the play

Justice Hehir (she/her) is a playwright whose work explores sexuality, feminism, and the formation and rupture of human bonds. She is a member of Youngblood at EST, a New Georges affiliated artist, a 2021-22 INKubator Play Lab resident at Art House Productions, the recipient of a Constitution Commission from Clubbed Thumb, and the recipient of a 2021 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She is an alumna of the 2020 Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group and a member of Colt Coeur. Recent projects include “true believer”, published last year by Table Work Press, and “freeplay”, a play about a women-owned dildo company developed through an EST/Sloan Project commission (2020). She graduated from Hunter College in 2018 with an MFA in Playwriting (under the tutelage of Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins) and from Rutgers University in 2016 with a BA in Women’s and Gender Studies and English.

Dena Igusti is a queer non binary Indonesian Muslim poet, playwright, filmmaker, producer, and FGC survivor & activist born and raised in Queens, New York. Their poetry collection, Cut Woman (published by Game Over Books) has been selected as a 2020 Harvard Bookstore Staff Pick and Entropy Mag’s Best of 2020-2021. Their work has been featured in BOAAT Press, Peregrine Journal, and several other publications. Their work has been produced and performed at The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, the 2018 Teen Vogue Summit, Players Theatre (SHARUM, 2019), Prelude Festival (Cut Woman, 2020), Center At West Park (CON DOUGH, 2021), The Tank (First Sight 2021 at LimeFest), and several other venues internationally. They are a 2022 Playground Fellow, 2022 Sundress Arts Resident, 2022 Best of the Net Nominee, 2021 Baldwin For The Arts Resident, 2021 Hook Arts Media Digital Connections Fellow, 2021 City Artist Corps, 2021 Stories Award Finalist, 2021 LMCC Governors Island Resident, 2021 Broadway For Racial Justice Inaugural Casting Directive Fellow, 2020 Seventh Wave Editorial Resident, 2020 Ars Nova Emerging Leaders Fellow, 2020 Spotify Sound Up cohort member, 2019 Player’s Theatre Resident Playwright, and 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador. They are a Converse All Stars Artist and UN #TOGETHERBAND Global Ambassador. They are the founder of Dearest Mearest and SEAM (Southeast Asian Arts Mentorship).

Phanésia Pharel is a playwright from the great state of Florida and even greater city of Miami!! Grounded in poetry and Afrofuturism she often writes about the divine metaphysical dilemma of colored girlhood. Her plays span revolutions, islands, and explores futures built on love by centering women's pleasure, safety, and joy. AKA hopeful and magical survivor stories for the young, poor, women, colored, and those audacious enough to be all of the above.

Full lengths; LUCKY (New York Stage and Film) . BLACK GIRL JOY (Frank Moffett Mosier Fellowship for Works in Heightened Finalist Prize, Jane Chambers Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist). Other Honors include City Theatre National Short Playwriting Finalist and Blank Stage “Future of Playwriting” Semi-Finalist.

Phanésia is a member of the Obie award-winning EST/ Youngblood group. Commissions include City Theatre Miami, the Latinx Playwrights Circle & Pregones/PRTT Greater Good Commission and Thrown Stone Theatre. Residencies include New York Stage and Film, Echo Theater Company of Los Angeles, the Playwrights Center Core Apprenticeship and the Inaugural 068 Magazine Thrown Stone Theatre Fellowship. Publishing: Concord Theatricals, Smith and Kraus Best Plays of 2020, Reset Coalition 2020 Anthology and the City Theatre Anthology.

BA: Urban Studies, Barnard College of Columbia University.

Nia Akilah Robinson (she.her) is a playwright and actor who reps Harlem with all her might. Recently, she has been accepted into The Juilliard School (Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program)/ 2022-2023. Residencies: 2022 Eugene O’ Neill Tao House Fellowship, 2022 MacDowell Fellowship, and 2021 Prospect Street Writer’s House X Waterwell. Writers Collectives: EST's Youngblood & TheBlackHERthePen. Awards: 2022 Finalist for The Blue Ink Playwriting Award, 2022 Semi-Finalist for the Blank Stage “Future of Playwriting Award”, 2021 Winner "One of the Best of Fest” at Nuyorican’s Theater Festival, and 2021 Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Commissions: 2020 Charles Rowan Beye New Play Commission under Urbanite Theatre Company & 2020 PEN America. She has an Audio play titled Ebony & Nakeshia, produced by Ensemble Studio Theater, and directed by Colette Robert (Caroline or Change on Broadway). Readings: Principal Mitchell vs. Principal Ademide Udoku… with the Dramatist Guild; 2021 End Of Play in partnership with The 24 Hour Plays, 2020 Classical Theatre of Harlem's Playwright's Playground, and "TBHTP" collective readings at The Drama League. Workshops: Waterwell (WP Means White People). Nia was presented a certificate from the 2021 Tony Award-winning organization Broadway Advocacy Coalition, for "Her commitment to Black stories". Nia wrote for the December 2020 Issue of The Flashpaper and the April 2021 Issue of the Harlem News!

Julia Specht is a Brooklyn-based writer and performer, originally from Massachusetts. Her plays include Oak Tree (Ensemble Studio Theatre), overpass (Eugene O’Neill semifinalist, Cherry Lane Mentorship Project finalist), i believe in a republic in which money has a great deal to say (EST Marathon of One Act Plays 2019), Divorce Jokes For Men (Stevenson On-Air Prize Finalist) and many more. She’s also a founder of the Hot Bread Writers Residency, and works with Girls Write Now. She’s an alum of Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Obie-award winning writing group. Education: MFA in Fiction, CUNY Hunter; BAs in Classics and Psychology, Wellesley College.

May Treuhaft-Ali is a playwright, director, and dramaturg. She is the 22-23 Van Lier New Voices Fellow at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. She is a member of Ars Nova's Play Group and the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab, and an alumna of Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writers’ Group and The Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship. She is a recipient of the 2022 Elizabeth George Commission at South Coast Repertory, the Constitution Commission at Clubbed Thumb, and the 2021 Visionary Playwright Award at Theater Masters. She recently served as Associate Director on SHHHH by Clare Barron at Atlantic Theater Company, and her play ABCD will be produced at Barrington Stage Company in July 2022. May is the Literary and Community Engagement Assistant at Playwrights Horizons.