An emerging American playwright, Susan Kathryn Hefti’s plays have been developed or produced
at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater NYC; The Lark Play Development Center NYC; The
Harold Clurman Playwrights Division at The Stella Adler Studio NYC; St. Mark’s
Church-in-the Bowery Theatre NYC; Long Beach Playhouse Theatre CA; Capital Stage Company CA and in Paris at Théâtre Mélo d'Amelie & La Comédie
Bastille.
Susan’s newest play THE POWER
PLAY, or Smart Bombs & Other Sexy
Toys received a Roundtable Reading at the Lark Play Development Center NYC
in July 2013. Selected by Capital Stage for its annual New Works Festival PLAYWRIGHTS REVOLUTION, the play also received a staged reading in California in August
2013. THE POWER PLAY is scheduled to receive a second Roundtable Reading at the
Lark Play Development Center NYC in November 2013.
AMERICAN DAMES, or Waiting for Dolley (2012 Long Beach Playhouse New Works
Festival Finalist; 2011-2012 Harold Clurman Playwright-in-Residence
Finalist & Beverly Hills Theatre Guild's 2012 Julie Harris Playwright
Award Semi-Finalist) enjoyed readings at both the 2012 Harold Clurman
Playwrights Division’s New Play Reading Festival in NYC and the 2012 Long Beach
Playhouse Theatre’s New Works Festival in Long Beach, California.
Following a
staged reading at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery Theatre, Susan’s one-act
history play A DEFIANT SOUL – which explores religious persecution in 17th century New Amsterdam – was adapted to be used as a teaching tool in workshops
led by theatre artist Vernice Miller and has been widely performed by students
exploring early NYC history and the establishment of religious freedom in
America.
A DEFIANT SOUL
also brought Susan a commission from the City of NY to research, curate and write the
narrative for the related exhibit on the 1657 document protesting religious
intolerance in New Amsterdam. The exhibit – which Susan entitled The Flushing Remonstrance: Who Shall Plead For Us? – was designed
to travel around the country following its 2009 NYC debut. In 2010, the history
exhibit authored by Hefti enjoyed a NYC encore, extending again due
to popular demand and was most recently on display in Philadelphia (2012).
Susan’s other plays include KEEPIN'
COOL (2004 Princess Grace Award Semi-Finalist), OFF THE BENCH and DEAR
PRUDENCE.
A proud member
of the Dramatists Guild, The Playwrights’ Center and Fractured Atlas, Susan
began her professional writing career as a journalist specializing in
environmental news before transitioning into writing for the stage.
In 2009, NY
Theater Critic Leonard Jacobs invited Susan to write a regular column for his
online magazine The Clyde Fitch Report. Happy to use the opportunity to explore yet another issue close to her heart,
Susan dubbed the series The Preservation Diaries.
A 2004 recipient
of a PEN American Center Writers Grant, Susan has taught at several Universities
including Brown & Yale.
