A sanctuary for musical theatre writers to develop new musicals in the heart of the Hudson Valley .
2026 WRITERS
This summer we will host 26 writers of nine new musicals for fully-funded residencies in the idyllic Hudson Valley, where they will spend an interrupted week developing their work and their craft in an artist-driven creative space.
Amanda D'Archangelis and Sami Horneff
Lead Supporter: Liz Armstrong
Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca,
and Adrian Alexander Alea
Lead Supporters: Concord Theatricals
& Pam Hurst-Della Pietra and Stephen Della Pietra
joseph webb, Cris Eli Blak,
Igmar Thomas, and Adesola Osakalumi
Lead Supporters: The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund & Ruth and Stephen Hendel
Selda Sahin and Derek Gregor
Lead Supporter: Howard Ashman Trust for Theater Arts
Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. and Kevin Merritt
Lead Supporters: Steve and Paula Reynolds
Jocelyn Mackenzie, Jeremy Lloyd-Styles,
and Neena Beber
Lead Supporters: Grove Entertainment
& Matt Benjamin and Yeeta Yeger
Emielyn Das and Harrison Lewis
Lead Supporter: The Noël Coward Foundation, in honor of Geoffrey Johnson
Samora la Perdida, Josiah Handelman,
Mobéy Lola Irizarry, and Matthew Zwiebel
Lead Supporters: The National Foundation for Musical Theatre & Damon Suden
Eric Emauni, a.k. payne, Ashley M. Thomas
and Nora Schell
Lead Supporter: The Stephen Sondheim Foundation
Amanda D'Archangelis & Sami Horneff
BANDIT QUEEN
Show Synopsis
It’s 1902, and a traveling troupe of actors presents “The Arizona Female Bandit,” a play centering on Pearl Hart, the Wild West’s most notorious woman outlaw…and the older sister of playwright and star Katy Davy. But tonight, the real Pearl, freshly released from prison, bursts in on the performance, insisting the show’s ‘facts’ are fiction. The sisters step into their own roles, reliving their past shaped by abuse, crime, and addiction - and forcing them to finally mend old scars live, in real time. BANDIT QUEEN features nine versatile performers and an Americana-inspired score that blends the rich storytelling of the Old West with a contemporary pop theatre sound.
Amanda D'Archangelis & Sami Horneff
AMANDA D’ARCHANGELIS and SAMI HORNEFF met in the world-renowned BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Recent work includes: The Radium Girls, co-written with Lisa Mongillo and directed by Tony-Winner Marissa Jaret Winokur, which is eyeing a world premiere production in the 26-27 season (also a 2022 NAMT Finalist, a 2019 Eugene O’Neill NMTC Semi-Finalist, and five-time winner at The 2021 National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival); Single Rider (Off-Broadway 2018); Coming Attraction (Wilbury Theatre Group 2019); and The Break (Omaha Creative Institute 2018). They are currently writing Pandora in Blue Jeans with book by Adam Morrison, which explores the life of controversial “Peyton Place” author Grace Metalious; Psych!, a 90’s spin on the myth of Cupid & Psyche commissioned by Wichita State University; and Bandit Queen, a new pop-Americana musical about Pearl Hart, the Wild West’s most notorious female bandit, which has been developed through residencies at The Legacy Theatre, Drama Club Camp, and now, the 2026 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat! Amanda and Sami’s songs have also been performed at theaters, concert venues, and educational institutions across the country. They are proud to be 2019 York Theatre Company New/Emerging/Outstanding Writers, 2024 Playbill Songwriter Series Featured Artists, 2025 Write Out Loud Contest grand prize winners, and 2026 Lucille Lortel 121 Project recipients! For more, visit: @darchangelisandhorneff on instagram | www.amandadarchangelis.com and www.samihorneff.com
Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca
& Adrian Alexander Alea
ÉL Y ELLA
Show Synopsis
A pair of Mexican artists fall in love, move to New York on a whim, and—armed with music, grit, and each other—struggle to honor their roots while chasing a shared dream of making it in the United States while raising their Mexican-American son.
Jaime Lozano
Photo credit: Dash Kolos
JAIME LOZANO (book, music and lyrics) is a Mexican multi-hyphenate musical theatre storyteller hailed by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the “next big thing” on Broadway. Jonathan Larson Grant 2022. Rhinebeck Writers Retreat 2025, 2026. Johnny Mercer Grove Writers 2025. Pipeline Arts Foundation winner 2025. Dramatists Guild Fellow 2024-2025. Lincoln Center Resident Artist 2023. Joe’s Pub Working Group 2020-2022. The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. Selected works: El Otro Oz, Children of Salt, A Never-Ending Line, Desaparecidas, Roja. Broadway: Real Women Have Curves (dance arrangements). Creator of “Jaime Lozano and the Familia: Songs by an Immigrant.” Film: In The Heights (orchestrations), Tick, Tick... Boom! Proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, AFM Local 802, BMI and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY voting member. www.jaimelozano.net @jaimelozano
FLORENCIA CUENCA (book and lyrics) is a Mexican Immigrant multi-hyphenate theatre maker passionate about developing projects that celebrate the intersection of diversity, women, and Latine communities. Broadway: Real Women Have Curves. Off-Broadway: Children of Salt (NYMF2016 Best of Fest), A Never-Ending Line (album available at Broadway Records). As a singer-songwriter she has performed at prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, MASS MoCA, and Washington Performing Arts. Album: Broadway en Spanglish (released by Concord Theatricals Recordings). HOLA Award winner for Outstanding Performance in Musical Theatre (Desaparecidas). SDCF '24 Directing Fellowship recipient (Las Borinqueñas at Ensemble Studio Theatre), Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals '25. @flowcuenca
Florencia Cuenca
Photo credit: Stephanie Diani
Adrian Alexander Alea
Photo credit: Gabriella Spiegel
ADRIAN ALEA is a Latiné director creating work across theater, film, and live events, driven by a love of crafting memorable experiences for audiences and artists alike. He is a Helen Hayes–nominated director for Las Hermanas Palacios (GALA Hispanic Theatre), part of his Chekhov-inspired Cuban diaspora trilogy. A 2026 Guild Hall and Rhinebeck Artist-in-Residence, he is developing Él y Ella with Jaime Lozano and Florencia Cuenca, a new musical about two Mexican artists building a life and family through art in New York. His films have been official selections at Sundance and Tribeca, and his work includes The Public Theater, INTAR, NBC, Paper Mill Playhouse, and Jennifer Lopez’s "All I Have". Drama League Directors Project recipient. Representation: Lizzy Weingold, WME.
@oye_adriannn | adrianalea.com
joseph webb, Cris Eli Blak,
Igmar Thomas & Adesola Osakalumi
LOVERS' ROCK
Show Synopsis
LOVERS' ROCK is a musical set in South London, 1977, at a blues party pulsing with lovers rock reggae, where Chandice reunites with her high school sweetheart, Oshian. Caught between her strict immigrant upbringing and the pull of love, music, and self-discovery, she must confront old wounds and buried desires. Through Black vernacular dance (tap and social dance), surrounded by dancehall queens and rebel youth, the night becomes a battleground between duty and freedom. Within underground spaces that nurtured Black British culture, it celebrates Black love as both refuge and revolution.
LOVERS' ROCK has received support from Young Arts Fellowship with support by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Young Arts Micro Grant, Changing Tap Times Initiative (CTTI), and NextLOOK.
joseph webb
Photo credit: Stephon Clerge
Cris Eli Blak
Igmar Thomas
Photo credit: Dennis Manuel
Adesola Osakalumi
joseph webb (Conceiver, Lyricist, Choreographer): joseph webb is an interdisciplinary theatre maker rooted in African diasporic vernacular dance, music, and AA V poetics. He performed in the Tony Award-winning Broadway production Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk and other works. His stage work has been recognized by the Helen Hayes Awards and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. joseph is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a NextLOOK Residency and Changing Tap Times Initiative grant recipient, and was commissioned by Symphony Space for the “Wall to Wall Prince” celebration. A YoungArts Fellow supported by The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, he has been described by Roslyn Sulcas of the New York Times as “a natural star: a fabulous tap dancer who also raps, sings…”
CRIS ELI BLAK (Bookwriter/Lyricist): Cris Eli Blak was a staff writer on “Power Book III: Raising Kanan”. He is the inaugural winner of the Black Broadway Men Playwriting Initiative and the 2024 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award. He is currently the recipient of the 2025–26 Signpost Fellowship, an artist-in-residence with Abingdon Theatre Company, a 2024–2027 Core Writer with The Playwrights Center, the inaugural LDK Productions Writers’ Residency, and a member of the Evolving Playwrights Group with Circle X Theatre Company. He was previously an artist-in-residence with Ojai Playwrights Conference, SUNY Oswego, Liberation Theatre Company, La Lengua Teatro en Español/ AlterTheater Ensemble, and Quick Silver Theatre, a recipient of the Emerging Playwrights Fellowship with The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre Company, and an inaugural fellow with the Black Theatre Coalition.
IGMAR THOMAS (Composer): Igmar Thomas is a composer, trumpeter, arranger, and musical director, widely recognized as one of the most sought-after minds in contemporary music. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, he has served as Maestro and Musical Director for Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, and DJ D-Nice, and previously worked with Nas, Lauryn Hill, and The Fugees. His work has earned praise from icons including DJ Kool Herc, Slick Rick, and DJ Premier. He is Artistic Director at Newark Symphony Hall, a professor at William Paterson University, and Director at Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, leading the Revive Big Band, Revive Orchestra, and the Cypher.
ADESOLA OSAKALUMI (Lyricist): Adesola Osakalumi is a New York based award-winning Actor, Director, Choreographer and Creative Director whose career spans film, television and theater. He starred in the original Broadway production and national tour of Fela! and appeared in the Broadway revivals of Equus and Skeleton Crew. His television credits include “Harlem”, “Endgame”, “Ice”, and “Blue Bloods”. On stage, he has worked with New York Theatre Workshop, The Flea Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Works & Process at Guggenheim, and Berkeley Rep. He co-created & co-directed the Drama Desk-nominated Jam on the Groove, the first Hip-Hop Theater production featuring members of The Rhythm Technicians & The Rock Steady Crew. A Bessie Award-winner and co-founder of GhettOriginal Productions Dance Company, Adesola teaches internationally, mentoring future artists while continuing to shape the landscape of Hip-Hop Theater.
Selda Sahin
Photo credit: Mike Petrie
Derek Gregor
Photo credit: Mike Petrie
Selda Sahin & Derek Gregor
MODERN
Show Synopsis
MODERN follows a group of Amish teenagers on their Rumspringa (a period when Amish teens are given greater personal freedom, ending with the choice of baptism into the church or leaving their community). The group spends their Rumspringa living in a house in the “modern” world. Isaac, who is devoted to his Amish faith and his family, falls in love with Hannah (also Amish) who is questioning her faith. Isaac’s best friend falls into music and a new non-Amish group of friends. Everyone out on Rumspringa, in their own ways, question whether to stay out in a modern world full of endless possibilities, or return home to family, tradition, faith and the only life they’ve ever known.
SELDA SAHIN is a recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award, and a finalist for the Fred Ebb Award, the Kleban Prize and the Richard Rodgers Award. Selda wrote the original songs for the feature film American Reject (with Derek Gregor). Their musical Particle was selected for the 2025 NAMT Festival of New Musicals after development at Michigan State University’s New Musical Laboratory, Nazareth University and Missouri State University (co-produced by Broadway Unlocked). Their musical Modern was selected for the Stephen Schwartz ASCAP Workshop, the ASCAP "Grow A Show" Workshop, and The Village Theatre Festival of New Musicals. Their musical Off Season was a part of the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. Selda received a commission from The Atlanta Opera for her libretto of Steele Roots and wrote the music and lyrics to the musical All Fall Down which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival directed by Lonny Price.
DEREK GREGOR is a recipient of a Richard Rodgers Award, ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Award, John Wallowitch Award, MAC Award and is a multi-time finalist for Fred Ebb Award and Jonathan Larson Grants. Original songs (with Selda Sahin) for the feature film American Reject. Particle (w/ Sahin and Autumn Reeser) showcased in NAMT 2025 Festival of New Musicals. Modern (w/Sahin) was selected for the Stephen Schwartz ASCAP Workshop, ASCAP "Grow A Show" Workshop, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and Village Theatre Festival of New Musicals. Off Season (w/Sahin) selected for Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and their musical Class President licensed through Concord Theatricals. Derek's musical Unlock'd (Sam Carner–Kleban Prize book) received an extended Off-Broadway run at the Duke. Island Song and Techies (w/Carner) are licensed world-wide through Concord, and their musical Love Splat tours with TheaterWorksUSA. Orchids (Kreutz/Lind) was selected for San Diego State University's "New Works Initiative” and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. & Kevin Merritt
THE RUMBLE
Show Synopsis
THE RUMBLE unfolds in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina, where a fractured city mirrors a fractured lineage. Young Joseph turns from the crown, mistaking inheritance for imprisonment. But in the storm’s aftermath, the past refuses to stay buried. Through ritual, music, and the steady power of a Queen, he discovers that legacy is not a chain. It is a calling. And to carry it forward is not to surrender freedom, but to define it.
JOSEPH BOUDREAUX JR., known as Big Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., is a New Orleans-based cultural leader, musician, and tradition bearer. He serves as Big Chief of the Young Eagles Mardi Gras Indian Tribe, where he continues a legacy rooted in resistance, artistry, and Black cultural expression.
A three-time Grammy-nominated artist and lead vocalist of The Rumble featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., he has gained national and international recognition for bridging traditional Mardi Gras Indian music with contemporary sound. His work preserves the call-and-response, rhythm, and storytelling traditions of Black Masking Indians while expanding their reach to new audiences.
Deeply committed to cultural preservation and education, Boudreaux uses his platform to mentor youth, uplift culture bearers, and ensure that the traditions of New Orleans are respected, protected, and passed down with integrity. His leadership exists at the intersection of music, culture, and community, making him both a keeper of tradition and a forward-moving cultural innovator.
KEVIN MERRITT is a writer, executive creative producer and founder of One Foot Productions, building original music-fueled theatrical works and large-scale live experiences. He wrote and produced the NBA's “Evolution of Greatness” with The Roots, the musical Great Wall with music by Kevin So and the upcoming immersive hip-hop experience, One Nation Under Hip-Hop with the Q Brothers Collective.
Kevin spent 13 years on the producing teams for the Tony Awards, MTV VMAs, MTV Movie Awards and special events including Apollo Theater Spring Benefit, the Legal Defense Fund's Truth Is Power, and the “2009 An Evening of Music, Poetry & Spoken Word” at the White House featuring the first live performance of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. He is the founder of Bear Music Fest, a music discovery festival in the mountains of California.
Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.
Kevin Merritt
Photo credit Laetitia Donaghy
Jocelyn Mackenzie, Jeremy Lloyd-Styles
& Neena Beber
RUTKA
Show Synopsis
In this bold indie-rock musical, fourteen-year-old Rutka Laskier fights to hold onto normalcy in the Jewish ghetto of Bedzin, Poland, 1943. She devours forbidden books, dreams of a first kiss, and clings to teenage life under Nazi rule. When the unthinkable happens, Rutka and her friends push back against injustice, even as their plans collapse under constant danger. Refusing to give up, she finds strength in imagination, hope, and connection. In a final act of defiance, Rutka hides her diary, entrusting her Polish Catholic friend Stasia to protect it. Based on her real diary, Rutka honors hope, resistance, and the unbreakable spirit of youth.
Jocelyn MacKenzie
Jeremy Lloyd-Styles
Neena Beber
JOCELYN MACKENZIE is a Brooklyn-based musician, maker, and medium. A "hyper-creative" according to Broadway World, she is a singer, songwriter, songwriting coach, theater maker, fiber artist, art director, stylist, video producer, intuitive, and psychic medium. Her diverse yet integrated skills inherently inform one another and are inextricably intermingled in her creative process. Formerly the singing drummer from Brooklyn’s indie-pop trio Pearl and the Beard, Jocelyn boasts an extensive touring history across the US, UK, + Canada. Since 2020 she has been proud to be an artist on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records label, having released several EPs, singles, and two full-length records. Her extra-sensory skills inform her songwriting and visual art, integrating media and meaning to create work that is both sensual and personal.
JEREMY LLOYD-STYLES is best known for writing, performing, and touring with the folk trio Pearl and the Beard, alongside Jocelyn Mackenzie and Emily Hope Price, sharing stages with Ani DiFranco, Neko Case, Iron & Wine, Ingrid Michaelson, Bastille, Sharon Van Etten, Laura Marling, and more. His music has been featured in national commercials, the films Hello, My Name Is Doris, Spoiler Alert, and Unicorn City, and the television series "Lucifer", "The Royals", and "Hannah Gadsby: Douglas". He is currently composing the musical Rutka with co-composer Jocelyn Mackenzie, book writer Neena Beber, and director Marcia Milgrom Dodge, and records solo material under his own name and provides vocals for the darkwave synth-pop band NoNight.
NEENA BEBER. Plays include Jump/Cut, The Dew Point, Hard Feelings, Tomorrowland, A Common Vision, and the widely-produced one-act Misreadings, all published by Concord/Samuel French. She is the recipient of Obie, Lilly, and Weissberger awards; Sloan and Amblin Commissions; Royal Court Exchange; Paulette Goddard and MacDowell fellowships; finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her TV writing has garnered two Emmy nominations. Musical projects include libretto for a trilogy of operas by composer Anthony Brandt, and new work with composers Benjamin Diskant, Daniel Rein, and frequent collaborator Jaime Lozano. Most recent: A Mother, co-conceived with Jessica Hecht (Baryshnikov Arts); Kate Suspended (The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference); Inciting Incident, slated for production at En Garde Arts. A member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop and an alumna of New Dramatists, Neena is a writing mentor at The Campfire Project and adjunct faculty at Columbia School of the Arts.
Emielyn Das
Emielyn Das & Harrison Lewis
SEVEN STEPS AROUND THE FIRE
Harrison Lewis
Show Synopsis
SEVEN STEPS AROUND THE FIRE follows a young Indian-American woman who must interpret visions of her past seven lifetimes when her queer relationship is threatened by the cultural expectation of arranged marriage. When she unearths secrets surrounding her mother’s own identity, she must be the first in her family to decide whether an authentic life is worth the sacrifice. Featuring a contemporary pop score fused with the sounds of Indian Classical music, Seven Steps Around the Fire explores Hinduism through the lens of sexuality, asking the question: what will it take to break the endless karmic cycle of denial?
EMIELYN DAS is a queer, Indian-American musical theater writer, performer, and producer, primarily interested in theater that unpacks the human psyche, lifts intersectional identities, and inspires change for marginalized communities. A Cognitive Neuroscience graduate from UC Berkeley and of Writing & Production for Musical Theater from BerkleeNYC, her work has been featured, developed, and/or produced through BerkleeNYC’s Post-Master’s Fellowship, Live & In Color, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Prospect Musicals, New York Theater Barn, DramaClub Productions, TheaterNow, Soho Playhouse, Soaring Gardens Residency, EnActe Arts, Green Room 42, and more. She also proudly serves as the Program Director of EnActeNYC, the New York branch of Bay Area-based, South Asian theater company EnActe Arts.
HARRISON LEWIS is a writer, composer, director, actor, and musician focused on crafting innovative new musicals that speak to the present moment. His original works in development include Seven Steps Around the Fire (w/ Emielyn Das), The Boy Who Painted the Sky (w/ Katie Brady & Madeleine Skye), Waterland (w/ Matthew Millin), The Beyond: The Vision of Georgia O’Keefe, How to Know the Wildflowers: A Map (both w/ Jessica Thebus & Julie Marie Myatt), The Dogwood Trees and Behind the Mirrors. He is a proud alum of BerkleeNYC and Northwestern University, where his work has been developed and produced along with such organizations as Writers’ Theatre, Prospect Musicals, Drama Club, TheatreNow, Live & In Color, Theatre Barn, EnActe Arts, Soaring Gardens, Green Room 42, and AMTP. harrisonmlewis.com
Samora la Perdida, Josiah Handelman,
Mobéy Lola Irizarry & Matthew Zwiebel
SPANGLISH SH!T
Samora La Perdida
Josiah Handelman
Mobéy Lola Irizarry
Photo credit: Christopher Rivera
Matthew Zwiebel
Show Synopsis
Brujita, the new Puerto Rican student at Suburban High, cooks enchanting meals with her magical Spanish. In the cafeteria, classmates make fun of her “smelly” packed lunches while gobbling down hot lunch hamburgers. When the burger flipping Lunch Lady offers Brujita a recipe for instant assimilation, Brujita must decide if brewing up popularity is worth losing what boils over.
SAMORA LA PERDIDA is a Princess Grace Award winner, YoungArts Fellow, and the inaugural recipient of Baryshnikov Arts Center’s Artist Labs residency. Her TEDxTalk, Do Latines Need to Speak Spanish?, features music from her musical, Spanglish Sh!t, which can also be heard on Playbill’s Songwriter Series. Spanglish Sh!t has been developed with support from Berkeley Rep, NYSCA, The Watermill Center, BAC, and is produced by En Garde Arts. In September 2026, Spanglish Sh!t will be performed at Joe’s Pub and The David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at Pocantico. Samora has starred in Quiara Alegría Hudes’ My Broken Language, Tina Landau’s A Transparent Musical, David Mendizábal’s Notes on Killing, and Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead.
JOSIAH HANDELMAN is a composer, music producer, pianist, and recording artist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in music composition, Josiah frequently showcases his diverse musical background, incorporating various percussive elements as well as his roots in jazz, r&b, neo-soul, and gospel music. He was most recently one of the co-composers and arrangers for the Urban Impact Foundation production of Samson: The Wrestling Musical. Josiah frequently collaborates as a music producer and songwriter with many Hip-Hop and R&B artists, including executive producing Kid Wolf's latest full-length orchestral hip-hop album "Magic Trick Rap Show". He has also independently released three full-length music projects under his artist name “J Baby Smooth”, including his third album “Juice” in 2023.
MOBÉY LOLA IRIZARRY (they/them) is a Two Spirit cultural worker in Salsa, Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba, poetry, and transdisciplinary performance. Based in Brooklyn, they hail from the Puerto Rican diaspora in Hartford, CT, and are a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. They make within the lineages of decolonial uprisings, collections of tiny mirrors at queer clubs, and the precolonial languages of the drum and the braid. They are a Letras Boricuas ‘26 fellow. Lola is the creative director and conguere for Las Mariquitas, Salsa’s young queer future. Lola is quoted in Rolling Stone saying “I want to abolish patriarchy in Salsa… this is a duty to our lineage.”
MATTHEW ZWIEBEL is a Brooklyn-based composer, music director, and pianist. He is a graduate of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Writing workshop and is an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon's music composition program (BFA). Matt can be found working with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS on their annual Red Bucket Follies and Broadway Backwards productions; and at various regional theaters throughout the country. Recently, he was AMD for Ogunquit Playhouse's White Christmas and the music assistant for the West End revival of Avenue Q!
Eric Emauni, a.k. payne, Ashley M. Thomas & Nora Schell
SWEET CANAAN
Show Synopsis
Inspired by true events, SWEET CANAAN explores the legacy of Grace Olivier, a Black woman who acquired land in 1934 Arkansas and used it to empower her family. It examines and reclaims suppressed histories of Black ownership, autonomy, and resilience while challenging ongoing erasure of Black American narratives.
The SWEET CANAAN team is a group of titan artists committed to uplifting radical stories to help shape the future of American Theater. Our collective strength and skill allow us to dive deep, expand, and challenge how theater is made and who it is made for.
ERIC EMAUNI: is a Tony nominated producer, world builder, and Founder of Iconic Vizion Productions; creating transformative spaces for artists and fueling truth.
a.k. payne: is a playwright, artist-theorist, and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by way of the U.S. South & the Black Atlantic. Their plays love on and engage the interdependencies of Black pasts, presents and futures and seek to find/remember language that might move us towards our collective liberation(s).
ASHLEY M. THOMAS, she/her(s)/herself: was born and raised in Harlem, New York. Ashley is a writer and dramaturg whose work—spanning plays, poems, creative criticism, and short stories — centers on Black life from the mundane to the surreal.
NORA SCHELL: Nora continues to cultivate a career focused on the intersection of performing and social justice. They received Drama Desk, Drama League, Clive Barnes Award nominations, and an Obie Award.
Eric Emauni
a.k. payne
Nora Schell
Ashley M. Thomas
Photo credit: Ella Pennington
2026 Finalists
Harrison Lee and Wesley Hudson: THE DEMON YOU FEED
Nicola Vazquez and Jason Huza: ESPERANZA
é boylan: IF YOU BURY ME
Rachel Mun Yi Chin and Sammy Grob: THE INCREDIBLE AND DEFINITELY TRUE TALE OF FRANZ MESMER
Terry Guest, NJ Draine, and Xander Browne: NIGHTBIRDS
Dylan Glatthorn and Will Lacker: THE PELICAN
Kelly Lynne D'Angelo and Jordan Kamalau: PRIMA
Eddie Bean and Nathan Dennis: QUIDDAWICK
Andrew Chukerman and Marcus Gardley: SONG OF PARADISE
Shyama Iyer: THE SOUND OF AN ANKLET
Billie Aken-Tyers, Trey Everett, and Jane Bruce: SUCH A PRECIOUS THING