2013 Play Group

Sofia Alvarez is a graduate of the Juilliard Schoolʼs Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. She is a member of New Georgeʼs emerging artist group, The JAM and Primary Stagesʼ Dorothy Strelsin New American Writerʼs Group. Sofia is currently working on an original pilot for USA and a new play commission for South Coast Rep. BA, Bennington College.

Sarah Burgessʼs plays include: Earthsiege: Commence (Steep Theatre workshop, Chicago; First Mondays, New York) and FAIL: Failures (ANT Fest). Sarah was a writer for The Tenant (Woodshed Collective) and currently writes for “Naked Radio” (Naked Angels). Screenwriting credits include Nate (Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmakerʼs Award) and These Things Happen (Malcolm Ross Award). NYU Film – 2007 Faculty Commendation for Body of Work.

Sarah Gancherʼs work has been produced/developed at Londonʼs National Theatre Studio, Edinburghʼs Traverse Theatre, Budapestʼs Quarter6Quarter7 Festival, PS122, Ars Nova, NYC SummerStage, and the Great Plains Theater Conference, among others. She has worked as a collaborating playwright with devising ensembles including The TEAM, Hand2Mouth and Telluride Theatre. She is a 2012—2014 Time Warner Fellow at the Womenʼs Project Playwrights Lab.

Nick Gandiello's NYC credits include Travis Winters (American Globe Theatre) and Screen (Samuel French OOB Festival). He was selected as a finalist for Page 73's 2013 Playwriting Fellowship. Nick is the Literary Manager of Young Playwrights, Inc. MFA Playwriting, The New School For Drama.

Jake Jeppsonʼs plays include Fox Play, The Clearing and Turtle. Jake teaches playwriting at Wesleyan and created the apprentice program at the Orchard Project. He writes for the National Geographic Channel. Jake grew up in Washington, DC and earned his MFA from Yale School of Drama, where he won the ASCAP Cole Porter Prize.

Stephen Karam is the author of Sons of the Prophet (Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle and for Best Play and Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize), Speech & Debate, columbinus, and Dark Sisters, an original chamber opera with composer .

Brian Otaño is a New Dramatists Van Lier Fellow. His plays include Gone was the Glow, What We Told the Neighbors and Zero Feet Away. Brian has developed work with LARK, Atlantic Theater Company, New Dramatists, Judson Memorial Church, The Attic Theater and The Glass Bandits. The Groom, his first feature film, is in pre-production. BFA: Dramatic Writing, Purchase College. Daniel Pearleʼs play A Kid Like Jake will have its world premiere at Lincoln Center/LCT3 in June 2013. Other plays include The Prodigies, Freefall, Plunder (Phyllis Anderson Prize) and The Truth About Christmas (Winner, Samuel French OOB Festival). He earned his BA from Harvard University and his MFA from The New School for Drama.

Max Posnerʼs plays include The Famished, The Thing About Air Travel and Snore(...). They have been staged and developed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Page 73, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Clubbed Thumb, The Hangar Theatre, Curious Theatre Company and Production Workshop. Max was the 2012 P73 Fellow and received the Heideman Award from Actorʼs Theatre of Louisville. He is a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. BA: .

Erica Saleh received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, and her bachelorʼs degree from Brown University. Her plays have been produced or developed by Ensemble Studio Theatre, EST/Youngblood, The University of Texas, and 3Graces Theater Co. She is the recipient of a Michener Fellowship (University of Texas) and commissions from the EST/SLOAN project, and Dramatics Magazine. Erica is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theater and an alumna of Youngblood.

Charise Castro Smith is a playwright and actress from Miami, FL. Her plays include: Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen] (Ars Nova ANT Fest/ Yale Cabaret), The Hunchback of Seville (Studio 42/ New Georges) and Boomcracklefly (The Miracle Theater Portland, OR). Sheʼs a Van Lier Fellow at New Dramatists and received her MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

A. Zell Williams honors include NYUʼs Goldberg Playwriting Prize and the National New Play Networksʼ Smith Prize for Best Political Play. His scripts have been produced & developed by InterAct Theatre where he is Playwright-in- Residence, Marin Theatre, the Lark Play Development Center, and the Kennedy Center.

Bess Wohl’s plays have been produced and developed at theaters around the country. She is currently at work on a new play commission from Manhattan Theatre Club, as well as various film and TV projects. BA, Harvard. MFA, Yale School of Drama.