Colt Coeur Names 2026-2027 Resident Artists & Reveals Second Beacon Commission

Colt Coeur has revealed their 2026-27 Resident Artists, which will include playwright Hellen Gallagher, director and sound designer Carsen Joenk, playwright Xiaoyan Kang, playwright Nikhil Mahapatra, director Irvin Mason Jr., director Emily Moler, director and playwright Colm Summers, and scenic designer Ningning Yang.

Now in its 9th year Colt Coeur's Residency provides an intimate group of playwrights, directors, and designers with the invaluable resources of community, space to work, and a stipend. Artistic Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt and Artistic Associate Talya Braverman meet with Residents quarterly with an emphasis on forging authentic creative collaborations and amplifying their artistic voices. Colt Coeur also invites luminaries from the field to join the group for conversations and networking. Colt Coeur receives roughly 400 applications and interviews with only 20 finalists; eight of whom are selected for the year-long cohort. Alumni of the program include Will Arbery, Kate Cortesi, Jeremy O. Harris, Rehana Lew Mirza, Danya Taymor, Whitney White, and Pirronne Yousefzadeh.

In partnership with Shea Theatricals, Colt Coeur is thrilled to announce playwright Kallan Dana as the second recipient of their annual Beacon Commission. Selected from nearly 100 applicants, Kallan's untitled project centers on a Vietnam War-era draft evasion counseling service and poses philosophical inquiries about activism, peace, and violence.

Colt Coeur's inaugural Beacon Commission, War Brides by Alex Lin, directed by Cara Hinh, will have an industry reading on Friday, December 4th at 2pm.

Helen Gallagher

Helen Gallagher is a writer based in New York City. Her work has been developed with New Georges, ART/NY, Alliance Theater, and more. She holds an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College ('26), where she is also an adjunct professor in the English department. www.helenngallagher.com @helenoftheinternet

Carsen Joenk

Carsen Joenk is a director and sound designer. She is the co-artistic director of Rat Queen Theatre Company and a founding member of Sour Milk (DIRT, Traffic). Carsen has been a Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, Mercury Store Directing Fellow, Roundabout Directors' Group Member, Wingspace Directing Mentee, OSF FAIR awardee, New Georges Jam Member, and NAMT Directing Observer. She is also the co-creator of Miss Atomic Power and Jerusalem, FL (2024 + 2025 National Playwright Conference finalists). Carsen has developed and presented work with Ars Nova, Lincoln Center, New Georges, Nantucket Performing Arts Center, Clubbed Thumb, NYTW, Colt Coeur, Rattlestick, Exponential Festival, Fresh Ground Pepper, EST, Gingold Theatrical Group, Ice Factory/New Ohio, Ugly Face, and more. www.carsen-joenk.com @carsenjoe

Xiaoyan Kang

Born and raised in China, Xiaoyan Kang started writing plays in English while studying under Philip Gotanda at Berkeley. She is currently a member of EST/Youngblood and Boston Court Pasadena's Playwrights Group, and a recipient of South Coast Repertory's Elizabeth George commission. Her plays have been developed with The Playwrights Realm, Alliance Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Commons, Sewanee Writers' Conference, Et Alia, among others. She has been recognized as a runner-up for the Jane Chambers Award, a finalist for the Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award, and a regional winner of the BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition. Her short plays have been produced by EST/Sloan, Samuel French OOB Festival and 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. MFA: Iowa Playwrights Workshop. @kkxiaoyzzz

Nikhil Mahapatra

Nikhil Mahapatra is a writer based in Brooklyn. They are a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, O'Neill National Playwright's Conference Finalist, SPACE at Ryder Farm Creative Resident, Yaddo Resident, Hi-ARTS Critical Breaks resident, Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group member, and a finalist for a bunch of other important-sounding stuff. Their work has been showcased at The Road, Gingold Theatre Company, The Tank, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Brick, wild project and more. Latest theatrical works include SWEETFISH!, American Hunger, CARNAL, Lost in the Fire, Love You More, Bali Babes and an untold amount of other things of questionable quality. Other media includes the short film SPF (NYITFF 2019), and select short stories and poems published in America and Singapore. www.nikhilmahapatra.com @nik.nak

Irvin Mason Jr.

Irvin Mason Jr. is an island boy turned New York-based director, raised in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. His work combines the Caribbean Carnival traditions he grew up with a visually driven theatrical language to reimagine American storytelling. He is the associate director of Mexodus and the upcoming production of In the Heights at New York City Center. He has collaborated with and worked at New York City Center, Audible Theater, Ojai Playwright's Conference, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, New York Stage and Film, the Playwrights' Center, Primary Stages, American Conservatory Theater, the Atlantic Acting School, The Acting Company, The MUNY, Red Bull Theater, AMAS, Gallery Players, Brooklyn College, and Park Square Theatre. Drama League Directors Project, Roundabout Directors Group, SDCF Observership, and NAMT Assistantship alum. UCLA Grad. www.irvinmasonjr.com @iirvinmason

Emily Moler

Emily Moler is a director of theater, film, and voice over performance. Selected credits include: Very Blue Light (The Tank), Constellations (Rogue Theater Company), WAD (American Lives Theater), The Grown-Ups (Baby Teeth), Bitch Boxer (Krank Brooklyn), Minor Character and The Winter Guard Play (Skidmore College), Dance Nation, Nonna Kills the President, Promithes Promithes, Uncle Vanya, As You Like It, Men on Boats, End Days, and Ironbound (UCSD), And We're Live and Coffee Break (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Chamber Music, Untitled American Flag Craft Project, and Good Cry (self-produced). Emily is a New Georges affiliated artist and a Drama League alum. B.S. Skidmore College. M.F.A. UCSD. www.emilymoler.com @emoler

Colm Summers

Colm Summers is an award-winning Irish director and writer from Blackwater, Ireland, based in Brooklyn, and Artistic Director of Working Theater. Select directing: Every Brilliant Thing at Geffen Playhouse, (Theatrely's Best of 2023); Derek Murphy's The Bad Daters (US Premiere); Philip Dawkins' The Comedians at Raven Theatre, Chicago (Jeff Nominated). He has developed work with Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkeley Rep, The Abbey Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Page 73, Clubbed Thumb, Irish Rep, and others. Colm was a 2024 Drama League Next Stage Fellow, Geffen Playhouse's inaugural Director-in-Residence, and a Resident Director at the Abbey Theater, Dublin. His play Falls won Phoenix Theatre Company's 2026 Festival of New American Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. www.colmsummers.com @colm_summers

Ningning Yang

Ningning Yang is a scenic designer, and an exploring artist in audiovisual and immersive installations. Ningning works to connect, heal and question through world-building and connecting senses. Recent productions include Dragoness at Inspiration Point, Radio Man at Paradise Factory Theater, La Perichole at Manhattan School of Music, the Stripped Series at 59e59 with LAByrinth Theater Company, Blood Orange at A.R.T (Et Alia), and Land of Lost Objects at Chashama. She started exploring immersive installations with an emphasis on audio-visual connection since her thesis at graduate school (Carnegie Mellon Drama). She created For Your Eyes and Ears, an actor activated installation, and Somewhere- End of the World, an audience driven sensory experience. www.ningningyang.com @ningning39y

Kallan Dana

Kallan Dana (Beacon Commission) is a playwright originally from Portland, Oregon. Productions include Lobster (The Tank, Best Theater of 2025 in The New Yorker and Vulture/New York Magazine) and RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR (The Hearth/A.R.T. NY and Artists Repertory Theater). She has developed or presented work with the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center/National Playwrights Conference, Yaddo, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, The Working Theater, The Hearth, The Tank, Artists Repertory Theatre, The Cell, Portland Theater Festival, Bramble Theatre Company, Dixon Place, Northwestern University, Prelude/The Segal Center, and Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. She is a New Georges affiliated artist and a recipient of the 2025 National Theatre Conference Paul Green Award. She makes theater with her company Needy Lover. MFA: Northwestern University.