2020 AATE National Conference
July 23 - August 2, 2020

Meet the Playwrights

Mix and mingle with the playwrights after the Playwright Slam make sure to join our Q&A on
Wednesday, July 29th at 8:45pm (EDT).

Sandy Asher

Play title "Fidelio"

SANDRA FENICHEL ASHER's plays have been produced nationally and abroad. The American Alliance for Theatre and Education has honored her work with three Distinguished Play Awards (for A Woman Called Truth, In the Garden of the Selfish Giant, and Jesse and Grace: A Best Friends Story), the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award and the Sara Spencer Artistic Achievement Award. Sandy has also
received playwriting fellowship grants from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Children's Theatre Foundation of America. Author of over two dozen children's books for young readers, including the acclaimed picture books Too Many Frogs! and Chicken Story Time), she has edited several anthologies, including American Heartbeat: True Stories Told in Scenes and Monologues. Sandy’s plays are available from Dramatic Publishing Company; six are anthologized in Tell Your Story: The Plays and Playwriting of Sandra Fenichel Asher. Visit Sandy at http://sandyasher.com.

Jeff Jenkins

Play title "Timmon and the Magic Shoes"

Jeff is a Chicago playwright. He was recently awarded the Playwrights in Our Schools grant through AATE, taking place in Utah, fall 2020, for Scout’s Honor. He completed a residency with the TYE Center (UVU), winner of the Old Miner Children's Playwriting competition, Spring 2019, Timmon and the Magic Shoes. He is a two-time semi-finalist with Write Now and NYU's New Plays for Young Audiences. Plays which have been workshopped or produced include The Purple Heart, The Day Starbucks Stood Still, Minotaur of Warren Park, Monarch Ashes, and Montenegro.  His play The Jumping Giraffe of the Savannah is published by YouthPLAYS. His plays have had readings at Adventure Stage Chicago, Northwestern University, Utah Valley University, TYA/USA national conferences, AATE conferences, and Chicago Dramatists. Jeff serves as co-chair of the Playwrights Network, AATE and also serves on the Young Playwrights for Change National Competition selection committee (AATE & TYA/USA). 

Website: jeffjenkinswrites.com

New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/15265/jeff-jenkins

Thera Langham Knapp (Playwright) and Hestia (Mary) September (Composer)

Play title: "The Tale of Miss Beatrix Potter"

Joanna Lewton

Play title "Ella Under the Table"

Joanna Lewton is a founding teacher and the Arts Director at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington DC. She has an MA in
Drama/Theatre For the Young from Eastern Michigan University and a BA in Fine Arts/Theatre from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. She
has written several TYA musicals, including Looking To Fly, Ella Under the Table, The 3 Little Kittens and Frederick.

J.S. Puller

Play title "The Reluctant Superhero"

J. S. Puller is a playwright and author from the Windy City, Chicago. She has a master's degree in elementary education and a bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and is actively involved in researching the social-emotional benefits of arts education with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. When not writing, she can usually be found in the theatre. Her debut novel, CAPTAIN SUPERLATIVE, was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She also has several published plays, including: WOMEN WHO WEAVE (Playscripts, Inc.), PERSEUS & MEDUSA; OR, IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME (Lazybee Scripts), and THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD (Stage Rights).

Website: pullerwrites.wordpress.com
Twitter: twitter.com/pullerwrites
Facebook: facebook.com/puller.writes

Michelle Reif

Play title "The Different Duckling"

Michelle Reiff is a playwright and the founder of GreasePaint Script House. Michelle's musicals have been produced at local schools as in-class and after-school enrichment and have been used as programming for ADL's No Place for Hate™ initiative. Michelle directed the school productions and created academic activities related to themes in the musicals. She has been involved in school and community theatre as a volunteer costume and set builder.

Originally from New York, Michelle received her undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at Binghamton and her J.D. at Harvard Law School, where she was involved in the HLS Drama Society. Michelle practiced law in New York and Denver, taught preschool drama classes, and served on Colorado Governor Roy Romer's staff. Michelle sits on the boards of the regional Anti-Defamation
League and the Denver Children's Home. Michelle lives in Denver with her husband and has 3 children.

Illana Rogel-Wieder

Play title "Through a Magical Forest"

Ilana Rogel-Wieder received her M.F.A. in Theatre and Dance from UC Davis.  As part of her graduate thesis, she was selected to study with some of the greatest acting teachers in Russia, at the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy.  During her stay in Russia, she wrote a One-Woman show called, “Drunk with Russian Love”  The show was a hit in many theaters in L.A.  

Ilana also taught theatre classes in schools and worked as a motion-capture and theatrical actress in L.A. for over ten years.

Currently, Ilana enjoys a writing career where she writes poetry, articles, books and plays.  Two of her plays were recently produced by schools and Temples and have had rave audience reviews. 

John Newman

Play title "Clara and the Mermaids"

Dr. John D. Newman is chair of the Utah Valley University Department of Theatrical Arts, and Director of UVU’s Theatre for Youth and Education (TYE) Center. He taught and directed theatre at Highland High School eighteen years. He earned his masters degree from the University of Texas and his Ph.D. from New York University. Dr. Newman’s Playwriting In Schools Dramatic Navigation is the winner of the 2020 AATE Distinguished Book Award. John Newman has published plays with Dramatic Publishing, YouthPLAYS, Eldredge Publishing, and Leicester Bay Theatricals and has also published three novels for young readers. He has adapted novels by Avi, Paul Fleischman, Richard Peck, Shannon Hale, and Jean Lee Latham. He has performed his original solo play The Man Behind the Curtain about Wizard of Oz author L Frank Baum in ten states as well as off-off-Broadway at the United Solo Festival. He can be reached at [email protected].