Playwrights Diana Burbano & Khari Wyatt Receive Antaeus NEXT Commissions

Antaeus Theatre Company has selected playwrights Diana Burbano and Khari Wyatt as the recipients of the company's annual NEXT commissions, a new play development initiative now in its third year. An artist-driven theater company, Antaeus created the NEXT commissions to offer financial, dramaturgical and logistical support for the development of original, full-length works inspired by or in response to classic plays.

"Our NEXT commissions breathe new life into classic plays by fostering a dialogue between the past and present," said Antaeus artistic director Bill Brochtrup and producing executive director Ana Rose O'Halloran. "We are thrilled to partner with two incredible storytellers, Diana and Khari, as they craft new plays for the American theatrical canon."

Diana Burbano was named one of the L.A. Times "Latinx Vanguardia," and is a resident artist at Center Theatre Group, The Latino Theatre Company, and Breath of Fire Latina Ensemble. She is a Colombian immigrant, a playwright, and an actor. Burbano's plays include Ghosts of Bogotá, Sapience, Beheading Columbus, and Fabulous Monsters, a Latinx Punk Rock play that premiered at The Public Theatre of San Antonio in 2023, featuring the music of FEA. She also wrote Marie Dressler: Good Gal for the third season of "The Zip Code Plays" produced by Antaeus. Recently, Burbano played Izzy in Drunk at the Base of the Bohdi Tree at Mile High Theatre and Marisela in La Ruta at Artists Repertory. You can also see her as Viv the Punk in the cult musical Isle of Lesbos. She currently represents Southern California on the Dramatists Guild council.

Khari Wyatt is a twice selected MacDowell Fellow in Theatre (Playwriting). His drama, Some Type of Ecstasy, is published by Next Stage Press. His plays have been workshopped and presented in concert readings at Antaeus Theatre Company, Moving Arts, Circle X Theatre Company, The Road Theatre Company, Chalk Repertory Theatre, and Morgan-Wixson Theatre, among others. His work has been a finalist or semifinalist for New Dramatists, Ashland New Play Festival, Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Street Theatre New Works Festival, The Geffen Writers' Room, and the

Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellowship. He was one of eleven writers of #While We Breathe: A Night of Creative Protest, a streaming theatrical event produced by Brian Moreland and Arvind Ethan David. A member of Moving Arts, The Playwrights Union, and Independent Writers' Caucus, he is an alum of Howard University and earned an MFA in Film from Columbia University in the City of New York.

For more information about Antaeus Theatre Company and the NEXT commissions, go to www.antaeus.org.

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