 Another year, another stellar group of plays and artists to fall in love with! Every year, I have the most artistically fulfilling experiences getting to work on Amphibian's annual summer festival, SparkFest. In 2026, SparkFest serves to celebrate and uplift Latine artists from across the country. As the New Works Producing Coordinator, I literary manage the festival, running our call for plays and helping to uplift three stellar plays and a shortlist of remarkable finalist plays/playwrights each year. This year, I'm elated to announce that they are:
And, of course, I also want to uplift the stellar finalists as well:
I can't wait to see these plays come to life! Congrats, all. It is my greatest honor to get to witness your work.
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 If you haven't learned it about me yet, this should tell you just how much I love new works and writers! I was so glad to work on the Concord Theatricals Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival again this year (three years after first working on it as an intern). Time truly flies! I got to witness over 30 short plays make theatre happen and innovate with the form as well as hear firsthand from alumni playwrights Rachel Bonds, Miranda Rose Hall and Lauren Yee as part of the 50th anniversary celebration. A major shoutout to the staff and co-Artistic Directors Casey McLain and Garrett Anderson for all the hard work they've put in elevating artists over the years.   While I didn't get a whole lot of photos (I was too busy being enamored with all the new musicals happening), I was so glad I got to go back to Texas and support the dozens of new musicals and musical writers there for the annual festival. When one new musical wins, we all win!
Learn more about the festival at: festival.musicalwriters.com.  One of the best things that's ever happened to me was falling into the orbit of Amphibian Stage and their work as an emerging professionnal. Every year, I have the most artistically fulfilling experiences getting to work on their annual summer festival, SparkFest. In 2025, SparkFest served to celebrate and uplift Native American and Indigenous artists from across the country. As the New Works Producing Coordinator, I literary manage the festival, running our call for plays and helping to uplift three stellar plays and a shortlist of remarkable finalist plays/playwrights each year. This year, I'm elated to announce that they are:
We also had a fabulous group of finalists that I'd love to uplift here:
Here's to new works and making theatre happen!
 You may have noticed I was awfully quiet between fall of 2024 and winter/spring of 2025... and that's because I got a new job and moved cities!
I now work to help elevate playwrights and musical writers in a whole new way, and doing so meant my partner and I had to make the move from Atlanta to NYC! If you've got a new work happening in NYC, let me know – I'd love to attend! With Immense Heart, Ally  Thanks to Ethel Woolson and Working Title Playwrights, I got to spend time expanding my notions of what new work development can look like with Sawyer Estes and Erin O'Connor of Vernal and Sere Theatre company, Jake Guinn and Havoc Movement, and Jacob York's play They Love Violence alongside Working Title Playwright's dramaturg Amber Bradshaw. By bringing movement into the development project, we were able to take this play about women's wrestling and the sacrifices our bodies make for the love of what we do to a whole new level. Catch some glimpses of the play below, or read it on NPX.
 Come support new works in progress with me in Atlanta this weekend! As part of my New Work Development Apprenticeship at Working Title Playwrights, I'm getting to serve as Assistant Dramaturg to the brilliant Amber Bradshaw on these new works as part of Working Title's Ethel Woolson Lab. These are 29-hour developmental periods for the playwrights with the dramaturgical insights of actors, directors, dramaturgs, and other creatives to offer space for these plays to discover more parts of themselves. I'm thrilled that this is my introduction to the new works scene in Atlanta and am grateful for the excellent expertise I'm getting to witness firsthand as part of these rehearsals.
Here's the lineup:
September 14 at 3pm - shadowplay by Quinn Xavier Hernandez September 14 at 8pm - Public Wickedness by Lee Osorio September 15 at 5pm - They Love Violence by Jacob York Each of these are free to attend, just register at the link below:
As a collaborator in the Digital Dramaturgy Project, I spent August on the final digital table read of our digital play lab known as Playshare Evolution! I was so glad to serve as the Developmental Dramaturg on Chuan & Eve by Lyra Nalan. In near-future Manhattan, Chuan, a Chinese immigrant, turns to a seemingly perfect therapist, Eve, to help his schizophrenic mother. As their bond deepens, Chuan uncovers a devastating truth that shatters his understanding of trust and the essence of human connection. I adore new works and loved getting to work with these generous collaborators below! Next up for DDP? A second iteration of our subsidzied dramaturgy program for playwrights known as The Match!
 This week, I'm headed back to Texas for the 2024 Musical Writers Festival!
I'll be leading a session called "You've Got a Friend: Dramaturgs and Musical Writers" with the lovely musical writer Kenady Sean. In this session, you can join us conversation to learn more about how dramaturgs are a musical writer’s best friend. You may be thinking... what in the world is a dramaturg? How do they help Musical Writers? What does that even look like? Join us to find out all about dramaturgs and consultations for musical writers with the chance to ask your own questions, too! If you're not headed to the whole festival but are local to DFW, you can join us for the New Works Cabaret on Friday Night or the New Works Spotlight Dinner & Presentation on Saturday night. Ticket links are below. I'm so excited to support new musicals & their writers this weekend! TICKETS:
Dramaturgy is like pie.Pies have a multiplicity of flavors and a multiplicity of methods to create one flavor just as there are many types of dramaturgy and we each approach the practice of it differently. One baker may love to bake every kind of fruit pie, and another baker may have perfected a chocolate pie recipe, love to share it with others, or even found a way to make the recipe anew. One dramaturg may love all kinds of new play development, and another dramaturg may especially love to reimagine how to make Shakespeare accessible (looking at you, Play On Shakespeare).
I’m quite content that I got to share in the pie in Kansas City at this year’s LMDA conference, hosted by Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Thank you LMDA & Kansas City. I can’t wait for next year’s binational conference! (And a bit of #ispydramaturgy at the KC public library for their anniversary made my heart swoon!) I also want to uplift Mary Kathryn Nagle’s goal: to have every American theatre to produce a play by a native playwright. If you’re reading this, have you and yours produced a play by an indigenous playwright? Have you prioritized reading works by indigenous writers and witnessing work by indigenous devisers, actors, performance artists? MKN noted that theatres play a critical role in changing narratives just like this, by investing in people & connections. I’m starting by reading Nagle’s Sovereignty and then plan to go through the plays uploaded onto New Play Exchange alongside finally diving into Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Join me? I'd love some recommendations as well! |
