Introducing the 2025 Short Play Lab Members!

Please help support the 2025 Short Play Festival.

This Short Play LAB is completely free of charge to the writers, and they receive the UNIQUE opportunity to have their plays produced at the end of the writing process!

There is no other program like it - anywhere!

Teresa Mella Fogel

Teresa Mella Fogel is a published Playwright living in Old Saybrook, CT. She is a founding member of Shoreline Playwrights, a Connecticut group that has presented many readings and productions in local theatres. She has several full lengths, one-acts and short plays in her inventory. Her full length, “Knock!Knock! was a semi-finalist at the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival. “Speed Dating”, was a winner of ICWP’s 3-minute play competition. “Wedding Day Blues”, was produced at Theatre Artists Workshop New play festival. “Looking for Juliet” was published in the Drama Notebook. She is a writer for a local comedy group and reader for various organizations. Teresa is a member of several organizations including, The Dramatists Guild, PWC, International Center for Women Playwrights, Honor Roll and the League of Professional Theatre Women. Teresa is very excited to be part of the Women’s Work Short Play Lab at New Perspective Theatre!

Yekta Khaghani

Yekta Khaghani is an Iranian playwright, actor, and theater educator based in New York City. Her plays often explore themes of displacement, diaspora, and the complexities of identity, blending metatheatrical elements with deeply personal narratives. In 2022, Yekta curated Whispers of the Flesh, an anthology celebrating the resilience of Iranian women playwrights. This anthology has been showcased both in the U.S. and Europe and is set to be produced in Europe in Summer 2025. In 2023, she received the New York City Women’s Fund for her In the Still of Night, which showcased at The Tank Theater in February 2024. Since immigrating to the U.S. in 2016, Yekta has been a dynamic voice in independent theater, creating work that bridges cultural boundaries and challenges conventional storytelling. https://www.yektakhaghani.com

Patricia lynn

Patricia Lynn fancies herself to be a gothic feminist; she loves to subvert the classic genre by creating new provocative plays inspired by traditional gothic stereotypes. She also creates modern-day adaptations of iconic gothic novels. Her plays have been developed at Triad Stage, The Secret Theatre, The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Rogue Theater Festival, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Phillips’ Mill Community Association, Hunger & Thirst Theatre, and Elephant Room Productions. Her newest full-length play Castle Dracula will premiere at the A.R.T./New York Theatres in October 2025. Patricia holds a MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and a MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Repertory. www.patriciamlynn.com

Melissa maney

Melissa Maney is an NYC-based playwright with a passion for horror, absurdism, satire, feminism, and queer representation. After achieving her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the New School of Drama, she’s written and produced her work at Theater Row, Theater for the New City, The Chain Theater, The Player’s Theater, Gene Frankel Theater, and more. She most recently attended the Great Plains Theater Commons for her play, Oddsville. Her play, Emily Dickinson: Star-Crossed Employee, is set to premiere at The Tank in early 2025. https://www.melissamaney.com/

Erin moughon

Erin Moughon is a playwright and teacher based in New York City. She is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild and an Arthur Miller Fellow. Erin also loves being a cat mom to two tuxedo kittens and being married to David. Some of her short plays can be found in several editions of The Best Ten Minute Plays edited by Lawrence Harbison and Debbie Lamedman and her monologues can be found in Voices of America Vol 1, 3, & 4 edited by Mike Lesser of the Playground Experiment. Check more of her plays out on the New Play Exchange and follow her on Instagram: @erinplaywright! 

Seshat yon’shea walker

Seshat Yon’shea Walker is a writer, multidisciplinary creative, and founder who aspires to write about the magic and beauty in seemingly mundane, everyday experiences; specifically with regard to the lives of Black women. Her plays have been presented by Detroit Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Capital Fringe Festival and DC Arts Center. Readings: Dramatic Question Theatre’s Digital Stage; Pop Conference NYC; Kennedy Center Millennium Stage and KC Local Theatre Festival; Two Strikes Theatre Collective; DC Public Library and Anacostia Arts Center. Seshat is a two-time Finalist for the AGE Legacy Playwright Grant, 2024 June Bingham Playwright Commission Finalist, 2024 DC Commission of the Arts Fellowship Recipient and 2024 Helen Hayes Plays Judge. She holds a BA in Journalism from IUP and an MFA in Design Management from Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a member of Black Film Space and The Dramatists Guild of America. www.seshatyonshea.com

Director-Dramaturgs

CATALINA BELTRÁN

CatalinA Beltrán is a theatre director from Bogotá, Colombia. Her work has gravitated towards original work, either devised or new plays by young writers. Her plays seek to question the possibility of an ethical existence in capitalism and patriarchy. Her U.S. credits as a director include: The Space We Share (People’s Theatre Project & Working Theater), New England Summer Storms, Susana: A Reconstruction, Julius Caesar, Meg (Columbia University), We’re Here (Harrisburg Fringe). Training: M.F.A. Theatre Directing at Columbia University 24’. Website:  www.catalinabeltran.co 

Jenny GREEMAN

JENNY GREEMAN is an artist and educator and a long-time Resident Director with the Women’s Work Short Play LAB. She was formerly the Administrator of Youth & Community Development at NPTC and a resident director for the World Voices and Apprenticeship programs. Jenny helmed the World Premiere production of Screenplay by Scott Brooks, which was awarded “Outstanding Production of a Play” at the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival and subsequently moved to an Off Broadway run at 59E59. For the 2008 MITF, Jenny and her writing partner, Elliot Lanes, won “Best Staged Reading” for their original children’s piece, The Raggedy Ann and Andy Musical. Jenny was the Resident Director for Dark Lady Players, where her credits include Shakespeare’s Three Marys, Hamlet’s Apocalypse, and Shakespeare’s Gospel Parodies: A Medieval Mystery Tour. She is currently the Director of Programming at Pathways to Leadership and earned her Masters of Public Administration at Baruch/CUNY.

Kristen kelso

Kristen Kelso is a director, writer, and performer based in Brooklyn. She is drawn to creating work rooted in an oral storytelling tradition, and she is a sucker for weaving familial archives into the fabric of a show. Recent credits include Gidion’s Knot with LoVo Collective (The Chain Theatre) and Cry it Out with Bangaround Productions (The Gene Frankel Theatre). Next, she will be directing the musical The Story of My Life as a benefit for The Story Keeping Program at Hospice Savannah and the Parkinson’s Foundation Georgia Chapter. She was a part of the Mercury Store Directing Technique Cohort, Fall ’23. She has a BFA in Theatre Studies and a BA in Spanish Language & Literature from Southern Methodist University. She has an MA from the University of Texas at Dallas in Translation Studies and an MA in Performance Studies from NYU. https://www.kristenkelso.com/

Jennie reich litzky

Jennie Reich Litzky is a director, producer, and actor. A graduate from Hunter College, Jennie is a Resident Director with NPTC's Women's Work Project, a co-creator of The Yiddish Shakespeare Project, a member of the Jewish Theater Circle, and was an apprentice at Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. She played Katie in Love in a Bottle which premiered at the Big Apple Film Festival, and played "A Naturalist" in the award winning Torch Ensemble's production of The Climate Fables: The (Green Apple) Play. She is always thankful to New Perspectives for all of their amazing work and people! Follow @jenniereichlitzkytheater @theyiddishshakespeareproject for more. 

Dani ortiz

DANI ORTIZ graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BA in Theater Performance and Arts Management. She currently works at a community-based organization supporting after school programs throughout NYC. Dani began her association with the Short Play LAB as a directing Apprentice for two years, then became a Resident Director-Dramaturg in 2020. She has directed Bad Koreans, Foul Line, Cassie Goes to Congress and Between Iron Doors in past festivals. Dani is thrilled to support the Short Play Lab and the community of playwrights NPTC has cultivated.