Princess Grace/Princess burn for You

Popping in with two lovely pieces of news!

1) Tremolo was a semifinalist for the 2025 Princess Grace Fellowship at New Dramatists. My mom, a huge Grace Kelly fan, was thrilled.

2) Last month, an internal read of burn for You was held in New York City directed by Danya Taymor, with Marin Ireland, Jeb Kreager, Julia McDermott, Daryl Tofa, and Sarin Monae West in the cast. It was so, so special.

I don’t have pictures of either event, so here’s a picture of some seaglass I found this week. More soon!

Ojai!

Happy August! Writing this in the throes of deep post Ojai Playwrights Conference depression after a completely life changing two weeks with the most wonderful community of artists. I don’t know if there is another new play development conference in the country like OPC—if you’re a playwright reading this, apply apply apply!

The second week of the conference a team of actors came in to workshop burn for You, culminating in a performance on August 2. My ensemble— Jacqueline Toboni, Emily Stout, Donna Simone Johnson, Kanoa Goo, and Josh Bywater—was exquisite, and I had the most fantastic team working to support me, including director Lindsay Allbaugh and dramaturg Adrian Centeno. I also got to work with some sound cues for the first time with this play, and see the final scene in the almost-dark, as intended. It was totally magical.

My photography is lackluster but you’ll just have to believe me when I express how cool this was—here’s Jacqueline Toboni (Franny) and Emily Stout (Lila) rehearsing the play’s final scene during tech.

BUT—the single best part of OPC, hands down, was meeting and falling head over heels for my fellow playwrights: Vivian J.O. Barnes, Lisa D’Amour, Marvin González de León, JuCoby Johnson, Deepak Kumar, Shayan Lotfi, and Jennifer Maisel. I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced such camaraderie and friendship in a group of writers. I miss them terribly, and if you’re reading this, you should produce their work.

Vivian J.O. Barnes, Marvin González de León, me, Shayan Lotfi, Lisa D’Amour, and Deepak Kumar.

I’m gonna go snuggle my nephews now, but more soon!

...and onto Ojai we go!

Later this month I’ll be heading to Ojai, California for the 2025 Ojai Playwrights Conference! I’m thrilled to be spending two weeks continuing to develop burn for You, and I can’t wait to cheer on the other six writers. If you happen to be in/around Ojai, on Saturday, August 2 at 7:30pm there will be a public reading of burn for You—please come! I would be so excited to have you there!

Tremolo at Pride Plays!

Happy July! It is still hot, but less rainy. This post is just to thank everyone who came out to see Tremolo at Pride Plays at 6/23 at MCC—I am so grateful to all the institutions and people who made this happen, and am so excited to share this play in its next iteration (does anyone want to put 8 lesbians and water and a dog and a baby onstage?? Hit me up!)

Top, L-R: Francesca Fernandez, Laila Robins, Barsha, Kelly McAndrew, Julia McDermott, Kristolyn Lloyd, Hannah Sgambellone.

Bottom, L-R: Me, Sagan Chen, Lío Mehiel, Sivan Battat, and Anna O’Donoghue

Tremolo @ Pride Plays

Oh!! You thought I was done?? I am NEVER done, it is Gemini Season+ Pride!

Really thrilled to share that Tremolo was selected to be part of the 2025 Pride Plays Festival at MCC presented in association with Rattlestick Theater and Woolly Mammoth Theatre—and will receive a public reading on Monday, June 23 at 2:30pm at MCC’s Newman Mills Theatre! I cannot express how much I want you to come—here’s where you find out more information about the festival (and the other astonishing plays) and purchase (free!) tickets!

The reading will be directed by Sivan Battat with a special thanks to Sammy Zeisel, stage managed by Hannah Sgambellone, and dramaturgy by Anna O’Donoghue. The cast will feature Barsha, Sagan Chen, Francesca Fernandez, Kristolyn Lloyd, Kelly McAndrew, Julia McDermott, Lio Mehiel, and Laila Robins. Some fun coverage about the festival can be found here and here. Please come! It would mean the world to have you there.

Tremolo @ Faultline's Irons in the Fire!

Hello hello from Brooklyn where it is simultaneously so hot while also being so rainy—very Gemini season, we contain multitudes (Walt Whitman, iconic Gemini and my birthday twin!) etc etc.

Popping in to say that we had the most incredible 29 Hour reading and public presentation this past week to culminate Tremolo’s time in Faultline Theatre’s 2025 Irons in the Fire Program. The play has changed dramatically, and hearing it read in front of an audience for the first time was one of the most moving experiences I’ve had in a minute—I really can’t wait for you to hear/see it.

The reading was directed by Sammy Zeisel, stage managed by Hannah Sgambellone, with dramaturgy by Anna O’Donoghue. The beyond my wildest dreams cast was Barsha, Sagan Chen, Francesca Fernandez, Rami Margron, Kelly McAndrew, Julia McDermott, Susannah Perkins, and Laila Robins.

Some pictures below—playwrights, I cannot recommend Irons in the Fire more. Apply, apply!

From L to R: Barsha, Laila Robins, Rami Margron, Julia McDermott, Sagan Chen, Francesca Fernandez—with Kelly McAndrew and Susannah Perkins on ze floor!

New Roots!

Very happy to share that Tremolo was a Finalist for a 2025 New Roots Artist Residency at Walhalla Farm! I’m gonna wiggle my way in there eventually!

May @ Millay!

Hi from the Millay Arts Residency, where I’ll be spending the next three or so weeks writing! By which I mean, procrastinating! I am taking many long walks while listening to the Pride and Prejudice film soundtrack, I have seen a shooting star, and I have already found one (1) tick in my hair—a situation I handled calmly, maturely, and gracefully.*

*I had a huge meltdown.

Terrence McNally New Works Incubator!

Really happy to share that Tremolo was a semifinalist for the 2025 Terrence McNally New Works Incubator at Rattlestick Theater in NYC! I met Terrence very briefly at Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2014, and it’s a total honor to have had my work considered alongside his formidable legacy. Go read a Terrence McNally play today!

2025 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist!

Thrilled to share that Tremolo is a Finalist for the 2025 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference! I’m so grateful to be on this list with so many writers I know and/or admire. Check out all of their plays, and! If you want to read Tremolo, reach out— OR you can see our public presentation with Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in the Fire on Monday, June 16 at 6:00pm! More on that soon!

Juilliard!

Now that I’ve confirmed this isn’t some huge administrative oversight and/or a really elaborate prank, I’m really happy to share that I’m going to be a fellow in the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School under the mentorship of Tanya Barfield and David Lindsay-Abaire :) This has been a dream of mine for years and years and years—I’m shocked and grateful and over the moon, and can’t wait for all the sleepless nights of writing to come!

March!

Hello hello! Happy Spring! How are we doing?! Don’t answer that!

Popping on to say that we had a two day internal read through of Tremolo through Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in the Fire this past week! It was directed by Sammy Zeisel with dramaturgy by Anna O’Donoghue, and featured Barsha, Sagan Chen, Francesca Fernandez, Claire Karpen, Ella Pennington, Susannah Perkins, Laila Robbins, and Amelia Workman. I pulled an all nighter between the first day and the second to write a new draft (I do not recommend this lifestyle!!!), and the cast was just so generous with their time and talents. It was completely moving and productive, and I loved every second of it.

More to share soon, but in the meantime, here’s a picture of the fuel I used to power my all nighter. RIP Anton Chekhov, you would have loved Hot Cheetos.

Bye!

P.S. I really loved this season of The White Lotus!!!

Irons in the Fire!

Happy New Year! Some lovely news to start 2025— Tremolo was selected as one of Fault Line Theatre’s 2025 Irons in the Fire projects! I’m super humbled to see my name next to so many artists I admire—and can’t wait to work on this big beast of a lesbian Chekhov adaptation this year.

More soon but in the meantime, I had to have an emergency root canal last week and everything hurts—so I’m gonna celebrate by popping some Advil and eating applesauce. Bye!

October/November!

Excited to share that I’ve signed with Jamie Kaye- Phillips at Paradigm Talent Agency for Literary Representation! So if you wanna get to ME, you gotta go through HIM*! 

*Unless you want to talk about Mamma Mia. Please, I beg you—direct any/all inquiries about the Mamma Mia cinematic universe to me.

Some other updates:

-burn for You was a second rounder for the Austin Film Festival! Here’s a list of the other finalists—very excited to be included with these playwrights!

-I’m a member of the 2024-2025 Playwrights Cohort at Play Penn! 

Okay, I need to go consume something autumnal or I’ll fall into the sea. Bye!

Industry Reading!

An industry reading was held for my play burn for You last night. The reading was directed by Danya Taymor, with dramaturgy by Anna O’Donoghue, featuring Julian Cihi, Jeb Kreager, Naomi Lorrain, Julia McDermott, and Taylor Schilling. I felt like the luckiest playwright in the world!

2024-2025 Vitality Playwrights Commission

In May, I was awarded a 2024-2025 Vitality Playwrights Commission from the Appalachian Center for the Arts to write a TYA play about opioid addiction for grades 9-12. The play I wrote, The Zero Point, is about high school girls wrestling, Fortnite, and the multiverse. It will tour Kentucky high schools starting in 2025—which is especially meaningful on a personal note, as I spent a year and a half living and working in Louisville, Kentucky at Actors Theatre of Louisville! My brother in law wanted me to call the play HIGH School but….for obvious reasons, that title didn’t make the cut. Here’s a link to the press release! More soon! Kentucky forever! Happy September!

New Play!

Oh hey! How’re we all doing in these last couple weeks of summer? I am jumping in any and all bodies of water I can find, and eating any and all tomatoes I can get my hands on.

And! I have a new play! It’s called Tremolo. It’s a queer reimagining of Chekhov’s The Seagull set on the dock of a dark lake exploring intergenerational found family, ambition, commitment, heartbreak, and depression. It’s over 3 hours long! The set is a dock with water! There are 8 lesbians, a baby, and animals onstage! I’m proud of it. I think Jez Butterworth would be, too.

We did a wee internal reading last night (facilitated by my brilliant friend and collaborator Sammy Zeisel) with a group of brilliant actors, and I’m excited to continue working on it. Check out more about the play here or on New Play Exchange!

Alright, I’m gonna go eat a tomato. Bye!

The Road: Summer Playwrights Festival 2024!

Writing this post on the plane back to New York after a fantastic reading of burn for You last night at The Road Theatre Company’s 2024 New Play Festival in Los Angeles! Couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with, and I continue to learn so much about the play.

Back to Brooklyn to finish two more plays, and continue swimming in any/all bodies of water this hot, hot summer. More soon!

GPTC 2024!

I had such a wonderful week workshopping burn for You at the 2024 Great Plains Theatre Commons in Omaha, Nebraska from May 25- June 2! The staff and attendees of the conference couldn’t have been kinder, and I can’t say enough good things about the nine playwrights I spent the week with. Go read all of their plays on New Play Exchange!

Pictured with the team for my reading; from left to right (standing): Khalid Long (dramaturg), Vernon Wheeler (Evan), Jessica Johnson (Lila), Adam Bassing (Mark Lucas), Kaia Merrell (design fellow), Analisa Swerczek (Franny), and Kate Madsen (stage directions); from left to right (sitting): me, Marie Schuett (Beth), and Mackenzie Zielke (director).

I lucked out with such a generous, gifted team for my reading, and learned so much about the play. I especially loved collaborating with design fellow Kaia Merrell on some possibilities for what the world of the play might look like; it makes me so excited for a future production.

Some of design fellow Kaia Merrell’s sketches for burn for You’s design presentation.

Otherwise, I spent the week exploring Omaha (shoutout to The Mill on Leavenworth, Coneflower Creamery, and Yoshitomo), and celebrated my birthday!

2024 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist!

Over the moon that “burn for You” was recognized as a finalist for the 2024 Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Playwrights Conference! My play was in the top 1% of over 1,500 submissions, and I was so proud to see my name next to so many people I love and admire. This is a special one, too, because my first professional job post grad was at the O’Neill! Hit me up if you want to read the play, but also hit me up if you’d like to take me out for a celebratory spritz. Or a consolation spritz? Whatever floats your boat!