In this panel designed to support for undergrads and recent graduates, playwrights from a range of MFA programs will discuss their experiences of grad school and advice for writers early in their careers.
PANELISTS
Alayna Jacqueline Barnes is an instigator for new plays with the Twin Cities Playwright Cabal and the Membership and Development Coordinator at the Playwrights’ Center. In her absurd experimental writing, she loves to turn figurative into the literal, finding new ways to bend, reshape, and deconstruct stories for the stage. Alayna’s plays include The Amethyst, Drapetomania, Get Broken Like Me, Persephone’s Spring, and It’s Too Cold for You Here. Her work has been performed and/or developed at Phoenix Theater (MN), Market Garden Theatre (MN), Rennasaince Theaterworks (WI), Playwrights’ Center (MN), MadLab Theater (OH), Lincoln Theater (OH), and Pythian Theater (OH). Her play All of the Everything was recently produced at the Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival. She earned her BA in theater from Otterbein University and her MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. alaynajacqueline.com
Benjamin Benne's plays include Alma, In His Hands; or the gay christian play, and at the very bottom of a body of water. He's a PWC Affiliated Writer (Many Voices & McKnight Fellowships) and the winner of the National Latinx Playwriting Award, KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, and Blue Ink Playwriting Award. His plays have been developed at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Lark, Playwrights Realm, Roundabout, Denver Center, Two River, The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, Boston Court, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others. MFA Playwriting Candidate: Yale School of Drama '21, Representation: Paradigm.
www.benjaminbenne.com
Cristina Luzárraga is a playwright from New Jersey whose dark comedies tend to feature unruly women and an exploration of the grotesque and uncanny. Her plays include Critical Distance, Millennialville, Hav