Playwrights

Wakako Yamauchi

Representative Plays:

The Chairman’s Wife (1993)
The Music Lessons (1993)
12-1-A (1982)
And the Soul Shall Dance (1977)

Bio:

Wakako Yamauchi (1924–2018) was a distinguished playwright, short-story writer, poet and painter. When she was seventeen years old, she and her family were incarcerated at Poston concentration camp in Arizona. Yamauchi's work...

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 journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. He is best known for his plays, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (1967), Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972).Many of Tendulkar’s plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals, which provides clear light on harsh...

William S. Yellow Robe Jr.

Representative Plays:

The Star Quilter (2009)
Pieces of Us (2009)
Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers (2009)

Bio:

William S. Yellow Robe Jr. is an Assiniboine playwright who also acts, directs, and writes poetry and short stories. He grew up on Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Wolf Point, Montana and was encouraged by his middle school teacher to try playwriting. He has since written over 45 plays. He has won awards including: the First Nations Book Award for Drama; first playwright to receive a Princess Grace...

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 sanctioned violence, racism, and queerness.

He has performed at the United Nations/UNICEF, Apollo Theater, Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, Bowery Poetry Club, Dixon Place, La Mama Theater, Issue Project Room, on the behalf of Adidas and many more. He has delivered keynote speeches and appeared at...

Tracey Scott Wilson

Representative Plays:

Buzzer (2016)
The Story (2004)

Bio:

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 has since been produced at thirty theatres nationwide. Additional productions include Order My Steps for Cornerstone Theater's Black Faith/AIDS project in Los Angeles; and Exhibit #9, produced in New York City by New Perspectives Theatre and Theatre Outrageous; Leader of the People produced at New...

Velina Hasu Houston

Representative Plays:

Kokoro (True Heart) (2011)
Tea (1988)

Biography:

Velina Hasu Houston is an internationally celebrated writer with over twenty-eight commissions in theatre and opera. In New York, U.S. nationwide, and globally in Asia and Europe, her work has been produced to critical acclaim at prestigious theatres. She was the first-ever Playwright-in-Residence at The Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California; and a Fulbright Scholar (Fulbright project, Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku, Tokyo, Japan). Honored by The...

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)

Bio:

Born in Egypt, raised in London and now based in Seattle, Yussef El Guindi’s work frequently examines the collision of ethnicities, cultures and politics that face Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans. El Guindi holds an MFA in playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University, and has worked as a playwright at Silk Road Rising; literary manager for Golden...

Yasmina Reza

Representative Plays:

God of Carnage (2006)
The Unexpected Man (1995)
Art (1994)

Bio:

Yasmina Reza is a French playwright and novelist based in Paris whose works have all been multi-award winning, critical, and popular international successes. Her play God of Carnage (2012) was previously produced by the Huntington. It also won the Olivier and Tony Award for Best Play and a film version, directed by...

Talvin Wilks

Representative Plays:

Bread of Heaven (1994)
Tod, the Boy, Tod (1993)
The Trial of Uncle S&M (1990)

Bio:

Talvin Wilks is a playwright, director and dramaturg. His plays include Tod, the boy, Tod, The Trial of Uncle S&M, Bread of Heaven, and An American Triptych. Directorial projects include the world premiere productions of UDU by Sekou Sundiata (651Arts/BAM), The Love Space Demands by Ntozake Shange (Crossroads), No Black Male Show/Pagan Operetta by Carl Hancock Rux (Joe's Pub/The...

Suzan-Lori Parks

Representative Plays:

White Noise (2019)
Top Dog Underdog (2001)
In the Blood (2000)

Bio:

Named among Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is one of the most acclaimed playwrights in American drama today. She is the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, and in 2015 was awarded the prestigious Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts. Other grants and awards include those from the National Endowment for the...