THAT HIKE TO HART LAKE
by Johanna Beale Keller
JOHANNA BEALE KELLER (Playwright) is an award-winning filmmaker, lyricist and playwright. In the past two years, her stage works have been produced in Brooklyn (Gallery Players), Houston (Theatre Southwest), Port Jefferson (Theatre Three), Lake Tahoe (Valhalla Tahoe) and elsewhere. She wrote and directed a rom-com that won a 2025 Mag Award at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival and Best Comedy Oniros Award. She has received writing awards from the South Carolina Theatre Association and the Atlanta Fringe Audio Festival. She is a prize-winning journalist (The New York Times, ASCAP Deems-Taylor Award, Front Page Award, Los Angeles Times, London Evening Standard) and classical music critic (Opera Magazine, Opera News). A nationally-known advocate of arts journalism, she is a four-time judge of the Pulitzer Prizes (in Criticism) and holds an emerita professorship at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School, where she founded the Goldring Arts Journalism graduate program. She gardens in Syracuse, NY.
JEFFREY SANZEL (Director) is Theatre Three’s Artistic Director and has mounted hundreds of productions including area debuts of Next to Normal, Ruthless! and the New York premiere of Half Time.
THEATRE THREE (Artistic Producer): Producer of live theatre since 1969 in Port Jefferson, NY. Its One-Act Festival has produced over 140 world premieres during its 26 seasons.
JAE HUGHES (#1): Team StarKid member (350M views, Billboard albums) with a specialization in Shakespeare. Popular credits: Nightmare Time 2, Space Baby, Hair, Cabaret, Fun Home (Alison). IG: @_jaehughes.
STEVEN UIHLEIN (#2): Credits include Crossing Delancey (Sam), Matilda the Musical (Mr. Wormwood), Guys & Dolls (Nathan Detroit), A Christmas Carol (Marley/Fred), Jekyll & Hyde (Simon Stride).
CASSIDY ROSE O’BRIEN (#3): Regional: Sophie (Mamma Mia!), Christmas Past/Janet (A Christmas Carol), June Carter/Keys 2 (Ring of Fire). Two-year Theatre Three Company Member.
SEAN AMATO (#4): From Stony Brook, Long Island. Past credits include Fred in A Christmas Carol (THEATRE THREE) and Phil Davis in White Christmas (Pines Dinner Theatre).
JULIA ROSE ALBINO (#5): SUNY Geneseo Theatre and Dance graduate. Educational: American Tet (Amy). Regional: Belle/Second Seeker (A Christmas Carol). Two-year Company Member at Theatre Three.
THE EDGE OF THE WATER
by Jen Diamond
JEN DIAMOND (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright, screenwriter and very chill girl. She writes spooky, funny plays about friendship, girlhood and the performance of self. Jen is a current Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. She has been a Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference, the Circle in the Square Emerging Writers Residency, SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Come to the Table Residency, City Theatre National Award and The Bechdel Project’s ROO Residency. She was a Semi-Finalist for the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator. When she’s not writing for the theatre, she makes up one-half of the indie-comedy duo OLGA. In 2021, OLGA’s original comedy pilot, A Whole Production, was the winner of the Austin Film Festival’s Warner Bros. Entertainment Pilot Award. Jen holds a B.A. in writing seminars from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in playwriting from Hunter College.
JENNA ROSSMAN (Director) is a theatre and film director working in NYC and LA. jennarossman.com
SARINA FREDA (Angie) has worked with Seaview, Clubbed Thumb and P73 on new plays and created no no no please no god no, nevermind i’m fine. sarinafreda.com | @sarinafreda
AVA YAGHMAIE (Claire) is an actor, jazz singer, first-generation Iranian-American and CMU Drama Grad. Credits: Hulu’s Fleishman is in Trouble; commercial campaigns for Dunkin’, American Airlines, Xfinity and more.
NATASHA PARTNOY (Kat): Credits include Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Old Globe, the Muny, 92NY, 14Y, 24 Hour Plays, and Eno River Players as an associate artist. BA: Yale. @natashapartnoy online. Cheers!
GODBIRD
by Nurit Chinn
NURIT CHINN (Playwright) is a playwright from London currently based in Brooklyn. Her plays have been developed at the Alliance Theatre, BAM, the Center for New Jewish Culture, the Royal Court Theatre and others. She is a 2024/25 New Jewish Culture Fellow, a 2025 Alliance/Kendeda finalist and the Playwright-in-Residence at Centro Primo Levi, where she is also under commission. Nurit is the Co-Director of Exponential Festival 2026. MFA: Brooklyn College, Playwriting.
LESLIE GAUTHIER (Director) is a playwright/actor, sometimes director! She holds a BA in Performance & Directing from Fordham and an MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College.
PATRICK K. DOOLEY (Birdman): Theatre credits span from East Village basements to Lincoln Center. TV/Film: The Noel Diary, You, The Last O.G., Gotham, etc. @patofbutter
ARIELLE SHIRI (Deb) is an actor originally from Montreal. Recent credits: Three Sisters, Dance Nation, Prayer for the French Republic. MFA Acting, Brooklyn College, 2025. arielleshiri.com
ANDREW HARDIGG (Hugo) is a Brooklyn-based actor + writer from Massachusetts. He has originated roles in productions by Young Jean Lee, Jaclyn Backhaus and Lee Sunday Evans.
TRACY CARNS (Stage Directions) is an NYC-based playwright; MFA Brooklyn College 2024. Her plays have been developed/presented by La MaMa, BAM, BC/Playwrights Horizons, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and others.
CAN YOU DANCE THE MERENGUE?
by Cori Diaz
CORI DIAZ (Playwright) is a playwright based in New York, NY. Most recently, she has had her plays workshopped at RE/VENUE NYC, The Tank’s LimeFest, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center’s Rough Draft Festival and The Workshop Theater’s Winter Playwriting Intensive and was a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Writers Retreat and the Stanley Drama Award. She has also been a finalist in Hartford Stage’s Write On!, a selected candidate in Middlebury College’s Young Writers’ Conference at Breadloaf Campus and a Selected Playwright at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Young Playwrights Festival. Her full-length play The Word of the Day will be at the SheNYC Festival this summer at Classic Stage Company. She is a current member of Life Jacket Theatre Company’s 2025 Writer’s Room. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
MAYA QUETZALI GONZALEZ (Director) has worked on and off-Broadway as well as in indie theater spaces. FORGE Fellow. SDC Associate. Roundabout Directors Group. BFA: NYU.
ALY HERNANDEZ (Actor): Recent Credits: Quince (One Whale’s Tale), A White Girl’s Understudy (The Chain) and Fefu and Her Friends (Atlantic Acting School). NYU Tisch. alyhernandez.com
ARLETH RUVALCABA (Actor): House of Bernarda Alba (Stella Adler Studio of Acting), Henry V (Stella Adler), 12 Angry Jurors (Stella Adler), Out of Order (New School).
2025 OOB Festival Credits
Festival Sponsor
Concord Theatricals
2025 Festival Judges
Douglas Carter Beane
Eleanor Burgess
Matt Cox
Emily Feldman
Zora Howard
Kristin Leahey
Margaret Ledford
Jill Rafson
Susan Soon He Stanton
Anne Washburn
Alexis Williams
Leah Nanko Winkler
Honorary Playwrights
Rachel Bonds
Miranda Rose Hall
Lauren Yee
Festival Co-Artistic Directors
Garrett Anderson
Casey McLain
House Manager
Tyler Mullen
Box Office Manager
Rosemary Bucher
Marketing Team
Julian Harper Galkin
Jeremiah Hernandez
Courtney Kochuba
Ally Varitek
Imogen Lloyd Webber
Festival Production Coordinators
Julian Harper Galkin
Lane Ruble
Festival Fire Guard
Ranana Chernin
Festival Support Staff
Ella Andrew, Max Bahneman, Shaina Gilks, Rachel Levens, Liz Minski, Nate Netzley, Kristen Rea, Erin Sabat, Rachel Smith, Ally Varitek
2025 Submissions Readers
Max Bahneman, Caroline Barnard, Jim Colleran, Oli Gordon, Jeremiah Hernandez, Ben Keiper, Leona Koo, Rachel Levens, Amy Rose Marsh, Debbie McLean, Liz Minski, Gabriela Morales, Tyler Mullen, Nate Netzley, Jac Norris, Brianne Partington, Theresa Posorske, Kristen Rea, Dominic Russo, Erin Sabat, Meg Schadl, Rachel Smith, Jackson Used, Faith Williams
Special Thanks
Sean Flahaven, Bill Gaden, Concord, City Theatre Miami, Dramatists Guild of America, National New Play Network
About Concord Theatricals
Concord Theatricals is the world’s most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts, plus dozens of new signings each year. Our unparalleled roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie, George & Ira Gershwin, James Graham, Katori Hall, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander & Ebb, Marlow & Moss, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Arthur Miller, Anaïs Mitchell, Dominique Morisseau, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions. We are the only firm providing truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class producing.