PLAYWRIGHT & LIBRETTIST
SMJ (they/them) is an NYC-based, mixed-Latiné, and Trans non-binary playwright, musical theater writer, educator, & theatermaker originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They were a 2022 - 2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. They are the Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton, NH with fellow theatermaker, Jess Honovich. They create work that is unapologetically queer and designed to highlight & challenge collaborators. Informed by their uneasy upbringing in the middle of Ohio, their plays warn about our world's funny yet terrifying truths.
Currently, SMJ is creating work with Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Orchard Project, and Andy’s Summer Playhouse. Their work has been seen in various forms throughout the US including Ars Nova, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Lincoln Center, National Queer Theater, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, Otterbein University, Wright State University, Art House Productions, University of Texas-El Paso, The Road Theatre Company, The Workshop Theater, The 24 Hour Plays, The Center at West Park, The Flea Theater, Northern Sky Theater, Open Jar Studios, American Theater Group, Live Arts, CRY HAVOC, The Tank, The Uptown Collective and DR2 Theatre. SMJ also writes for the serial podcast, University Radio. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (three times), the 2022-2023 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting/Fellowship at New Dramatists, Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, and The Civilians R & D Group (two times) as well as a Finalist for the 2024-2025 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting/Fellowship at New Dramatists, 2024 June Bingham New Playwright Commission, 2023 Parity Development Award, Write Out Loud Contest, 5th Avenue Theater's First Draft Commission, and the Doric Wilson Playwright Award.
SMJ is a graduate of Otterbein University and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. They’re a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. SMJ is currently represented by Krissy Bylancik, WME.
PERFORMANCES AND READINGS COMING UP
Staged Reading of yo ho. (November 17th - 11th Hour Theatre Company at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH)
Staged Reading of a new 10-minute play (December 7th - The Workshop Theater in NYC)
CURRENT MEMBER OF…