a.k. payne

a.k. payne (she/they) is a playwright and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their plays love on and engage Black lives and languages. They hold a B.A. in English and African-American Studies from Yale College and an MFA in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama. Their work has been finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award and a 2x finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. They are a grandchild of the Great Migration; a queer & non-binary abolitionist affected in community by the “New Jim Crow”; and of a great lineage of Black women storytellers and living-room archivists; all of which deeply informs, uplifts and amplifies their work as a playwright, community organizer and spacemaker.