The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Benjamin Benne
Benjamin Benne (he/him) is a Yale School of Drama MFA Candidate in Playwriting. His plays including Alma, In His Hands, and at the very bottom of a body of water have been seen/developed by the O'Neill, The Lark, Roundabout, The Public, Playwrights Realm, Denver Center, The Old Globe, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others. He is a Playwrights' Center Affiliated Writer, 2019 National Latinx Playwriting Award winner, 2019 Blue Ink Playwriting Award winner, 2020 Clauder Competition Gold Prize winner, and 2021 South Coast Repertory Elizabeth George commission recipient. www.benjaminbenne.com
Seth Bockley
Seth Bockley (he/him) is a writer of plays, screenplays and fiction, and a theater director specializing in literary adaptation, design-driven production, and new play development. Writing credits include Gilgamesh & Enkidu, Rip Van Winkle (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), 2666 (with Robert Falls, from the novel by Roberto Bolaño, Goodman Theater), Wilderness (Kennedy Center and national tour), February House (with Gabriel Kahane, The Public Theater), and adaptations of stories by George Saunders: Jon and CommComm. His clown play Guerra recently won a Premio Metropolitano in Mexico City, and his story “Repertorio” will be published this fall in Boulevard Magazine. sethbockley.com
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater that is home to America’s ensemble. The company began performing in the mid-1970s in the basement of a Highland Park, IL church—today Steppenwolf is the nation’s premier ensemble theater with 50 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Deeply rooted in its ensemble ethos, the company is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and making the Steppenwolf experience accessible to all. Groundbreaking productions that launched at Steppenwolf, from August: Osage County to Pass Over, and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony® Awards have made the theatre legendary. Artistic programming includes a main stage season; a Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; LookOut, a multi-genre performance series; and the Steppenwolf NOW virtual stage. Steppenwolf Education engages more than 30,000 participants annually in Chicagoland communities. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, more than 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. 2021 marks the opening of the company’s 50,000 sq. ft. Arts and Education Center—featuring a 400-seat Round Theater, dedicated education floor and new spaces for socializing. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and E. Brooke Flanagan is the Executive Director. Eric Lefkofsky is Chair of Steppenwolf’s Board of Trustees. Learn more at www.steppenwolf.org
Anuhea Brown
Anuhea Brown (aw-new-hay-uh) (she/her) is an emerging playwright and theatre artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her plays have been developed with Live! Girls! Theatre, Mampsh Productions, The Collective WE, and Cornish College of the Arts. Her most recent play, TumbleWEEDS is the 2021 recipient of the ‘Hip Hop Creator of the Year Award’ (KCACTF). She is currently on the board of Rain City Projects, a Seattle based organization dedicated to empowering playwrights. Anuhea is a proud Hawaiian woman who hopes to decolonize theatre; creating dramatic pieces that reflect this mission. She is currently earning her MFA in Dramatic Writing at New York University.
Jennifer Chang
Jennifer Chang (she/they) is a multi-hyphenate storyteller and educator. She is currently on faculty at UCSD’s Department of Theatre and Dance as Head of Undergraduate Acting and is an inaugural member of the Drama League Director’s Council. She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographer’s Society (SDC), Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), and Actor’s Equity Association (AEA). BFA NYU, MFA UCSD. Recent: EXOTIC DEADLY at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference Upcoming: THE GREAT LEAP at Round House Theatre More info: www.changinator.com
Preston Choi
Preston Choi (he/him) is a Chicago based playwright whose work explores Asian American identity, social science fiction, and the horror of being alive. His plays include performing class (2020-2021 Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series, NNPN 2021 Bridge Program), The Migratory Patterns of the North American Monarch Butterfly and the Development of Fatherless Sons (2021 Stephen Lim Playwriting Award; 2019 National New Play Showcase; 2017 Agnes Nixon Award), This Is Not A True Story (2018 CAATA ConFest), Happy Birthday Mars Rover (The Passage Theatre). He received a BS in Theatre from Northwestern University and is a second-year student at UCSD's MFA Playwriting program.
Vichet Chum
Vichet Chum (he/him) is a Cambodian-American playwright living and dreaming in New York City. He received the 2018-19 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting with New Dramatists and is a current board member for The New Harmony Project. Notably, Vichet has been a part of SPACE’s Working Farm, Page 73’s Writer's Group and the Ars Nova Play Group. In the 2022-23 season, his plays High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest will have its world premiere at the Alley Theatre and Bald Sisters will have its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He is a graduate of the University of Evansville (BFA) and Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company (MFA). He’s represented by Beth Blickers at APA. vichetchum.com
Josh Costello
Josh Costello (he/him) is the Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre Company. Previously: founding Artistic Director, Impact Theatre; Artistic Director of Expanded Programs, Marin Theatre Company. Throughout his career, Josh has made theatre more accessible for more people, sharing a passion for the visceral experience of live theatre with new audiences and underserved communities. World premieres he’s directed include Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day (Aurora Theatre Company; every Bay Area new play award), Aaron Loeb’s Ideation (SF Playhouse, 59E59; Glickman Award, Theatre Bay Area Award for Direction, NY Times Critic’s Pick), and his adaptation of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother (Custom Made).
Jayne Deely
Jayne Deely is an almost third year M.F.A. candidate in Playwriting at IU Bloomington. Plays include Stay (semi-finalist, Detroit New Works Festival), Passing (semi-finalist, UCF Pegasus Playlab), 30 Seconds (semi-finalist Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center National Playwrights Conference and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, winner Coe College Playwriting Award), and Outraged (Winner, John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play, KCACTF). Jayne is also a performer, having worked with companies such as Theatreworks in Palo Alto, the Aurora, and Berkeley Rep. They are a member of AEA, and a proud Boricua and native of Queens, NY. Jayne is thrilled to be joining the New Harmony community!
Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Nina Domingue Glover
Nina Domingue Glover (she/her) is a Black Woman, Griot, Actor, Playwright, Director, Cultural Memory Worker, #NOLAGirl4Life, Teaching Artist, Intimacy Advocate pursuing Choreographic certification, wife, momof5, sister, daughter, friend, ever-becoming. She writes in the tradition of those women who explore the interior lives of Black women with love, curiosity and wonder. Kilroy’s List 2020 “The Lost Plays”, Cleveland Public Theater, Premier Fellow 2021, CPT Catapult Fellow 2019, Nord Family Foundation Playwriting Fellow 2019, Twelve Literary Arts Barbara Smith Fellow, 2019.
Matthew-Lee Erlbach
Matthew-Lee Erlbach (he/him) is an actor, writer, and labor activist from CHI/NYC. He's currently writing and producing a new series for Netflix. Previously: We Are the Champions and Gypsy (Netflix), Masters of Sex (Showtime); WWE; Nickelodeon. Most recent work as a playwright includes The Doppelgänger (An International Farce), starring Rainn Wilson, premiering at Steppenwolf, where he's currently under commission. Generous support received from the NEA, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Puffin Foundation, and HUMANITAS. Co-Founder: Arts Workers United and the Be An Arts Hero campaign, where he writes policy and lobbies congress for immediate relief, recovery, and representation of our nation's 5.2M Arts & Culture Workers.
Lauren Ferebee
Lauren Ferebee (she/her) is an award-winning writer and a recent recipient of the 2021 Planet Earth Arts Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center. Her play Goods premiered virtually with Artemisia in spring 2021 to critical acclaim from Chicago press, right before she graduated with her MFA from the University of Arkansas. She is also a recent recipient of an Arkansas Arts Council Screenwriting Fellowship, and a two-time O'Neill semifinalist. Her work has been developed and produced in South Carolina, Chicago, Texas, and New York. www.laurenferebee.com
Nancy García Loza
Nancy García Loza (she/her) is a self-taught pocha playwright rooted in Chicago, Illinois and Jalisco, México. She is Mexican American, no hyphen. Her audio drama Brava: a folktale con música launched Make-Believe Association’s inaugural season (with mention from the The New York Times). She is currently under commission from: Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Albany Park Theater Project, and Teatro Leyden. She has enjoyed residencies with: Goodman Playwrights Unit, Fornés Playwriting Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm Institutional Residency and more. During the 2020/21 season, she had various projects halted by the pandemic including five world premieres.
Jeremy Geragotelis
Jeremy Geragotelis (they/them) is a playwright and composer originally from Northeastern Connecticut. They are currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Their plays include AN UNSETTLED BODY (University of Iowa) PINS AND NEEDLES, OR THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF FALLING FOREVER ON ASH WEDNESDAY, 1988 (New Play Festival, University of Iowa), THE PREPARATION TO THE DEATH OF MARY DYER (KCACTF, Musical Theater Award, 2020 - 2021), and DOCTOR VYSARIUS (New Play Festival, University of Iowa). They are a founding member of Water House Collective. They graduated from Bennington College in 2016, having studied playwriting with Sherry Kramer and composition with Allen Shawn.
Isaac Gómez
Isaac Gómez (he/she/they) is an award-winning Chicago and Los Angeles based playwright and screenwriter from El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He is currently under commission with LCT3, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and IAMA Theatre Company. He’s been awarded the 2018 Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award and the 2017 Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award. His television credits include the Netflix Original Series Narcos: Mexico, and Kings of America. He’s currently working on upcoming Apple TV+ Limited Series The Last Thing He Told Me and also under development with a full-length feature at Focus Features.
Keiko Green
Keiko Green is a bilingual screenwriter/playwright/performer and MFA Playwriting student at UC San Diego (Class of 2022). Her plays have been developed and/or produced by the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Playwrights Realm, among others. Honors include the Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play, as well as finalist status for the Neukom Literary Award, Blue Ink Playwriting Award, Seven Devils Playwrights Festival, Leah Ryan Fund, and the Many Voices and Jerome Fellowships. Her play Hometown Boy will receive a world premiere with Actors Express this fall.
Michael Heintzman
Michael Heintzman (he/him) is an actor and playwright; his plays include productions Off-Broadway at the Unofficial New York Cabaret Theatre and the Jungle Theatre in Minneapolis. He is a two-time semi-finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, a four-time finalist at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s National Ten Minute Play Contest and the winner of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s In Process one-act festival. Acting credits include leading roles Off-Broadway and around the country. Favorites include A Cup of Coffee by Preston Sturges, Neddy by Jeffrey Hatcher, Epic Proportions by David Crane & Larry Cohn. Television credits too many to number.
Lily Houghton
Lily Houghton (she/her) is a playwright born and raised in New York City. Her plays have been produced/developed at theaters such as MCC Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, The Flea Theater, EST/Youngblood, NYU, Seattle Repertory Theater, Normal Ave, Contemporary American Theater Festival/Shepherd University, The 52nd Street Project and the Jermyn Street Theatre in London. She is currently developing a pilot with Amazon Studios.
Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Donnetta Lavinia Grays (she/her) is a Brooklyn based playwright-actor from Columbia, SC. Plays include Where We Stand, Last Night and the Night Before, Laid to Rest, and The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition among others. She’s received The Whiting Award for Drama, The Helen Merrill Playwright Award, NTC’s Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Lilly Award, Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She is also a Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and AUDELCO Award Nominee. Commissions include Steppenwolf, Denver Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, WP Theater, and True Love Productions.
Rohina Malik
Rohina Malik is an award-winning Chicago writer, actress and solo performance artist. She was born and raised in London, England, of South Asian heritage. Her critically acclaimed one-woman play UNVEILED has been presented at theaters across the United States. Malik’s plays THE MECCA TALES and YASMINA'S NECKLACE were both nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play. She is a Resident Playwright Emeritus at Chicago Dramatists and an Artistic Associate at Voyage Theater Company in NYC. Malik was selected to receive the 2018 Lee Reynolds Award, given annually to a woman active in any aspect of theater. She is currently working on a thriller screenplay.
Sandra Marquez
Sandra Marquez is an award-winning actor, director and educator. An ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theater Company she directed the well-received stage production of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter based on the bestselling book by Erika Sanchez & adapted by Isaac Gomez. She is also a longtime ensemble member of Teatro Vista where she served as Associate Artistic Director from 1998 – 2006. Her work has been seen at the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival amongst others. Film and television credits include Chicago Med & Justice, Prison Break, Boss & the upcoming Amazon series Light Years.
Caroline Neff
Caroline Neff is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre. Broadway: Linda Vista; 2nd Stage, Airline Highway; MTC. Chicago: The Goodman, Victory Gardens, Steep Theatre, Northlight, among others. Regionally: Yale Rep, Mark Taper Forum, Merrimack Rep. Film/television credits include The Red Line (recurring), Chicago PD (recurring), Chicago Fire, Open Tables and Older Children. She’s also a proud company member of Steep Theatre and holds her BA from Columbia College Chicago, and is currently based in New York and Chicago.
Liz Nofziger
Liz Nofziger (she/her) is a site-specific installation artist whose work examines relationships to space within the physical, architectural, political, and pop-cultural landscape. Employing a broad range of media including video, sculpture, light, audio, found material and text, viewer investigation often completes her work. Nofziger received her MFA from the Studio for Interrelated Media at Massachusetts College of Art. She currently teaches at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA.
Tanya Palmer
Tanya Palmer (she/her) is an Associate Professor at Indiana University and head of the M.F.A. program in Dramaturgy. Prior to joining IU, she was the Director of New Play Development at the Goodman Theatre, where for 14 seasons she produced New Stages, the theatre’s annual new play festival, and served as the production dramaturg on a number of world premieres including Dana H. by Lucas Hnath; an original adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666 by Seth Bockley and Robert Falls; and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined by Lynn Nottage. From 2000-2005 she was the Director of New Play Development at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Lina Patel
Lina Patel (she/her) is a writer/performer whose work explores power, grief, and the struggle for purpose in a precarious world. Lina was awarded an NEA grant for her play The Half-Breed Spy, or How I Learned to Love Imperialists. Her near-future play, The Ragged Claws, was nominated for Cherry Lane Theater’s Mentor Project. Selected commissions/residencies: Yale Rep, Playwright's Arena, Center Theater Group, Silk Road Rising, Japanese American National Museum, Chalk Rep, Sewanee Writer's Conference (Walter E. Dakin Fellow), New Harmony (2011). Lina also writes for television, most recently, Ava DuVernay's anthology series, "Cherish the Day"; previously, DC's Superman origin-story, "Krypton". More at: www.linapatelwriter.com
John Pielmeier
John Pielmeier (he/him) began his career with the play and movie Agnes of God, followed by three more plays on Broadway and over twenty-five produced television movies and miniseries. Most recently he’s adapted William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist for the stage, as well as his own novel Hook’s Tale, premiering in Houston soon. He has received the Humanitas, Edgar, Camie, and Christopher Awards, five Writers’ Guild Award nominations, and his projects have been nominated for the Emmy and Golden Globe. Please visit his website: johnpielmeier.com.
Eliana Pipes
Eliana Pipes (she/her) is a writer and filmmaker. She's been awarded the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, The Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, the Leah Ryan Fund Prize for Emerging Women Writers, and the inaugural WAVE Grant. Her work has been developed through the Playwright's Realm Scratchpad Series, NNPN/Kennedy Center MFA Playwright’s Workshop and more. Her play DREAM HOU$E will be produced at the Alliance Theater through the Kendeda Prize. She holds a BA from Columbia University and an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. More at www.elianapipes.com.
Jordan Ramirez Puckett
Jordan Ramirez Puckett (she/her) is a Chicana playwright, lighting designer, and producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her plays include En Las Sombras, To Saints and Stars, A Driving Beat, Las Pajaritas, Restore, and Inevitable. These works have been produced and/or developed by Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL), Harold Clurman Laboratory Theatre Company (New York, NY), Playwrights Foundation (San Francisco, CA) Playwrights Realm (New York, NY), San Diego Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, among others. Most recently, A Driving Beat was named a 2021 Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.
Shannon Purser
Shannon Purser (she/her) is an Emmy-nominated actress best known for her roles in Stranger Things and Riverdale.
Iraisa Ann Reilly
Iraisa Ann Reilly (she/her) is a Jersey-born artist passionate about bilingual storytelling. Select plays include The Jersey Devil is a Papi Chulo (KCACTF Latinx New Play Prize, 2nd Place Mark Twain Comedic Playwriting Prize), Good Cuban Girls (Teatro del Sol, at The Arden Theatre), Madame Anastasia’s Crystal Ball (Semifinalist, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival 2021), and One Day Old (Philadelphia Fringe). She is a Development Studio Fellow at NYU’s Production Lab developing her screenplay, La Reina Del Bronx. Iraisa Ann was a semifinalist for the Page 73 Fellowship, 2019. B.A. Film, Television, Theatre, University of Notre Dame. MFA Dramatic Writing, NYU. iraisaannreilly.com.
Kim Schultz
Kim Schultz is a writer, actor, director, dramaturg and storyteller. She has worked at many national theatres as an actor and writer. In 2009, she was commissioned to travel to the Middle East as an artist/activist to meet with Iraqi refugees and write a play inspired by the trip. Out of that came the solo show "No Place Called Home" and the memoir, “Three Days in Damascus”. (Palewell Press, 2016) Kim acts professionally on stage, TV and film and is a corporate improvisation trainer. As a storyteller, Kim has won awards for her true stories told on stages in New York City and Chicago. www.kimschultz.net
Jonathan Spector
Jonathan Spector’s (he/him) plays include Eureka Day (Glickman Award, SF Bay Area Critic Circle Award, Theater Bay Area Award, Rella Lossy Award), This Much I Know, Good. Better. Best. Bested. and Siesta Key. His work has been or will be produced at Aurora Theater, Colt Couer, InterAct Theater, Mosaic Theater, Syracuse Stage, Asolo, Custom Made Theater, Just Theater and the State Theater of South Australia. He has developed work with Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, Roundabout Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Portland Stage. He’s a MacDowell Fellow, a Playwrights Center Core Writer and currently under commission from South Coast Rep.
Angie Tillges
Angie Tillges (she/her) is a civic project manager, artist and educator skilled at working with public institutions and community organizations on projects of social, artistic, and ecological importance. She leads projects that provide people the opportunity to make personal, lasting connections with public and natural spaces. She is currently a Fellow for the City of Saint Paul's Great River Passage Initiative. Formerly, she served as Senior Program Specialist for Chicago Parks Culture and Nature Unit, and spent 9 years as the Neighborhood Arts Director for Chicago’s Redmoon Theatre.
Caity-Shea Violette
Caity-Shea Violette (she/her) is an LA-based playwright/screenwriter/performer whose work explores invisible disabilities, sexuality, breaking cycles, and learning how to belong to yourself. She is a winner of the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, The Clauder Competition, Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, Gary Garrison National Ten-Minute Play Award, Susan Glaspell Playwriting Festival National Award, and National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Award. Her plays have been developed/produced by Portland Stage, Roundabout Theatre Company, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and more. Caity-Shea has an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. caitysheaviolette.com
Sharon Washington
Sharon Washington (she/her) made her debut as playwright in 2016 with the world-premiere of her solo play Feeding The Dragon which subsequently made it’s Off-Broadway debut at Primary Stages in April 2018 where she won an Audelco Award for Solo Performance. Sharon is celebrating over 30 years as a working actress. Recent film appearances include Joker, The Kitchen and On The Basis of Sex. Theater credits include The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway and Dot (Vineyard Theater); Wild With Happy, Richard III, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Caucasian Chalk Circle (Public Theatre/NYSF), While I Yet Live and String of Pearls (Primary Stages).
Ray Yamanouchi
Ray Yamanouchi is a Flushing born, Long Island raised, and Astoria based playwright. He received a BA in film and theatre from CUNY Hunter College. Selected plays: Tha Chink-Mart (PlayPenn 2018), Impact (Semi-finalist, National Playwrights Conference 2017), The American Tradition (New Light New Voices Award 2018). He has developed work with WT Theatre, The Blank Theatre, Rising Circle Theater Collective, Mission to (dit)Mars (Propulsion Lab), Ars Nova (Play Group), and Playwrights’ Center (Core Writer). He is the creator and co-host of RE:, a NYC theatre talk show (www.retheatre.nyc).
Liv Campbell
Liv Campbell (she/her) is currently entering her senior year at the University of Evansville as a Theatre Performance major and a Creative Writing minor. She loves the pursuit of positivity that New Harmony searches for in their project in such a beautiful area of Indiana. She has been happy and honored to help as the Nanny for this year!
Blake Elliott
Blake Elliott, a recent graduate of the University of Evansville with a degree in Stage Management, is an artist, advocate, academic, and proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Xe hopes to use xyr work in the arts to uplift voices from the margins and build a better world, and there is no place better than New Harmony to dive into this work. Xe is thrilled to continue his tenure with The New Harmony Project as xe rounds out xyr 3rd consecutive year as Company Manager.
Following this year’s conference, Blake will begin the pursuit of xyr master’s degree from the University of California - Irvine. With UCI as xyr new theatrical home, Blake's credits span from coast to coast including stage management work with iTheatrics and Disney Theatrical Group in New York City, regional work in Texas, The Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in OKC, and right here in Indiana. More Life.
Natasha Hawkins
Natasha Hawkins graduated from Salisbury University with an undergraduate degree in communication and a minor in theatre. During her time at Salisbury, she served as an assistant director/dramaturg for Salisbury’s virtual productions of Caryl Churchill's Love and Information, and Brandon Jacob-Jenkins' Everybody, for which she won the Regional Dramaturgy Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. In the fall, she will study dramaturgy in the graduate program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Ambree Cimone Feaster
Ambree Cimone Feaster is a theatre artist from Dickinson, Texas. She specializes in dramaturgy, playwriting, and acting. Ambree is currently an undergraduate student at Sam Houston State University and is set to graduate with a BFA in Theatre Studies and a Minor in French in December of 2021. Recently, Ambree was recognized at the KCACTF Region 6 Festival and the KCACTF National Festival for her dramaturgical work on the SHSU 2020 production of Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith. In May 2021, her short play, Greetings from Bedlam, received it’s first staged reading at SHSU’s 10-minute play showcase.
Polly Hubbard
Polly Hubbard (she/her) serves as the Director of New Play Development at Steppenwolf, and she was previously a Literary Agent with Abrams Artists Agency. Selected dramaturgical work: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Isaac Gómez adapted from the novel by Erika L. Sánchez, La Ruta by Isaac Gómez, The Doppelgänger (an international farce) by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Visiting Edna by David Rabe (Steppenwolf); Bald Sisters by Vichet Chum (Steppenwolf’s SCOUT). Past work with New Harmony Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Kilroys, Victory Gardens, Cherry Lane, 13P, Lark, Princess Grace Awards, and Amnesty International. Education: Oberlin College, University of Evansville.
David Hudson
David Hudson (he/him) David has served as the Executive Director of The New Harmony Project since October of 2017, and has overseen dramatic growth and expansion during that time. He most recently secured a long-sought grant to support a large-scale, equity-centered strategic planning process that began in January. David is the co-creator and director of the New York Times Critic’s Pick Drunk Shakespeare, and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Slate, New York Post and more. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Evansville and a master’s degree from the University of California, Irvine.
Lori Wolter Hudson
Lori Wolter Hudson (she/her) started at The New Harmony Project as an intern in 2002 and has been working for NHP in various capacities since then. She is thrilled to be bringing back in-person programming this summer with such an incredible cohort of artists! Lori has worked at theatres across the country including Roundabout, Signature, MTC, Atlantic, La Jolla Playhouse, Playwrights Horizons, the Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep, Pittsburgh Public, ACT, and the O’Neill. Lori assistant directed the Tony award-winning revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Pam MacKinnon. She studied at the Moscow Art Theater and is a graduate of the University of Evansville.
Wren Rivera
Wren Rivera (they/them), graduate of Ball State University, is so thrilled to be making their return to The New Harmony Project. Previously, Wren was an acting intern at the 2019 conference and played Kat in NHP’s reading of Q2 the Musical. Wren’s latest performance was in The New York City Center’s production of Bring Me To Light. Please follow along with their journey on Instagram!: @w.t.rivera
Phaedra Michelle Scott
Phaedra Michelle Scott (she/her) is a dramaturg and producer based in New York City. Phaedra serves as VP of Programs for the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA). She is a resident dramaturg for New Harmony Project. Her credits include work at MCC Theater, New Victory Theater, Sundance Institute, Audible, Playwrights Realm, Huntington Theater Company, Cleveland Playhouse. She is a freelance audio producer with the Audible in their Theater department. She has been an arts and culture journalist for wbur, Boston’s NPR station; a content developer at the USS Constitution Museum where she made maritime history accessible through storytelling and media. www.phaedrascott.com
Ollie Stewart
Ollie Stewart (she/her) is a student of Film and Media Science at IUPUI and an independent filmmaker, artist, photographer, and social media consultant based in Indianapolis. In her freelance video work, Ollie has shot and directed music videos for several independent musicians including Atlas, Samurai, Love Letter Lane, & herself. Her 2017 short film At Any Hour was a finalist in the Michigan City Video Festival and the third of eleven in her filmography. Additionally, Ollie has worked as a crew member and contributing writer for local press during her internships at Envisionary Media and Hope Women's Magazine.