2022 Conference Foundry

Kevin Esmond is a playwright, director and educator based in South Jersey.  He created and directs the Intern Co., a young adult theatre education program at Burlington County Footlighters, whose productions include originals such as ONE GIANT LEAP and the Walt Whitman-inspired O ME! O LIFE!.  Kevin won the Sue Winge Playwriting Award for his play FONDEST WISH.  His play DO-GOODERS received a reading at Philadelphia Plays & Players, and FONDEST WISH will receive a full production at the 2nd Stage in Cinnaminson, NJ this year.  Kevin holds in MA in Theatre from Villanova University, where he currently works as Program Coordinator and adjunct professor.

“A couple months ago, Evelyn Hoey was a living, breathing person with hopes and dreams and fears. Family that loved her. Toast of the town. How does a woman like that end up with a bullet in her brain?”

Dorothy fights convention to be considered an equal partner with her male colleagues. She has to convince her editor to believe in her and in the importance of telling a truthful story. In addition, Dorothy needs to face her own feelings about her colleague and former lover, Carl, who is also assigned to cover the grand jury.

This is a story of victimization, of truth vs. sensationalism, of justice vs. power, and coping with personal demons.

Julie Zaffarano is a Philadelphia area playwright who believes everyone’s lives are made of a myriad of stories. While her work spans multiple genres and forms, as well as varied characters, she loves creating strong roles for women. 

Upcoming: TAPPING AT THE WINDOW (Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival) and THE SIGN (Central PA Theatre Festival). Most recent: THE SIGN (Eden Prairie Players). SWEET REVENGE (Rover Dramawerks); GAMMA GIRLS TO THE RESCUE (New Feathers Productions and Cape May Stage, readings); DESTINY IS A CARELESS WAITER (Juniper Productions); ABOVE THE FOLD (Media Arts Council and Allen Lane Arts Center); THE PLAYMAKERS (Rover Dramawerks and What If? Productions). 

Recent recognitions: Finalist, Terrence McNally Award; Two times Semi Finalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference; Finalist, Veterans Repertory Theatre; Best Production, Pittsburgh New Work Festival; Winner, Best New Work, What if Productions, Finalist, Villanova University Sue Winge Playwriting Competition.

Addition productions/readings with: PlayPenn Foundry, Allens Lane Theatre, Dramatist Guild Philadelphia, R-Act Productions, ReVamp Collective, Maryland Ensemble Theatre, A Work in Progress Theatre, Philadelphia Dramatists Center, Cloverdale Playhouse, Town and Country Players, Rose Valley Chorus and Orchestra, Media Arts Council, Colonial Theatre, RL Productions, South Street Players, Plays & Players, Tempest Productions, Players Club of Swarthmore, and Everyone’s Theatre Company.

Julie is a member of: PlayPenn Foundry, Dramatist Guild, Ghost Light Dramatists, Witherspoon Circle, Honor Roll, Indiana Playwrights Center, Minneapolis Playwrights Center, Director’s Gathering, and Philadelphia Dramatists Center. She holds two Masters’ Degrees from Villanova University. Find her on her webpage: www.juliezaffarano.com or new play exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/12137/julie-zaffarano .

Moss & Kay meet in the audience of a play. Kay is there to support a friend, and Moss is there because their ex wrote it — about them. As the play begins, the story Moss was expecting is not the story being told; Kay has some ideas about how to fix that, so the two of them take matters into their own hands. What follows is an adventure about memory and relationships, about making art and working in restaurants, about letting go and meeting the next day.

Geo Decas O’Donnell (he/they) is a playwright, theatre-maker, and parent. His plays include FROM SKULL TO GHOST; ON THE FORMIDABLE AMBIGUITY OF THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE; WE RISE; THE DEEPEST PLAY EVER; and the musical MUTANT WATER BABIES (music by, and created with Nicholas Williams). He currently teaches theatre and playwriting at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. He has co-run the ensemble-based theatre company CollaborationTown(CTown) since founding it in 2003 and has created loads of devised theatre pieces there, including FAMILY PLAY (1979 TO PRESENT), and RIDDLE OF THE TRILOBITES. Select awards and residencies include: New York Fringe Excellence Award for Outstanding Playwriting for The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos, 2006; New York Fringe Excellence Award for Outstanding Production for The Momentum, 2010 (developed at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center and workshopped with a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Swing Space Grant); CTown was one of the first performance groups to receive an LMCC WorkSpace grant, 2013, as well the Archive Alliance Residency at the New Ohio Theatre in 2012, and won an Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre in 2014. LMCC Process Space grant for FROM SKULL TO GHOST, 2017. Training: Boston University’s School of Theatre Arts, BFA. Foundry Writer’s Group, Class of 2022

Carl(os) Roa (they/them) is a creator, writer, performer, organizer, juicy Colombian bear, and effusive Miami transplant. A proud alumni of the Headlong Performance Institute and Drexel University, (os)’ work explores the marginalized within the marginalized, and alternative communities living alternative lives.

They’ve worked with numerous artistic organizations in Philadelphia, including The Wilma Theater, Taller Puertorriqueño, First Person Arts, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and Swim Pony Performing Arts. They are currently the Program Manager for the Painted Bride Art Center, and a contributing writer for HowlRound Theatre Commons and American Theatre Magazine – three organizations that they are honored to be associated with. They are also a third-year member of the Foundry: a playwriting group that is guided by the mentorship of R. Eric Thomas and LM Feldman.

Previous projects include From Beneath, It Lurks, a devised play they wrote exploring Lovecraftian horror; and Andean Mountains, which was the recipient of FringeArts’ inaugural Camp Fringe residency program and received its world premiere at Taller Puertorriqueño. They were a finalist for the Latinx Theatre Commons’ Carnaval of New Latinx Work, and they’ve collaborated with director Blanka Zizka and playwright Christopher Chen on the world premiere production of Passage at the Wilma Theater.

They are also one of the organizers for Lxs Primxs, an interdisciplinary collective that creates performance art for a third culture following with collaborators Mariadela Belle Alvarez and Cat Ramirez. They are a finalist for the 2022 Terrance McNally Award.