Supporting Visionary Storytellers...

2025/2026 Cohort

Finalists

Natalie Moore

Billboard

Playwright BIO

Natalie Y. Moore a senior lecturer at Northwestern University. She’s the author of “The Billboard,” a play about abortion produced by 16th Street Theater in July 2022, which won a Jeff Award for best new work/short run. The play is part of the 2021 Bridge Program of the National New Play Network and Haymarket Books published the text. “The Billboard” was performed as a scripted reading in 2022 at the American Studies Association conference in New Orleans and in 2023 at the University of Chicago Green Line Performing Arts Center. She was a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, which gave her the inaugural Lydia Diamond playwriting award in 2023.

For the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Chicago riots, she co-wrote a 30-minute audio drama with Make Believe Association that aired on WBEZ and was released as a podcast. 16th Street Theater adapted portions of “The South Side” in 2019. Natalie collaborated again with Make Believe Association on the fictional Lake Song podcast, an audio drama. In spring 2023, she was a playwright-in-residence at Chicago State University in conjunction with Chicago Dramatists. She is a 2021 USA Fellow for writing.

Play synopsis

A birthday party on Chicago's South Side in 2010 takes a surprising turn when the arrival of an unexpected visitor exposes familial conflict and ideological differences that seek to undermine the sanctity of home and trouble the meaning of community.

Nichole Thompson-Adams

A Widow's Guide to Menopause, Sex and Modern Dating

Playwright BIO

Nichole Thompson-Adams is an actress, writer and solo performer whose body of work explores the intersections of identity, place, and transformation. With deep roots in theater and storytelling, Nichole brings a voice that is raw, funny, and unflinchingly honest—drawing from her lived experiences as a widow, mother, artist, and working real estate professional.

Nichole first garnered acclaim for her autobiographical solo play Black Girl You’ve Been Gentrified, performed at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater and Cherry Lane Theatre. In it, she examined race, class, and neighborhood change with both biting insight and compassion.

Her screen credits include the documentary All This Panic, where she appears as herself, and Nickelodeon’s Take Me to Your Mother, where she was featured as a comedian. Whether on stage or screen, Nichole brings a magnetic presence rooted in truth and legacy.

Nichole's newest work is.... A Widow’s Guide to Menopause and Dating, a bold and intimate one-woman show that weaves humor, ancestral wisdom, and cultural commentary to confront the messy beauty of grief, aging, sensuality, and reinvention—especially through the lens of Black womanhood. The show is part storytelling ritual, part stand-up confession, and all heart.

A fierce believer in the power of stories to heal and disrupt, Nichole is building a body of work that amplifies the voices of women who’ve been told to tough it out and stay silent. She’s not whispering anymore—and she invites you to laugh, cry, and sweat with her through it all.

Play synopsis

A bold, hilarious solo show about menopause, sex, grief, and rebirth at midlife: I got tired of whispering about what my body was screaming—so I put it on stage. Come for the laughs, stay for the healing. Lace underwear, hot flashes, ancestral wisdom, and Hinge dates collide in a journey that just might free you too.

Finalists will engage in and benefit from a 6 month long one-on-one play development process resulting in an invited audience staged reading.

Semi-Finalist Team

Christin Cato

Co-Bookwriter / Co-Lyricist BIO

Christin is a playwright and performing artist from the Bronx. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University and completed her BA degree at Fordham University. Cato is also a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and the Performing Arts. She is affiliated with NYC theater companies, Pregones/PRTT (resident dramaturg & ensemble member), INTAR Theatre (UNIT 52 ensemble member), and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. Honoring her Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots, Cato’s artistic style is expressed through Caribbean culture and the Afro-Latinx diaspora. She has developed her work with The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Harlem9, Pregones Theater, Milagro Theatre, Borderlands Theater, Teatro Vivo, Indiana University, Texas State University, Cardinal Stage, Conch Shell Productions, KCACTF, and The Silverton Theatre Mine. Cato is also the recipient of the 2020 Greater Good Commission for Afro-Latinx writers. She is currently repped by 3 Arts Entertainment.

Marjuan Canady

Co-Bookwriter / Lead Producer BIO

Named as a 2023, Woman to Watch on Broadway, Marjuan is a Tony® Nominated Broadway Producer and award-winning

Caribbean-American film and theatre artist, entrepreneur, educator, and mom to her five year old daughter. A DC native, her work spans theater, film, and children’s media. Broadway Co-Producing credits include: “Purple Rain”, “The Wiz”, “Hell’s Kitchen”, and “Death of a Salesman”. Marjuan was the 2021 inaugural Front Row Productions Fellow at Columbia University MFA Theatre Management and Producing Program. Her original work has been seen on Hoorae Media, Sensical TV, Sesame Street, at The John F. Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian, The Lincoln Center, The Folger Shakespeare Library, Harlem Stage, and The National Theatre. She is the Co-Founder, CEO and Writer of Callaloo Kids. She is the Founder of her production company Sepia Works and non-profit, Canady Foundation for the Arts. Canady is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and holds her BA in Theatre and African Studies from Fordham University and her MA in Arts Politics from NYU Tisch. She is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Film at Montgomery College.

Synopsis - TAP IN the Musical

Tap In is a coming of age tap dance musical that follows the lives of three talented black / brown 17 year old girls, Destini, Emi, and Kai, as they defy the odds stacked against them in a world that causes them to doubt themselves. The time is 1999, and a new century awaits, although the girls don’t know each other and their paths are different, their struggles are parallel. Each girl has an undeniable talent that inspires them to dream big about their goals. Although they have obvious potential, obstacles and discouragement always seem to knock on their doors. Where they come from, for a black or brown girl to believe in greatness is merely an unrealistic tall tale of fantasy. As high school graduation lingers around the corner, they must decide what they will do next- choose academia, find a job, or completely abandon their dreams of stardom. The world seems bleak until their ancestral godmothers, The Muses, from a future dimension beckon them on an adventure that will reveal their past, present, and potential future. They offer the girls the revelation of a lifetime- the opportunity to see their best future selves striving in the world that keeps rejecting them. However, The Muses long lost sister, Pheme, tempts them with fame and fortune, showing them an alternate path marked with social status and celebrity. Phemes kidnaps them into her dimension and the girls must go through a right of passage, together and choose their destiny. With the guidance of their ancestral godmothers, Emi, Kai, and Destini tap into their soul's deepest desires, reclaiming their purpose and taking their space in the world. Inspired by hip-hop and tap dance, this story is a celebration of young women of color daring to make their dreams a reality.

Tap In is a musical that spotlights the black / brown girl's journey through storytelling, rhythm, spoken word, percussion, hip-hop, and tap dance. This musical highlights themes of sisterhood, femininity, growing up, love, and triumph through three friends, Emi, Kai, and Destini, who discover themselves through the beat of life. Tap In is a playful remembering, conjuring and healing of a black / brown girl’s story. Featuring the award-winning female tap dance company, "Syncopated Ladies", Tap In pays homage to the art form of tap dance through the lens of contemporary black womanhood as its lead curators. This musical reflects the conversations, culture, and creative genius from black/brown girlhood to womanhood.

Semi-finalists will engage in and benefit from a 7 week long one-on-one development prep process with a play development dramaturge.

The Play Development Lab offers play- development experience for Black women playwrights to advance process, craft & career.

The Play Development Lab, created by Professor Denise J. Hart, is part of the Howard University Department of Theatre Art's New Works Initiative, designed by professor Hart to offer comprehensive play development support to professional Black women playwrights.

Through this program, Professor Hart aims to advance participants creative processes, enhance their craft, and foster long-term careers.

The Lab serves as a vital resource for playwrights while also providing Howard University students with invaluable opportunities to engage directly in developing new plays that center on the Black Diaspora. Students will participate in various roles, from acting to stage management, fostering an interactive and collaborative learning experience.

The inaugural cohort for the 2024/2025 Play Development Lab included six professional playwrights, two of whom were selected as finalists. The finalists each received a developmental play reading, allowing students and patrons to witness the creative process.

The Play Development Lab is an essential step forward in creating spaces where Black women playwrights can hone their craft while also fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for the ongoing development of the Black theater canon.

Playwrights We Attract Are...

Black Women Playwrights...

who write plays better than "AI" can copy them

who have something radically meaningful to say

who are willing to look like they're wrong but they write anyway

who own their personal status

who own their unique voice

who don't ask for permission

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