A MIDDLE PASSAGE
by Yide Cai (蔡逸得)
YIDE CAI (蔡逸得) (Playwright) is a poet, translator and award-winning playwright from Shenzhen, China. His work has been featured at the OOB Festival, La MaMa, The Tank, Kanini Fest and more. He is currently under commission from Theatre of Others and will have a play produced off-Broadway this summer. He is a fellow of the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, a member of TPOC Producing Cohort and a scholar at Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Yide also works internationally as a producer, director and dramaturg with credits including German National Theater Weimar, Prague Shakespeare Company and Chinese premieres of Dead Poets Society, The Book of Will and Lydia & The Troll. He is an MFA in Playwriting candidate at Boston University and holds a BA in Playwriting & German Studies from Emory University.
GENEVIEVE ‘GIGI’ JURAS (Director) is a North Carolina-bred director-choreographer focused on developing new work using choreographic languages to tell stories. The Tank, NYTW, Flea, RE/VENUE, La MaMa ETC.
XIAOXIAO SUN (孙骁骁) (Man) appeared in film Blue Sun Palace (2024 Cannes winner), Lucky Lu (2025 Cannes selected) and is reviving Thoroughly Modern Millie with its authors (workshop with The MUNY). @sxxinyc
POLINA LASHKEVICH (Woman): Ukrainian-born. Five years working with renowned Russian Academic Theater. Collaborated with Academy Award-winning Tom Stoppard. Green card approved by the U.S. as an Extraordinary Actress.
KATIE MAY PORTER (Grandma) is an NYC-born-and-raised actor who loves engineering and an engineer who loves acting. Follow on IG: @ActressEngineer.
NOVA GOMEZ (Granddaughter) is so pumped to work with this lovely team. They want to work hard to uplift Asian-American voices. Thank you mom. IG: @novanishing.
NAOMI KIM (Stage Directions) is a BIPOC actor, dramaturg and combat choreographer based in Boston, MA. She focuses on promoting new plays about minority populations.
BUMP –> SET –> SPIKE –> BRUISE
by Diana Lobontiu
DIANA LOBONTIU (they) (Playwright & Director) is a Romanian-American playwright, actor, educator and former HS varsity volleyball player(!). They explore the intersections of masculinity, dominance + oppression, and loneliness. MFA Brooklyn College. dianalobontiu.com
DALLAS (LYSS) STREET (they/he) (Dramaturg, Stage Directions) is primarily a dramaturg and, at times, a writer. Current 4th year at Oberlin College.
BUG JOHNSON (he/they) (Kat) is a theatre maker, casting assistant and drag artist in NYC. Recently: Pussy King (The PIT), Hir (Sihr Theater). Insta: @buginshorts.
ISA GARCIA (they/elle) (Mo) is a multi-hyphenate theatre artist and the Founding Artistic Director of Dyke Theater Co. BFA: NYU Tisch. Instagram: @isatheedyke.
WHEN YOU NEED ME
by T.J.L
T.J.L (Playwright) (he/him/his) is a queer, Southern, Blck, multi-hyphenate playwright from NC based in NYC. He received his BA in Theatre Performance from ASU. Since graduating, he has worked with various regional theatre companies along the East Coast. He has been a finalist and semifinalist in selection for programs such as Ars Nova’s Play Group and Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in the Fire. T.J.L was a member of the COOP’s 2022 Clusterf*ck cohort and the 23/24 SOUL Reading Series cohort at NBT. T.J.L was a Playwriting Fellow for the Playwrights Realm and the Gatekeepers Collective. He was named a finalist for the 2023 Founders Award from NYSAF. He was named a semi-finalist and a finalist for the 49th Annual Samuel French OOB Festival. His goal is to craft worlds for stories that promote softness, celebration, encouragement and acceptance for queer BIPOC people, especially queer Blck boys.
DIEGO ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ (Director) (he/they+) is the Co-Artistic Director of BORDERLANDS. Associate Director, In the Heights at TUTS (HTX); Co-Director Great Comet (NYU). Mercury Store. SDCF Shadow. Drama League. diegogzz.com | @borderlands.co
BIORKYS ACOSTA PALMERS (Donovan) (he/him) is a Dominican actor from the Bronx currently studying at NYU. He’s passionate about performance, writing and Daniel Caesar and is honored to participate!
KALEB JUSTIN (Parker) is a Miami-born actor committed to widening the understanding of all different ways black men can express themselves.
NIKOLAS MUCHA (Stage Directions/Theatre Chorus) (he/him) is an NYU Tisch Drama graduate. His recent credits include Acan in Mojada (Baruch PAC) and Dolokhov in Great Comet (NYU Tisch).
ALIFORNIA
by Daniel Holzman
DANIEL HOLZMAN (Playwright) is a playwright from San Francisco. Recent work includes: Berlindia! (The Tank), Middle School Play (The Brick), OLIVES (Clubbed Thumb ECWG), and Me & Who (O’Neill Finalist).
SAM CARBERY (Director) is a writer and director whose recent work includes: ALIFORNIA (The Brick, 2023) and Giving Up the Ghost (The Brick, 2022). BFA: NYU.
NIGEL BERKELEY (Al) is an actor, writer and director. He makes plays with his company Parabasis. Training: Minnesota/Guthrie BFA @bigelnerkeley
ARJUN BIJU (Al) is an actor from San Jose. Credits: White Bitches in Delhi (Williamstown), Indeed, Friend! (Clubbed Thumb), There She Goes (FOX), Totally Spies (Max).
SARINA FREDA (Al) 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.
STEPHANIE CHRISTOPHER IS NOT WELCOME HERE
by Katie Priscott
KATIE PRISCOTT (Playwright) is a New England-born, Midwest-based playwright. Credits include staged readings of Something Borrowed, Easier Said Than Done and Stephanie Christopher is Not Welcome Here (Youth Artists Project) and Seasons (Mizzou New Play Series). This summer, she had the pleasure of being a member of the marketing team and the inaugural Arts Administration Cohort at the Virginia Theatre Festival. She is a rising senior at Oberlin College studying creative writing, arts administration & leadership.
SHEA FRIMMER (Director) (they/she) is founding artistic director of the Youth Artists Project. Select credits: Something Borrowed, 9:47 (YAP), Head Over Heels (Northwestern), The Abbey (BBTF).
KAYLA MARKS (Morgan) (she/her) is so excited to be here! Select Credits: Fiddler on the Roof (Signature Theatre); Picnic at Hanging Rock (Joe’s Pub).
AMANDA BLOOM ROBBINS (Stephanie) proudly participates in the development of new works. Amanda also teaches and mothers. Love to Luke, Wally, Teddy and baby.
NICKOLAUS COLÓN (Stage Directions) is very excited to be a small part of bringing new works to life. Follow his adventures when he goes back on tour as Hades in Hadestown this fall. @nickolauscolon
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.