ZAKIYYAH ALEXANDER

Zakiyyah Alexander is a writer and actor. She is the author of: 10 Things to Do Before I Die (Second Stage Uptown), Sick? (Summer Play Festival), The Etymology of Bird (Hip Hop Theater Festival, Providence Black Repertory Theatre), Blurring Shine (Market Theater, Johannesburg), Sweet Maladies (Rucker Theatre), something new, You Are Here, and The Focus. Her work has been seen and/or developed at: WET, A Contemporary Theater (ACT), Classical Theater of Harlem, Bristol Riverside Theater, Philadelphia Theater Company, The Humana Festival, Penumbra Theater, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Rattlestick Theater, Hartford Stage, 24/7 Theater Company, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, Vineyard Theater, the Women's Project, Gale GAtes et. al, La Mama Theatre, Greenwich Street Theater, etc. Awards include: Helen Merrill Emerging Playwriting Award, ACT New Play Award/Lorainne Hanseberry Prize, Stellar Network Award, Theodore Ward Prize, Jackson Phelan Award, Drama League New Directors/New Works, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, Young Playwrights Inc.,etc. Her work is included in the current edition of New Monologues for Women by Women, featured in the book of essays, Girls who like Boys who like Boys, and Game on: The Humana Festival ’08 Anthology. A resident member of New Dramatists; past residencies and fellowships include: EST's Youngblood, the Women's Project Writer's Lab, the Women's Work Project, and the Drama League. She has received commissions from: Second Stage, The Philadelphia Theater Company and the Children’s Theater of Minneapolis.  A graduate of the Yale School of Drama (MFA in playwriting); currently on faculty at Bard College where she teaches undergraduate playwriting.  Zakiyyah is a native New Yorker and was raised in Queens and Brooklyn.