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Anya Richkind
writer
why i write
I write to celebrate existential dread rather than ignore it.
To embrace the happysad and the inscrutability of the everyday.
I write to hold people close, knowing it'll never be close enough.
The holding is the important thing, anyway.
what I write about
my mom / loneliness / voicemails / memories / knives
the end of the world / queer women / my dad / cancer
mourning doves / death / birth / the power of theater (or not)
the pandemic / loneliness / music / pancakes / power
the futility of language / things we do for each other
things we don't do for each other / repetition / pairings
pregnancy / the ways we care for each other / don't
selected plays
O IS FOR OTINK
Callie and Will just had a baby (oh my god!) and are having their favorite lesbian couple Bess and Tanya over for dinner to introduce their bundle. A seemingly normal, albeit awkward, albeit tense, dinner devolves into a wild, time-altering romp that explores the monstrosity of heteronormativity, the mechanism of motherhood, and the power of queer love.
full-length
memorable events
An old man lives in his house surrounded by piles and piles of pancakes, which are also his memories. A meditation on the need to share memories, when sharing memories is the same as eating pancakes.
full-length
ministers of loneliness
Emma knows that deep down she's an amazing guitarist. Joyce thought she'd be married or famous by now. Earnest loves seasonal decorations. A kaleidoscopic exploration of loneliness through fantasy, farce and the extremely mundane.
full-length
Here Lies Cappy
Years ago, Mom found an unopened bag of letters from her mother Barbara — childhood penpal correspondences, love letters, and her suicide note. On opposite sides of the country, Mom and her daughter Twig read the letters.
full-length
untitled dad play
Karina wrote a ten-minute play. Her mom and dad, playing characters named Katrina and Dad, attempt to read it over dinner. Katie, a traveling knife-saleswoman just out of college, attempts to sell them knives.
full-length
tender of you too
Allegra and Tara are cast in their high school play as Frances Willard and Mary Bannister, two women from the 1800's. Through historical diary entries and sleepovers alike, Allegra and Tara explore and define their relationship.
full-length
a compendium of
useless information
Sylvia has cancer and is playing phone tag with her daughter.
10-minute monologue
mr. davy's 2nd period
advanced theater
now on zoom
A high school teacher attempts to bring the contact sport of theater to the virtual arena.
10-minute monologue
ENDLESS MOON, FREE CHICKPEA
A woman is receiving messages, often of love, through her toaster. The only problem is she keeps blowing out the power, which is unacceptable (and intriguing) to her local electrician.
10-minute
hot clown cool down
Haganini, an out-of-work clown, lives alone in Asheville, North Carolina, where everything's usually the same — until he starts hearing music throughout his apartment. A virtual piece devised with Ethan Holtzman and Geo Jones.
10-minute
Big happy days
The world has been over for thousands of years. Only Gloria and Maybel are left. Until one day, among the steaming mush and the old filing cabinets from advertising agencies gone by, Maybel finds a rarity — a man.
10-minute
sharon the gh0st light
Sharon invited you here today because Sharon needs help. A play that takes place in your imagination and can be performed over Zoom.
10-minute
RESUME
honors
2023
Finalist, O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference
Semi-Finalist, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference
2022
Finalist, Ars Nova Play Group
Semi-Finalist, WP Lab
Finalist, Bushwick Starr Reading Series
2021
Winner, Brooklyn College Creative Writing Award
Winner, Brooklyn College Himan Brown Award in Creative Writing
2020
Semi-Finalist, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference
Semi-finalist, O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference
2019
Finalist, Cutting Ball Theater's Variety Pack
Finalist, The Leah Ryan Female Emerging Writers Award
2018
Semi-finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival
Grantee, Anna Sosenko Assist Trust
2017
Grantee, Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation
Semi-finalist, O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference
Selected participant, in 24 Hour Plays: Nationals
2016
Finalist, O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference
Honorable mention, Student Jane Chambers Award
2010
Honorable mention, Princeton University Ten-Minute Play Contest
Production at Katherine Delmar Burke School, dir. Pamela Rickard, 2013
Production at American Conservatory Theater Young Conservatory, dir. Amelia Stewart, 2012
Production at Marin Country Day School (then titled The Mile), dir. Steve Riffkin, 2011
orb
Virtual workshop reading in Brooklyn College New Play Lab Reading Series, dir. Zach Tomlinson, 2021
Full-lEngth Plays
ministers of loneliness
Workshop reading at The Mary Rodgers Room at the Dramatists Guild of America, 2019
HERE LIES CAPPY
Staged reading at The Tank, dir. Jenna Rossman, 2019
Workshop reading with Play by Play Lab, 2018
THE END OF MERMAIDS
Production with Corkscrew Theater Festival, dir. Allison Benko, 2018
Staged reading at The Tank, dir. Allison Benko, 2018
tender of you too
Production at The Tank, dir. Jenna Rossman, 2018
Production in Morse-Stiles Crescent, Yale University, dir. Ellie Boswell, 2016
Staged reading at Shetler Studios, dir. Dara Epstein, 2016
Staged reading at The Barrow Group Theatre, dir. Marshall Pailet, 2016
Staged reading in Calhoun Cabaret, Yale University, dir. Leah Osterman, 2015
Developed with YSD playwrights through O’Neill Playwriting Mentorship Program, 2014 - 2015
The Secret of Asteraceae
Short Plays
a Compendium of useless information
Performed by Marcia Gay Harden for 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, 2021
Mr. Davy's 2nd period advanced theater now on zoom
Performed by Sandra Bernhardt at Guild Hall, dir. Bob Balaban, 2021
Performed by Ty Dafoe for the 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, 2020
Monologue featured in 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, published collection, 2020
Hot CLown Cool Down
Virtual production in Brooklyn College Black Box 10-Minute Play Festival, dir. Geo Jones, 2020
The Colchester Thunder
Production with 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, dir. Jenna Rossman, 2017
Endless Moon, FREE CHICKPEA
Production with Brooklyn College Weasel Festival, dir. Florence LeBas, 2022
Big Happy Days
Staged reading at Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, dir. Jake Beckhard, 2022
Workshop production at Williamstown Theater Festival, dir. Jenna Rossman, 2019
2020 - 2022
Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, M.F.A. in Playwriting
EDUCATION
2018 - 2020
Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts and The Dramatists Guild
2012 - 2016
Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut, B.A. Humanities with distinction
contact
Anya is an empathetic, emotional, rationalizing, introverted, extroverted mystery unto herself who loves analyzing why people act and speak the way they do, learning about how things work, and the social manipulation game One Night Ultimate Werewolf ™. In her writing, Anya is compelled by the relationship between the lonely, the mundane, and the extreme. Playwriting honors include winning Brooklyn College's 2020-2021 Creative Writing Award and Brooklyn College’s Himan Brown Award for Creative Writing, being a finalist in the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, the Bushwick Starr Reading Series, the Leah Ryan's Fund for Emerging Women Writers, and the Cutting Ball Theater's Variety Pack Series, and being a semi-finalist in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Seven Devils' Playwrights Conference. Anya's work has been produced by the Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival, Brooklyn College, Guild Hall, Corkscrew Theater Festival, The Barrow Group Theatre, Yale College, The New School for Drama, The Tank, and The American Conservatory Theater's Young Conservatory. Anya was first bitten by the playwriting bug in 8th grade, when students were allowed to submit ideas for the class musical. “Write about what you know,” they always say, which is how Anya came up with her idea: a musical called Jack’s, which revolved around a Texan family who runs a bio-diesel truck stop, the English family who moves to town, and the evil uncle who drives a Hummer and is eventually undermined by his once loyal cadre of lady motorcyclists, who, deep down, actually care about the environment A LOT! Anya graduated with a BA from Yale University and an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College. www.anyarichkind.com
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