2023 Guest Artists

Iowa New Play Festival Guest Artists

Since its inception in the 1970s, the Iowa New Play Festival has brought guest artists to campus to meet with students. Festival special guests attend all performances and give feedback to the creative team for each show, especially the playwright. The feedback is given in roundtable discussions following each reading and on the morning after each production or workshop. These roundtables help the playwright and his or her collaborators see their work in a professional context.

The following guests will join us for Iowa New Play Festival 2023:

meet this year's guest artists
LYNDE ROSARIO Lynde Rosario (she/her/hers) is a Dramaturg and the Director of Fellowship Programs at Playwrights’ Center. She is also the Impact Assessment Director for National New Play Network and President of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. Current and former affiliations include: The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, The Playwrights Realm, Working Theater Company, Curious Theatre Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, The Catamounts, Local Theater Company, Creede Repertory Theater, Athena Project, Letter of Marque Theater Company, and The Anthropologists. She holds a B.A. in Drama from Hofstra University, and a M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from The American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.
CATHERINE FILLOUX Catherine Filloux is an award-winning French American playwright and librettist who has been writing about human rights for many decades. Filloux’s play “How to Eat an Orange” was commissioned by INTAR, with its premiere next season at La MaMa in New York City. “White Savior” is nominated for The Venturous Play List. Her plays have been produced around the U.S. and internationally. Catherine is the librettist for four produced operas; “Orlando” premiered at the Vienna State Opera and is a Grawemeyer Award winner. Filloux’s new musical “Welcome to the Big Dipper” is a National Alliance for Musical Theatre finalist. Catherine has traveled for her plays to Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Morocco, Northern Ireland, Sudan and South Sudan. Filloux received her French Baccalaureate in Philosophy with Honors in Toulon, France, and is the co-founder of Theatre Without Borders. www.catherinefilloux.com
NAMBI E. KELLEY Nambi E. Kelley, award-winning playwright/actress, was a 2020-21 resident at New Victory Theatre through the LabWorks Program for BIPOC artists in New York City. She was chosen by Toni Morrison to adapt her novel JAZZ. Her adaptation of Richard Wright’s NATIVE SON which had its world premiere at Court Theatre has been seen across the country and premiered off-Broadway in 2019 at The Duke on 42nd Street (The Acting Company; AUDELCO Award for “Best Play”). She is currently developing multiple commercial theatre projects, and is a former playwright-in-residence at the National Black Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, and The Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. She is the recipient of the 2020 NNPN annual commission, the Prince Prize 2019, and a Dramatists Guild Foundation Writers Alliance Grant 2018-19. Nambi's newly formed production company, First Woman Inc, recently produced a digital and national tour of Nambi's young audiences' play, JABARI DREAMS OF FREEDOM, directed by Daniel Carlton. Nambi served as a writer on Showtime’s The Chi, Our Kind of People (Fox), Bel Air (Peacock), and will serve as story editor on an Apple Plus show, TBA. She is also in development with several other film and TV projects. www.nambikelley.com
EMMANUEL WILSON DG staff playwright, Emmanuel Wilson joined the staff of the Dramatists Guild in 2017 and current serves as Co-Executive Director. He manages member service and programming for America’s professional playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists. Emmanuel also oversees the Guild’s industry outreach, strategy, and communications. He is the proud parent of Faith and Imani Wilson. A playwright, producer, and lifelong resident of New York City, Emmanuel founded The Blue Rose Stage Company at age 18, serving as its artistic director for six years. At TADA! Youth Theater, Emmanuel served as artistic associate and literary manager, commissioning and supporting new works from writers including Stephen Schwartz, Lisa Diana Shapiro, and Eric Rockwell. While at TADA, Emmanuel assisted in organizational and season planning, and produced a playwriting contest and reading series for teens. In 2003, he was selected as a New Generations Future Leader by Theater Communications Group. This multi-year fellowship, designed to "cultivate and strengthen a new generation of future theatre leadership" was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

meet this year's guest artists

LYNDE ROSARIO

Lynde Rosario (she/her/hers) is a Dramaturg and the Director of Fellowship Programs at Playwrights’ Center. She is also the Impact Assessment Director for National New Play Network and President of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. Current and former affiliations include: The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, The Playwrights Realm, Working Theater Company, Curious Theatre Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, The Catamounts, Local Theater Company, Creede Repertory Theater, Athena Project, Letter of Marque Theater Company, and The Anthropologists. She holds a B.A. in Drama from Hofstra University, and a M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from The American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.

CATHERINE FILLOUX

Catherine Filloux is an award-winning French American playwright and librettist who has been writing about human rights for many decades. Filloux’s play “How to Eat an Orange” was commissioned by INTAR, with its premiere next season at La MaMa in New York City. “White Savior” is nominated for The Venturous Play List. Her plays have been produced around the U.S. and internationally. Catherine is the librettist for four produced operas; “Orlando” premiered at the Vienna State Opera and is a Grawemeyer Award winner. Filloux’s new musical “Welcome to the Big Dipper” is a National Alliance for Musical Theatre finalist. Catherine has traveled for her plays to Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Morocco, Northern Ireland, Sudan and South Sudan. Filloux received her French Baccalaureate in Philosophy with Honors in Toulon, France, and is the co-founder of Theatre Without Borders. www.catherinefilloux.com

NAMBI E. KELLEY

Nambi E. Kelley, award-winning playwright/actress, was a 2020-21 resident at New Victory Theatre through the LabWorks Program for BIPOC artists in New York City. She was chosen by Toni Morrison to adapt her novel JAZZ. Her adaptation of Richard Wright’s NATIVE SON which had its world premiere at Court Theatre has been seen across the country and premiered off-Broadway in 2019 at The Duke on 42nd Street (The Acting Company; AUDELCO Award for “Best Play”). She is currently developing multiple commercial theatre projects, and is a former playwright-in-residence at the National Black Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, and The Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. She is the recipient of the 2020 NNPN annual commission, the Prince Prize 2019, and a Dramatists Guild Foundation Writers Alliance Grant 2018-19. Nambi's newly formed production company, First Woman Inc, recently produced a digital and national tour of Nambi's young audiences' play, JABARI DREAMS OF FREEDOM, directed by Daniel Carlton. Nambi served as a writer on Showtime’s The Chi, Our Kind of People (Fox), Bel Air (Peacock), and will serve as story editor on an Apple Plus show, TBA. She is also in development with several other film and TV projects. www.nambikelley.com

EMMANUEL WILSON

DG staff playwright, Emmanuel Wilson joined the staff of the Dramatists Guild in 2017 and current serves as Co-Executive Director. He manages member service and programming for America’s professional playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists. Emmanuel also oversees the Guild’s industry outreach, strategy, and communications. He is the proud parent of Faith and Imani Wilson.

A playwright, producer, and lifelong resident of New York City, Emmanuel founded The Blue Rose Stage Company at age 18, serving as its artistic director for six years. At TADA! Youth Theater, Emmanuel served as artistic associate and literary manager, commissioning and supporting new works from writers including Stephen Schwartz, Lisa Diana Shapiro, and Eric Rockwell. While at TADA, Emmanuel assisted in organizational and season planning, and produced a playwriting contest and reading series for teens. In 2003, he was selected as a New Generations Future Leader by Theater Communications Group. This multi-year fellowship, designed to "cultivate and strengthen a new generation of future theatre leadership" was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.