Winners Of The 2024/25 Play LA Program Revealed

Rachel Borders, Luisa Hill, India Kotis, Matthew Scott Montgomery and Erica Wachs have been selected as winners of the 2024/25 PLAY LA Program. 

Created in 2015 by Shem Bitterman and Cathleen Young, PLAY LA, in partnership with The Greenway Court Theatre and Stage Raw, develops five original plays by local writers from the ground up and pairs them with area theatres. In addition, each writer is awarded a $1,500 stipend, and the opportunity to work with professionals in the world of theatre and film in the development of their new works.   

Said Shem, “Unlike most play development programs, PLAY LA teams writers with theaters in order to fuel production opportunities, therefore PLAY LA is as dedicated to the health of the theater sector as it is to the play development process.” Now co-executive director of the program, Bitterman is an award-winning playwright, director and screenwriter. 

Adds co-executive director, playwright, critic and head of Stage Raw, Steven Leigh Morris, “PLAY LA aims to nurture new plays into being and bring them to the stage in full productions in as timely a manner as possible. The health and strength of the theatre lives in its ability to react nimbly to current events, and the health of playwrights depends on their ability to see their works staged.” Accordingly, at the end of the year-long writing process, PLAY LA will present a two-day festival of the new plays in collaboration with notable local theatres.

Rachel Borders (she/her) is a writer who's been a member of IAMA's Emerging Playwright's Lab, Road Theatre's Under Construction Playwrights Group, and Playground-LA's Writers' Circle. In television, she's written for FOX's “Proven Innocent” and DirecTV Audience Network's “Rogue.” 

Louisa Hill is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, who reckons with social issues through heart, humor, and horror. 

India Kotis is a playwright and anthropologist, chiefly interested in why and how the meanings of things change. Academically and dramatically, her work spans the realms of anthropology, archaeology, the natural world and the known universe. 

Matthew Scott Montgomery is an award-winning actor and writer mostly known for his time acting on Disney Channel on such shows as “Sonny With a Chance,” “So Random!,” “Austin & Ally,” and “Shake It Up” in addition to being onstage at The Geffen Playhouse (Stage Kiss), in Del Shores' Southern Baptist Sissies and the Peacock series “Unidentified with Demi Lovato.” He can next be seen in a workshop of his play FOURSOME at IAMA Theatre as part of their New Works Fest as well as serving as writer and star of the upcoming horror feature Howdy, Neighbor! opposite Debby Ryan and Alyson Stoner. 

Erica Wachs is a lesbian LA-based playwright and television writer who graduated with a degree in English and Playwriting from Yale in 2018. She currently serves as the writers' assistant on an Apple project, after working in support staff capacities for shows across Netflix, FX, and an upcoming Mattel feature. 

Past participants and winners of the PLAY LA prize include: Lisa Sayane Dring, Inda Craig-Galván, Sigrid Gilmer, Boni Alvarez, Ngozi Anyanwu and Stacy Osei-Kuffour. Former participating theatres in the PLAY LA FESTIVAL include: Center Theatre Group, The Skylight Theatre Company, IAMA Theatre Company, Playwright's' Arena, Circle X, Rouge Machine and The Road Theatre Company.