Foundry Alumni

Griffin Horn

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Foundry Member, Program Associate

Griffin Horn’s full-length plays include Our Hopeful Anxious Hearts, Trade, and The Lotus-Eaters, all presented in readings at Temple University, where he received his Playwriting MFA. His short plays include Crossfade, and The Safeword is “Pilates,” produced by Hot Metal Arts Collective at the People’s Improv Theatre in New York. He has taught playwriting through McCarter Theatre Center, Arena Stage, The Young Playwrights’ Theatre, and Temple University.

Lori Felipe-Barkin

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Foundry Member

Born and raised in South Florida, Lori Felipe-Barkin is a bilingual (English & Spanish), multi-disciplinary artist. She holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College. Lori has worked with a number of companies and directors including INTAR Theatre, Team Sunshine LTD., Third Space, Live Source Collective, Josh Fox (Oscar-nominated director of Gasland), and Lars Jan. She has also performed and self-produced her one-woman solo show, The Funeral of Enerio López, in both Philadelphia and New York City. She is honored to be part of the Foundry and cannot wait to begin working with her peers.

 

Devin Randall

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Foundry Member

Devin Randall is a playwright and performer based in Philadelphia. His childhood love of gay media, fantasy, and theatre has led to an adulthood of sharing queer and black speculative fiction any way he can. Devin’s main contributions to Philly’s theatre scene have been in his self-produced works such as a 2018 production of Lionel Questions the Universe; readings for Lionel, Whine & Waffles, and L.I.A.R.S. Game; performing a one-man show in Philly’s SoLow Fest 2018; a Philly Fringe Festival 2019 production of Whine & Waffles; and his “Salon” series (in which he provides spaces for Philly writers to network and share their works). In addition to his own work, Devin was accepted as a 2019/2020 Resident with the Studios of Key West, has worked with the New Freedom Theater, and thrived as an intern with PlayPenn’s 2017 Summer Conference. B.A. in English, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

Geo Decas O’Donnell

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Foundry Member

Geo Decas O’Donnell is a playwright/performer and co-runs the ensemble-based company CollaborationTown (CTown), he also teaches theatre at Germantown Friends School. As part of CTown he has been creating and performing ensemble-devised theatre since 2003. His plays include Mutant Water Babies, From Skull To Ghost and The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos. Grants & Awards: FringeNYC Excellence Award for Outstanding Playwriting (The Deepest Play Ever, 2006); FringeNYC Excellence Award for Outstanding Production (The Momentum, 2010) Otto Rene Castillo Political Theatre Award, 2014; multiple residencies with Robert Wilson’s WaterMill Center and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

 

Carl(os) Roa

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Foundry Member

Carl(os) Roa 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 child-like revelry in performance. They’ve worked with numerous artistic organizations in Philadelphia, including The Wilma Theater, Taller Puertorriqueño, First Person Arts, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, The Painted Bride, and Swim Pony Performing Arts. They are currently the Education Programs Fellow for Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and a contributing writer for Artblog – two organizations that they are honored to be associated with.

 

Julie Zaffarano

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Foundry Member

Julie Zaffarano

is a Philadelphia area playwright who believes everyone’s lives are made of a myriad of stories.  Her award-winning scripts have been produced and performed throughout the United States. While her work spans multiple genres and forms, as well as varied characters, she loves creating strong roles for women, with a special focus on women of mature age.

Upcoming: Above the Fold, readings (Artemisia Theatre and Allens Lane Theatre); Kentucky Lemonade (Everybody’s Theatre Company). Most recent: Destiny is a Careless Waiter and Other Plays produced by Juniper Productions, Philadelphia Fringe Festival; The PlayMakers, produced by Rover Dramawerks and by What If? Productions, South Carolina, (Winner in the What If? Productions Playwrights Festival Best New Work); Destiny is a Careless Waiter, Pittsburgh New Work Festival (Winner, Best Production); Naughty Marietta (Revised 2018), Rose Valley Chorus and Orchestra: Turkey Baby with Juniper Productions (reading); Sweet Revenge, Dramatist Guild Philadelphia Footlights and PlayPenn Foundry Reading Series (readings); Not So Charming, R-Act Productions; Inside Out, ReVamp Collective.

Recent recognitions and readings:  Semi Finalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference (Kentucky Lemonade); Winner,  Maryland Ensemble Theatre (METLab) Festival; Winner Best Production, Pittsburgh New Works Festival; Finalist, First Works, Boston; “Playwright of the Month,” A Work in Progress Theatre, Baltimore; “Readings at the Drake” PlayPenn (Wilma Theatre, Philadelphia); Philadelphia Dramatists Center (PDC) Playwrights Showcase; Cloverdale Playhouse, Winner “Page to Stage Contest; Kentucky Lemonade (reading), Town and Country Players; Semi Finalist, Dayton FutureFest; Finalist, Shakespeare in the Burg Contest; Honorable Mention, Ohio State University New Play Fest; Finalist, Villanova University Sue Winge Playwriting Competition; Finalist, Strange Sun Theatre Greenhouse; and Semi-Finalist,  Actors Theatre of Charlotte Nuvoices. Short works have been presented by Colonial Theatre, Pittsburgh New Work Festival, Juniper Productions, RL Productions, Town and Country Players, South Street Players, Plays & Players, ReVamp Collective, and Everyone’s Theatre Company, Central PA Theatre and Dance Fest.

Julie is a member of Philadelphia PlayPenn Foundry, Dramatist Guild, Witherspoon Theatre, Philadelphia Dramatists Center, Indiana Playwrights Center, and the Minneapolis Playwrights Center.  She holds two master’s degrees from Villanova University.  She loves spending time with her charming and supportive husband, Dave, and their growing family. Find her on her webpage: www.juliezaffarano.com or new play exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/12137/julie-zaffarano.

 

Kevin Esmond

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Foundry Member

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 the original One Giant Leap, and won the Sue Winge Playwriting Award for his play Fondest Wish.  Kevin holds in MA in Theatre from Villanova University, where he currently works as Program Coordinator.

 

Val Dunn

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Foundry Member

Val Dunn is a writer/deviser who creates plays, performance art, and rituals. Her work possesses a strong sense of place and tackles issues of feminism and queerness while pushing against the limitations of form. Plays and theatrical texts: DOWN IN THE HOLLER (PlayPenn, semi-finalist Bay Area Playwrights Festival), A SHOCK OF WHEAT (Philly Plays @ the Drake), NOW MORE THAN EVER (Philadelphia Fringe Festival), JOHNNY DEPP: A RETROSPECTIVE ON LATE-STAGE CAPITALISM (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Philly SoLow Fest, Philly Theatre Week), THE BEAUTEOUS MAJESTY OF DENMARK (Washington College), and tiny works such as 100 WAYS THE WORLD COULD END and FUCK ME BE ME BETTE PORTER. She is a member playwright of Azuka’s New Pages, Writers on the Rocks, and an alumna of the Foundry @ PlayPenn. She has received developmental support from the Orchard Project (Core Company), Signal Fire, Centrum, the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and SANDBOX. Val holds a B.A. with honors in drama and English from Washington College where she received the Stewart Award for Drama, The Mary Martin Prize, The Jude & Miriam Pfister Poetry Prize, The William W. Warner Prize for Writing on the Environment, The Literary House Genre Fiction Prize, and was a finalist for the Sophie Kerr prize in Literature. Val has also created zines about depression, the border crisis, and late-stage capitalism.

Jenny Ruymann

Jenny Ruymann

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Foundry Member

Jenny Ruymann is a Philadelphia-based writer, performer, and educator, originally hailing from the great state of South Jersey. She is a 2015 graduate from Kenyon College with a degree in Sociology. In her writing, Jenny explores everyday manipulation, connection and its erosion, text messaging, and lesbians. In other words, she writes fan-fiction of her own life. While in Philadelphia, Jenny has worked as a Teaching Artist for the Wilma Theater, a mentor and advisor at Penn Treaty School, and a perennial barista at La Colombe. In addition to being a member of The Foundry, she has been a core writer with Writers on the Rocks, an intern at the Ojai Playwright’s Conference, and most recently a collaborating performer in the forthcoming play – Brian’s House – by Foundry member, Tenara Calem. For her next magic trick, Jenny will be attending law school at Northeastern University in Boston, MA this fall.

Jim Hawkins

Jim Hawkins

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Foundry Alumnus, 2018

Jim Hawkins is a native of Wilmington, Delaware who has lived in Illinois, California, the District of Columbia and Maryland before moving back to the Delaware Valley 25 years ago. Jim has been a storyteller throughout his adult life, whether working as a newspaper reporter, pastor, freelance writer or playwright. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Wesley Theological Seminary, and was a student in the graduate theatre program at Villanova University. His full length plays include American Primitive and Shuffle, which had a staged reading at Villanova in May 2015.