Moxie Arts NY Reveals Ninth Season and Fifth Annual Moxie Incubator Participants

Moxie Arts NY has revealed their 2026 cohort for the Moxie Incubator. Now in their ninth season, Moxie Arts produces new works centering stories of women, created by artists of historically excluded genders. The Moxie Incubator is their flagship development program - each year, three playwrights, three directors, and three line producers are selected from an open submission process. The nine selected artists then form a rotating cohort that develops three world-premiere plays over three rounds: a virtual reading, a staged workshop, and finally, a workshop presentation production.

The 2026 Moxie Incubator cohort includes playwrights Cori Diaz, Gina Femia, and Amy Greenspan. Zahra Budhwani, Molly Shayna Cohen, and Liza Couser have been selected as directors. Katie Brown, Andie Lerner, and Monika Orzelowski will line produce.

"This year marks the fifth iteration of the Moxie Incubator, and we could not be more excited to welcome these nine artists into our community," said Moxie Managing Producer Madelyn Paquette. "We've seen alums of the Incubator go on to direct major off-Broadway productions, receive national and international writing recognition, spearhead innovative projects everywhere from international outdoor festivals to interactive online performances, and, most importantly, forge lasting creative relationships that lead to future collaborations. We're eager to provide a platform for this year's cohort in 2026 and watch as they change the industry this year and beyond."

Artistic Director Margaret Lee added, "We are beyond thrilled about this year's slate of plays and cohort of artists. I have been so impressed with the passion radiating from this group and their dedication to expanding their artistry by engaging in new collaborative relationships. At its core, the Incubator program is a place where new work can be developed with a great variety of voices as contributors. We received nearly 170 applications this year and are heartened that there are so many artists who resonate with our mission and program. We look forward to supporting our brilliant cohort in their journey this year and can't wait to share their work with the larger community."

The selected plays for Moxie's 2026 season are:

Carpal Tunnel

By Cori Diaz

It's the vaguely present day in the year 20XX and famous YA novelist Manna Benes wants YOU! to get fucked up with her at the Roxbury Motel. What could possibly be worse than writer's block? A passion play and a family play and a tragicomedy and a history play and a surrealist play and a transgressive novel and an ekphrastic poem and a children's book and a meditation on dance and a dance on meditation and an instruction manual and a coupon book and a pornographic magazine and a holy text. And a love story.

you know, that Bakery out in Bensonhurst

By Gina Femia

Dell and Micki are sisters who work in a bakery. Been working there their whole lives, their mom owns the place. Even though they're only four years apart, it may as well be 40, they're that different. Dell is sixteen going on sixty, an old soul struggling to understand why their father died - he definitely didn't kill himself, even if that's what they all say. Micki is twenty going on sixteen, excited to be embarking on a new relationship - even if she ain't supposed to. No matter, at least Dell's got Eden, her new friend opening her up to new experiences like blow jobs and alcohol. When Micki leaves her family, the girls' lives are twisted into a turmoil neither could've ever predicted.

The Companion

By Amy Greenspan