Steven A. Butler, Jr. is a decorated playwright, author, and multidisciplinary artist whose work centers Black interior lives, legacy, and emotional truth. A Maryland native, Butler has spent over twenty years as a professional artist, writing across stage, screen, and page. His catalogue includes the plays The Very Last Days of the First Colored Circus, Chocolate Covered Ants, and Stumpworthy, as well as the award-winning film Veils: Requiem for Trayvon. His work seeks to give voice to those historically denied space for vulnerability while honoring the quiet dignity of ancestral labor and sacrifice. Currently, Butler is developing an adaptation inspired by Thornton Wilder’s Our Town to tell the story of Oklahoma’s Greenwood District—Black Wall Street—during the 1920s. 

Joel Castillo is a theatre artist from Hialeah, FL. He earned a BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in Arts Education from the University of Miami in 2020 and currently serves as a Drama Teacher at Coral Reef Senior High, where he co-leads an award-winning theatre program of over 100 students. His favorite credits include directing and designing Mamma Mia! with the Seminole Theatre Players, winner of Broadway World Miami’s Best Musical Award (2021); playwright for Balloo(n) for City Theatre’s Summer Shorts: Homegrown Edition (2023); playwright for Rotting at Dixon Place Theatre in New York City as part of 938collective’s Short Play Festival (2024); and producer and director for one of South Florida’s first professional productions of The 24 Hour Plays (2025). Joel’s mission is to break down financial, racial, and systemic barriers so that everyone can experience the magic of theatre that changed his life.

Amy Chen (she/her) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist focused on performing and playwriting. Amy’s first play, Esther’s Play About Esther’s Play, was produced by the Equinox New Play Festival as a part of the The University of the Arts 2023 MainStage Season. This was followed by a self-produced staged reading of her second play, Y.F.S.G. (Finalist for 2025 Beacon Award), at Yellow Bicycle Theatre in 2024. Most recently, Theatre By Development (Philly Inquirer's Favorite Theatre Company of 2025) selected Amy's piece, Unfuck Yourself, to be a part of Clippings: A Short Play Festival. Amy holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from The University of the Arts with Playwriting mentorship from Savannah Reich. As a performer, Amy has performed at various Regional Theatres including Timber Lake Playhouse, Axelrod Performing Arts Center, Bristol Riverside Theatre, The Media Theatre, etc. Website: AmyLChen.com | New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/98274/amy-chen | Instagram: @amychfn.

Rena Patel is a South Asian American writer and producer based in Los Angeles whose work spans the page, stage, and screen. She was a writer on Peacock’s The Warehouse Phase and the upcoming feature Now & Then, a Finalist for the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles’ Launchpad Pitch Competition (2025). Her romantic comedy play Pyar Aur Coffee was a Finalist in the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival and premiered at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s New Works Festival in 2024 to a sold-out run. Her fiction and poetry appear in Sunflower Station Press, The Heduan Review, and Sanctuaries Anthology. She is part of the creative team at Bootleg Universe Media Group/Shankar Animation, developing cutting-edge storytelling for the screen. Previously, she served as Executive Director of Imaginarium Theatre Company, producing new works in New York. Rena holds a B.A. from Scripps College and a J.D. from Loyola Law School.

Tara Blau Smollen is a playwright, actor and director, whose work reexamines the Western theatrical canon through a BIPOC lens. Her plays include The Gull, an African American reimagining of Chekhov’s The Seagull, which was named a finalist for the 2026 Stanley Drama Award, the 2025 Kaplan Playwriting Award, and the 2025 New Works of Merit Playwriting Award. Her play Sisters, a reimagining of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, was a finalist for Lifeline Theatre’s BIPOC Adaptation Workshop 2024 and a semifinalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference 2025. Tara was a co-founder and Artistic Director of Porchlight Theater Company in Ross, California, and has directed at numerous theaters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds an MFA in Acting from the National Theater Conservatory and is a member of the Playwrights’ Lab and the Pear Playwrights’ Guild.

Lucy Wang (she/her) is an award-winning multi-genre writer, playwright, performer, and educator whose body of work spans plays, screenplays, journalism, poetry, prose, and performance. She blends humor, justice, and heart. She has sold a TV pilot, written & directed a short film, performed solo shows to sold-out audiences, and mentors emerging voices. Her papers are archived at the Huntington Library and UC Santa Barbara.