NEXUS FESTIVAL 2022
A New Play Development Series Produced by Third Culture Theatre
Made possible with the generous support of WarnerMedia
National Playwright Semi and Quarter Finalists
SemiFinalists
Amanda L. Andrei — Hecuba
comfort ifeoma katchy — How I Learned to Play Tennis
QuarterFinalists
Lisa Sanaye Dring — The Wicked One
LaDarrion Williams — Mississippi Son
Lisa L. Langford — The Breakfast at the Bookstore
Laura Neill — Winter People
Bryan-Keyth Wilson — The Rose of Sharon
D.L. Siegel — Heartbeat Ophelia
Nick Malakhow — The Defectors
Ayvaunn Penn — For Bo
Kira Rockwell — Wicked Bitter Beasts
Chad Kaydo — Retreat or “A Curious Token”
Deborah Yarchun — The Man in the Sukkah
About NEXUS Festival
We are excited to announce our 2022 NEXUS Festival Finalists. We received over 200 submissions for our inaugural festival and are thrilled to be developing two new plays by national playwrights and one LA youth playwright. We will be announcing our youth finalist in the coming days. Our two national finalists are:
Finalists
Thalia Sablon — Treat Me Softly
Thalia Sablon was born in Haiti and raised in Queens. She is a recent graduate of Rutgers University where she earned her MFA in Playwrighting. Her plays include Bad American Dreams, ANGELA DAVIS’S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS WITH BIG EYES, and Treat Me Softly. She has worked on multiple sets as a PA, 1st AD, and director. Her passion project, which was postponed because of Covid and grad school, is her web series titled Dayroom.
Christian St. Croix — We Are the Forgotten Beasts
Christian St. Croix is an award-winning playwright based in San Diego, CA. He was recently featured in American Theatre Magazine’s Role Call: People to Watch installment. His plays include “Monsters of the American Cinema”, winner of the 2021 Carlo Annoni International Drama Award, and “Zack”, winner of the 2021 Young-Howze Theatre Award for Best Comedic Writing. His work has been produced by Blindspot Collective in association with the La Jolla Playhouse, ArtsWest Playhouse, Prologue Theatre, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Playwrights Round Table and the House of International Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Visit Christian at www.saintscrossing.com.
Los Angeles Youth Playwright
Sarah Sparks — Halo Halo
Sarah Lina Sparks (she/her) is a mixed-race Filipina playwright based out of Southern California. She is an undergraduate theatre student at the University of California, Los Angeles and script coordinator for Samahang Pilipino Cultural Night at UCLA. Her previous work includes the award-winning Silent Night (International Thespian Festival; published by Concord Theatricals), The American Iconography Project (Out of the Blue Theatre Company at UCLA), Goodbye Billy the Butterfly (Anew Theatre Company), and Sunshine and the Sea of Lost Things (Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble Company). Additionally, Sarah Lina earned honorable mention for the 2022 Student Jane Chambers Playwriting Contest for her play The C Word, as well as finalist for the California Young Playwrights Competition in 2019 for her play If Only Mabel Wore Trousers. Her works are largely inspired by feminists issues, her Filipino heritage, and the unique experience of coming of age in the new millennia.
Why NEXUS?
The meeting place between differing things, a nexus is a point of connection. Stemming from Third Culture’s mission to unite our artists and company with our audience and larger community to form a new, mutual (Third) culture, the nexus festival will enable us to promote new works that help unite ideas and communities for our audiences. We want to foster the development of emerging theatre artists and provide them space and resources to create art that speaks to our current moment and the ongoing challenges that face our world.