Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition: 2010/2011

Winner: David Mitchell Robinson 

Carapace 

David Mitchell Robinson’s goal is to write a play about every place he’s ever lived has resulted in Carapace (Minneapolis), Olympic Village (Atlanta), The Imaginary Music Critic Who Doesn’t Exist (Chicago), and Terminals (airplanes). These and other plays have been produced, developed, or commissioned by Alliance Theatre, Steppenwolf, the Atlantic Theater Company, Arena Stage, Center Theatre Group, the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Primary Stages, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Actor’s Express, Forum Theatre, Theater J, B Street Theatre, the Inkwell, Rep Stage, Ohio University, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, the Source Festival, and more.  

David has been the winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and the Scott McPherson Playwriting Award as well a nominee for the PoNY Fellowship, the Lanford Wilson Award, the Terrence McNally Award, and a Suzi Bass Award. He has also been a finalist for such programs as the Jerome Fellowship, the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission, NNPN's Smith Prize Commission, InterAct Theatre's 20/20 Commission, the Lark's Playwrights' Week, the NNPN Showcase of New Plays, and the Source Festival's Full Length Plays. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University and a BA in Literature/Theater from the New College of Florida. He currently lives in DC, where he is working on his plays about Baltimore and Iowa City. 

Joe Luis Cedillo 

Noche y Mourning 

Joe Luis Cedillo Is A Stranger. Chicano Playwright-Director & Dramaturg with some Sound Design credits. Previously produced in the Edge of The World Theatre Festival in ‘01 & ’02 with Urban Ensemble Theatre Collective, ’03 & ’04 as Artistic Director of Tres Chingasos Theatre Collective, and ’07’s Edge Fest curated event with a solo performance piece. Also had work as part of the Unit Collective EWOC’s (Emerging Writer’s of Color) Madness produced in ‘10 for Minneapolis Fringe and is collaboratively creating a piece for ’11 Minneapolis Fringe. Current Associate Artistic Director for Texas State’s Black and Latino Playwright’s Conference (‘06-present) and former Literary Manager/Production Dramaturg for Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas for the 60th Anniversary season. Studied Poetry and earned BA in English (Creative Writing emphasis) from Cal State University at Northridge and recently graduated from University of Iowa’s Playwright’s Workshop. Had reading of play Noche y Mourning at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia and 59E59 via Primary Stages as a Kendeda Finalist. Also work in video, you can find my stuff on YouTube under my full name. Currently, in pre-production to direct Greg Machlin’s 7 Days: A Fantasia on the Life of Miles Davis inaugural production for Company of Strangers (with Greg), working on short story collection Messicans in Da Fountain, screenplay Cruising Heaven, dramaturging two one-woman shows (Anastasia Coon’s Gracie n' Rose and Sheela Kangal’s Norm), developing script for Hollywood Fringe Dreams of a Dead City (you best come out if you made it this far into my bio), and working on article for HowlRound (www.howlround.com) about LA Theatre Support for New Plays/Works. Yet can’t get a day job or a date…but still living the Dream and keeping the Faith. 

Will Fancher 

The River was Whiskey 

Will Fancher is from Chicago, by way of Boston, Memphis, and a bunch of other places. His play The River was Whiskey was a Kendeda finalist in 2010. After that, Will graduated from the writing program at Second City and wrote and directed sketch comedy shows across Chicagoland until the world ended in March 2020. Most recently, he has found a second (or third or fourth) career as a children's musician and songwriter; he teaches in the "Wiggleworms" early education program at the Old Town School of Folk Music and for Chicago Center for Music Education. He also does on-demand personalized songwriting for the local startup Songfinch. Will lives in Chicago with his lovely wife and two terrible little boys. 

Shane Sakhrani 

The Doctor is Indian 

Shane Sakhrani is an international playwright and screenwriter born in Hong Kong to Indian parents. Shane’s plays combine traditional Asian-American themes with the aesthetic of Broadway comedies of the 30s and 40s. Shane’s romantic comedy A Widow of No Importance was a Critic’s Choice for the LA Times, Backstage, LA Weekly and the LA Theatre Alliance (Ovation awards). Shane’s plays have been produced and performed at East West Players (Los Angeles, CA), Victory Gardens Theatre (Chicago, IL), Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA), Primary Stages (New York, NY), EnActe Theater (Palo Alto, CA), Silk Road Rising (Chicago, IL), Shunya Theatre (Houston, TX), Alliance Francaise (Singapore), Haque Center of Acting and Creativity and the Hong Kong Fringe Club. Shane's half-hour comedy pilot "Indians in America" was a semi-finalist for the 2018 ATX Pitch Competition, the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Awards and a quaterfinalist for the Slamdance Pilot Competition.​ 

Shane holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing (Playwriting and Screenwriting) from the University of Southern California. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing, Playwriting and Screenwriting for the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of Hong Kong. Shane divides his time between Hong Kong and Los Angeles. 

Martin Zimmerman 

White Tie Ball 

Martín Zimmerman is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright and screenwriter whose plays include Seven Spots On The Sun, On The Exhale, White Tie Ball, The Making Of A Modern Folk Hero, The Solid Sand Below and Let Me Count The Ways, and have been produced or developed at The Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, Alliance Theatre, Teatro Vista, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Foundation, and Cara Mía Theatre Co, among many others, with upcoming projects at Roundabout Underground, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. 

A recipient of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation, Humanitas Prize New Voices Award, Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, McKnight Advancement Grant, Jerome Fellowship, Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship and the National New Play Network’s Smith Prize, Martín was a Staff Writer on Netflix’s Narcos, is a Story Editor on the Netflix Series Ozark, has been the Alliance for Latino Theater Artists (ALTA) Artist of the Month, was a member of the 2011-2012 Playwrights’ Unit at Goodman Theatre, is a Playwright in Residence at Teatro Vista, a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, and has been a finalist for the Kendeda Competition and Heideman Award. 

MFA in Playwriting: The University of Texas at Austin. BA in Theater Studies, BS in Economics: Duke University.