Welcome to the BIPOC Playwrights Project, a website dedicated to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) playwrights of the 20th and 21st centuries, whose works are in English or with English translations widely available.
This site is intended to serve as a resource for theater educators and practitioners looking for a broader choice of texts and materials. Each playwright profile includes a list of representative plays, a brief bio, and links to online texts or resources in UC Berkeley library databases (accessible to students, faculty, and staff with a CalNet ID). The directory of playwrights is by no means exhaustive and continues to be a work in progress.
Please Note: The playwrights included in this directory are not necessarily affiliated with UC Berkeley or the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.
Editor's Notes
- Please consider purchasing texts by these playwrights from BIPOC-owned bookstores. Refer to these lists of Black-owned bookstores in the U.S. and Black- and Indigenous-owned bookstores in Canada and the U.S.
- Leyla Modirzadeh established this educational resource with support from the Lecturer Teaching Fellows Program at UC Berkeley and many others noted at the bottom of this page.
- If you have any questions or feedback, please email tdps@berkeley.edu
Directory of Playwrights
A maximum of 120 playwrights will be displayed at one time. Select a filter option below to view all playwrights under a particular keyword.
Note: Keywords may reflect playwrights' expressed identity, heritage, and/or nationality, and are not mutually exclusive. These keywords are solely intended as an organizational tool; they are not intended to fully represent the complex identities of each individual.
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Abhishek Majumdar
Representative Plays:
The Djinns of Eidgah (2017)
Afterlife of Birds (2012)
Abhishek Majumdar is a playwright, theatre director, teacher and actor based out of Bangalore. He holds Performing Arts...Read more about Abhishek Majumdar
Aditi Brennan Kapil
Representative Plays:
Orange (2018)
Imogen Says Nothing (2017)
Agnes Under the Big Top (2012)
Aditi Brennan Kapil is a television and theater writer, actress, and director. She is of Bulgarian...Read more about Aditi Brennan Kapil
Adrienne Kennedy
Representative Plays:
Madame Bovary (2015)
Ohio State Murders (1992)
Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964)
Adrienne Kennedy continues to influence the world through her art. She was the recipient of the...Read more about Adrienne Kennedy
Akash Mohimen
Representative Plays:
Under the Chestnut Tree (2013)
Mahua (2011)
Akash Mohimen is a young writer and filmmaker originally from Jamshedpur, but now based in Mumbai. He has written four plays including two...Read more about Akash Mohimen
Aleshea Harris
Representative Plays:
What To Send Up When It Goes Down (2018)
Is God Is (2016)
Aleshea Harris’s play Is God Is won the 2016 Relentless Award, garnered her an Obie Award for...Read more about Aleshea Harris
Alfian Sa'at
Representative Plays:
Nadira (2009)
Homesick (2006)
Harmony Daze (2005)
Tekka Voices (2004)
Yesterday My Classmate Died (1997)
Born in 1977, Alfian Bin Sa’at...Read more about Alfian Sa'at
Alvin Eng
Representative Plays:
Three Trees (2012)
About the Playwright:Alvin Eng is a native NYC playwright, performer, memoirist and educator. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Speech, Communications, and Theatre Arts at Borough of Manhattan...Read more about Alvin Eng
Amina Henry
Representative Plays:
Hunter John and Jane: A Play with Songs (2015)
Ducklings (2014)
Amina Henry is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Productions include: Ducklings at JACK (Brooklyn, NY), The...Read more about Amina Henry
Anchuli Felicia King
Representative Plays:
Golden Shield (2019)
White Pearl (2019)
Anchuli Felicia King is a playwright, screenwriter and multidisciplinary artist of Thai-Australian descent. As a...Read more about Anchuli Felicia King
Andrea Hairston
Representative Plays:
Soul Repairs
Lonely Stardust
Hummingbird Flying Backward
Dispatches
Archangels of Funk
Andrea Hairston is a novelist, playwright, and scholar. Aqueduct Press published: Will Do Magic...Read more about Andrea Hairston
Anna Deavere Smith
Representative Plays:
Let Me Down Easy (2009)
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994)
Fires in the Mirror (1992)
Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author. Her most recent...Read more about Anna Deavere Smith
Anne García-Romero
Representative Plays:
Paloma (2019)
Provenance (2012)
Earthquake Chica (2007)
Anne García-Romero’s plays include Staging the Daffy Dame (LaunchPad UCSB), Lorca...Read more about Anne García-Romero
Annette Arkeketa
Representative Plays:
Hokti
Ghost Dance
Annette Arkeketa is an enrolled member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma. She is also Muscogee Creek. She conducts professional workshops in...Read more about Annette Arkeketa
Antoinette Nwandu
Representative Plays:
Pass Over (2017)
Bio:Antoinette Nwandu is a New York-based playwright who was born and raised in Los Angeles. Her play Pass Over made its New York debut at LCT3/Lincoln Center in 2018. A filmed version of the Jeff Award-...Read more about Antoinette Nwandu
Ariel Dorfman
Representative Plays:
Death and the Maiden (1991)
Purgatorio (2006)
Ariel Dorfman, the Chilean-American author of numerous works in both Spanish and English, holds the Walter Hines Page chair at Duke University. His books...Read more about Ariel Dorfman
August Wilson
Representative Plays:
The Piano Lesson (1987)
Fences (1985)
Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1984)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1982)
August Wilson, born Frederick August Kittel, Jr, was a renouned...Read more about August Wilson
Aurin Squire
Representative Plays:
Zoohouse (2016)
To Whom It May Concern (2015)
Obama-ology (2014)
Aurin Squire is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and reporter. He is a recipient of the 2014 Lecomte du Nouy...Read more about Aurin Squire
Ayad Akhtar
Representative Plays:
The Invisible Hand (2014)
Disgraced (2012)
The War Within (2005)
Ayad Akhtar was raised in Milwaukee, WI and credits his high school teacher for introducing him to writing. He studied acting and...Read more about Ayad Akhtar
Ayeesha Menon
Representative Plays:
Pereira’s Bakery at 76 Chapel Road (2010)
Bio:Ayeesha Menon is currently working on a play for the National Theater. At the BBC Audio Drama Awards, her adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities won Best Adaptation in...Read more about Ayeesha Menon
Aziza Barnes
Representative Plays:
BLKS (2019)
Bio:Aziza Banres is the winner of the 2015 Pamet River Prize; her first full length collection, i be but i ain’t, is from YesYes Books, 2016. Her first chapbook, me Aunt Jemima & the nailgun...Read more about Aziza Barnes
Badal Sircar
Representative Plays:
Procession (1983)
Stale News (1979)
Evam Indrajit (1974)
Badal Sircar was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during the...Read more about Badal Sircar
Beth Piatote
Representative Plays:
Antíkoni (2018)
Bio:Beth Piatote is a scholar of Native American/Indigenous literature and law; a creative writer of fiction, poetry, plays, and essays; and an Indigenous language revitalization activist/healer, specializing in Nez Perce...Read more about Beth Piatote
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Representative Plays:
Appropriate (2016 Pulitzer Prize Finalist)
Gloria (2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist)
An Octoroon (2014)
Neighbors (2010)
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was born in Washington, D.C. on...Read more about Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Caleen Jennings
Representative Plays:
Queens Girl in Africa (2018)
Queens Girl in the World (2015)
Classy Ass (2005)
Caleen SInnette Jennings is a professor of Theatre at American University. She is also a faculty member of the...Read more about Caleen Jennings
Caridad Svich
Representative Plays:
Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell that was Once Her Heart: A Rave (2004)
12 Ophelias (2004)
Any Place but Here (2003)
Caridad Svich is a playwright, songwriter, editor and...Read more about Caridad Svich
Charles Fuller
Representative Plays:
Zooman and the Sign (1982)
A Soldier’s Play (1981 Pulitzer Prize Winner)
The Brownsville Raid (1976)
Charles Fuller was born in Philadelphia. He achieved critical notice in 1969 with The...Read more about Charles Fuller
Chay Yew
Representative Plays:
Wonderland (1999)
A Language of Their Own (1995)
Porcelain (1992)
As a playwright, Chay Yew's plays include Porcelain, A Language of Their Own, Red, Wonderland, Question 27 Question...Read more about Chay Yew
Cherríe Moraga
Representative Plays:
The Mathematics of Love (2017)
Digging Up the Dirt (2010)
The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea (1995)
Cherríe Moraga is an internationally recognized poet, playwright, essayist and...Read more about Cherríe Moraga
Cheryl L. West
Representative Plays:
Akeelah and the Bee (2015)
Play On! (1997)
Holiday Heart (1994)
Cheryl L. West was born in Chicago in 1965. She holds three academic degrees, one of which is from the University of...Read more about Cheryl L. West
Chisa Hutchinson
Representative Plays:
Somebody’s Daughter (2018)
Dead & Breathing (2017)
Surely Goodness and Mercy (2017)
Alondra Was Here (2013)
She Like Girls (2010)
The Subject (2008)
Christopher Chen
Representative Plays:
Caught (2017)
Bio:Christopher Chen is an international award-winning playwright whose works have been produced across the United States and abroad. His play CAUGHT was a New York Times Critics'...Read more about Christopher Chen
Colman Domingo
Representative Plays:
Dot (2016)
A Boy and His Soul (2009)
Up Jumped Springtime (1998)
A 2020 Julliard School Creative Associate, Colman Domingo is a Tony, Lawrence Olivier, Drama Desk, Drama...Read more about Colman Domingo
Cristal González Avila
Representative Plays: ...Read more about Cristal González Avila
Luz: A Shadow Play Inspired by Senior Stories (2018)
Bio:A company member with El Teatro Campesino and Baktun12, Cristal González Avila is a first generation Chicana actress, playwright, poet and
Culture Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza)
Representative Plays:
Anthems (2005)
Mission Magic Mystery Tour (2003)
Bordertown (2001)
A Bowl of Beings (1992)
The Mission (1988)
Culture Clash is a performance troupe that currently...Read more about Culture Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza)
Danai Gurira
Representative Plays:
Familiar (2015)
The Convert (2012)
Eclipsed (2010)
Danai Gurira is an award-winning playwright and actress. Danai’s play Familiar received its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre...Read more about Danai Gurira
David Henry Hwang
Representative Plays:
Yellow Face (2008)
Golden Child (1998)
M Butterfly (1988)
David Henry Hwang’s stage works includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the...Read more about David Henry Hwang
Derek Lee McPhatter
Representative Plays:
Bring the Beat Back (2017)
Bio:Derek Lee McPhatter is a writer and producer. Recent plays include This App is Not the Business and Bring the Beat Back. Derek recently completed a Tutterow...Read more about Derek Lee McPhatter
Dharamvir Bharati
Representative Plays:
Andha Yug (1953)
Bio:Indian playwright, novelist, and poet Bharati was known in the last decades of his life as the editor of the prestigious Hindi weekly Dharmayug, but his enduring reputation...Read more about Dharamvir Bharati
Diane Glancy
Representative Plays:
The Woman Who Was a Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance (1995)
American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays (2002)
Cargo (2006)
Proficient in numerous genres—...Read more about Diane Glancy
Dipika Guha
Representative Plays:
Unreliable (2019)
The Art of Gaman (2018)
Yoga Play (2017)
Bio:Dipika Guha is an LA based, Calcutta - born playwright raised in Russia, India and the United Kingdom. Her...Read more about Dipika Guha
Dominique Morisseau
Representative Plays:
Confederates (2020)
Paradise Blue (2020)
Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations (2017)
Pipeline (2017)
Skeleton Crew (2016)
Detroit 67' (2003)
Donja R. Love
Representative Plays:
Fireflies (2018)
Sugar in Our Wounds (2018)
Donja R. Love is an Afro-Queer playwright, poet, and filmmaker. He's the 2017 Princess Grace Fellow, a Eugene O’ Neill 2017 National Playwrights Conference...Read more about Donja R. Love
Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Representative Plays:
Where We Stand (2018)
Laid To Rest (2015)
Last Night And The Night Before (2014)
The New Normal (2010)
...Read more about Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Dustin Chinn
Representative Plays:
Snowflakes, or Rare White People (2019)
Bio:Native Seattleite, long-term Manhattanite. Collector of first/second-hand ghost stories. PADI-certified diver. Campfire enthusiast. Will brake for...Read more about Dustin Chinn
E. Donald Two-Rivers
Representative Plays:
Winter Summit or the Bang-Bang Incident
Forked Tongues
Chili Corn
Coyote Sits in Judgment
Shattered Dream
Old Indian Trick (An Old Urban Indian Story as Told by an Old Urban Indian Who May Have Lied)...Read more about E. Donald Two-Rivers
Ed Bullins
Representative Plays:
Clara's Ole Man (1968)
In the Wine Time (1968)
The Fabulous Miss Marie (1971)
Edward Artie Bullins (July 2, 1935 – November 13, 2021), sometimes publishing as Kingsley B. Bass Jr...Read more about Ed Bullins
Estela Portillo-Trambley
Representative Plays:
Puente Negro (1983)
Blacklight (1975)
Day of the Swallows (1971)
Estela Portillo Trambley was a writer and award-winning playwright from El Paso, Texas. She was the granddaughter of...Read more about Estela Portillo-Trambley
Evelina Fernández
Representative Plays:
Dementia (2010)
Solitude (2009)
La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin (holiday pageant play)
Evelina Fernández was born and raised in East LA. She is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and...Read more about Evelina Fernández
France-Luce Benson
Representative Plays:
Deux Femmes on the Edge de la Revolution (2017)
The Devil's Salt (2016)
Boat People (2015)
France-Luce Benson is a Haitian-American playwright and actress. After graduating with her BA in...Read more about France-Luce Benson
Frank Chin
Representative Plays:
The Year of the Dragon (1974)
The Chickencoop Chinaman (1972)
Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California and attended the University of California, Berkeley. He received an American Book Award in 1989...Read more about Frank Chin
George C. Wolfe
Representative Plays:
Jelly’s Last Jam (1991)
The Colored Museum (1986)
Playwright and artistic director George C. Wolfe was born on September 23, 1954 in Frankfort, Kentucky. Wolfe attended the Rosenwald Laboratory School...Read more about George C. Wolfe
Girish Karnad
Representative Plays:
Hayavadan (1971)
Yayati (1961)
Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language. His rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s...Read more about Girish Karnad
Hansol Jung
Representative Plays:
Among the Dead (2017)
No More Sad Things (2017)
Cardboard Piano (2016)
Hansol Jung was born in the Republic of Korea. She moved to South Africa and lived there for about 6 years in her...Read more about Hansol Jung
Haresh Sharma
Representative Plays:
Poor Thing (2015)
Off Centre (2000)
Lanterns Never Go Out (1993)
Haresh is Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage and co-Artistic Director of the annual M1 Singapore Fringe Festival....Read more about Haresh Sharma
Harrison David Rivers
Representative Plays:
Five Points (2018)
This Bitter Earth (2017)
Sweet (2016)
Salvagers (2014)
The Sea and the Stars (2014)
HARRISON DAVID RIVERS is the winner of the 2018 Relentless Award...Read more about Harrison David Rivers
Hassan Abdulrazzak
Representative Plays:
The Special Relationship (2020)
And Here I Am (2017)
Love, Bombs, and Apples (2016)
The Prophet (2012)
Baghdad Wedding (2007, 2009, 2010)
Hassan Abdulrazzak is of...Read more about Hassan Abdulrazzak
Heather Raffo
Representative Plays:
Nine Parts of Desire (2004)
Bio:Heather Raffo is the solo performer and writer of the Off Broadway hit, 9 Parts of Desire which details the lives of nine Iraqi women. For her creation and performance of 9 Parts and its...Read more about Heather Raffo
Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Representative Plays:
Kisa Gotami, A Buddhist Parable (1955)
Laughter and False Teeth (1953)
The Plums Can Wait (1949)
Born in Sacramento in 1922, writer and actor Hiroshi Kashiwagi spent his early years in Loomis,...Read more about Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Ianne Fields Stewart
Representative Plays:
A Complicated Woman (2019)
Bio:Ianne Fields Stewart (pronouns: she/her/they/them) is a black, queer, and transfeminine New York-based storyteller. Ianne's work is divided into three platforms: the platform they stand...Read more about Ianne Fields Stewart
Inda Craig-Galván
Representative Plays:
Black Super Hero Magic Mama
a hit dog will holler
I Go Somewhere Else
Inda Craig-Galván writes stuff — mostly plays and TV. Her work often explores intra-racial...Read more about Inda Craig-Galván
Ismail Khalidi
Representative Plays:
Returning to Haifa (2018)
Sabra Falling (2017)
Foot (2016)
...Read more about Ismail Khalidi
Jackie Sibblies Drury
Representative Plays:
Fairview (2018)
Social Creatures (2013)
We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 (2012)
Jalisa Leelee Jackson
Representative Plays:
Comb Your Hair (Or You'll Look Like a Slave) (2017)
About the Playwright:Jalisa "Leelee" Jackson’s work aligns itself with the lives of Black womxn postmodernity and sets out to both challenge and entertain theatre...Read more about Jalisa Leelee Jackson
James Ijames
Representative Plays:
Kill Move Paradise (2019)
The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (2018)
Moon Man Walk (2018)
WHITE (2018)
The Threshing Floor (2009)
Jeremy O. Harris
Representative Plays:
Daddy (2019)
Slave Play (2018)
Full-length plays include: Slave Play(Broadway, New York Theatre Workshop, NYT Critics Pick, Winner of the 2018 Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting...Read more about Jeremy O. Harris
Jim Northrup
Representative Plays:
Rez Road Follies
Rez Road 2000
Shinnob Jep
Jim Northrup (April 28, 1943 – August 1, 2016) was an Anishinaabe (Native American) newspaper columnist, poet, performer, and political...Read more about Jim Northrup
Jirèh Breon Holder
Representative Plays:
Too Heavy for Your Pocket (2017)
Bio:Jirèh Breon Holder is a Memphis, Tennessee native and proud Morehouse Man. He grew up obsessed with Toni Morrison, South Park, and Joseph Campbell. Funny enough, Sarah Ruhl's...Read more about Jirèh Breon Holder
Jocelyn Bioh
Representative Plays:
GODDESS (2020)
Nollywood Dreams (2018)
School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (2017)
Jocelyn Bioh is a Ghanaian-American writer/performer from New York City. NYC...Read more about Jocelyn Bioh
John Leguizamo
Representative Plays:
Latin History for Morons (2016)
Ghetto Klown (2014)
Freak (1998)
Emmy winner John Leguizama has worked in film, theatre, television, and literature. He has starred alongside Tina Fey, Amy Poehler...Read more about John Leguizamo
Jonathan Norton
Representative Plays:
My Tidy List of Terrors (2011)
penny candy (2010)
Jonathan Norton is a playwright and theater-maker based in Dallas,Texas. His work has been produced or developed by Dallas Theater Center, PlayPenn,...Read more about Jonathan Norton
Jordan E. Cooper
Representative Plays:
Ain’t No Mo (2019)
Bio:Jordan E. Cooper is an award-winning playwright who lives in Brooklyn and is currently obtaining his BFA degree at The New School For Drama. His last play Black Boy Fly was voted 'Best New Play' by...Read more about Jordan E. Cooper
José Cruz González
Representative Plays:
American Mariachi (2016)
Sunsets & Margaritas (2009)
September Shoes (2006)
The Highest Heaven (2002)
Tomás and the Library Lady (1990)...Read more about José Cruz González
José Rivera
Representative Plays:
Sonnets for an Old Century (2000)Cloud tectonics(1997)Marisol (1992)
José Rivera was born...Read more about José Rivera
Josefina López
Representative Plays:
Hungry Woman In Paris (2009)
Boyle Heights (2004)
Confessions of Women From East L.A. (1997)
Simply Maria, Or the American Dream (1996)
Real Women Have Curves (1990)
Julia Cho
Representative Plays:
Office Hour (2018)
The Language Archive (2012)
The Piano Teacher (2008)
Durango (2008)
The Winchester House (2006)
The Architecture of Loss (2005)
99 Histories (2005)...Read more about Julia Cho
Katori Hall
Representative Plays:
Tina Turner the Musical (2018)
Hurt Village (2013)
The Mountaintop (2011)
Katori Hall is an Olivier Award-winning playwright from Memphis, Tennessee and the showrunner of PUSSY VALLEY, a...Read more about Katori Hall
Keelay Gipson
Representative Plays:
#NewSlaves (2017)
What I Tell You in the Dark (2016)
Keelay Gipson is a multi-disciplinary artist including work as an actor, filmmaker, director and award-winning playwright. His play, What...Read more about Keelay Gipson
Kia Corthron
Representative Plays:
A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick (2010)
Seeking the Genesis (2002)
Breath Boom (2000)
Kia Corthron was born and raised in Cumberland, Maryland. Corthron attended Frostburg State...Read more about Kia Corthron
Kirsten Childs
Representative Plays:
Bella: An American Tall Tale (2019)
The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000)
Kirsten Childs is the award-winning writer of the musicals The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds...Read more about Kirsten Childs
Korde Arrington Tuttle
Representative Plays:
Graveyard Shift (2018)
clarity (2016)
Korde Arrington Tuttle (Playwright) is a multi-disciplinary artist from Charlotte, NC. His work has been seen at Ojai Playwrights Conference...Read more about Korde Arrington Tuttle
Kristoffer Diaz
Representative Plays:
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (2011)
Welcome to Arroyo’s (2010)
Kristoffer Diaz is a playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and educator. His play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was a finalist...Read more about Kristoffer Diaz
Larissa Fasthorse
Representative Plays:
The Thanksgiving Play (2018)
Urban Rez (2012)
Larissa FastHorse is an award winning playwright, director, and choreographer. She was awarded the NEA Distinguished New Play Development Grant, Joe...Read more about Larissa Fasthorse
Lauren Yee
Representative Plays:
Cambodian Rock Band (2018)
The Great Leap (2018)
Lauren Yee is a playwright born and raised in San Francisco. She lives in New York City. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and her...Read more about Lauren Yee
LeAnne Howe
Representative Plays:
The Mascot Opera (2008)
Indian Radio Days (1998)
Big PowWow (1987)
Poet, fiction writer, filmmaker, and playwright LeAnne Howe was born and raised in Oklahoma and is a member of...Read more about LeAnne Howe
Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Representative Plays:
A Black Mass (1966)
The Dutchman and The Slave (1964)
LeRoi Jones (aka Amiri Baraka) was a poet, writer, political activist and teacher. He was born in 1934, in Newark, New Jersey. He graduated from...Read more about Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Representative Plays:
Hamilton (2015)
In the Heights (2005)
Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning composer, lyricist, and actor. He created and stared in Broadway's Tony winning musicals Hamilton and In...Read more about Lin-Manuel Miranda
Linda Hogan
Representative Plays:
A Piece of Moon (1981)
About the Playwright:Linda Hogan was born in 1947, in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Oklahoma. She obtained a M.A. degree from University of Colorado at Boulder in 1978. Hogan is a passionate...Read more about Linda Hogan
Lloyd Suh
Representative Plays:
The Chinese Lady (2019)
Bio:Lloyd Suh is the author of The Chinese Lady, Charles Francis Chan Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, American Hwangap, The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space...Read more about Lloyd Suh
Lorraine Hansberry
Representative Plays:
Les Blancs (1970)
To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1968)
The Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window (1965)
The Drinking Gourd (1960)
A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
Luis Alfaro
Representative Plays:
This Golden State Part One: Delano (2015)
Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (2015)
Alleluia, The Road (2013)
St. Jude (2013)
Bruja (2012)
Luis Alfaro is a Chicano writer/...Read more about Luis Alfaro
Luis Santeiro
Representative Plays:
The Lady from Havana (1991)
Our Lady of the Tortilla (1987)
His plays include: THE LADY FROM HAVANA, A ROYAL AFFAIR, and OUR LADY OF THE TORTILLA, which has enjoyed over one hundred productions around...Read more about Luis Santeiro
Luis Valdez
Representative Plays:
Mummified Deer (2000)
I Don’t Have To Show You No Stinkin’ Badges (1992)
Zoot Suit (1978)
Luis Valdez is a renouned Chicano playwright and director. His Obie award winning...Read more about Luis Valdez
Lydia Diamond
Representative Plays:
Smart People (2016)
Stick Fly (2011)
Harriet Jacobs (2011)
The Bluest Eye (2007)
Voyeurs...Read more about Lydia Diamond
Lynn Nottage
Representative Plays:
Sweat (2015)
Ruined (2009)
Intimate Apparel (2004)
Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter. She is the only woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. Her plays have been...Read more about Lynn Nottage
Lynn Riggs
Representative Plays:
Big Lake (1927)
Green Grow the Lilacs (1931)
The Cherokee Night (1936)
Lynn Riggs is the Southwest's most important playwright and a significant folk artist. His...Read more about Lynn Riggs
Marcus Gardley
Representative Plays:
House That Will Not Stand (2014)
Every Tongue Confess (2010)
Marcus Gardley is a poet-playwright. He was the 2012 James Baldwin Fellow and the 2011 PEN Laura Pels award winner for Mid-Career Playwright. The...Read more about Marcus Gardley
María Irene Fornés
Representative Plays:
Abington Square (1987)
The Danube (1982)
Fefu and Her Friends (1977)
Fornés was born on May 14, 1930 in Havana, Cuba. After attending a French production of Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR...Read more about María Irene Fornés
Mary Kathryn Nagle
Representative Plays:
Manahatta (2018)
Katrina Stories (2008)
Mary Kathryn Nagle is a playwright, lawyer, and citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She works at the intersection of justice and drama to secure the rights and...Read more about Mary Kathryn Nagle
Matthew Lopez
Representative Plays:
The Inheritance (2018)
The Legend of Georgia McBride (2017)
The Sentinels (2011)
Somewhere (2011)
The Whipping Man (2009)
Matthew Lopez is the author of ...Read more about Matthew Lopez
Melinda Lopez
Representative Plays:
Back the Night (2016)
Becoming Cuba (2013)
Sonia Flew (2004)
Melinda Lopez is a Cuban-American playwright, actress, and educator. She earned a B.A from Dartmouth College, received a M.A in...Read more about Melinda Lopez
Mia Chung
Representative Plays:
Catch as Catch Can (2018)
This Exquisite Corps (2016)
You for Me for You (2015)
Mia Chung was raised in San Diego by South Korean parents. Her parents' heritage influenced Mia and her style of...Read more about Mia Chung
Michael R. Jackson
Representative Plays:
A Strange Loop (2019)
Bio:Michael R. Jackson holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As a songwriter, he has seen his work performed everywhere from Joe’s...Read more about Michael R. Jackson
Michelle Law
Representative Plays:
Single Asian Female (2017)
Bio:Michelle Law is a writer working across print, screen and stage. She is the co-author of the comedy book Sh*t Asian Mothers Say, and has had her work anthologised in books like...Read more about Michelle Law
Migdalia Cruz
Representative Plays:
Fur (2019)
Another Part of the House (1997)
Migdalia Cruz is an award-winning playwright and translator of more than 50 works including: El Grito Del Bronx, Two...Read more about Migdalia Cruz
Mike Lew
Representative Plays:
Teenage Dick (2019)
Tiger Style! (2019)
Bhangin’ On It (2018)
Mike Lew’s plays include Teenage Dick (Donmar Warehouse, Wooly Mammoth, Ma-Yi at the Public, and Artists Rep productions;...Read more about Mike Lew
Milcha Sanchez-Scott
Representative Plays:
Roosters (1988)
The Cuban Swimmer (1984)
Dog Lady (1984)
The daughter of a Colombian father and an Indonesian mother, Milcha Sanchez-Scott was born on the island of Bali in 1954. She was...Read more about Milcha Sanchez-Scott
Ming Peiffer
Representative Plays:
Usual Girls (2016)
Bio:Ming Peiffer is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Columbus, Ohio and the first Asian woman to be nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Play in its history. Her play USUAL...Read more about Ming Peiffer
Mohammad Yaghoubi
Representative Plays:
A Moment of Silence (2016)
Bio:Mohammad Yaghoubi is a multi-award-winning playwright, director, screenwriter, theatre instructor, producer, co-founder and artistic director of NOWADAYS THEATRE. His works have been...Read more about Mohammad Yaghoubi
Mohan Rakesh
Representative Plays:
Halfway House (Adhe Adhure) (1969)
Bio:Mohan Rakesh (1925-1972) was a modernist innovator in Hindi who deeply influenced India's multilingual literary culture after Independence. His full-length plays-Ashadh ka ek...Read more about Mohan Rakesh
Naghmeh Samini
Representative Plays:
Sleeping in an Empty Cup
Sky Horses Rain Ashes
Making Faces
The Home
Born in 1361
Naghmeh Samini (PhD), playwright, scriptwriter and lecturer in Dramatic Arts, was born...Read more about Naghmeh Samini
Nakkiah Lui
Representative Plays: ...Read more about Nakkiah Lui
Black is the New White (2019)
Bio:Nakkiah Lui is a writer for theatre and TV and proud Gamillaroi and Torres Strait Islander woman from Mount Druitt, western Sydney. She is an associate playwright in
Nilaja Sun
Representative Plays:
Pike Street (2017)
No Child... (2006)
Black and Blue (2001)
Nilaja Sun is a teaching artist, writer and performer from New York City's Lower East Side. Sun describes herself as a product...Read more about Nilaja Sun
Nilo Cruz
Representative Plays:
Anna in the Tropics (2002)
Dancing on Her Knees (1996)
Nilo Cruz is the author of many plays, including A PARK IN OUR HOUSE, A BICYCLE COUNTRY, TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO, LORCA IN A GREEN DRESS,...Read more about Nilo Cruz
Nissy Aya
Representative Plays:
righteous kill: a requiem (2020)
Bio:Nissy Aya is a Black girl from the Bronx. She joined The Lark as the 2016-2017 Artistic Programming apprentice and now serves as the Artistic Coordinator. She is a...Read more about Nissy Aya
Ntozake Shange
Representative Play:
From Okra to Greens (1984)
Spell #7 (1979)
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (1975)
Ntozake Shange is one of America’s greatest writers—an acknowledged...Read more about Ntozake Shange
Octavio Solís
Representative Plays:
Lydia (2008)
Santos & Santos (1994)
Man of the Flesh (1990)
Author of over 20 plays, Octavio Solis is considered by many to be one of...Read more about Octavio Solís
Oliver Mayer
Representative Plays:
Yerma in the Desert (2017)
Fortune is a Woman (2012)
The Laws of Sympathy (2009)
Dias y Flores (2008)
Ragged Time (2002)
Oliver Mayer is a playwright, poet and...Read more about Oliver Mayer
Pearl Cleage
Representative Plays:
A Song for Coretta (2008)
Flyin' West (1994)
Pearl Cleage is an Atlanta based writer whose work has won commercial acceptance and critical praise in several genres. An award winning playwright whose ...Read more about Pearl Cleage
Philip Kan Gotanda
Representative Plays:
Under the Rainbow: Natalie Wood is Dead, White Manifesto or Got Rice? (2005)
Yankee Dawg You Die (1988)
Philip Kan Gotanda is the author of one of the largest canon of Asian-American-themed-work....Read more about Philip Kan Gotanda
Ping Chong
Representative Plays:
Pojagi (1999)
After Sorrow (1997)
Chinoiserie (1995)
Deshima (1990)
Ping Chong is an internationally acclaimed director, playwright, and pioneer in the use of media in the...Read more about Ping Chong
Postmodern African-American Homosexuals (Pomo Afro Homos)
Representative Plays:
Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life (1991)
Bio:PostModern African American Homosexuals (Pomo Afro Homos) was an African-American gay identified three man performance troupe founded in San Francisco, CA in 1990 by Eric...Read more about Postmodern African-American Homosexuals (Pomo Afro Homos)
Purva Naresh
Representative Plays:
Ok Tata Bye Bye (2012)
Bio:Born on 20 June 1974 in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, Shrimati Purva Naresh hails from a culturally rich background and learnt singing from her mother Shrimati Vijaya Naresh and music and...Read more about Purva Naresh
Quiara Alegría Hudes
Representative Plays:
Miss You Like Hell (2018)
Daphne's Dive (2017)
The Happiest Song Plays Last (2014)
Water by the Spoonful (2012 Pulitzer)
Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue (2007...Read more about Quiara Alegría Hudes
Rajiv Joseph
Representative Plays:
Describe the Night (2017)
Guards at the Taj (2015)
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (2010)
Rajiv Joseph’s...Read more about Rajiv Joseph
Rey Pamatmat
Representative Plays:
House Rules (2016)
Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (2012)
Rey Pamatmat is a celebrated Filipino-American gay playwright from Port Huron, Michigan. He grew up acting in a local community theater,...Read more about Rey Pamatmat
Rick Shiomi
Representative Plays:
Rosie’s Cafe (1987)
Yellow Fever (1982)
Rick Shiomi is a Toronto-born theatre artist now based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a leader in early Asian Canadian theatre movement in the 1980s. He credits...Read more about Rick Shiomi
Robert O’Hara
Representative Plays:
Booty Candy (2014)
Brave Blood (2001)
Insurrection: Holding History (1999)
Robert O'Hara has received the NAACP Best Director Award, the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, 2 OBIE...Read more about Robert O’Hara
Roy Conboy
Representative Plays:
Tailor From Chihuahua (2005)
Drive My Coche (1999)
When El Cucui Walks (1995)
The Journeys of the Angels (1995)
...Read more about Roy Conboy
Rudolfo Anaya
Representative Plays:
Rosa Linda (2013)
Billy the Kid (1995)
Who Killed Don Jose? (1995)
Ay, Compadre! (1994)
The Season of La Llorona (1984)
Rudolfo Anaya’s first novel, Bless Me...Read more about Rudolfo Anaya
Sa'adallah Wannous
Representative Plays:
Hanthala's Journey from Slumber to Consciousness (1978)
The King is the King (1977)
Elephant, the King of All Times (1969)
Saadallah Wannous (1941–1997) was a Syrianplaywright...Read more about Sa'adallah Wannous
Sagar Deshmukh
Representative Plays:
Leftovers (Shillak) (2017)
Bio:A lawyer by education, Sagar took his first theatre lessons in Progressive Dramatic Association, Pune in 1999. Acting is his main strength while he has also been writing and directing intermittently....Read more about Sagar Deshmukh
Sandra Seaton
Representative Plays:
The Will (2020)
Music History (2011)
The Bridge Party (1989)
Sandra Seaton is a playwright and librettist. Her plays have been performed in cities throughout the country, including New York,...Read more about Sandra Seaton
Sean San José
Representative Plays:
Monstress (2015)
Superheroes (2014)
Sean San José is co-founder of Campo Santo, the award-winning resident theater company of San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts. Program Director...Read more about Sean San José
Shay Youngblood
Representative Plays:
Flying Blind (2013)
Amazing Grace (1998)
Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery (1994)
Shay Youngblood fell into writing by accident as a child when she was watching TV and became angry at the...Read more about Shay Youngblood
Shishir Kurup
Representative Plays:
Assimilation (2002)
Exile: Ruminations on a Reluctant Martyr (1992)
Bio:Shishir Kurup, is an actor/writer/director/composer and Books-On-Tape narrator born in Bombay, India raised in Mombasa, Kenya and the...Read more about Shishir Kurup
Star Finch
Representative Plays:
Bondage (2018)
H.O.M.E. (Hookers On Mars Eventually) (2017)
Participants/Take the Ticket (2016)
Star Finch is a native San Franciscan trying her best to hold ground amidst the Black-erasure...Read more about Star Finch
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Representative Plays:
Between Riverside and Crazy (2014)
Our Lady of 121st St. (2003)
Jesus Hopped the A Train (2002)
Stephen Adly Guirgis graduated from University at Albany - SUNY. He is a former Co-Artistic...Read more about Stephen Adly Guirgis
Suzan-Lori Parks
Representative Plays:
White Noise (2019)
Top Dog Underdog (2001)
In the Blood (2000)
Named among Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is one of the most acclaimed playwrights...Read more about Suzan-Lori Parks
Talvin Wilks
Representative Plays:
Bread of Heaven (1994)
Tod, the Boy, Tod (1993)
The Trial of Uncle S&M (1990)
Talvin Wilks is a playwright, director and dramaturg. His plays include Tod, the boy, Tod, The Trial of Uncle S&M, Bread...Read more about Talvin Wilks
Tanya Barfield
Representative Plays:
Bright Half Life (2014)
Bio:Tanya Barfield is from Portland, Oregon. Her play Bright Half Life premiered at the Women’s Project Theater and was a TimeOut Critic’s Pick. Her play The Call ...Read more about Tanya Barfield
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Representative Plays:
In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue (2013)
Choir Boy (2012)
The Brothers Size (2010)
In the Red and Brown Water (2010)
Tarell Alvin McCraney is the Chair, and Professor in the...Read more about Tarell Alvin McCraney
Tawfiq al Hakim
Representative Plays:
The Tree Climber (1966)
The Sultan’s Dilemma (1960)
The Song of Death (1952)
Tawfiq al-Hakim or ...Read more about Tawfiq al Hakim
Timothy DuWhite
Representative Plays:
Neptune (2018)
Bio:Timothy DuWhite is a writer, poet, playwright, performance artist, and activist. His work is both brave and exhilarating, and directly addresses difficult and controversial issues such as HIV, state...Read more about Timothy DuWhite
Torange Yeghiazarian
Representative Plays:
Isfahan Blues (2015)
The Fifth String: Ziryab’s Passage to Cordoba (2014)
444 Days (2013)
Bio:Torange Yeghiazarian(she/her) is the Founding Artistic Director...Read more about Torange Yeghiazarian
Tracey Scott Wilson
Representative Plays:
Buzzer (2016)
The Story (2004)
Tracey Scott Wilson's current work includes The Story, which was first produced at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/NYSF, and transferred to the Long Wharf Theatre. The Story...Read more about Tracey Scott Wilson
Velina Hasu Houston
Representative Plays:
Kokoro (True Heart) (2011)
Tea (1988)
Velina Hasu Houston is an internationally celebrated writer with over twenty-eight commissions in theatre and opera. In New York, U.S. nationwide, and...Read more about Velina Hasu Houston
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar
Representative Plays:
Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe! (Silence! The Court is in Session!) (1967)
Bio:Vijay Tendulkar (7 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political...Read more about Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar
Wakako Yamauchi
Representative Plays:
The Chairman’s Wife (1993)
The Music Lessons (1993)
12-1-A (1982)
And the Soul Shall Dance (1977)
Wakako Yamauchi (1924–2018) was a distinguished playwright, short-story writer,...Read more about Wakako Yamauchi
William S. Yellow Robe Jr.
Representative Plays:
The Star Quilter (2009)
Pieces of Us (2009)
Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers (2009)
William S. Yellow Robe Jr. is an Assiniboine playwright who also acts, directs, and writes poetry and...Read more about William S. Yellow Robe Jr.
Yasmina Reza
Representative Plays:
God of Carnage (2006)
The Unexpected Man (1995)
Art (1994)
Yasmina Reza is a French playwright and novelist based in Paris whose works have all been multi-award winning, critical, and popular...Read more about Yasmina Reza
Young Jean Lee
Representative Plays:
Straight White Men (2014)
Untitled Feminist Show (2011)
We’re Gonna Die (2011)
Young Jean Lee has been called “hands down, the most adventurous downtown playwright of her generation” by the...Read more about Young Jean Lee
Yussef El Guindi
Representative Plays:
Refugee Rhapsody (2020)
Hotter than Egypt (2019)
Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith (2018)
Back of the Throat (2006)
Born in Egypt, raised in London and now based in...Read more about Yussef El Guindi
Yvette Nolan
Representative Plays: ...Read more about Yvette Nolan
The Unplugging (2015)
Annie Mae’s Movement (2001)
BLADE (1990)
Bio:Playwright, director, dramaturg, actor, and educator, Yvette Nolan has contributed
Additional Resources
UC Berkeley Library
- Resources that are accessible to UC Berkeley affiliates through library databases (CalNet login required)
Online Resources
- 50 Playwrights Project: A Digital Space for Latin@ Theatre
- The Adrienne Kennedy Project (Fordham University)
- Alternative Canon: Non-Western Plays by BIPOC, Women, and Queer Writers
- BIPOC Plays & Creatives (Loyola Marymount University)
- Contemporary Playwrights of Color (New York University)
- The Kilroys' List: An annual list featuring new plays by women, trans, and non-binary writers of the American theatre
- Ma Yi Theater Company Writers Lab: Developing new plays by Asian American writers
- Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark Theatre
Publications
- The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How To Decolonize the Creative Classroom By Felicia Rose Chavez (2021)
- Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Men Edited by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway (2016)
- Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Women Edited by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway (2016)
- Contemporary Plays by African American Women: Ten Complete Works Edited by Sandra Adell (2015)
- Contemporary Plays from Iraq Translated and Edited by A. Al-Azraki and James Al-Shamma (2017)
- Inside/Outside: Six Plays from Palestine Edited by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi (2015)
- Iranian Drama: An Anthology Edited by M.R. Ghanoonparvar (1989)
- The Kilroys List: 67 Monologues and Scenes by Women and Nonbinary Playwrights, Volume 2 Edited by Annah Feinberg for The Kilroys (2020)
- Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology Edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Roger Allen (1995)
- Modern Armenian Drama: An Anthology Edited by Nishan Parlakian and S. Peter Cowe (2001)
- Monologues for Actors of Color: Men Edited by Roberta Uno (2016)
- Monologues for Actors of Color: Women Edited by Roberta Uno (2016)
- Monologues for Latino/a Actors: A Resource Guide to Contemporary Latino/a Playwrights for Actors and Teachers Edited by Micha Espinosa (2014)
- The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actors : Classical and Contemporary Speeches from Black British Plays — Monologues for Women, Volume 1 Edited by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway (2013)
- Short Arabic Plays: An Anthology Edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi (2002)
- Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin American Theater and Performance Edited by Diana Taylor and Sarah J. Townsend (2008)
Acknowledgments
We would like to extend a special thank you to all of the generous people who made this website possible:
Darren Blaney, Tim Bond, Jeannette Buck, Brandi Catanese, Ping Chong, Ben Dillon, Michelle Douskay, Alvin Eng, Manuel Erviti, Ariel Estrada, Peter Glazer, Philip Gotanda, Leigh Henderson, Sawyer Henderson, Esther Lee, Ericka Li, Zihan Loo, Domenique Lozano, Tiffany Miller, Leyla Modirzadeh, Valerie Curtis Newton, Joe Salvatore, Ryan Sloan, Rebecca Struch, Talvin Wilks, Lisa Wymore, and Torange Yeghiazarian
The Lecturer Teaching Fellows Program at UC Berkeley
The students of Theater 10: Fundamentals of Acting (Spring 2020)