New Dramatists, an artistic home and developmental laboratory for professional playwrights, announces the addition of Deborah Yarchun (‘13) to its illustrious resident playwright company of five that include Nkenna Akunna, Hilary Bettis, Edwin Rivera-Arias, and Jesús I. Valles.
Yarchun will be in-residence through June, 2031 and was selected by a seven-person committee of New Dramatists current residents, alumni, and outside theatre professionals from 350 applicants after undergoing a highly competitive, ten-month review and consensus-based decision-making process. New Dramatists will kick off their seven-year residencies with an evening of readings and celebration at the annual New Playwright Welcome in the fall.
Deborah (she/her) is a New Jersey-born, Air Force-raised, and Austin-rooted playwright; her plays are just as geographically discombobulated. She’s currently LA/NYC-based. Her plays have been produced and/or developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Centenary Stage, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Capital Rep, New Harmony Project, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Alleyway Theatre, Amphibian Stage Productions, TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival, the William Inge Center for the Arts, Northern Stage, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Young Playwrights Inc., Williams Street Rep, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, and at theaters and universities across the United States and in Canada.
Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, and Women in the Arts & Media Coalition’s Collaboration Award. Her play GREAT WHITE was an Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award and her play ATLAS, THE LONELY GIBBON was a finalist for the National Playwrights Conference. Deborah is a 2021-2024 Core Writer at The Playwrights’ Center and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. DeborahYarchun.com