AlterLab First Acts 2020
Announcing the launch of our latest playwright residency: AlterLab First Acts! Like our flagship AlterLab residency, First Acts will bring together a cohort of playwrights to support each other in writing a play. First Acts is a 12-week commissioning program for early-career playwrights, less than two years out of school, who want to practice their craft and learn more about the business of playwriting. Facilitated by AlterLab alum and AlterTheater Literary Manager Diana Burbano.
lily gonzales
lily gonzales (they/them) is a playwright from Texas who graduated from UT Austin with a Bachelor's in Theater & Dance / English. Their work has been developed and read at The John F. Kennedy Center, Austin Latinx New Play Festival, and Repertorio Español. They love formal readings of films, nopales, and learning how to dj.
Alicia Margarita Olivo
Alicia Margarita Olivo is a Mexican American playwright from Pasadena, TX whose work focuses on the relationship between space, identity, and relationships. Works include Flood, aislamientos, and La Jaula de Oro. Olivo earned a B.A. in Theatre Studies and Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies from Wellesley College.
Jasmine Sharma
Jasmine is a South Asian-American, Chicago-based actor/playwright/activist. Her work centers around the intersection of race, femininity, and Americanness. Hopefully, she graduates from Northwestern University with a BS in Theatre, Legal Studies Minor, Playwriting Module and Music Theatre Certificate in the Spring of 2021, but who knows.
Devin Porter
Devin Porter is a New York based playwright & poet. Devin has worked the with the Negro Ensemble Company, Caesar Ford Theatre, and The School of Thinking Making. Devin’s publications include The Conium Review, The Ravens Perch, Nzuri Journal of Umoja Community at Coastline College & High Plains Register.
Baylee Shlichtman
Baylee Shlichtman is a writer from Orange County, CA. She graduated from USC in May 2020 with as B.A. in Journalism. Her interests include having strong opinions about fandom, reading fantasy, and remembering the Ides of March.
NEW VOICES FOR TOMORROW'S THEATER
Like our artists, our plays include works by the best playwrights of today--including Pulitzer Prize winners Arthur Miller, Lynn Nottage, Nilo Cruz--and the best emerging playwrights.
Larissa FastHorse
AlterLab supports playwrights at every stage of the development process. Each cohort of writers is diverse—from early career writers to award-winning established writers; from ages 23 to 93; writers from all backgrounds—and each cohort of writers chooses how to work together, supporting each other in creating adventurous, honest work.
In each AlterLab cohort, AlterTheater commissions one playwright to write a new play for and with our community. Commissioned playwrights work closely with our ensemble to create a story that tackles issues in our community, and that can shine in our unique storefront performance spaces.
An AlterTheater dream since our inception has been playwrights creating new work for our ensemble of artists. It took us four years: in 2008 we commissioned our first playwright, award-winning San Francisco poet/playwright Brian Thorstenson.