Meet the Playwrights...
Meet the Playwrights...
Ashley Lauren Rogers (she/her/they/them)
Playwright of: The Question Game
Ashley Lauren Rogers is an award-winning writer, and trans rights activist. A recent Trans Theatre Lab Fellow 2019; the Literary Director for Step1 Theatre Project; Artist-in-Residence at Middlesex County Vocational-Technical School 2018-2019. Their works have been performed at Dixon Place, MITF, the Brick, Joe’s Pub, and others. Becky’s Xmas Wish was a finalist for the City Theatre National Short Play Award in Miami. Their work has been produced in Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Maine, Iowa, New Jersey, Detroit, and Minneapolis. They were featured on Fusion TV’s, Peabody Award Nominated, Sex.Right.Now, panels for Revry.TV. They are also the creator of, Is It Transphobic and The Right to Play Podcasts.
Current HowlRound Fellow and Latinx Theatre Commons steering committee member Dillon Yruegas (he/él) is a queer trans mixed Coahuiltecan theatremaker from Central Texas who holds both a BFA in Theatre and a BA in Spanish from Texas State University. He is a company member of the VORTEX Repertory Theatre and has collaborated with Austin Scottish Rite Theatre, Capital T Theatre, Generic Ensemble Company, Ground Floor Theatre, the Indigenous Cultures Institute, and Teatro Vivo. Recently, he was a part of Company One Theatre’s season 21 PlayLab cohort.
M Sloth Levine is a trans theatremaker who directs, writes plays, and designs in Brooklyn, NY. Recent work has been seen at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Sparkhaven Theatre, Trans Theatre Ensemble, Company One, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Fresh Ink Theatre, Brown Box Theatre Project, and Milky Way Coffee Roasters. They have been involved with the Gender Explosion Initiative with StageSource, advocating for gender diversity in New England theatre. They are a proud alumnus of the Company One PlayLab Unit. In 2016 they received a BA in Theatre Studies: Directing & Playwriting from Emerson College.
Nic A. Sommerfeld (they/them)
Nic has written one act and short plays for over 10 years. They studied playwriting at Santa Clara University under Brian Thorstenson. Since University, they have written for, and been produced by Third Citizen Theater Company, Monday Night Playground, The San Francisco Olympians Festival ( ‘17 and ‘18), ShotzSF, Utopia Theatre Project, and USF. They have also had their work featured as part of The Best of Playground Festival ( ‘18, ‘19 and ‘20) and in 2020 completed a full length commission that will hopefully to be produced in 2022.
Orion Lee Risk (they/he)
Highlights of Orion’s theatrical work include crafting the documentary script GenderTalks, creating the project design for TransTheatreFest–Madison, and producing and directing as founding artistic director of Scene D Theatre Project. During their seven years as resident assistant director with Lampost Theatre Company, Orion taught workshops in mime, character building, and physical expression. Orion graduates this spring with a Masters in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Sharifa Yasmin (she/her)
Sharifa Yasmin is a trans Egyptian-American director and playwright from South Carolina. She has completed fellowships with the Drama League, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Manhattan Theatre Club, Geva Theatre, and is currently a 2020-21 National Directing Fellow with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Yasmin graduated cum laude from Winthrop University and in Fall 2021 will be a Brown/Trinity MFA Directing Candidate. As a playwright, her work reflects the intersection of queerness and Arab-American identity. www.sharifayasmin.com