MEMBER WRITERS
Richard Ballon | Writer
Richard Ballon published his first poem when he was fourteen and over the years has pruned a collection of poetry, plays, and monologues, which when poked at, may pinch back. In New York, his work has been performed at the Sola Voces / Estrogenius Festival, Women at Work Fest, MaMADrama, Left Out Festival, NativeAlien’s Short Stories, Emerging Artist Theater's One Man Standing and the Fresh Fruit Festival. Other work has been performed in Amherst, Boston, Chicago, Iowa City, Denver, Toronto, Kitchener, Calgary, Montreal as well as in London and Manchester, UK. His writing has been supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He was also commissioned to write two plays for a high school’s GLBT Awareness week. Richard is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild. A collection of monologues, poems and plays was published in 2007 by Leveller’s Press, titled: enough of a little to know all. More info can be found at: https://richardballon.com
Sheila Curran Bernard | Writer
SHEILA CURRAN BERNARD is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning writer, filmmaker, educator, and consultant. She received a 2021 NEH Public Scholar Award to support writing of Bring Judgment Day, a nonfiction book under contract with Cambridge University Press. In 2016 she was honored with a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship in Playwriting/Screenwriting, as well as its Geri Ashur Screenwriting Award. Her credits include nearly 50 hours of broadcast and theatrical film programming, including the nonfiction PBS series I’ll Make Me a World and the feature documentary Slavery by Another Name, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas A. Blackmon; the film premiered at Sundance in 2012. A member of the Dramatists Guild, her stage plays include A Firefly in August (2015 Boston Theatre Marathon; 2014 Warner Int’l Playwrights Festival) and Leaving Ibsen (finalist, Christopher Brian Wolk Playwriting Award, 2010). Sheila earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College. Honors include selection as a Guest Artist at the Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting Intensive and residencies at MacDowell and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. The author of Documentary Storytelling, now in its fifth edition and widely translated, and co-author of Archival Storytelling, in its second edition, Sheila was the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies at Princeton University in 2005 and now holds a tenured position as associate professor in the Department of History at the University at Albany, SUNY. www.sheilacurranbernard.com
Cynthia Chapman | Writer
CYNTHIA CHAPMAN's play, The Journey, was a finalist for The Bridge Initiative's Bechdel Test Festival 2.0. She was the playwright-in-residence at the Michael Chekhov Association International Festival 2018. Recent productions: The Mother-Loving Train at the Boston Theatre Marathon XX; Mr. Roys’ Bicycle Repair Shop at the Warner International Playwrights Festival; A Shot of Theatre performed An Odd Couple; and Anna Sokolow: Truth in Motion, written for 365 Women A Year, was selected for the festival of Untold Stories of Jewish Women in NYC. Cynthia’s full-length plays include SkyChef, a Playwrights’ Center 2014 Core Apprentice Program Finalist, and House Rules. In 2016, she was an invited Guest Artist at The Kennedy Center Playwrighting Intensive. As an educator, Cynthia taught scriptwriting for Emerson College’s Pre-College Summer Program. Cynthia holds her MFA in Creative Writing for Stage and Screen from Lesley University and is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild, Playwrights’ Center, Proscenium Playwrights and an associate member of The 9th Floor, NYC.
Victoria Z. Daly | Writer
Founding Member
VICTORIA Z. DALY, an Emmy Award-winning writer/script consultant/producer, is the Founder and Executive Director of The 9th Floor. Her plays have been developed/produced across the United States and on four continents. Recent awards include: Regional Emmy (PBS); “9 Most Memorable Plays of the Last 9 Years,” Warner International Playwrights Festival; Neem Independent International Award, Russia; and Best Play, Short+Sweet Dubai.
Vicki is a Faculty Member at the Dramatists Guild Institute and a script consultant to private clients. She has taught playwriting workshops and bootcamps from Connecticut to Tennessee and also teaches online. Publications: Raw and Other Short Plays (7 plays), Next Stage Press; Applause Books (3x); the New Short Play Festival; MonologueBank; The Last Frontier Theatre Conference; some scripts.
As a television producer, script consultant, and executive, Vicki has worked at Lifetime Cable Television, Warner Brothers, and the American Broadcasting Companies. Journalism: Glamour, Health, Portfolio, etc.
Education: MFA, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts; Certificat, Theater, L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris; A.B. and M.B.A., Harvard. Member, Dramatists Guild of America; Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Workshop; League of Professional Theatre Women; International Centre for Women Playwrights; and Honor Roll!, an advocacy group for women+ playwrights over 40.
Victoriazdaly.com | The Dramatists Guild Institute of Dramatic Writing
Charlene A. Donaghy | Writer
Founding Member
CHARLENE A. DONAGHY is an award-winning playwright with plays produced and/or awarded in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia, as well as in the United States from New York City to Los Angeles, Chicago to New Orleans, and across the country. Hansen Publishing Group publishes Charlene’s collection of play Bones of Home and Other Plays. Other publications include Best American Short Plays (3x), She Persisted, Estrogenius-A Celebration of Female Voices (2x), Best 10-Minute Plays, 25* Ten-Minute Plays for Teens, In the Eye, Louisiana Literary Journal, and others. Of her writing, Pulitzer & Tony Award Winning Playwright Doug Wright states: “With plays that are intoxicating and mysterious, Donaghy has a gift for finding the truth that lurks below our eccentricities.” Charlene is Founder and Festival Director of the Warner International Playwrights Festival, Producing Consultant for the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and teaches writing for stage, screen, and fiction in the MFA in Creative Writing at University of Nebraska Omaha. She is a founding member Boston’s Proscenium Playwrights and a member of New York’s 9th Floor Writers & Actors Collaborative, The Playwrights Center, Honor Roll!, and The Dramatists Guild of America where she served as inaugural Connecticut/Western New England Regional Representative. www.charleneadonaghy.com
Benjamin V. Marshall | Writer
Founding Member
B.V. MARSHALL (Benjamin Vaughan Marshall): Plays include Absolutions and Paradise, The Balcony Goat, Boom Box, Carlos and LaVonne, Corn Bread with Raisins and Almonds, Dad’s Vision, Five Husbands, Henry’s Bridge, Piscataway NJ, and Purchasing Power. His work has been performed and developed at the HBO New Writers Workshop, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Theatre for the New City in NYC, Luna Stage, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Interact Theatre in Philadelphia, The National Playwrights Symposium at Cape May, and the Kennedy Center. Recent accolades: Benedictions on the Escape, an audio play for All Out Arts; Beasts and Cakes: The Chronicles of Phillis Wheatley, the first recipient of the Metzler New Play Award in Huston TX; and White Gloves, part of the first LB Williams Festival New Circle Theatre, NYC.
Honors include fellowships from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The Victor Bumbalo/ Robert Chesley Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and five playwriting fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The Bauer Boucher Award and the Stanley Drama award for Incident at Willow Creek
BA from Kean University, MFA in Creative Writing from University of Massachusetts in Amherst, after studying playwriting at Hunter University. Previously a musician, journalist and a teacher of English in Middle Eastern countries, Ben has published poetry, fiction, and essays in several literary magazines. A member of the Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange, and The Playwrights Center. A Professor at Middlesex College in NJ, he specializes in African American Literature, Creative Writing and Playwriting. The school recently awarded him their scholar of the year award for his creative work. He also teaches playwriting at Wagner College.
DARA O’BRIEN | Writer, Actor
DARA O’BRIEN is a playwright and actress based in New York City. Her plays have been presented or developed at The Cherry Lane Theatre, Urban Stages, the Abingdon Theatre Company, Resonance Ensemble, and HB Studio. She received the Thomas Barbour Playwrights Award for her play “Early Sunday Morning,” which was also a finalist for Capital Stage’s Playwrights Revolution and featured in the Naked Angels Tuesdays@9 Reading Series'; it had staged readings at Gloucester Stage Company directed by Paula Plum, and The Schoolhouse Theatre featuring Melissa Errico. Dara is also an actress whose work includes the New York premiere of Gidion’s Knot by Johnna Adams, directed by Austin Pendleton at 59E59 Theatres; and Lady Capulet in R&J for Web Series Shakespeare. In addition to the 9th Floor, her affiliations include Playwrights Gallery, Member, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild of America. www.daraobrien.com
Kevin Podgorski | Writer
KEVIN PODGORSKI is a playwright living in New York City. He received his MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School (NYC) in 2002. He has written nine full length plays. Seven of those full length plays, Sid & Marshall; F*ck Me, B*at Me, L*ve Me; Day of the Dad; Mary Christmas; Our Brothers Funeral; 90; and What's Wrong with Being Angry; each received staged readings by The Actors Studio Playwright/Director's Workshop, of which he was one of the founding invited members. His play, Mary Christmas, was selected as Audience Favorite in the 2007 Dayton Playhouse Future Fest. While his play Day of the Dad was featured in the 2011 Fresh Fruit Festival in New York City in which Kevin was awarded Best Playwright of the season. Kevin is a member of The Dramatists Guild and thrilled to be one of the newest members of The 9th Floor.
Julie Weinberg | Writer
Founding Member
JULIE WEINBERG is a playwright and screenwriter whose plays include Bad Daughter, Face it, Starring America and MacDougal Street. Her award-winning one-acts are numerous: The Eleven O’Clock Number, The Teller’s Tale, Free Association, Friends from the East and Fault.
Julie received the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting for Bad Daughter. Short & Sweet Hollywood awarded "Is It Cold in here?" a finalist in its most recent Hollywood festival in October 2022. You're Not the Type, based on an Edna Ferber short story was featured in the Five by Ferber Festival at New Jersey Repertory in 2018 and in 2019 "Is It Cold in here?" won short play division of Bechdel Test 2.0 Arizona. Pandemic productions on Zoom in Dallas, Albany and Toronto of her short comedy, Buttercup’s Lament, inspired the ongoing creation of the animated short by the same name. Bad Daughter twice zoomed during 20-21 and featured Mary Testa and Frank Wood, both Tony winners. She is currently adapting Bad Daughter into a screenplay. Her work has also been produced and/or developed by The Actors Studio, ATHE, Emergence Theatre, Short & Sweet, Create Theater, Warner Theater Festival. Stay tuned for St. Pete’s Radio Theater Project’s version of The Teller’s Tale coming to their theater in January ’23 and then to Soundcloud!
Julie is a graduate of Lesley University’s MFA Program in Writing for Stage and Screen and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.
Stuart Warmflash | Writer
Stuart has worked in the theatre for over fifty years. Graduating N.Y.U. he then attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and enjoyed a successful acting career appearing on Broadway (Phoenix Repertory Co.), Off-Broadway, film and television.
His first play, Art’s Life, enjoyed an extended run on Theatre Row and his two dozen subsequent plays have been read/performed in the United States and England. In 1994 he founded the Playwrights Harbor, a cooperative workshop for writers to realize their visions with a company of actors and directors. Fortified by enthusiastic public response, he launched the not-for-profit Harbor Theatre. For over ten years, the weekly workshops resulted in the development of over 50 new works and full productions. He also scripted the theatrically-released, award-winning, full-length documentary, Unforgotten: 25 Years After Willowbrook.
Stuart holds a Masters in Anthropology and Special Education and teaches students with learning disabilities.
Contact: www.warmflash.com