The Orchard Project Names Writers for 2026 Episodic Lab

The Orchard Project announced the artists and projects joining its 2026 Episodic Lab, the organization's summer residency devoted to television, film, and audio storytelling. Held on the campus of Skidmore College, the Lab brings writers together to develop pilots and series in progress through workshopping, table reads, and peer feedback alongside industry mentors.

"Television and film need writers who've spent real time in a room with actors, feeling how a story breathes in front of an audience," said Ari Edelson, Founding Artistic Director of The Orchard Project. "This year's Episodic Lab cohort brings that theatrical instinct to some of the boldest, funniest, and most urgent pilots we've seen — and our growing Homegrown community shows just how far these artists carry what they build with us in Saratoga."

2026 EPISODIC LAB

Little Apple Big Apple — Rhiana Yazzie

In Minneapolis two Native women, a therapist and playwright, start a mental health acting troupe. Against all odds — the snobbery of the performing arts world and the moral ambiguity of Native artists selling their culture to it — they manage to bring the magic of theater to a community that desperately needs to heal.

Rhiana Yazzie is a playwright, a director, TV writer, filmmaker, and a 2025 United States Artist Fellow. She is also a Lanford Wilson and Steinberg Award winning playwright. A Navajo Nation citizen (Ta'neeszahnii dóó Táchii'nii), she is the Artistic Director of New Native Theatre, which she started in 2009 as a response to the lack of connection and professional opportunities between Twin Cities theaters and the Native community, and it is the recipient of a 2023 Headwaters Bush Prize for Social Justice. She is one of the few women to have written and directed a play for The Kennedy Center: The Other Children of the Sun, which debuted in February 2025. Rhiana's work in theater has had an important impact on growing the artform in Minnesota for the last 19 years; she has been a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow and was recognized with a Sally Ordway Award for Vision. Rhiana wrote on AMC's Dark Winds seasons 2 & 3 and wrote, produced, and directed her debut feature film A Winter Love. She is working on her second feature film, an adaptation of a play called Wounspaye Wankatya, A College Education.

Website: www.rhianayazzie.com | Social: @RHIANAYAZZIE (Instagram & Facebook)

Queers — Jayne Deely (they/them)

When a disgraced former WNBA star is publicly dumped, humiliated on live television, and forced to start fresh, she bets everything on opening a queer sports bar in Queens, where a found family of misfits helps her build the home she's never been able to find.

Jayne Deely (they/them) is a Queens, NY born and bred boricua playwright and performer whose work blurs the line between sport and theatre, comedy and tragedy, and Queens and Brooklyn. Selected works: Legacy, When Pluto was a planet, I never asked for a gofundme, Walter Mercado Presents: A Queer Puerto Rican (Not Just) Christmxs Spectacular, and unqle play. Their plays have been developed with Seattle Public Theatre, the New Harmony Project, Breaking the Binary, Fresh Ground Pepper, theatre b, Moxie Theatre, American Stage, Renaissance Theaterworks, and others. They were recently named to the Kilroy's Web 25-26 (for I never asked for a gofundme) and are currently under commission with a Sloan grant from EST. Jayne is a proud member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the Dramatists Guild, and is based in Queens, NY. The rolling world premiere of I never asked for a gofundme begins at Actor's Express in Atlanta in October 2026. MFA, IU Bloomington.

Website: www.jaynedeely.com | Social: @realjaynesdean (Instagram), @JaynesDean (Facebook)

Koyta — Nayna Agrawal

In the cutthroat war between Pepsi and Coca-Cola India, a corporate bid to mandate hysterectomies for female sugarcane laborers ignites a national crisis — forcing a child worker, a defiant doctor, and the Indian state to confront the brutal cost of profit.

Nayna Agrawal is a former mediocre investment analyst, a tortured lobbyist associate, and ruthless international aid director. She got her start in Hollywood as a Writer's PA where a writer made her keep track of her menstrual cycle. A first gen South Asian gal, Nayna grew up in India and Virginia. Her plays have been workshopped, commissioned, awarded residencies and featured on stages across the U.S. She is a Sesame Street Writers Program alum (2018), Disney Writers Program alum (2019), South Asian Salon alum (2021), and an Unlock Her Potential alum (2022). She has written on eleven shows and worked on Encanto and another Disney movie that will never see the light of day. Most recently, she was an Executive Story Editor on a secret Chris Columbus Netflix show, and her play, Brad Pitt's My Bitch, won a commission with the Bechdel Project. Her play, Slut, will be produced in October in — wait for it — Arkansas. She writes about the absurdities and outrageousness of life to help her find the will to get out of bed.

Website: naynaagrawal.com

The Cuts — Dennis Staroselsky & Noah Bean

Eighteen-year-old Ryan leaves her small town to follow her dream at a prestigious acting conservatory, only to enter a cutthroat world of ambition, obsession, rivalry, sex, and self-discovery where reality and performance blur and she and her classmates are forced to decide how much of themselves they're willing to lose to become someone else.

Dennis Staroselsky is an award winning actor, writer and producer who has appeared in the feature films Detroit (directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow), American Woman, Love, Weddings and Other Disasters, and About Fate, among others. His TV credits include recurring roles on Julia, The Loudest Voice in the Room, The Deuce, and Madame Secretary, and guest spots on Nurse Jackie, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Castle Rock, Law & Order, and Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. His short film What It's Like To Be Okay, which he starred in, wrote, and produced, won Best US Short at the Waco Independent Film Festival. Theater credits include the world premiere of An Early History of Fire at The New Group, and appearances at A.R.T. and The Huntington Theatre Co. As a playwright, his full-length play Just About Cured was produced by the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Mr. Staroselsky holds a BFA in acting from Boston University and an MA in theater education from NYU. Co-writer Noah Bean has developed film and television projects with Amazon Studios, RadicalMedia, Walden Media, and Crown Media, and his television credits include series regular roles on Damages, Nikita, 12 Monkeys, The Endgame, and Ballard.

Social: @dstaroselsky (Instagram)

A More Perfect Union — Uzo Chijioke

When his girlfriend disappears right before he proposes, a decorated educator learns that his country is actually a cult allowed to operate independently in the US and his parents are the leaders shepherding the lie.

Uzo Chijioke is a Nigerian-American writer/director from Baltimore, MD whose narratives explore self-discovery while challenging societal norms. As a first-generation immigrant and U.S. Army veteran, he brings authentic perspectives on community and belonging to his work. After a career as a practicing pharmacist and management consultant, he pivoted to pursue long-neglected creative interests. His credits include co-creating and head-writing the Webby Award-winning, NAACP Image Award-nominated podcast TwentyOne 21: A Black AF Scripted Audio Comedy, and the short film The Ogene Man, which premiered with NewFilmmakers Los Angeles. He's also a WGF Veteran's Writing Project alum and was a finalist for Sundance Collab's Cultural Impact Residency and the Stowe Story Labs Narrative Lab Fellowship.

Website: www.uzochijioke.com | Social: @uzothecreator (Instagram)

Good Girl — Jackie Li

A lovesick, adrift cater-waiter is swept into the world of female domination when she falls fast for a charming man who's not what he seems.

Jackie Li is a queer Asian American writer who was most recently a Staff Writer on Physical for Apple TV+. Raised by Chinese immigrants and American pop culture, Jackie writes misfit characters with a chip on their shoulder, and stories exploring the search for identity, chosen family, intercultural dynamics, and how sometimes our greatest enemy is ourselves. She has contributed to shows for AMC, FOX, and YouTube Premium, and developed her original pilot TWINKIE with The 20K. She has visited nearly thirty countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, primarily alone, and is fluent in English and conversational in German. She is currently based in Berlin and Los Angeles.

Social: @notjackieli (Instagram)

Belle — Déa Julien & Olivia Khoshatefeh

In the early 1900s Midwest, Norwegian immigrant Belle Gunness chases the American Dream — until a dead man's sister arrives, threatening to expose her string of vanishing husbands.

Olivia Khoshatefeh is a filmmaker whose current projects include the feature films What R You? and Top of the Stairs and the limited series Belle (co-created with Déa Julien). She is currently launching Zaytoon, a platform dedicated to nurturing new work through salons, creative support, and production. Olivia is a Cinephilia Productions Fellow and produced the feature film Jabberjaw. As an actor, she is best known for her five-season recurring role as Dr. Turan on NBC's New Amsterdam, with additional credits including Inventing Anna, Elsbeth, Dickinson, Mr. Robot, Blindspot, Crashing, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. A graduate of Brown University's MFA Acting program, Olivia is drawn to stories about people who don't fit neatly into boxes. Her work gravitates toward cultural contradictions, complicated women, and anyone trying to make sense of who they are.

Déa Julien is an actor, singer, writer, and director born and raised in NYC. Current projects in development include Belle, a limited series co-created with Olivia Khoshatefeh, and Did You Know, a Wave Grant Finalist short film in which she starred as well as wrote, directed, and produced. Déa's opera film de jadis won the audience award at the Catapult Film Festival, and her play Sanctuary was commissioned by the Muse Project. As an actor, Déa has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in National Tours, at the Metropolitan Opera, and in various film projects. She is a recipient of Glamour Magazine's College Women of the Year Award, and received her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Déa is a first-generation American of Arab and Slavic descent, and is passionate about giving voice to dynamic female characters who subvert expectations, especially within queer and immigrant communities.

Website: www.oliviakh.com, www.deajulien.com | Social: @oliviagramz, @deakjulien (Instagram)

2026 EPISODIC HOMEGROWN

Alongside the core Episodic Lab, The Orchard Project's Episodic Homegrown program supports a cohort of writer-directors developing pilots and features with the guidance of OP mentors.

SMALL room — Desdemona Chiang & Kevin Kenerly

In the 1990's abandoned city of Detroit, a guileless young woman is exposed to a world of neglected crimes when she takes a job developing photos for the police homicide department.

Desdemona Chiang is a Taiwan-born director and writer for theatre, film, and TV. Her films have screened at CAAMFest, Newport Beach Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, HollyShorts, LAShorts, and DisOrient. She has developed work with the Sundance Episodic Program, Film Independent, The Orchard Project, and The Writers Lab. She is developing and directing her first full-length feature, Something About the Tide (Tribeca/AT&T Untold Stories finalist), and made her episodic directing debut on Fire Country (CBS/Paramount+) in February 2025. Princess Grace Award. AFI DWW+. WIF Directing Fellow. Drama League. Gold House Futures. Rideback Rise Circle. MFA Directing: University of Washington. Co-collaborator Kevin Kenerly is a 30-year member of The Acting Company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with Broadway and regional credits including Clyde's, Sweat, and All the Way.

Website: www.desdemonachiang.com | Social: @deschiang, @k2kenerly (Instagram)

Bad Brothers — Kelsey Fox (they/them)

Bad Brothers is an hour-long melo-dramedy where a young risk manager in a fraternity (think Olivia Pope in Vineyard Vines and a crew cut) must keep his frat out of trouble to rise from his small-town upbringing to aspirations of greatness. His job gets harder when the rebellious son of a Senator starts a drug ring.

Kelsey Fox (they) is a founding member of World's Most Best, a comedy collective quickly taking the internet — and Los Angeles — by storm. In addition to their comedy work, Kelsey's writing was most recently seen at the St. James Theater in Trisha Paytas's Big Broadway Dream. Before that, they worked with Sony and Amy Pascal on a musical comedy about princesses, and with The Orchard Project on a PlayStation development sprint. Kelsey's original comedy pilot, Home Grown, screened at the Santa Fe Film Festival. Kelsey also works in TV, assisting writers on The Hunting Wives (Netflix), Criminal (Amazon), Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu), and Hightown (Starz).

[Untitled Brett Maline Live Show] — Brett Maline

A live interactive show experience that explores the disabled POV.

Brett Maline is an award-winning, disabled multi-hyphenate. From small town Nebraska, he lives with a rare type of scoliosis. He is currently developing his half-hour multicam with Party Over Here; his feature Wrong Guy is set up with Bronxburgh Productions and is based on his short film, a Slamdance 2025 official selection and Adobe development grant recipient. A 2024 CBS Paramount Showcase alum, he wrote on the second season of Marvel's Loki while developing his first half-hour comedy with Sony Pictures Television. He also made his foreign film directorial debut with Mai, shot in Tokyo. With appearances on CBS, NBC, FOX, Amazon Prime, and Disney, Brett is a former cast member of the Groundlings Sunday Company and a UCB house sketch team veteran. His YouTube channel, Genuine Jerks, has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and Vulture.

The Last Broadcast — Carey Crim

After her husband's violent death, a grieving mother retreats with her teen-aged daughter to an isolated mountain home, where the arrival of her estranged father — a famed radio host slipping into dementia — awakens a terrifying presence feeding on buried family secrets and trauma.

Carey Crim is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her plays have been produced across the United States as well as internationally at The Park Theatre (London), Bay Street Theater (Sag Harbor), The Rubicon Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theater, The Royal Manitoba Theater Centre, Miners Alley, Shakespeare and Company, The Barter Theatre, Montgomery Theater, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Riverside Theater, The Public Theatre (Maine), Gulfshore Playhouse and many more. The Islanders recently premiered at Shakespeare and Company. 23 ½ Hours starred Sarah Paulson when it opened at Bay Street and was revived in London last year starring Lisa Dwan from the hit series MobLand and Blackshore. It will continue the journey in Warsaw, Poland this coming season and then on to Rome with an Italian tour to follow. Morning After Grace opened in Warsaw and Krakow this past March and is published by TRW. Her newest comedy Emma's Wedding(s) will premiere at The Purple Rose Theater (founded by Jeff Daniels) this summer. She has also written two hour-long dramas #Blessed and Triggered. Carey is a graduate of Northwestern University and represented by Mark Orsini at Bret Adams and Brandy Rivers at Amplified.

Website: newplayexchange.org/users/11900/carey-crim | Social: @careycrimcc (Instagram), facebook.com/carey.crim

Cheryl McCarthy's Death Day Party — Minoti Vaishnav

When an eccentric 76-year-old woman with terminal cancer decides to opt for assisted dying, she throws a loud, extravagant death day party to celebrate her departure from this earth — only to find that enjoying her last moments of life comes with family complications she never signed up for.

Minoti Vaishnav's writing and producing credits include television shows like True Lies (CBS) and The Equalizer (CBS), and scripted audio shows such as Someone Is Killing the Wolfhounds (#1 on the Apple Fiction Charts) and The Mind Doctor (#2 on the Apple Drama Charts). She's the author of six published short fiction pieces, including the Victorian-era detective tale To Catch a Ripper and noir fairytale Red. As a former pop star, she released three albums; as a former unscripted development producer, she interviewed NYPD detectives and CIA agents and turned FBI declassified files into true crime, historical, and paranormal investigation shows for Netflix, NatGeo, Discovery Channel and more. Minoti has a Master's degree in Creative Writing from Oxford University and is an alumna of the Rideback Rise Circle, Unlock Her Potential Program, CAPE New Writers Fellowship, The Orchard Project Episodic Lab, Napa Valley StreamFest's Big Pivot Program, and the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program.

Website: www.minotivaishnav.com | Social: @minotivaishnav (Instagram & Twitter/X)

EPISODIC LAB ADVISORS

The Episodic Lab is only possible thanks to the guidance of an Advisory Group of leading television writers, directors, and showrunners. Current and past guest advisors have included Warren Leight (Showrunner, Law & Order: SVU; Showrunner, In Treatment), David Mandel (Showrunner, Veep; Seinfeld, SNL), Beau Willimon (Creator and Showrunner, House of Cards), Theresa Rebeck (Creator and Showrunner, Smash), Rodrigo Garcia (Creator and Showrunner, In Treatment), Robert Schenkkan (Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning writer, The Pacific), Bekah Brunstetter (Supervising Producer, This Is Us), Laura Eason (Writer and Producer, House of Cards; Executive Producer, The Loudest Voice), Andrew Guest (Consulting Producer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Sarah Gubbins (Co-Executive Producer, Better Things; Executive Producer, I Love Dick), Jennifer Crittenden (Co-Executive Producer, Veep; Consulting Producer, Arrested Development), Gabrielle Allan (Co-Executive Producer, Veep; Co-Executive Producer, Scrubs), Etan Frankel (Executive Producer, Shameless; Executive Producer, Get Shorty), Jamie Pachino (Co-Executive Producer, The Brave; Co-Producer, Halt and Catch Fire), Dan Dietz (Co-Producer, BULL; Writer, Person of Interest; Producer, Westworld), Neena Beber (Executive Producer, Strangers), Stephen Kay (Executive Producer, Covert Affairs), Jason Grote (Writer, Mad Men and Smash), and Kyle Jarrow (Creator and Executive Producer, Valor).

EPISODIC LAB ALUMNI

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