Andrew Watring, Community Programs Creative Director, explains the process of helping playwrights from across the country find inspiring connections in southeastern PA: “The residency is broken down into two spheres. One is community interaction, and the other is development. The community interaction part involves orientation and follow-up visits where playwrights engage directly with local organizations and community members. On the development side, we have workshops where writers write, have readings, and get feedback from artistic staff and community members. This approach ensures that the playwrights' works are deeply informed by and connected to the communities they portray, resulting in plays that resonate with authenticity and depth.”

VICHET CHUM (he/him) is a New York based writer from Dallas, Texas. His plays have been workshopped/produced at Steppenwolf Theatre, the Alley Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Ars Nova, Page 73 Productions, Cleveland Play House, the Magic Theater, the UCROSS Foundation, Fault Line Theatre, Crowded Outlet, Second Generation Productions, Weston Playhouse, Cleveland Public Theatre, All For One Theater, Amios, Florida State University, South Carolina New Play Festival and the New Harmony Project. He received the 2023 Lucille Bulger Service Award, 2018 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting with New Dramatists, the 2021 Laurents/Hatcher Award and a 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for the world premiere of his play Bald Sisters which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre in 2022 and a special state citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives for his play KNYUM at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in 2018. He is currently a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, a Sun Valley Writers’ Conference Fellow, a curator for Space on Ryder Farm, a board member for the New Harmony Project, and a steering committee member for the Obie Award and Tony Award-winning organization, AAPAC (The Asian American Performers Action Coalition). Vichet's debut YA novel "Kween" was released this last fall with Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Donja R. Love is an Afro-Queer playwright, poet, and filmmaker from Philadelphia. He writes specifically about Black and Queer folx, for Black and Queer folx. He's the recipient of the 2018 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, the 2017 Princess Grace Playwriting Award. He’s the Lark's 2016 Van Lier New Voices Playwriting Fellow, The Playwrights Realm’s 2016/2017 Writing Fellow, and the 2011 Philadelphia Adult Grand Slam Poetry Champion. His work has been developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, Rising Circle Theatre, The Lark, and The Playwrights Realm. He's the cohost of OffBook, theater's only Black podcast; and he’s the co-founder of The Each-Other Project, an organization that helps build community and provide visibility, through art and advocacy, for LGBTQ People of Color. Select stage plays include: The Love* Plays, and soft.

Ro Reddick (she/her) is a queer Black playwright, songwriter, and educator. She is a third year MFA Playwriting candidate at Brown University where she is the Adele Kellenberg Seaver Fellow. Ro writes off-kilter, dark comedies, the theme songs to your late capitalist nightmares. They include: Throwback Island (O’ Neill Finalist), Cold War Choir Practice (Writing is Live/Brown University), ROBAMA (O’ Neill Semifinalist), Miss Black Syracuse (The Duplex), and The History of Black People Making White People Better People (co-writer Daryl Lathon). She is currently developing an untitled corporate satire about a bunch of dykes in the luxury notebook industry. Readings + Development Labs: The Ground Floor (Berkeley Rep), Bushwick Starr Reading Series, and Williamstown Theatre Festival (NYC Reading). Fellowships, Residencies + Grants: Venturous Fellowship Nomination, Lambda Literary Fellow in Playwriting, Adele Kellenberg Seaver Fellow in Creative Writing, La Mama Umbria International Playwright Retreat, Miranda Theatre Company Playwright Grant. Performance + Songwriting: As an actor, Ro has performed at theaters including Hartford Stage, McCarter Theatre Center, Long Wharf, and KC Rep; off-Broadway in “Silence! The Musical”; and on screen in The Americans, Louie, and SATC 2. As a singer she has performed in several development workshops of new musicals, and co-wrote and performed songs for a country, rock, and blues band. She also creates original songs for her own plays and is a member of the Brown Arts Institute Songwriting Workshop. Ro has a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College and an MBA from NYU (which she has no intention of using).

Harrison David Rivers is an award-winning playwright, librettist and television writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. His works include The Salvagers (Yale Rep), we are continuous (Uptown Players, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Geva Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival), the bandaged place (Roundabout, NYSF), This Bitter Earth (Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, White Bear Theatre, Seattle Public, TheatreWorks Hartford, InterAct, The Road, Richmond Triangle Players, Theater Alliance, About Face, Penumbra, NCTC), among others, and the musicals We Shall Someday with Ted Shen and I Put a Spell on You with Nubya Garcia. His television credits include One of Us Is Lying (Peacock), The Nevers (HBO) and Wytches (Amazon). Harrison is a recipient of McKnight, Jerome and Van Lier Fellowships, residencies with the Siena Art Institute, NYTW, Williamstown, Geva and Duke University, and commissions from Roundabout, Transport Group, Penumbra, Geva, La Jolla Playhouse and Minnesota Opera. He sits on the Board of Directors of The Movement Theatre Company and the Playwrights’ Center. MFA: Columbia University.