy. Common themes in his work include human nature, coming-of-age, parent-child relationships, environmentalism, queerness, and immigration. His pentatonic music composition blends pop, punk, and Vietnamese folk elements to create melodies that reflect his Eastern influences. They are under the mentorship of composers Janelle Lawrence and Gonzalo Valencia-Peña. When not writing songs full of science puns, David plays trombone for Queer Big Apple Corps, Marching Band Casting, and Vietnamese zither with Mekong NYC. They hold a B.S. in Astrophysics and minor in theatre from Michigan State University. Be up to lightspeed at @sciencetheatre or www.sciencetheatre.us
Foster Schrader
(he/they) is a current senior Drama major at Vassar College. Don’t ask him what his post-grad plans are. That’s not what bios are for. Foster is from New York City. They play on the women’s rugby team (reigning National Champions.) He is a recipient of the 2024 Marilyn Swartz Seven ’69 Playwriting Award. They are an alum of CreateHER NYC and Writopia Lab, and they studied Shakespeare and classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and with the Prague Shakespeare Company.
Bryan-Keyth Wilson
(He/Him/), known as The Literary Prince, is an award-winning playwright, choreopoet creator, educator, and now a children’s book author. With over 20 years in theatre, publishing, and arts education, he has captivated audiences with his bold storytelling and cultural narratives. His career began Off-Off-Broadway at The Variety Café at Rockefeller Center, and he studied Musical Theatre at Sam Houston State University and Acting at Hunter College NYC. A dedicated educator, Wilson has taught Theatre and Dance for two decades and continues to travel across the U.S., leading musical theatre workshops for aspiring artists. His acclaimed choreopoem, For Colored Boyz on the verge of a nervous breakdown/ when freedom aint enuff, has received numerous awards/ accolades, including a Regional Theatre World Premiere at The Fulton Theatre, a sold-out Off-Broadway run at Theatre Row, and the 2022 Best Audience Award at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival. Wilson also won the 2025 NYC Playwrights Resisting Fascism contest for his play Fuck Around And We Found Out (Thee 92%) and will debut LUV NO LIMIT / a luvrz ballad at the 2025 Downtown Urban Arts Festival in NYC. Now expanding into children’s literature, Wilson introduces young readers to his vibrant storytelling with Lalo & Oshun, a beautifully crafted tale that fosters curiosity and cultural pride.
Kyle Brosnihan
is a Filipino-American playwright and poet. Raised in Nebraska, he now lives in Brooklyn. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College in 2022. His plays include Condominium, The War of the Romantics, The Cappuccinos, and The Performance.His poetry has been published in Electric Literature, The Brooklyn Rail, The Margins, HAD, Barrelhouse, Beautiful Days Press, and elsewhere. His chapbook Portraits was published with Gasher Press, his chapbook TISOY was published with Bottlecap Press, and his chapbook Lemons was published with Bullshit Lit. IG & Twitter: young_bandido
SIMON SALINAS, JR.
is a playwright, director, and multidisciplinary theater maker from the Rio Grand Valley in South Texas, now finding home in New York City. Simon’s work delves into the supernatural phenomena of human emotion and connection. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Dance, Simon crafts stories that explore the surreal—filtering grief, anger, guilt, sexuality, family dynamics, and identity through abstract and unconventional lenses. His writing is described as “supernatural,” not solely for its exploration of ghosts or spiritual elements, but for its quest to illuminate the intangible truths of the human condition. As a playwright, Simon’s works include Dysphoria, Final Girl(s), and The Alchemy of Fear, Phobias, and Anxieties. His directorial credits feature staged readings and productions for the University of Texas’s Dark Night Series and UTNT (UT New Theatre). On stage, Simon’s recent performances include “Bobby” in Tiny Fingerprints and “Joaquin/Bob” in In Sisters We Trust/My Fcked Up American Girl Doll Play*. Simon honed his craft as part of the National Theatre Institute’s Theatermakers Playwriting Program at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Simon would not be here without all those that made him who he is today. Lots of love -simon
Megan Ruoro
(she/her) is a Kenyan-American writer and actress whose work is rooted in liberatory storytelling. She is a recent graduate of Yale University, where she studied Political Science and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Her playwriting has been developed at the Yale Cabaret, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Yale Playwrights Festival, and she is a national gold medalist in poetry through the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Megan is currently based in the New York area, where she can often be found humming Sondheim to herself on the street. Instagram: @megruoro
Charles Scott Jones
is writer of plays, fiction, and theatre essays. Originally from Southern Illinois and now living in Hell’s Kitchen, he has an M. A. from Hunter College where he studied playwriting with Tina Howe and dramaturgy with Jonathan Kalb. His thesis "Taking Courage From the Sturm und Drang" received CUNY’s Shuster Award. As a script analyst, essay writer, and researcher for Theatre for a New Audience, Charles has reported on seventy professionally submitted plays, written essays for TFANA’s 360° Viewfinder Series, and researched the careers of theatre luminaries for the company’s gala tribute film. He has served as dramaturg for Toy Box Theatre’s production of Woyzeck. Short stories of his have appeared in North American Review, West Branch, Mississippi Valley Review, and other literary magazines. Charles has authored eight full-length plays with the developmental support of Playwrights Circle at Emerging Artist Theatre, Naked Angels, Polaris North, Love Creek Productions, and Times Square Playwrights. THE 4TH ZOA, his modern updating of William Blake’s unfinished epic poem The Four Zoas, was produced by SparrowHawk. His theatre essays can be found on his website: www.thinktwicedrama.com.
Abigail Chase
is a theatre artist based in London and Washington DC. She recently graduated from American University with a BA in Terrorism/Security Studies and minors in Political Philosophy and Psychology. She has worked as a dramaturgy apprentice at Shakespeare Theatre Company and a screenwriting fellow at Cadence Theatre Company in addition to various credits as an actor, writer, intimacy coordinator, and director across the East Coast of the United States. In addition to her work in theatre, she is the recipient of the 2023 Professor Elizabeth A. Sherman Prize for the Advancement of Social Justice and an inaugural fellow of the Consortium of North American Peace Programs’ Peace and Justice Transformative Leaders Fellowship at Gettysburg College. She is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, studying the intersections of performance and political violence.
Seshat Yon’shea WalkeR
is a certified country gurl raised on the Eastern shore. She’s also a writer, multidisciplinary creative, and founder. Seshat aspires to write about the magic and beauty in the seemingly mundane, everyday experiences; specifically, with regard to the lives of Black women. Seshat is passionate about using her writing to influence, inspire and impact culture; to move the audience to a space of empathy and hopefully to actually care about the “other.” Additionally Seshat’s approach to theater is to move beyond the stage. As a long-time cultural worker and education in human centered design, Seshat has a unique perspective in creating unique dramatic experiences. Seshat’s plays and productions have been presented by Detroit Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Capital Fringe Festival and DC Arts Center. Readings of her work have been presented by Dramatic Question Theatre’s Digital Stage, Pop Conference NYC, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Kennedy Center Local Theatre Festival, Two Strikes Theatre Collective, DC Public Library and Anacostia Arts Center. Her current plays, short plays, and works in progress include Shawty’s Blues, CHRCH, A BLACK MUSIC STORY, Familial Comforts( A Black Woman’s Play), KITCHN, Diana’s Got No Juice, Will She Love Me When I’m 64 and others. Seshat is a 2025 member of New Perspectives Short Play Lab. She is a two-time Finalist for AGE Legacy Playwright Grant, 2024 June Bingham Playwright Commission Finalis, and 2024 DC Commission of the Arts Fellowship Recipient. She earned her BA in Journalism from IUP and a MFA in Design Management from SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). She is a member of Black Film Space and The Dramatists Guild of America