Tori Sampson
Affiliated Writer
Boston, MA
Biography

Tori hails from Boston, MA. Her plays include If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons 2019) THIS LAND WAS MADE (Vineyard Theater 2018), CADILLAC CREW (Yale Repertory 2019), and Where Butterflies go in the Winter. Her plays have been developed at Great Plains National Theater Conference, Berkeley Repertory Theater’s The Ground Floor residency program, Victory Garden’s IGNITION festival, Playwrights Foundation and UBUNTU theater. Tori is a 2017-18 Playwright’s Center Jerome Fellow. Two of her plays appeared on the 2017 Kilroys List and she holds an Honorable Mention from the 2016 Relentless Award.  She is the Kennedy Center’s 2016 Paula Vogel Playwright and second-place Lorraine Hansberry recipient. She is a 2017 finalist for the Alliance Theater’s Kendeda Prize and a 2018 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist.

 

Tori is currently working on commissions from Berkeley Repertory Theater, Yale Repertory Theater and Atlantic Theater Company. She holds a B.S. in sociology from Ball State University and an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama. 

Successes

The world premier of Tori Sampson's THIS LAND WAS MADE will open in spring of 2023 at the Vineyard Theater. More info HERE.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the first round of the 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards total in excess of $1 million and allow 28 productions extra time for development and rehearsal with the entire creative team, with the goal to extend the life of world premiere plays after their first runs. This round is the first iteration of the New Play Awards since the cancelation of theatre seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“After the most difficult year in our theatre field’s recent history, the Edgerton Foundation’s transformational investment in new plays has never been more important,” said TCG executive director Teresa Eyring in a statement. “The foundation’s support of longer rehearsal processes has always been valuable, but now, as our field reopens with a focus on safety and inclusion, that support is truly life-giving. Theatre artists will have a chance to breathe, and to take the time they need after the losses of last year as they make the plays that will knit our country back together.”

The first round of the New Play Awards have been presented to many theaters inlcuding: This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson at the Vineyard Theatre

Tori Sampson's play, This Land Was Mad, is in the running for the Bruntwood Prize International Award.

This Land was Made set to premiere August 5th at the Ignition Festival of New Plays 2017.