2024/2025 EST/Sloan Project Commissionees

SuperQuiz! by Mikaela Berry

SuperQuiz! follows the story of an academic decathlon team in the South Bronx. It is a coming of age exploration of identity, mental health, and just what it means to be a part of a team. 

Mikaela Berry is a multidisciplinary artist based in Harlem. Recent works include: The Last Monogamous Lesbian in Brooklyn (Playwright, Cry Havoc) and SPENT. (Playwright and Director, Queerly Festival).  Mik is also a writing instructor and restorative justice coordinator for detainees at Rikers Island and a firm believer in the transformative power of joy. 

Lavender Dust by Jayne Deely

As the James Webb Space telescope expands our understanding of the vast cosmos, delivering images from light years away, a storm brews at NASA, at the heart of which is the telescope’s controversial namesake and alleged connections to the Lavender Scare. Amidst an ever-changing grasp of our galaxy, one astrophysicist is determined to uncover the truth, even if it puts him in the eye of the storm.

Jayne Deely (they/them) is a playwright and performer from Queens, NY. Recent O’Neill and Terrence McNally New Play Finalist (’24). Their work has been developed with the New Harmony Project, Fresh Ground Pepper, the Fulton Theatre, and the Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival, among others. MFA Indiana University. Proud women’s basketball fan and member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists’ Guild. 

Beauty by Alexa Derman

Net is having a baby and Riley is getting older and CJ's genetically-determined bone structure and height make it biologically impossible for women to find him attractive. This play is about siblings. 

Alexa Derman's plays include The Creature (Finalist, O’Neill NPC; Runner-Up, Princess Grace/New Dramatists; Kernodle Prize), PsychoPsychotic (Relentless Award Honorable Mention), Girlish (Fresh Ink), Zionista Rising (Winner, Jewish Plays Project National Competition; Finalist, O’Neill NPC) and I’ll Be in My Hanukkah Palace (Ars Nova ANT Fest). BA Yale, MFA Brown. alexaderman.com

Mercury River by Stefani Kuo 郭佳怡

Annaelise Li was five-years-old and living in Ohio when her mother first told her about Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. Now an archaeologist, Annaelise has her sights fixed on English historic archaeology until she finds a rival’s hands on the maps of Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum, and decides to go for it herself.

Stefani Kuo (郭佳怡) is a poet/playwright/performer and native of Hong Kong and Taiwan. She received her B.A. from Yale and her MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. Her play Pearl’s Beauty Salon was produced in May 2024 as part of the Yale Carlotta Festival. As a performer, she was most recently seen in her one-woman show Moonie this October at the Yale Cabaret.  (www.stefanikuo.com)

Animal Magnetism by Chris Littler, Kelly Tieger, & Ellen Winter

In the years leading up to the French Revolution, Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer (who the word “mesmerize” comes from) inadvertently sends the bourgeoisie of Paris into a sexual frenzy when he tries to heal them with an invisible force called “animal magnetism” - which may or may not exist.

Chris Littler (he/him) is a writer, composer, and director best known for the podcast musical 36 Questions and for writing episodes of the Limetown podcast and TV series. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Playbill, Wired, The Guardian, and Marie Claire. He has presented as an industry expert at South by Southwest and the Austin Film Festival. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

Kelly Tieger (she/her) is an author, educator, and writer of musical theater. She was the story consultant on the podcast musical 36 Questions, and is a frequent collaborator with Chris Littler and Ellen Winter. She is also the co-author of the bestselling book Do What You Are. Kelly lives and works at a boarding school in Northwestern Connecticut with her husband and two young children. 

Ellen Winter (any pronouns will do) is a composer, theatermaker, and music producer. She just released her latest album, YIKES in May 2024. In 2017, they co-composed/wrote/directed the musical podcast 36 Questions starring Jonathan Groff (Merrily We Roll Along) and Jessie Shelton (Hadestown). Her work's been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, Interview Magazine, MTV news, and Playbill. Residencies: Joe’s Pub Working Group, Berkeley Rep, Mercury Store, Ars Nova, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. ellenwinter.com  | @itsellenwinter

ANY BODY OUT THERE by Jared Mezzocchi

Alfred is sent to a remote part of the earth to send data back to civilization for the government to learn from and prepare for the imminent and unknown future. He is not the last human, but instead the future human existing within a climate crisis. This is site-specific digital theater, performed from an isolated part of the planet, live-streamed to audiences all over the world in real-time. 

Jared Mezzocchi is a 2x OBIE Award-winning theater artist. Based out of New York, Mezzocchi’s work has appeared at notable theaters nationwide, including the Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, Vineyard, En Garde, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth (company member), and many more. Mezzocchi is also a 2x Macdowell Fellow and the recipient of the Lucille Lortel, Henry Hewes and Princess Grace Award.  

AI Hallucination Love Story by Sharyn Rothstein

When Mimi, a county clerk, discovers election misinformation spewing from an AI-powered search engine, she tracks down Dasan, its creator. Fighting to fix the problem, something just as unpredictable as an AI hallucination develops between Dasan and Mimi. A funny play about the intersection of technology and the human heart.

Sharyn Rothstein’s plays have been produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Arena Stage, Audible, Ensemble Studio Theatre and more. Sharyn is also a television writer/producer, who has written for “Orphan Black: Echoes” and the hit legal drama “Suits”. She teaches Television Writing at NYU.

Smokeless by DeAndre Short

Exploring the operations and machinations of Big Tobacco through the lens of a family of life-long employees, Smokeless is a testament to the changing nature of the tobacco industry and its central role in the U.S. economy, despite its overwhelmingly negative impact.

DeAndre Short is a New York City-based playwright from Virginia. Finalist for 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival; Semi-Finalist for the 2023 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting. BA: University of Lynchburg. MFA: Columbia University. 

Bright Light by Phillip Christian Smith

Bright Light will center on the work of Dr. Heiddis Valdimarsdottir (assistant professor at Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute) and William Redd PhD (Professor Icahn School of Medicine) and their light study investigating, “whether brighter lights in cancer parents’ rooms in the morning can make them less tired and depressed and help them sleep through the night.” 

Phillip Christian Smith is a member of New Dramatists 2023-2030, The Fire This Time, Sewanee Scholar and Staff, Playwrights Realm, and Lambda Literary Fellow. O’Neill, PlayPenn, and BAPF Finalist.  Adjunct: Pace and Hunter.  MFA: Yale School of Drama and Hunter College. ECC co-literary director.  Roe Green Commission with Cleveland Playhouse. www.phillipchristiansmith.com

The Forester by P.C. Verrone

The Forester envisions the life and works of Dr. Carroll B. Williams, Jr., the first African American scientist hired by the Forest Service, narrated by the pine trees he studied. Through innovative storytelling, Williams’ struggles, triumphs, and scholarship unveil even greater histories of unrecognized Black and Indigenous American ecology.

P.C. Verrone is a multidisciplinary writer from Los Angeles. His work has been developed by Off-Broadway and regional theaters nationwide. He has received residencies from the Playwrights’ Center and Tin House. His comedy Crocodile Day was published by Playscripts in 2023. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. from Rutgers University-Newark.

Very rapidly, over a few tens of thousands of years by Emma Watkins

On December 31st, 1976, onboard a research vessel in the Arctic Ocean, a team of geologists are chiseling through a mystery of deep time.  One of them is planning a New Year’s Eve party. Another, he’s just learned, has only weeks to live. This is the story of a scientist, father, and perennial procrastinator who must now make the most of his remaining time.

Emma Watkins’ plays include Pretend It’s Pretend (Princess Grace Award Runner-Up, KCACTF Paula Vogel Prize Runner-Up) and Elizabeth is Going into the Ground (Leah Ryan Prize Honorable Mention, BAPF Finalist).  Her work has been developed by the Kennedy Center, Theatre Masters, and PlayPenn.  She is under commission from South Coast Repertory.  BA: Princeton, MA: Cardiff University, MFA: UT Austin.